daughter. My Father's remains were taken to Dunbullogue for burial, a little town where members of the Neenan family had been buried for many years. Dad's many friends, paying their last respects, loyally walked behind the coffin all the long, long way right up to the burial plot. 1924 Activities (continued) One day I received a dispatch from G.H.Q. concerning Flyer Nyhan. That night Sean Culhane and I (Sean had been released some time previously) went to the Pavilion Cinema. On leaving the cinema we were surrounded by Free State Army officers and promptly arrested. I knew two of these officers. One of them I knew particularly well (he was with Blackrock Company), and both of them were attached to their Intelligence squad. Immediately I demanded to be given the reason for our arrest and one of them, a Captain, said:
"We got orders from G.H.Q." Pouncing on that I shot back: "God, man, your G.H.Q. do not even KNOW that we exist!'' They started hustling us along towards Patrick Street and once again I asked "Where to?" only to get the reply: "To the Victoria Hotel, and there I will telephone for a lorry".
My mind was working overtime as I was only too aware of the fact that I had several revolvers plus the ammunition at home. Feeling that a warning to my people was urgently needed, I suggested to my captors that we should rather walk straight up to their Barracks instead of wasting time with telephoning for a lorry. I had reasoned to myself that, surely, while walking the quite considerably distance we would meet someone who would notice that we were under arrest, do some quick figuring, and then would send a warning to my family. Sure enough, Bob Canniffe and Connie O'Connell were coming towards us when we were near Pigotts shop and, loudly, I said in their direction: "Now look at the company we are forced to keep tonight!" Immediately, our captors closed up around us, they did not like the idea of taking the risk and make any further arrests that night, so, off we went. Sean Culhane and I had quickly agreed to try and make a dash for it at Bridge Street but our captors must have sensed something was up because they gave us no earthly [119] chance for escape neither on Bridge Street nor anywhere else. The overcoat I was wearing had a cape-type, slit pocket by which I could get at the pockets of my suit coat without unbuttoning the overcoat. In this way I managed to transfer the small despatch slip from the inside pocket to the outside pocket of my overcoat. Arriving at the Barracks, a Sergeant in the Guard Room was ordered to search Sean and myself. The officers stayed at the door, turning their backs to us, talking among themselves. The sergeant first went through all the inside pockets of my coat and, as he turned to put each item on the table, I managed to extract the despatch slip from the outside and place it in the pocket he had already searched. Although he ran his hand through it again, fearing he might have missed something, he did not feel the thin paper slip. They kept my cigarettes and matches. I had to ask that my handkerchief be returned to me and also asked for my cigarettes and matches back pointing out that I was not yet charged or tried for anything, and both were handed back to me. The matches were particularly important to me because later, when locked up in my cell, I burned that most dangerous despatch slip. In the meantime, and as expected, a raiding party had been sent to my home. Also, as expected, Connie 0'Connell and Bob Caniffe had immediately caught on when I directed my flippant remark at them on Patrick Street and they had raced over to our house. The two lads had barely arrived indoors, sounding the warning, when a loud knock at the front door announced the raiding soldiers. My father was ill in bed, so my mother grabbed the six revolvers plus the ammunition and put them underneath the mattress my unfortunate Dad was lying on, and he - always willing and ready to fool the Free Staters - resigned himself to a situation that must have given him plenty of mental and physical discomfort. The raiding party did not even wait for my mother to open up but smashed their way in breaking down the front door. They searched everybody present, and swarmed over every room and corner of the house. When they got to the door of my sick father's bedroom my mother blocked their way, saying:
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