Memoirs of Connie Francis Neenan 1916-1920s, 1939-1940

with me; the other one had been recovered in Philadelphia a few years before. (Unfortunately, the gun in Philadelphia was held by a member of the Clan na Gael, who had no I.R.A. record, but who set himself up as a "miniature dictator" and bullied most of the decent, long time members. It was the same man who stated that he had over 120 recruits and therefore, asked for special terms which did not exist. The main requirements for Clan membership were that one had to be "of good character and interested in Irish Freedom".) Anyhow, a special meeting was called for one Sunday. I went along to first address the meeting and then initiate the new members. As I had already suspected, there were no candidates and the figure on “120 recruits" was sheer bluff! The following Sunday morning Tom Gill, a member of the Clan Executive Council, and myself went to this man's home but were told that he was at Church. His aunt was in the house, and as we were about to look for the machine gun, he arrived. Of course, we immediately noticed his surprise and consternation when told of the nature of our visit. He acted very "cute" - as he thought - when we found and collected the missing gun. This behaviour alone proved our suspicion and totally deflated all his big boasting and from then on, he was never heard of again. All this I told Joe McGarrity after he was approached by that U.S. Marshall and gave him a complete report of Tom McGill's and my action in connection with those two machine guns. A short time later., and to my utter astonishment still another two Thompson machine guns were found, and they actually were in the possession of some very well-known gangsters and the numbers on the two guns were traced back to the Clan na Gael. I was completely shocked when I discovered that a member of the New York Clan na Gael had actually sold these guns to somebody who was well-known to be a front to some of the mobsters. So, that U.S. Marshall who gave Joe the "tip" was actually right with his accusation! All I [150] could do under the circumstances was, to request the immediate resignation of this New York member from the Clan na Gael otherwise, I would have to bring him up on charges which, in turn, would blow the cover on the whole organisation. 1936 At the Clan na Gael Convention of 1936, one member who had just returned from Ireland stated that he had met many senior IRA members, including the Chief of Staff and he gave a glowing report of the strength and optimistic outlook of the IRA. It was something quite a few of us doubted as we were in constant touch with the true situation in Ireland. This same member, as well as some others, were responsible for bringing in a motion during the Convention "to vote against all pensions (disability and otherwise), asking that the Clan go on record not to allow membership to any person holding any such pensions, and, if they did hold them, they would either have to forfeit them of be expelled from the Clan". I sharply disagreed and replied. "Expulsion: definitely NO!" Many of my fellow members agreed. Still, this man's motion was seconded. Right away I pointed out that the motion was actually unconstitutional as the Clan had unanimously agreed at the 1932 Convention that all those entitled to Disability pensions could apply for them. Joe McGarrity was asked what had brought about the 1932 decision and he asked me to give the facts from the records. I reminded the members that a lot of our boys - back in 1928-29,- were, unfortunately suffering from severe T.B. and that we had no means of helping them. Consequently, we had set up a Committee for Disabled IRA members of which I was appointed Secretary and for which I did most of the work single-handed. In one year alone we collected the sum of $25,000 which made it possible to have some of our members admitted to Sanatoriums in Saranac Lake and Saratoga. New York State, and also into hospitals in Chicago and Albuquerque, New Mexico. Later, and following the infamous Wall Street Crash we were unable to continue paying the expenses of the poor lads - a fact that was very bitter for me to accept since so many of them were close friends of mine such as Jack Crowley from Cork who was in charge of the Hillcrest Sanatorium in Albuquerque. --- etc- etc. etc- [151] Under those difficult circumstances many of the lads felt that they would have a better chance in Ireland and, thus, wanted to go back. Consequently, and during my visit there in 1932, I acquainted the Army Council IRA of the facts, and I told them of my plans to go and discuss matters with Sean T. O'Ceallaig, who was then Minister of Local Government, and enlist his aid in securing disability pensions for our men. Sean T., good as every gave us all the help possible. This was particularly gratifying to me as I remembered that I had dealt with a very embarrassing situation back at the 1931 Clan Convention when one of the members challenged some of the Hospital Bills (even though they were dealt with in a separate fund).

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