cancellation. (At this date I venture to say that, if we had been allowed to carry out our reprisals as planned, the Black and Tans might very well have got the warning, I even go so far as to say that they might have been very reluctant to risk their lives and safety in Ireland) A short time later, when Tom Hales and Dick Barrett of Cork 3. Brigade, were in Dublin they made it quite clear at R.Q. that Cork 1. Brigade were very disgruntled with GHQ. Again a few days later, when Hales and Barrett were on their way back to Cork, Michael Collins saw them off at Kingsbridge station and said to them: "When you see Sean Hegarty tell him from me that, in future, it is always best to shoot first and to ask permission afterwards!" Subsequent events proved how effective this advice and policy turned out to be. In direct and severe warfare, the local Officers had the authority to deal with all matters arising in their area of command. Back in 1918 with the threat of Conscription hanging over Ireland, each Battalion and each Company was assigned a line of defence in case of a British attack. The area assigned to our Battalion and Company was about one mile wide, along the river Lee to beyond the little town of Coachford. Our precautions, however, turned out to be unnecessary since the Irish Bishops opposed Conscription thereby quite definitely helping to save young Irish men from the draft. During the early summer of 1918, Jerry O'Driscoll (Quarter Master of our 2nd. Batt.) befriended a young lady whose father was a diver hailing from Clonakilty. The girl told Jerry that her father had spoken of a ship which had been sunk off the coast carrying a load of rifles. It must be remembered that, during all this time, the possibility of capturing or acquiring additional firearms took precedence over any and all other assignments. In short, we were simply desperate for weapons. So, and on the following Sunday morning, I set out with Jerry bright and early at 6 AM., and after attending Mass at Bandon. We then cycled to Clonakilty to investigate the "hot news". Well, we were back in Cork that very same night, bone-tired and most disappointed. The whole story was nothing but gossip and empty talk with not a shred of truth to it! There was a certain shoe store in Grattan Street, Cork, that served as a "front" for some of our soldiers of G. Company, 1st Batt. They used the premises after hours for grinding down black powder which had become caked. So, one evening and while they were again employed in that job some unfortunate accident happened and the place blew up. One of our best men by the name of Tobin, who hailed from West Cork, was killed on the spot while the other lads present escaped with burns. Since there were also quite a lot of concrete bombs hidden in that same store, we were, obviously, most anxious to try and salvage them. So, on the following Sunday night, accompanied by Sean Hegarty and several other of our lads, we successfully managed to remove the bombs to a spot in Glasheen. [14] In the meantime our friendly contacts with certain soldiers in Ballincollig Barracks began to pay off and we received quite regular supplies of ammunition from there. It was about this same time too, that the 2nd Battalion received substantial help from the Murphy Brothers who were then doing business in Manchester. The brothers supplied us with revolvers and ammunition and I will always remember the one night when the late Paddy O'Donoghue (the last time I saw him alive), Mick Murphy, and myself checked over, I can only say with delight, a newly arrived consignment of .38 and .45 revolvers that had just come from England. Paddy was killed some months later while I was in a British Prison and I did not hear or know of his death until many months later still. Paddy was a great type, and it was he who wrote the well-known parody on the attack on FARRAN Barracks. All throughout the years from 1919 on, one no longer dared to sleep at home due to the fact that the nightly raids by the British were getting ever more frequent. Still, we were most fortunate in always securing suitable and safer accommodations. Although, we almost always had to leave such hiding places at 6 A.M. and earlier, thereby disrupting the entire household routine, our hosts were simply wonderful and quite unsurpassed in their uncomplaining kindness and hospitality to us. In those days each Company had its so-called “safe" houses which were kept available to us for use in any emergency. Late in 1919 contact was made with a soldier stationed at Ballincollig Barracks, Cork, who was friendly to our cause and ready to sell rifles, ammunition, revolvers and, at our request, even machine guns if possible. Especially the latter we had not been successful in securing. To avoid duplication and/or outbidding and on the instructions of Terry McSwiney, Paddy Healy, then Quartermaster of 1st Batt. and myself, representing 2 nd Batt., met our soldier
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