Belfast Magazine 68

BELFAST MAGAZINE ISSUE

A BREATH OF FRESH AIR THAT LED TO MURDER

September 1977

68

BELFAST IN JULY 1955

Terrible Playground tragedy Man crushed by concrete slab Vandalism in the city cemetery Chemist fined for having a dusty shop

Off to the House on the Hill Old Belfast Police Reports

OLD BELFAST ADVERTISEMENTS, PHOTOGRAPHS, MAPS AND MORE

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Belfast Magazine

BELFAST MAGAZINE 5 Churchill Street, Belfast BT15 2BP Tel: 9031 0859 Fax 9035 1326 E-Mail:

glenravel@ashtoncentre.com Web Page:

www.glenravel.com The Belfast Magazine is a bi-monthly publication compiled by the Glenravel Local History Project. It is just one of several Glenravel titles which aims to promote an interest in the subject of local history. It has always been claimed that history belongs of the higher classes and looking at the way it has been presented for decades then this would seem to be the case. Glenravel are not interested in the history of lords and earls, their estates and titles, instead we are interested in the history of working class life.

We are not interested in politics either and we must stress that if an article appears in the magazine which appears to be a bit one sided then this is due to the simple fact that it is taken from a Nationalist or Unionist newspaper. We use both to try and balance things out.

The Glenravel Local History Project is a local historical scheme based in the North Belfast area.

It’s activities are centred around the educational promotion and restoration of the areas historic burying ground at Clifton Street and is named after the nearby Glenravel Street which was destroyed to make way for the disastrous Westlink road system.

The Belfast Magazine is not funded by any grant making body and is entirely funded by you - the reader. It’s profits are not used for personal gain but for the continuing work of the overall scheme. If you would like to support our work and advertise your business at the same time then feel free to contact our team at the above.

1951

Belfast Magazine

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A BREATH OF FRESH AIR THAT LED TO MURDER In late December 1886 two young men, Patrick Gartland and James McKenna, were involved in an incident in Dawson Street, Armagh, which led to the death of another youth, John Proctor.

The inquest jury had found that John Proctor had been murdered and these two young men were sent before a magisterial investigation in January 1887.

An extraordinary scene took place in the magistrate’s court and the defendant’s solicitor, Mr James Williamson, was arrested and jailed for contempt of the court. It was not until March in 1887 that Gartland and McKenna were finally charged at the Armagh Assizes with the wilful murder of John Proctor.

On the day of Proctors death the 22 year old had been at his fathers house in Dawson Street, Armagh. Proctor was a healthy, well-respected young man who was from Armagh. He had been taking his dinner and had gone to the front door to have a look about in the street and to take some air. He had not dressed to go out but when he came out on to the pathway he saw Gartland and McKenna who were a short distance away in the area known as the Shambles. Without any provocation Gartland walked up to Proctor and said something about him "being the big man" and then punched Proctor.

Proctor hit him back and then the

two youths fell to the ground.

McKenna went over also and he sat on Proctors legs while Gartland lay on Proctors chest.

Proctors father heard the shouts and ran out of the house, pulling Gartland off his son. Gartland and McKenna got up, brushed themselves down and walked off towards the Shambles. Johnny Proctor got up, clutching his shoulder and walked back into his house where a short time later he collapsed and died.

search was made for the two youths. Gartland was found the worse for drink not too far away in a local pub in Irish Street called Gillan's. There he was arrested and on his way to the barracks he said, "If I stabbed him, arrest him also. He stabbed me and cut my finger. This is bad work, and I will tell you all about it". He then told the police at the barracks what had happened and that in the row he, Gartland, was only defending himself. No weapon was found on Gartland but he had a cut on his hand, which was recent, and which Gartland stated had been inflicted by Proctor.

McKenna was arrested a short distance from the fight scene and also denied that he had anything to do with the death of Proctor.

He had only stood around and then tried to defend his friend.

Patrick Gartland was found guilty of Manslaughter John Proctor senior had run off after the two boys to make sure that they didn’t escape and became involved in another scuffle with them. Johnny Proctor and the two youths were not friends but they knew each other and Proctors father recognised the boys from the area. The police were called when Proctor got home and a

At their trial the examining doctor told the court how Proctor had died. He had examined his body and found a punctured wound on the left shoulder blade, about half an inch in diameter.

The wound was such as would have been caused by a sharp instrument and that the instrument had severed an artery and death would have occurred a short time later. The cause of death was internal haemorrhage caused by the wound and ether was given to Proctor as he lay dying.

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Belfast Magazine

The jury listened to the judges summing up and then they retired for 40 minutes. The jury came back into the court and announced that they acquitted Gartland of murder but had been unable to agree initially on McKenna but finally he was also acquitted. The crown then charged the two youths with the manslaughter and they appeared again at the winter assizes.

crown in that there was some ‘party’ feelings and that sectarianism was rife within the system. The judge brought order to the court and reminded the jury as to why they were in the court and that suggestions of unfair treatment should not be taken into consideration:

…It was absolutely necessary that they should have a clear conception of the legal position This time it was suggested to the of the two prisoners. They were court that the two youths were charged with the crime of being almost persecuted by the manslaughter. To bring guilt

home to both or either of the prisoners it was not necessary that both hands should have held the knife, but it was necessary that if one man did it the other should be a consenting party to his act….

All the same evidence was heard and this time the jury found Gartland guilty of manslaughter with a recommendation to mercy on the ground that he had received provocation and McKenna was acquitted of all charges.

Arthur Square (Cornmarket) when in was converted into a roundabout in the early 1930’s

Belfast Magazine

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MONASTERBOICE

Monasterboice (Mainistir Bhuithe) is an interesting monastic site near Drogheda in County Louth. The impressive ruins include a large cemetery, two churches, one of the tallest round towers in Ireland and two of the tallest and best high crosses. If travelling south on the new road connecting Belfast to Dublin you can not miss the large brown signs directing you to it.

Monasterboice is said to have been founded

by St. Buithe (d. 520), a follower of St. Patrick, in the late 5th century AD. (There is evidence that the site had pre-Christian sacred significance as well.) It is from St. Buithe that the Boyne River gets its name. According to legend, the saint ascended directly into heaven via a ladder lowered from above.

The settlement was captured by invading Vikings in 968 AD, who were then comprehensively expelled by Donal, the Irish high king of Tara. St. Buithe's Monastery was an important center of spirituality and scholarship until the Cistercians arrived at nearby Mellifont Abbey in 1142, after which Monasterboice declined.

What to See Monasterboice has many interesting features to explore, but the clear highlight are its superb high crosses. Like murals and church sculptures, these magnificent examples of Celtic art brought the Bible to life for those who could not read (which was most people).

Muirdach's Cross (South Cross) The cross near the entrance to the site is Muirdach's Cross (a.k.a Muiredach's Cross).

It dates from 900-923 AD and stands 5.5m (16 feet) tall. It is named for an abbot mentioned in the inscription on the base: "A prayer for Muirdach for whom the cross was made."

The carvings have not all been certainly identified, but on the eastern face, from the bottom up, they appear to represent: the Fall of Adam and Eve and the murder of Abel; David and Goliath; Moses bringing water from the rock to the Israelites; the Three Magi bearing gifts to Mary and Jesus.

The center of the cross on the eastern face depicts the Last Judgment, with the saved (led

by David with a harp) on Christ's right and the damned on his left; above that is St. Paul in the desert. These seemingly unrelated scenes may be connected by the themes of sin, judgment and atonement.

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The western face of Muirdach's Cross focuses on the New Testament and depicts, from the bottom up: the arrest or mocking of Christ (who wears a robe and carries a sceptre); doubting Thomas with another figure (perhaps St. John the Evangelist, who recorded the story); Christ giving the keys of heaven to St. Peter and a book to St. Paul; and Moses praying with Aaron and Hur. In the central Crucifixion scene on the western face, Christ is depicted as clothed and without pain (a typical Irish image). He is flanked by two soldiers, the spearbearer who pierces his left side and another holding a cane with a cup, apparently representing the spongebearer. Between the soldiers and Christ's knees are two heads, perhaps indicating the two thieves. The bird under Christ's feet may represent the phoenix, a symbol of resurrection.

On the right arm of the cross is a depiction of the Resurrection of Christ, with guards kneeling on each side of the tomb and three angels behind them holding a small figure representing the soul. The cross is capped with a stone replica of a gabled-roof church.

At the bottom of the western face, accompanied by two cats, is an inscription translated as, "A prayer for Muiredach for whom (or by whom) the cross was made."

West Cross The slimmer West Cross, located near the round tower in the western corner of the site, is 6.5m high, making it the tallest high cross in Ireland. Also dating from the early 10th century, it is more weathered than Muirdach's Cross, especially at the base, leaving only about a dozen of its original 50 panels distinguishable.

Belfast Magazine

Among the scenes on the eastern face are: David killing a lion and a bear; the sacrifice of Isaac; David with Goliath's head; and David kneeling before Samuel. Legible scenes on the western face include: the Resurrection; the crowning with thorns; the Crucifixion; the baptism of Christ; Peter cutting of the guard's ear at Gethsemane; and the kiss of Judas.

North Cross The northeastern corner of the complex is home to the simpler North Cross, which was probably smashed by Oliver Cromwell's forces. It has only a few carvings, but makes a fine silhouette in the evening against the round tower in the background.

Round Tower Monasterboice's round tower is over 30m (110 feet) tall and was divided into four or more stories inside, connected with ladders. As with other round towers in Ireland, this was used as a belfry, watch-tower, and a refuge for monks and valuables during times of Viking attack. Records indicate that the interior went up in flames in 1097, destroying many valuable manuscripts and other treasures. The tower is currently closed to the public.

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t the beginning of July 1955 a 90ft French fishing trawler was forced to dock in Belfast when it ran out of fresh water and was close to running out of fuel. The 14 year old vessel, the Colombe, captained by M. Emile Bellour aged 26, and with a crew of nine had on board its two ton catch of hake, plaice, whiting and Norway lobsters and they had to arrange for the sale of the fish to a Portavogie firm who met the ship at Donegall Quay. The vessel refuelled and restocked its provisions before returning to the fishing grounds to make a new catch before returning to

A

its home port of Concarneau in Brittany. Over 200 fishing trawlers operate from Brittany ports in the Irish Sea. Each crew catch on average one to two tons of fish a day with an aggregate of 15 tons for a 10 day trip.

Playground tragedy A verdict of accidental death was given by the Belfast coroner, Dr H P Lowe, at the inquest on seven year old Gerald Parker of Ellimgrove Street who died from injuries he received while playing in the grounds of Queen Mary’s

Gardens on the Cavehill Road.

The young boy had decided to play on the chute in the playground and wanted an extra thrill by leaning over the side while coming down the chute and had fallen. The park attendant had given evidence that he was constantly warning the children not to try to stand or jump while on the chute because of the dangers but that the local children persisted in adding to their excitement while on the slide.

On the day Gerald died he had fallen hard from the chute and was lying on the ground, dazed but still conscious, but the boys mother thought he was suffering from only

Seven year old Gerald Parker of Ellimgrove Street who died from injuries he received while playing in the grounds of Queen Mary’s Gardens

Belfast Magazine

shock. The extent of his wounds was hidden by his hair. The boy seemed to come round and left the park walking with his mother and father. The family went home and when they became concerned about his condition they tried to get a doctor but could not get one to call at their house and took the boy to the Mater hospital where he died a short time later.

The inquest concluded that the boy died accidentally but stated for the record that if the boy had been sitting properly on the chute that he would have been as safe as he would have been in his fathers company. The Belfast corporation expressed sympathy with the parents but concluded that children were safer in the playgrounds of the city than on the streets.

Man crushed by concrete slab A 31 year old car dealer of Brookside, Jordanstown died while working on premises at Earl Street, York Street, Belfast. Samuel Dunlop Chesney, married with a nine month old son, fell from the first floor of the building to the ground floor and was crushed by a slab of concrete floor which had given way

under his weight. He died while on the way to the Mater Hospital.

Mr Chesney was working with four other men, including his brother George, in cutting a hole in the floor with sledgehammers to make way for the installation of a car hoist. After a large piece of concrete was removed the men put a plank of wood across the cavity for the workmen to walk on.

Although Mr Chesney was aware of the danger he stepped off the plank on to the piece of concrete which was being cut and a large 12ft by 5ft slab broke off. He was thrown down to the ground floor 10ft below and the slab landed on top of him, causing crush injuries from which he died.

Deaf man fined In Castlederg a man described as ‘stone deaf’ was charged with riding his bicycle without due care and attention.

The local magistrate, Mr V Millar R.M. was concerned during the court session that the man could not hear the evidence given against him and that it was the first time in his experience that he had had a deaf man in court. The

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problem was solved when all the evidence given was written down and handed to the man and question were put to him in writing. He had pleaded not guilty to the charge but was found guilty and fined 10s.

Vandalism in the city cemetery At the monthly meeting of the Belfast Corporation Alderman T Henderson complained about the destruction of railings round graves and of wreaths and flowers at the city cemetery.

The police had informed him that local children were responsible for the damage and those families tending graves in the cemetery were deeply hurt when they saw the damage which was done.

Nothing could compensate these families for their loss and the Alderman expressed the opinion that parents and teachers in the area were neglecting their duty in not giving children a better sense of civic conscience. Parental control was at the root of the issue however the Parks and Cemetery Committee could take no further action but the opinions were recorded in the minutes of the meeting.

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Samuel Dunlop Chesney died while on the way to the Mater Hospital following an accident in Earl Street Lurgan Chemist fined for having a dusty shop Walter Baxter whose chemist shop was on Market Street, Lurgan was fined ÂŁ20 at the local petty sessions for failing to take reasonable precautions to prevent the contamination of food by dust in his shop.

He was also fined ÂŁ10 for obstructing the representative of the Armagh County Health Committee in an inspection of

the premises. The officer Thomas Edwards told the court that the shelves in the shop on which there were foodstuffs were dusty as were bottles and cartons in which goods were contained. The shop in general was dusty and dirty. Baxter had protested to the inspection but had not refused permission and he claimed than there was no more dust in the shop than

would gather in a day through the opening and shutting of the shop door. His wife Eleanor Baxter told the court that in her husbands shop the shelves, display counters and containers were as clean as in any shop and that all foodstuffs were covered at all times. The court disagreed and concurred with the evidence given by the health inspector.

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OFF TO THE HOUSE ON THE HILL don’t remember my exact sentence to St Patrick’s Training School but I think it may have been what was called 1 to 3 which meant you could do one year on good behaviour or three years on bad so you can guess which one I was set to do! I also don’t remember the exact year but it was either 1978 or 1979 and although at the time of writing this was over thirty years ago I can remember that very first day as if it were yesterday.

At the courtroom I was taken out through a back door and placed in a holding cell. Then I was taken downstairs to another cell and locked up for a few hours. Today I look back at this and my detention in the North Queen Street Barracks and actually wonder if this was legal! Anyway when the door was opened I saw one of my childhood friends Dixie Dornan who was down from St Pat’s for a remand hearing and I began to ask him what it was like. Needless to say Dixie obviously had the same twisted sense of humour as me and the description he gave me was obviously from something he saw in a war movie.

When we arrived at the Glen Road we turned into the grounds and went up this massive drive way with beautiful lawns and trees the whole way up.

Then I saw the home for the first time and I can tell you it was certainly not what I expected.

Because of Dornan’s description I was looking for barbed wire fences, guard dogs and a building with tiny windows complete with bars. Instead I was met by a beautiful large building with the administration section in the centre and a chapel and gymnasium on either side of it and to the right the senior side and to the left the junior side.

Needless to say I was to go to the junior side and my first night was spent in a large open dorm with about ten others in it. I don’t think they came in that day as when I left the dorm they were still in it but what I do remember was that they were a bunch of cry-bas. Now don’t get me wrong I was prone to the odd cry myself but not every bloody night!

I

Taken from Joe Baker’s book Hooligan to Historian.

This can be downloaded completely free at www.joebaker.ie A few days later I got my own room which was in the corridor next to the dorm. There were similar corridors upstairs and that was where I wanted to go but I guess that was not to be, but my pad was the furthest away from the house master’s room so that suited me fine. I can’t remember everyone who was in our corridor but next to me was Boo Gordon who lived in the Lisburn Road area. Boo was dead on and was a real fanatical fan of Led Zeppelin. Facing me was a guy called Beaver McCleave and all I remember about him was him arriving in one day with one of those tiny tv’s which just came out then and all of us being fascinated by it. Today we would laugh at it but then it was real hi-tec! Next to him was ‘E’ Dixon who was also from the New Lodge area and the only other person in the corridor I remember was Paddy Gordon. Now if memory serves me right Paddy was from Downpatrick and for some unknown reason I took an instant dislike to him and sometimes went out of my way to make things hard for him. The first ‘book’ I ever helped with was with Boo Gordon and was called 101 Ways to Kill Paddy Gordon and although it may all seem humorous the bottom line is I was a bully and I’m sure Paddy must’ve really hated me.

This being the case it was very rarely he had to put up with me as I was constantly hooking it (running away) from St Pat’s.

A typical day began around 8am and it was up out of bed, showered and down for breakfast. After this we were lined up in the yard and then sent to our classrooms which were at the back of the building. The classrooms where what you would find in a normal school and the first teacher I ever got was a lady called Miss O’Rourke. She was one of the few teachers who actually took an interest in me and one of her aims was to teach me how to read and write which at that time was

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extremly basic for me. I could hardly write and when it came to reading I knew words but did not know what they meant. I was determined to do this and one of the things I was to do was borrow the Ladybird books, read them and then compare them to words in bigger books and in no time at all I was really learning very fast. One of the things Miss O’Rourke was to give me was a children’s dictionary and when I went through that I was really begining to learn extremly fast. Another book I was given was a children’s bible and once I read that I moved on to the bigger bible and it was from this that I began to take an intense interest in religion but not in the way the school had hoped.

Mrs O’Rourke then tried me at writing and with joined up writing but that was one thing I could never get the hang of and to this day I write in block captials.

It was also here that I was being taught something I was never taught before and was a subject I took an instant fascination with – Irish history.

I was given a set of four books called The Living Past and these were the actual books from where my interest in Irish history began. We also read all the stories about CuChulann and the Children of Lir and I can state now that I simply couldn’t get enough if it.

The other classes we did were arts and crafts and I really enjoyed these. These were taken by Brother John and we did everything from making nailboards right through to oil painting with knives which totally amazed me. Brother John was one of the nicest people you could ever meet and he really did enjoy teaching us kids everything he knew. Unfortunately there was also the one subject I absolutely detested and that was PE. Never liked it, never have and never will. It was in St Pat’s that my hurling career began and my hurling career ended. One day while doing this I received a direct hit in the face from a hurling ball and one burst mouth and several smashed teeth later I decided that I would never pick up a hurling stick again. However there was one other game we did play and I did enjoy that and became quite good at it and that was rounders. In America this is called softball and it was a game which I developed quite a talent for but there was no great demand for rounders players in Belfast at the time so I guess I was to go nowhere with that. Another PE event I did enjoy was swimming and St Pat’s had their own swimming pool which I was in at every given opportunity but my main memory of it was the heating was never on but my preference was always for cold water swimming and when we

Belfast Magazine went hiking in the nearby mountains then river swimming was something which we all really enjoyed. In St Pat’s they also took us to other swimming pools such as at Andersonstown, Ballymena and our favourite, Lisburn. Lisburn had a massive diving platform which was brilliant to jump from as it was really high and it was this which kept us occupied for hours.

One thing that all new comers to St Pat’s had to do was see the psychiatrist. I remember my visits to him and my thoughts were always that he was mad and not me. Because of what I was in for (Joe was in for arson) I was always called for an interview where I was constantly asked not only why I lit fires but why I burned buildings to the ground and my answer was always the same – the customary ‘dunno.’ He was also a bit weird as he would have asked how many times per day you masturbated. Now here’s a grown man asking you how many times you serviced yourself – you’re going to admit it like! He also showed the famous black cards with the smudges on them and asked you what you could see. Card 1 – blob. Card 2 – another blob. Card 3 – I don’t believe it, it’s another blob. He never liked these answers so I used to look again and say cat, dog, cow, hamster, elephant and he would write the answers down. What he ever made of them I don’t know but before you think I’m some sort of serial killer then don’t panic as I only made them up. My original answers of blob were the true ones.

Then came the day that one of my answers entered the volumes of urban legend only this one was true. One day he put a snooker ball on the desk in front of me and said that it was an apple and for me to eat it. I looked at the ‘apple’ and then at him and simply replied "You peel it and I’ll eat it." Quite an answer for a kid but you need to understand how street wise and sarcastic I was at the time.

Another subject relating to St Pat’s was all this stuff about pervy religious orders. The order that was in St Pat’s was the De La Salle Brothers and I can state that 99.9% of them were fine and really committed to helping the kids in the home. There

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Jim Madden was only one whom we avoided like the plague as he was indeed a bit iffy. It was said that he used to do a bit of feeling up but to be honest I can not say if he did anything more serious. A few years ago there was an investigation into this sort of stuff at St Patrick’s Training School but to be honest I can state that I had never heard anything about any of the Brothers but what I can state is that there were a few of the housemasters who were just a little bit over friendly but it never happened to me and I really can honestly state that.

The Brothers were very strict and were not shy when it came to a good boot in the arse or slap across the head but that was it in relation to me.

There was also the family visits and I was visited quite regularly by mum and dad and my brother Liam. Liam always got me into bloody trouble as every time he came up he came on his motorbike and on his way out decided to have a quick

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scramble across the lawn. Have a guess who got the boot in the arse or slap across the head every time this happened!

It was also during one of these visits that I received absolutely dreadful news about one of my friends.

Like all kids we thought we were going to live forever and that dying was for old people. Dad came up to see me one time during the day which was extremely unusual as all visits were in the evening and daytime visits only at the weekends.

I was taken out of class and down to see my dad.

When I went in he was totally silent and I knew right away that something was wrong.

At first I thought it was to do with mum. As previously mentioned mum had a drink problem and shortly before I went into St Pat’s she was in hospital for major surgery. She had bits of kidney, liver and spleen removed as well as other bits and bobs. She had been given the last rites several times but by some miracle she was to pull through and live for quite a few years.

Belfast Magazine What dad told me was totally unexpected, sudden and absolutely heartbreaking and I can still hear the words to this day. "Your wee mate Jim Madden has been killed." I immediately burst out crying and then asked what had happened. He had been going to school and was messing around when he tripped – right under the wheel of a bus. He lived in number 12 of our flats and Jim and I had drifted apart when I began to be a really bad boy but he was one of my closest friends and going by the fact that all of the old Churchill House boys are still friends today I know that he would certainly have been one of them.

The following day I was to do something that I had never done before and that was to write a letter to his granny. Jim and his sister Karen lived with their granny and in this letter I told her how sorry I was but to be honest that’s all I remember but I do know that she treasured this letter and later told me that it was one of the most heartfelt sympathies she had received.

On the day of Jim’s funeral I spent it in the chapel of St Pat’s. This was not due to any religious conversion but due to the simple fact that it was the quietest place in the whole building. I remember asking the question that I assume everyone has asked and that was the why has God allowed this to happen. I also remember looking at the large image of Jesus nailed to the crucifix and thinking that if he could allow this to happen to his son then what else would he be prepared to do! Don’t think that this anti religious attitude came about at this time as it did not. I detested the fact that I made my First Holy Communion and at my Confirmation I point blankly refused to kiss the Bishops ring but in fairness someone else's runny, snattery nose had more to do with this than the beginning of a religious rebellion.

As I have said my interest in religion began in St Pat’s and there was also a voluntary class which anyone could attend every Wednesday night and that was a religious one. The only people I remember attending this was the previously mentioned Paddy Gordon and a guy called McCambridge who had a desire to become part

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Quite often I caught the priest out with questions on why God's most trusted angel Lucifer turned against him. All I ever got was "mystery of the faith my son!" of one of the religious orders. This was a type of theological class and was with a priest. I had a bible and I would spend the week going through it and looking for the usual contradictory stuff to put to the priest and looking back now he must’ve really hated me. I would go through the bible and take notes and then present them to the said priest but I never focused on the usual incest or eye for an eye and then forgiveness rubbish but would look at the more complex stuff. For example I would concentrate on good versus evil complexes. On one occasion my argument was as follows:- At God’s right hand was the Arch Angel Lucifer and he was cast out of heaven with angels which numbered the grains of sand in the desert. Now to me this was God’s most trusted servant and one hell of a lot of angels and when I had the priest caught out what was his reply?

"That’s a mystery of the faith my son!" I hated that answer as to me it was simply a way of covering their back but to be honest I knew that I had them. What soon developed was a priest on one side stating that Roman Catholicism was the one true faith and me on the other with my argument that it was all a load of superstitious

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nonsense. What is interesting is that when the said priest retired the one person he wanted to see was not the altar licking McCambridge but me. I remember his exact words to me and they concluded by him saying "Young Baker if there was no Protestant religion you would invent it."

To this day I don’t know if that was an insult or a compliment.

St Pat’s was indeed a very religious institution and I was certainly to leave my mark on their chapel in a humourous way as I will explain later but sadly there were other incidents which were more dramatic and which I stuck with tradition and got the blame for.

One night we were all woken from our beds and moved to the far side of the building. There was a fire and the fire was in the chapel. Now here was me with my openly expressed hatred of the Catholic Church and a conviction of arson so who do you think was going to get the blame?

The following morning two house masters stood at either side of me as I was getting washed. They were two of the ones I liked and became close too and were Jim Whinnery and Tommy Mahon. They asked me about the fire and I replied by asking them a simple question. "Is the building still standing?" "Yes" they replied. "Then it obviously wasn’t me then." I don’t know what their conclusion was but I think they believed me as I was never interviewed by the Peelers (police).

Later I was asked did I know who did it and I said no but the fact of the matter is I did. The person who did it was one hell of a twisted individual whom was operating outside as a homosexual rent boy but before anyone considers opening up a new investigation I totally forget his name and description – after all it was over thirty years ago!

However, I believe, this chapel fire was to seal my fate in relation to St Pat’s. I had a reputation of fear in this place that led my fellow tenants to be absolutely terrified of me. For some unknown reason those who seemed to pick on me developed this knack to encounter some sort of strange accident. For example there were some

who switched on their bedroom lights only to discover the dangers of electricity as it shot down their arm as someone had interfered with their light switch. There were others who had developed strange cigarette type burns on the backs of their necks or worse still deep inside their ear but as I hinted at previously this was sheer coincidence and nothing to do with me!

To give another idea of this fear there was one person I got into a number of fights with.

Unfortunately for me this person was a better digger (fighter) than me and continuously showed me up on each of our encounters. My solution was simple. To stab him. One night I sneaked out of my room and broke into the kitchens. There I stole two knives and my plan was really to cause serious damage to this rival. Needless to say the missing knives were reported the following morning and were found inside my mattress. I had told only one person of my plan and although I thought him an obvious scumbag at the time I really am glad that he did what he did as I think I might’ve got myself into a bit of serious trouble if I had gone though with my plans.

My main rival (whom I planned to stab) and I became friends and I think that this was more due to him being told of the sort of threat that he was under from me.

The reason I am pointing this out is certainly not to make me out to be some sort of Belfast ‘Kray Twin’ but to give you an idea of what was to happen to me was totally unexpected and the only way I can describe the events would be for you to imagine Barbie taking on Darth Vador!

I can only state what I knew at the time but if it is fact I can not say. There was a fellow inmate called Charlie Monaghan and I has always assumed that Charlie was one of the orphans placed in St Pat’s. That's all I knew about him.

One day we were out in our usual line up in the yard to go to our class rooms when totally out of the blue Charlie kicked me on the back of the leg.

It bloody hurt and my instant reaction was to turn round and hit him a massive punch in the face. Suddenly one of the house masters grabbed

Belfast Magazine me by the back of the hair and ran me straight into a pebbledash wall. Now for legal reasons allow me to explain this as though I were giving a statement. I was tightly grabbed by the back of my long hair by a house master, whom I assumed was there for my care and well being, and my face pushed forcibly into a pebbledash wall. Now you may be surprised to learn that my face was turned into a bloody mash and that to this day I have several scars on my chin, eyes, cheek and still have to receive hospital treatment for bleeding noses but I was sent to the headmaster. Now in fairness to the said house master he had a desire for me to go and clean myself up but strangely this was something I refused to do.

I was left sitting outside the headmasters office and it was then that I decided to take matters into my own hands and that was to go for Charlie Monaghan.

He was in the same class as me and was therefore at Brother John’s arts and crafts class. This was a class he was never to forget.

I stormed up the stairs and straight into the class.

I then snapped a heavy ‘T’ ruler off the blackboard and used it to give Charlie Monaghan the most violent and bloody beating he was ever likely to receive.

When I was finished I simply went back down to my spot outside the headmasters room to await my fate.

The headmaster never had the nerve to face me and soon after, two men came up the corridor, put me in handcuffs and took me to a waiting car which was outside.

Now this occurred thirty years ago and one would think that it is all long in the past and has no effect on today. It does. I have no plans to go back into prison but there is a chance that it will happen.

The house master who did this to me was a grown man and I was a child. Things have now changed and I am now a grown man. If I ever bump into the said house master I will give him more of a chance than he ever gave me. I will give him the opportunity to again smash my face into a wall and see how things develop this time.

Belfast Street Directory 1854

Belfast Street Directory 1854

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Belfast Magazine

Hidden Belfast Benevolence, Blackguards and Balloonheads

s a regular contributor to Glenravel’s publications I was commissioned, on the recommendation of my friend, Joe Baker, to write the follow up to Mercier Press of Corks two previous books "Hidden Dublin" and "Hidden Cork".

When I spoke to the editor, Mary Feehan, I said that my work would reflect the hidden history of Belfast, the good, the bad, the indifferent, hence my title Hidden Belfast, Benevolence, Blackguards and Balloonheads There are 65 stories in the book that reflect the history of the city from the the many blackguards e.g. Waddel Cunningham, who attempted to set up a Belfast Slave ship Company. Bruce Ismay, from the White Star Line, who interfered with the design of the Titanic in that he reduced the number of lifeboats, from Harland and Wolffs original plans, from forty eight to sixteen with four collapsibles. He also reduced the height of the water tight

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bulkheads to allow a grand staircase to be included. To add to his infamy Ismay managed to get off the sinking Titanic leaving behind over 1500 people to drown. In contrast the benevolence of citizens such as the Presbyterian, Thomas McCabe who on discovering, in 1786 the attempt by Waddel Cunningham and other wealthy Belfast merchants to set up a slave ship company in Belfast disrupts the meeting finishing with the words “May God wither the hand of anyone who signs that document" A slaveship company was never formed and Belfast can look back with some pride in that it avoided the riches that were available from that vile trade.

Unlike Bristol and Liverpool which are grand cities but their wealth was mostly built on the back of the slave trade and they were responsible for the transportation of 750,000 slaves to the West Indies and the southern states of America (Bristol transported 500,000 slaves and Liverpool

250,000). Continuing the benevolence of the Belfast Presbyterians, they were the main movers in setting up the Belfast Charitable Society in 1752. The Society provided an early form of free health care for the poor including a Fever Hospital, a Poor House, and the Ladies committee set up a maternity hospital in 1794 in Donegall Street. I have included the term "Balloonheads" i.e. "airhead" in the title, which the people in Cork were confused as to its meaning.

In the context of the stories I have included the history of "Annas Dale", the home of the Duke of Wellingtons mother who said of her son that she thought that he would never make anything of himself and basically he was a disaster and yet this was the man who defeated Napoleon, hence her inclusion as a "Balloonhead" These are just a few of the 65 stories that cast new light on aspects of Belfast’s hidden history. Just published and available in all good bookstores.

Belfast Magazine

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Belfast Magazine

OLD BELFAST NEWSPAPER REPORTS

Fatal Fly Sting n unusual death was reported in the Weekly Telegraph of August 1932.

Edward Rogan, the chief executive of the well known Belfast boot firm of Rogan Bros died after a sudden illness which lasted three weeks. Mr Rogan, a gentleman, was 61 years old and was in good health. He lived at his residence, Dromart House, on the Antrim Road in north Belfast. (It later became the N I Milk Marketing Board offices recently partially demolished and a housing development built in its place).

Mr Rogan died at his beloved home, with his family around him.

Mr Rogan was well known and highly respected throughout the country and throughout his career he proved to be an enterprising and entrepreneurial businessman. He was born in Killyleagh, Co Down and moved to Belfast as a young man. He entered the boot business, for which he showed great talent and aptitude. Eventually he started the firm which bore his name, Rogan Bros and from the beginning it was very successful.

Rogan Bros had branches or Mr Rogan was a keen gardener agents throughout Ulster and the and the only explanation for his company had an enviable sudden illness resulted as he was working in his magnificent and well tended garden. The deceased was tending the flower n summer of 1932 James beds in his garden when he was Rooney of Kyle Street in east stung by a horse fly on his head.

This was not the first time he had Belfast was short of cash. He been stung and thought little of had no job and he decided that it, flicking the horse fly away the only way in which he could from his head and he continued make some cash quickly was with his gardening. However through fraudulent means. In within hours alarming symptoms late June of 1932 he started his began to develop and doctors and long list of deceptions which specialists were called in but an took him across the city. He aggressive infection had set into started with O’Kanes funeral the wound and it could not be directors in Upper Donegall Street. He called with Francis stopped.

As each day passed his condition Moore who was the secretary of worsened and three weeks later Hugh O’Kane & Co, telling him

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Elaine Hogg reputation. Mr Hogan was joined in the business by his brother Mr William Rogan who became a partner. Mr Rogan was a keen yachtsman and was often found in the area around Strangford Lough where his beautiful houseboat was greatly admired. Mr Rogan also owned Salisbury tennis court and was involved in promoting the game in north Belfast, providing encouragement and support to others. He was a member of Fortwilliam Presbyterian Church and was a regular attendee. Mr Rogan was not married and was survived by his brothers William and Henry and his two sisters, Annie and Margaret.

Bogus Funerals

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that he was a James Rooney of Benburb Street and made inquiries about arranging a funeral for his son, Desmond Rooney, who had recently died.

The men agreed a price of £3 and Mr Moore was asked to make the necessary arrangements.

Rooney asked Mr Moore for a shroud which was given to him.

As was often the case the undertaker advanced money to the client on the strength of the funeral and James Rooney

Belfast Magazine walked away from O’Kanes that day with £3 in his pocket. He had no intention of repaying the money and he did not have a son, let alone one who had recently died.

A week later, the money from O’Kanes long gone, Rooney made similar funeral arrangements with Johnston’s of

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Bedford Street, which was again bogus. He got £5 advanced to him this time and he quickly left the funeral home while he still had the money in his pocket.

McAdam told them that she had been living at that address since June 1931, Rooney did not live there, and no one in her family had recently died.

By now O’Kanes realised that Rooney was not coming back and had reported the theft to police who called at the address at Benburb where a Mrs

It took less than a week for Rooney to spend his way through the money from Johnston’s and he decided to go back to Donegall Street but this time to Adam Turner and made another arrangement about a funeral and got £2 advanced on the strength of his story of his dead child.

His last trick was with Major of Lisburn Road where he told John Major, the funeral undertaker, that his daughter Doreen had died. He asked Major to arrange a funeral and then Rooney asked him for £3 and relying on what Rooney had told him he gave him £1 and asked him to come the next day when he would give him another £2. The next morning Rooney did not show up and the £1 was never returned.

Belfast Street Directory 1854

When the police caught up with Rooney he almost immediately admitted what he had done and was charged and found guilty of obtaining money by fraud.

When asked if wanted to say anything in his defence he stated "I wish to lead a good life and to do that I came forward and gave myself up on these charges". He had no remorse for his actions, only an amazing tale of the bogus funerals he arranged around Belfast.

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Belfast Magazine

The Carlin Murder London 1954 Newsletter 7th September 1954

Murder of Irish Girl London Detectives seek American Soldier A scream heard above a radio programme in a neighbouring house on Sunday night is believed by the police to have marked the moment of the murder of a girl found

strangled in a house in Lillington Street, Pimlico, London, yesterday (6/9/54).

She was Ellen Carlin, aged 28, and is believed to have

come from Ireland. She was found strangled.

She had been seen with an American soldier recently and detecrtives are seeking to establish his identity.

Chief Superintendent Tom Barratt and Det Superintendent Judge of Scotland Yard are in charge of investigations.

Newsletter September 8th 1954

London Murder Hunt Police confer with U.S. Officers Detectives in West End of London last night intensified their hunt for the murderer of Helen Carline O’Kelly (28) who ws found dead, with a stocking round her neck in her flat at Lillington Street, on Monday. It was expected that the police net will be widened to cover the Greater London area.

Information was being sought about an American Air Force sergeant, whom neighbours said they saw with O’Kelly a few hours before she died.

Three senior officers of the American forces reptresenting the Provost

Corps, conferrred yesterday with Superintendent William Judge, head of Chelsea CID and other officers.

Specially trained police women in civilian clothes mingled with the crowds in Central London.

Newsletter Thursday September 9th 1954

Murdered woman may be from Derry Mr James Carlin, of Rossville Street, Londonderry, fears that the 28 year old woman found murdered in her flat at Lillington Street, Pimlico, on Monday is his daughter.

Although the woman who was found dead with a stocking round her neck went under the name of Helen

Carline O’Kelly and several other names, she was known to the police as Ellen Carlin.

Mr Carlin said yesterday that his daughter Ellen went to London in 1946 and got a job in a laundry. He thought she had lost her identity card and had changed her name.

Belfast Magazine

After leaving school she was employed in a Derry shirt factory. She did not return home after going to london and her father last received a letter from her in February.

She maintained contact with a married sister in London. A brother lives in Cheshire.

An aunt Mrs Mary Gallagher of Blucher Street, Derry, and Mrs Gallagher's son, Patrick, went to London yesterday to see if they could identify the body.

Two American airmen went voluntarily to Chelsea police station yesterday to see if they

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could assist the police in their inquiries into the murder.

Shortly before midnight several American Servicemen still remained at Chelsea police station after being interviewed by the police.

They were awaiting transport back to their units.

Newsletter Friday September 17th 1954

Murdered Derry Girl Funeral in London Only relatives including her sister, her aunt and close friends were allowed to attend the funeral service in the crypt at Westminster Cathedral

yesterday when the funeral took place of Ellen Carlin, form Londonderry found murdered at Pimlico.

The coffin was taken to the cathedral form Westminster coroners court mortuary. The internment was at St George's cemetery, Hanwell.

Kidnap in Belfast An unusual case was heard by the Belfast Recorder at the Quarter Sessions in October 1931. It was an action for damages for alleged unlawful entering a dwelling house at Rathlin Street in Belfast and for damages for alleged assault and battery. The accused were Thomas and John McAuley, two brothers, both from Dunmurry.

They were accused by Eliza Carey, a widow who lived at 36 Rathlin Street.

In her evidence to the sessions Mrs Carey stated that her son was married to a sister of the defendants and that her son had a child, who was aged nine and called Kathleen. Her son and his wife had gone through some difficult times and had become estranged and Kathleen had come to

live with her grandmother and her son would come and visit his daughter at his mother’s house each weekend. Relations between her son and his wife had improved and Kathleen had started to spend time with her mother again. On June 30th 1931 a man came to Eliza’s door, a stranger, and he mumbled something to her which she couldn’t understand. Standing behind this man was Tom McAuley who suddenly pushed past her and ran though the open door and out to the back yard.

He was followed by his brother John and two other men who then ran up the stairs shouting for Kathleen. John McAuley grabbed Eliza as she tried to follow the men up the stairs and he restrained her by violently throwing her against the wall and holding her arms. He then began to

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Belfast Magazine

make threats, telling her that by nine o’clock that evening there would be no Careys left alive in the house, he told her that it was the ‘death day of the Careys’. Tom McAuley then began to shout at her, asking her where Kathleen was and when he came to a locked door upstairs he began to shunt at the door, trying to break it down. Eliza screamed at him and told them she would get the key. John let her go and she handed over the key and one of the men opened the door, on finding the room empty they began to leave the house getting into a car and driving away. John McAuley was all the time threatening her.

Eliza was shaken, frightened and phoned the police who sent a constable to stand on duty outside her house but the men did not come back. She later discovered that her son and his wife had got back together again and that Kathleen was with her father and mother.

When cross examined she was asked about an incident when she had gone to Kathleen’s school and tried to kidnap her as she was leaving the school. Eliza denied any involvement in that incident and she denied that her son had kidnapped his own daughter. Her distress both in court and on the day of the incident were described by Dr Linton who had called to see Eliza and found her in a collapsed and dangerously stressful condition.

John McAuley was called to give evidence and he admitted going to the house to find Kathleen.

He stated that he was only doing it because he was approached by his sister who had told him that one of Eliza’s other sons had told her that Kathleen was to be taken from her. John then went with his brother to a solicitor and then to the police but could not find out where Kathleen was. They then decided to take the law into their own hands and go to Eliza Carey’s house to see if Kathleen was there. He claimed that when Eliza told him that Kathleen was not at her house and he asked if he could look around she agreed readily. There was no force used or any distress shown by Eliza.

They did not find Kathleen there and left without any violence. He explained the presence of the other men on his fear that Eliza’s four sons may have been at the house and he wanted to make sure that there was no trouble at the house.

John thought that Kathleen had been taken from the school in a surreptitious way. Thomas then gave evidence telling the magistrate that his sister had told him that her husband was taking Kathleen out of the country, to America, and that she had had a message that she up to nine o’clock that night to say goodbye. He was sorry for his sister and wanted to prevent her from getting any more upset.

Thomas also denied that Eliza had been in any way molested or threatened and explained that the two families were usually on good terms and that had in fact spend the summer in Bangor with the two families. He admitted that Eliza Carey was always kind to Kathleen and that there had no bad feeling between them before this incident.

This peculiar case caused much interest in the city and the magistrate decided that this was a dispute about the custody of Kathleen and he understood from what he had heard that there was some misunderstanding between the father and mother of Kathleen and the mother got into a panic. His honour stated that he hoped that when the brothers went to the police and to the solicitors that they had not received any advice about what they were about to do on the day they called at the Carey house. It was plain that they had been at the Carey house and that their intention was to take away the child whether she liked it or not. In other words, they took the law into their own hands which was of course wrong. John and Thomas McAuley had put themselves in the wrong from the beginning as they had no right to force their way into the house of Mrs Carey who was respectable and caring mother and grandmother.

It was an illegal act and he did not doubt that threats had been issued. He decided to assess damages at £7, with one guinea costs for medical costs for Mrs Carey.

Belfast Magazine

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OLD BELFAST POLICE REPORTS ooking through the old crime records is truly a fascinating past time and one which never fails to shock and amaze. One aspect of this is the cases, which came before the judges in the old Belfast Police Courts. These are from January 1856

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A couple of barbers Isabella Barber was brought before court accused by her husband of being drunk all the time. Isabella was in her fifties but looked much older, as did her husband James and his concern was that as well as being drunk persistently, that whilst drunk she behaved terribly and with indiscretion.

Mr Tracy, the magistrate, asked Isabella if she drank and she replied that she did but that her husband did also.

She claimed that he came home drunk each night, scolded her and when they argued he would beat her. She claimed that if he stopped beating her she would stop drinking. Mr Tracy put the same question to James Barber who admitted that he would take the occasional drink but only as part of his business and that all he

wanted in his life was for his wife to be sober, he maintained that Isabella had been drunk for seven weeks in a row. Mr Tracy gave him a look of disbelief and instead of punishing Isabella he advised the frail couple to practice self-control in their drinking and dismissed them from the court.

Foul misconduct Sarah Morrow and Mary Crawford were before the court charged that early one morning they were spotted by Constable Coates of the local police walking along Joy Street, each with a bundle in their hands. The constable bid the women good morning and commented on how early they were up and about. They told him that they were on the way John Street with some work. The women walked on, along Russell Street and into Grace Street, and it was here that the policeman stopped them and asked them what they had in their bundles.

Mary Crawford ran off handing hers to her friend, but Sarah Morrow stood her ground and the constable unwrapped the bundle and found in one bundle seven

ducks and a goose and in the other bundle six ducks and a goose. The fowl were all dead and had been killed very recently. Sarah Morrow claimed that she had got the birds from a man in Cromac Street but the magistrate in the court was told that Morrow had been up in the same court seven months before on a similar charge. Both women were remanded.

Notorious Belfast Woman Margaret McManus was a woman who was well known to the Belfast courts. She was brought before them in January 1856 when she was accused by James Hatton, a member of the Cheshire Militia, of stealing one of his handkerchiefs. Mr Hatton while in Belfast had got involved with a rough crowd and had ended up seduced by the infamous Margaret McManus. It was not surprising that no evidence of the handkerchief was found, Margaret being too shrewd to admit to anything, and she was freed by the court. Mr Hatton left with a lesson in how to socialise more carefully.

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Belfast Magazine

Hudson’s Entry was so notorious it was cleared and it’s name changed to Gresham Street rings were sold to Margaret Robbery of Gold Rings Ellen Quin, Mary Jane Ann Hughes by Mary Jane Connor and Mary Jane Smith Smith but the remaining five were charged with the theft of rings were unaccounted for a large number of gold rings. and no evidence was found to The rings were owned by Mrs implicate Mary Jane Connor Gilbert who had a shop in in he theft. She was Belfast and her employee, discharged from the court, Robert McNeely, gave despite being convicted four evidence in court that he had times of theft before. Smith discovered that 12 gold rings was sentenced to three had gone missing from the months in prison, it was her shop one afternoon. It was a fifteenth appearance before couple of hours before the the court and Quin was robbery was discovered but sentenced to two months in when he realised what had jail as she was not such a happened he alerted the local hardened offender and had police. The local police when been before the court only informed of what had eight times previously. happened had a few ideas as to who was responsible and Brutal Stabbing Case carried out searches of known offenders. Three of the rings Thomas McDonald was were found at the home of charged with stabbing Jane Michael Quin who was the Harkin in Hudson’s Entry in father of Ellen. Four of the Belfast. Mr McDonald had

been at Jane Harkins house in Hudson’s Entry on the day of the stabbing and had pawned his shoes at his own request.

He later changed his mind and demanded his shoes back.

When he did not get them he got angry and lifted a poker and beat Jane around her head and face with the poker. He then threw the poker down and took a penknife from his pocket and stabbed her in the neck with it. Jane Harkin was seriously injured in the attack and spent many days receiving treatment in the Belfast General Hospital, she would be left with many facial scars.

Thomas McDonald claimed in court that Harkin, her friend Eliza Kirk and four other girls had attacked him first, beating him about the head, and three of the girls had caught him by the throat and shouted at him that they would choke him. He swore that he had not used the knife on Jane, and that it was he who feared for his life. The magistrate Mr Tracy did not believe McDonalds version of the events and he was sent to jail for two months, and at the end of his time in jail he had to find bail for his future good behaviour.

Belfast Magazine

Belfast map of 1884 showing the area around the old Belfast Prison

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Belfast Magazine

Two views showing women working Jacquard Power Looms in the Brookfield Linen Company in 1900

The spinning room at Ewarts Mill around the turn of the last century

Edenderry Mill

The Power Loom Weaving Shed at Ewarts Mill around the turn of the last century

Lankashire Smokless Boilers at Ewarts Mill 4th August 1937

Belfast Magazine

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A Chronology of the Northern Ireland Conflict

JULY 1977

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Belfast Magazine

Friday 1st July 1977 The army and police in a joint exercise uncovered a massive haul of explosives and ammunition in the Shankill area of Belfast, after a tip off an RUC patrol started

searching a house in Emerson Street. The army arrived a short time later and residents were evacuated from their homes.

It was described by the army

as a major discovery of a large bomb factory. The haul included home made grenades, bags of home made explosives, timing devices, fuse wire, assembled beer can

bombs and other bomb making materials.

Also uncovered was one bucketful of 9mm ammunition, at least 1000 rounds. The house was believed to be used by the UVF.

Saturday 2nd July 1977 A 22-year-old woman from Ardoyne was accused of having explosive substances in the Antrim Road area of Belfast. The unemployed stitcher from Kingston Street was accused of possessing five cassette incendiaries, 41 detonators, 3 timing devices and safety fuse at a lock up garage in Ponsonby Street.

Police seized guns, ammunition and bomb making equipment after a raid on a Belfast house.

The search took place on a house in the New Lodge area of north Belfast and the haul included two shotguns.

A gunman fired a single shot at an army checkpoint near the Guildhall in Derry.

No one was hurt and fire was not returned.

A doorman of the Roundhouse pub in Finaghy was shot in the leg when two men tried to gain entry into the pub and he stopped them. He was not seriously injured.

Incendiary devices caused a small fire in the Blackstaff Spinning Company building on the Springfield Road. An automatic sprinkler system put out the fire that started.

An incendiary device exploded in the Nursery Needs shop

in Howard Street, made safe two similar Belfast but damage devices found in the was slight. The army shop.

Monday 4th July 1977 An inquiry was launched after the discovery of 30 sticks of gelignite inside Crumlin Road Jail.

The explosives were smuggled in inside packets of butter. 20 detonators were also found. Neither the IRA nor UVF claimed ownership of the explosives.

Tunneys Meat Plant in Clones.

250 workers were evacuated while the factory was searched in case there were more explosives. The 100lb of fertiliser packed into an 8gallon milk churn partly exploded and little damage was caused.

At Kinawley the A 100lb milk churn army dealt with a bomb exploded in the suspect bomb in a

Belfast Magazine

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hijacked car. The area was sealed off after three masked men ordered the driver out of the vehicle.

A 17-year-old youth was shot by police after a car chase in the Shankill area. Four youths were detained and the injured youth taken to hospital after they were seen in a stolen car in Wilton Street.

A 35-year old part time reserve policeman survived an attempt on his life.

The constable was driving up the lane to his home at Drumquin in Co Tyrone, when his car triggered off a booby trap on the grass verge. The married man received injuries to his shoulder and thigh.

A 41-year-old docker from the New Lodge area of Belfast was charged with having two shotguns and seven rounds of ammunition.

Tuesday 5th July 1977 The IRA claimed responsibility for a firebomb attack of Frederick Thomas’s shop in Lower North

Street, Belfast.

The police and army were pelted with slates and bottles of spirits as five

Wednesday 6th July 1977 David Morrow a 35 year old full time reserve constable in the RUCR was shot dead by the IRA as he and two colleagues were preparing to put up ‘no parking’ cones in Aughnacloys main street in preparation for the weekly market. Mr Morrow who was married

with two children and from Sydney Crescent in Aughnacloy was about to get out of the police vehicle when gunmen jumped out of a stolen van and opened fire. All three policemen were hit by the gunfire. The gunmen escaped towards the border on

teenagers held them at bay from the rooftop of the White Cross Inn in Lower North Street.

an unapproved road in a car that was later found burnt out. The killing took place outside the towns Catholic church during mass. People attending the mass described lying on the church floor when the gunfire started and one passerby stated that Mr Morrow was dead at the scene.

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Belfast Magazine

Thursday 7th July 1977 There was major traffic disruption in Belfast when the RUC were called out to deal with a number of bomb hoaxes. The army were sent to Academy Street, Waring Street and the Smithfield area where stolen post offices vans had been left and all turned out to be

hoaxes. A suspect device in the Quik Snak cafĂŠ in Donegall Street also turned out to be a hoax.

The army uncovered rifles, ammunition and bomb parts in a series of searches in Belfast. The haul included five rifles, two pistols, 12

Friday 8th July 1977 Bomb scares in Belfast caused chaos for a second day running. Afternoon traffic was caught up as the army and RUC worked to deal with the suspect devices.

Police evacuated large areas of the city centre near where suspect vehicles had been left and several shops were checked after bomb warnings.

A GPO van, which had been hijacked in the Clonard Street area, was left in Shaftesbury Square.

A JCB digger caused an alert on the Donegall Road near the M1 and there was

another suspect vehicle left outside Belfast Hire Car on the Grosvenor Road.

Police also checked vehicles at Finaghy crossroads, Durham Street, Dunmurry Golf Club and Athol Street.

Bomb warnings were also given about a number of premises in the city centre.

They included Littlewoods, BHS, the Bank Buildings and Kelly’s Cellars. The railway line between Belfast and Lisburn was closed because of a suspect bomb at Finaghy halt. The M1 was also closed

cassette type incendiary devices, a Bren gun barrel, a quantity of ammunition and a radio receiver. The haul was discovered when a car was stopped in the Ladybrook area and the incendiary devices were found in a house in Ardoyne.

A man was arrested

by an SAS patrol at a farm in south Armagh. The man had been working on the farm when arrested and a woman living at the farm claimed that the army had shot her dog during the raid. A helicopter landed in the field and took away the arrested man.

between the city and Lisburn.

A 26-year-old man was shot in both legs in Belfast and was admitted to the RVH.

Road area. She was one of three people treated for shock after the blast at a car parked in Cupar Street. A 5lb bomb had been placed in a lorry, which had been hijacked earlier in Snugville Street in the Shankill area. Six cars were damaged in the explosion.

A 33-year-old woman was detained in hospital suffering from shock after a no warning bomb went off in the Springfield

Saturday 9th July 1977 Mr William John Hutchinson from north Belfast and a member of the UDA/ UFF was found dead in a shallow grave at Old Glencairn Road by a man walking his dog. His body had been covered in

quicklime and it was alleged he had been killed because he was an informer. Mr Hutchinson was lured into a car when he was told he was needed to get rid of some stolen drink.

The victim was an

Belfast Magazine

officer in the Shankill UDA and had also served as a prison officer in 1971, during which time he had escorted republican internees to Long Kesh. Mr Hutchinson was 33

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years old and married with 2 children.

An army patrol found a machine pistol, a magazine, and a sawn off shotgun hidden in a hedge at Carnagh Park, Newry.

Monday 11th July 1977 A 36-year-old Belfast security officer was charged with possession of a .38 revolver and 20 rounds of ammunition at his home in Tynedale Park, A 400lb bomb was defused by the army in Co Fermanagh.

The bomb was primed and ready for detonation and was packed into four creamery cans in a road culvert near Lisnaskea. Wires were spotted leading from the culvert for about half a mile.

In Enniskillen a car stolen from the Cornagrade housing estate was blown up by the army in a car

park.

IRA firebomb attack on shops in Larne

In New Barnsley, Belfast, soldiers were fired at twice, no one Six policemen were was hurt. hurt when a 50 strong crowd threw bottles There were two and stones during sniper attacks in Derry. Three gunmen operating from a car Street rioting broke fired 15 shots at out in Belfast after police in the gunmen tried to kill Rosemount Estate soldiers. Soldiers area and in the used rubber bullets to William Street area a disperse the crowd shot was fired at an who showered them army patrol. in stones and bottles.

Tuesday 12th July 1977 bonfire celebrations in the Waterside area of Derry.

Wednesday 13th July 1977

In Newcastle after an anonymous warning police found cassette type devices under seats at the Wilmar Hotel. One had partly exploded scorching a seat. The other was defused. Nobody was hurt.

A shot was fired at New Barnsley RUC station and later a shot was fired at an army patrol in Lenadoon Avenue.

Later a number of shots were fired at an army patrol at Glenalina Road in the

Whiterock area.

They came from Ardmonagh Gardens and no one was hurt.

As the army mounted a follow up operation a crowd attacked them.

A bus was hijacked at the Beehive on the Falls Road and the driver forced to take it to the Springfield Road area where a crowd of 70 set it alight.

Rival crowds stoned each other across the

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peace line at Lawnbrook Avenue and Cupar Street in the Falls Road area of Belfast, but they dispersed on the arrival of the RUC. Twenty-one bullets were found by children at Alloa

Street in the Cliftonpark Avenue area and bullets were also discovered lying at Glenwherry River in Ballyclare.

found in a house in the Ardoyne area.

In Derry a bomb in a duffle bag was left near the Orange Lodge assembly place in Derry but A rifle and pistol failed to go off. It was along with thought that it was a ammunition were plot by the IRA to kill

Orangemen as they left for the Twelfth parade. The 12lb bomb was on top of a small wall just outside the old City Walls but close to where the bands and Lodges formed up on the Twelfth morning.

Friday 15th July 1977 A bomb was planted at the gates of Andersonstown RUC station. The 10lb duffle bag bomb was found and make safe.

No damage was a caused to the station and no one was hurt.

had wires leading army bomb disposal from it to a box on the expert examined the The army examined a roadside. device and the area suspect van at Curry’s was sealed off by the corner on the Firemen fought a hay RUC. More than Ballynahinch to shed blaze near 2000 bales of hay Newcastle Road. The Mayobridge, Newry, were destroyed in the van had been unaware that a fire at Dysart Old hijacked in the Turf suspect bomb was Mill, Cooper’s Hill.

Lodge area of Belfast near the building. An

Saturday 16th July 1977 A part time UDR man was ambushed as he left a friends house in Ballycastle Road, Armoy. Five shots were fired; one of the bullets hit him in the shoulder.

Two petrol bombs were thrown at a steward’s house in the grounds of Cliftonville Golf Club on the Westland Road. One of the bombs went through

but the couple were a front window but not hurt. failed to ignite and At Dublin Road, the second fell short Antrim, two petrol and burned out against a wall. No 25-year-old one was shot and A was damage to the house housewife accused of having a was slight.

Remington rifle, a .38 At Cliftondene pistol and 62 rounds Gardens a number of of ammunition and 24 shots were fired into cartridges at her a house occupied by home in Eskdale a couple in their 70’s. Gardens.

The bullets went into an upstairs bedroom A 15-year-old boy through the ceiling was shot in the foot

bombs were thrown into a house causing serious damage. No one was hurt.

Monday 18th July 1977 by a soldier after the van in which he was travelling backfired as it passed a sentry post outside the Belfast prison. The soldier believed he was being fired at and aimed at the van.

The RUC found a home made machine

Belfast Magazine

gun, six bullets and 3lbs of explosives in a field at Lismona Weir, near Portadown.

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a garden at Fintona in Tyrone.

A suspect bomb planted on a night safe at the Northern Bank in St Patrick’s The army found a A v e n u e , .303 rifle and a Downpatrick turned number of bullets in out to be a hoax.

elsewhere. Over 80 Fire was not returned items were seized in and checkpoints were the search. quickly set up around the area but no arrests Gunmen attacked were made.

Strabane RUC station On the outskirts of but no one was hurt. Belfast a crowd threw Three shots were stones at an RUC land fired at sentries in the rover in the station from the Twinbrook Estate but direction of none of the crew were RUC had raided a Townsend Street. hurt. vacant flat at Forthriver Drive and detectives worked on A bomb attack on a in the Lower Falls the theory that the police station caused area of Belfast. equipment was only structural damage but stored at the address no injuries. The Visiting at the Maze but, as there were no device exploded at prison resumed after beds the site, the field the rear of the protests by IRA The hospital was Hastings Street post prisoners.

Tuesday 19th July 1977 Medical equipment suitable for a field hospital was seized by the RUC in Belfast. The find was made in a loyalist area of the Glencairn district and included bandages, tablets, and surgical knives. The

Wednesday 20th July 1977

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Belfast Magazine

prisoners destroyed bed sheets after compassionate parole was denied to a fellow prisoner.

Five sticks of gelignite and four detonators were found at the rear of a

house in the Lecky Road area of Derry by an army patrol. A man was questioned about the find but later released.

The RUC uncovered a small cache of explosives in Castlewellan, Co

Thursday 21st July 1977 The RUC found an old gun, ammunition and a quantity of medial supplies in Sandy Row Orange Hall. The gun was an old rifle without a butt and twenty rounds of ammunition as well as plaster, tablets and antiseptics were uncovered.

A 19-year-old man was charged with possessing bomb making materials and belonging to the IRA. The man of Highbury Gardens in Belfast denied the charges and the explosives were found at Cranbrook Gardens.

An 18-year-old soldier was shot by a

Friday 22nd July 1977 Thomas Graham Fenton, a 20 year old prison officer from Antrim was shot dead as he drank in Molloy’s pub at the Frosses, on the main Ballymena to Ballymoney Road.

He worked at Magilligan prison and lived at Princess G a r d e n s ,

Cloughmills. Two gunmen burst into the pub, one blocked the door while the other, armed with an M1 carbine, fired nine shots. Mr Fenton was hit four times and died. A friend was hit twice but survived.

Prison officers at all of the jails responded to the killing by

Down. The find at Burren Road included bomb making equipment, explosives and a telescopic sight.

when a shot was heard in the area and when the area was searched traces of blood were found in Spinner Street. There were no reports of being Mystery surrounded a anybody shooting incident in injured or admitted to the Falls Road area hospital. sniper in Ballymurphy. The private, serving with the 3rd battalion, Light Infantry, was a member of a fourman patrol walking along Ballymurphy Drive when a single shot was fired at them.

An army patrol found a large haul of arms and ammunition in an

outhouse at Ballyconlargy, near Desertmartin, Co Derry. The haul included four rifles, an air pistol, three rifle barrels, two butts, three loading rods, 267 rounds of assorted ammunition, 27 cartridges and a trigger mechanism.

No arrests were made.

banning visits and parcels until after his funeral.

A military policeman was wounded in the leg when a sniper opened fire on a patrol in the Short Strand area of Belfast. Six shots were fired at a land rover carrying men of 2 Royal Military Police.

A bomb attack on a Catholic Church near Derry caused extensive internal damage. A window was broken in Star of the Sea Church at Greysteel, midway between Derry and Limavady, when the 50lb device was thrown in. The blast brought down parts of the ceiling in the

Belfast Magazine

building, wrecked ammunition in a internal fittings, and hedge at Strabane. blew out windows.

The find was made at Newtownkennedy The army recovered Street and two blue an M1 carbine and 11 stocking face masks rounds of were also found.

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Sunday 24th July 1977 James, H Cobb an RUC officer was shot by the IRA as he and two other reservists were opening a security barrier at Church Place, Lurgan. Mr Cobb was 38 and married

with three children.

The reservists were both wounded while a fourth policeman escaped injury. Mr Cobb who was an inspector was from Ballygowan Road in Hillsborough.

Monday 25th July 1977

A small bomb exploded on a widow sill at Silent Valley Orange Hall, Carginagh Road, Kilkeel. Only slight damage was caused.

A hoax car bomb brought part of Belfast city centre to a standstill. Shoppers watched as the army robot fired shots at the car that had been left outside the Elephant pub on the corner of North Street and Winetavern Street. There was a package on the back seat of the car.

The Londonderry Brigade of the Ulster Freedom Fighters c l a i m e d responsibility for the attack on the Star of the Sea Church at Greysteel. They stated that the attack was in retaliation for the burning of Bellaghy Orange Hall.

A firebomb attack at Alexandra Toys in Larne left the premises gutted and a follow search of the area uncovered firebombs in Loughs and Wellworths in the town. Both devices exploded causing severe damage and smoke pollution to

IRA firebomb attack on shops in Portrush

Saturday 23rd July 1977 Five women chatting outside a house in Shankill Parade in Belfast were fired on.

The women saw a car with five men inside it pull up beside them.

Three men got out and fired five shots.

One 21-year-old married woman was hit in he leg.

The RUC uncovered 280 lb of explosives in a wood at Derryattioree, Dungannon. The explosives were packed in plastic bags.

the whole area. At one point there were two fire appliances from Carrickfergus and one from Whitehead in addition to the three Larne machines in attendance.

In Belfast two hotels on the Antrim Road were attacked by fire bombers.

The Chester Park and the Lansdowne Court were both searched when devices were found.

In the Lansdowne Court three devices were found and all three defused. At the Chester Park one device exploded under a seat and two others were defused.

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Belfast Magazine

Tuesday 26th July 1977 Wednesday 27th July 1977 Hoax bombers faced up to five years in jail under new legislation. Placing or sending a hoax bomb became an offence carrying a penalty of a £1000 fine and/or a maximum penalty of five years imprisonment.

Gardai and soldiers found a quantity of gelignite and detonators at a disused quarry at Termon near

Letterkenny.

Shots were heard in the North Queen Street area of Belfast but no targets were found.

A Catholic man was shot as he lay in bed at his home at Bawnmore Park.

A 26 year old unemployed store man of Rockview Street was charged with possessing a sawn off shotgun and two barrels.

A part time corporal in the UDR was shot dead as he answered a knock at the door of his home at Cuan Parade on Woodvale Avenue.

James McFall, aged 38 and married with 5 children had just completed his postal round and had returned home before 8.00am when the gunmen fired shots through the frosted glass of the door. He was

found in a pool of blood by his wife and 15-year-old son, he died in his son’s arms. Two gunmen were responsible for the killing in which Mr McFall did not have the opportunity to use his personal protection weapon.

Later that day more than a thousand postal workers in Belfast stopped work in protest at the killing.

Mr McFaul’s van parked outside his house in Woodvale Avenue

Belfast Magazine

Four people died in les than five hours when feuding broke out between the Provisional IRA and Official IRA. Trevor McNulty, aged 29 and married with one child was shot dead at 2.55pm. Mr McNulty was a member of the Official IRA and was an executive member and education officer of the Republican Clubs political

organisation and he was shot in the entrance hall of Alexander House in the New Lodge area where he lived. He was hit three times in the head. A friend who was also injured in the attack stated that they were about to get in the lift when two men told them to freeze and then fired seven shots at them.

The two gunmen ran

off towards North Queen Street. James Foots, aged 29, was shot by the Official IRA as he was getting out of a car near Unity Flats at around 4.30pm. He was the brother of a Sinn Fein spokesman and was married. His father was wounded in the legs in the incident.

At 8.28pm Daniel Cowan a 30-year-old married man with

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three children was shot at his home by two Official IRA gunmen.

The gunmen broke through the glass panel of the front door at Riverdale Park East and fired at him as he sat with his sister. Mr Cowan who was a grocer was shot when he was mistaken for someone else. The last man to be killed

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Belfast Magazine

was Thomas Tolan who was shot at 8.30pm and was known locally as ‘toddler’ Tolan. The 31 year old married man was well known in west Belfast and had only been married three weeks when he was shot outside his home in Ballymurphy Road.

He was one of the ‘magnificent seven’, detainees who staged an escape from the prison ship HNS Maidstone in 1972.

They escaped by swimming to the shore of Belfast Lough after climbing out of a porthole. Mr Tolan is listed in the republican roll of

honour as a member of the IRA’s 2nd battalion Belfast brigade.

The army examined a suspect bomb found near the New Barnsley military post in west Belfast.

Shortly after the device in a plastic bag was spotted the army set of a controlled explosion.

A cassette type incendiary device was used to start a blaze at the Talk of the Town pub near Dungannon. The fire forced a man and his wife to flee their home next door to the pub and the fire damaged the roofs of two other houses.

Thursday 28th July 1977 As part of the republican feud in Belfast the following incidents were reported. Eighteen shots were fired at Kelly’s bar on the Whiterock Road in Belfast but no injuries were reported. Eight shots were fired at a group of workmen in

the Grosvenor Road area but nobody was hit. Two boys, one aged 12 and the other 15 were shot at Monagh Drive. The youngest was hit in the knee and the 15 year old was shot in the chest. Two men were shot in the arms at Ardmonagh

Belfast Magazine

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Funeral of UDR corporal James McFall

Gardens, Turf Lodge.

A 15-year-old girl was shot in the right thigh at Norglen Parade and two men were shot at Springfield Park. Six shots were fired into a house at Whitecliff C r e s c e n t , Ballymurphy. They went through the

front window and lodged in a wall. A woman and two children were sleeping upstairs, but were unhurt. A 25year-old man was found shot six times at Norglen Parade.

He was wounded four times in the right leg.

Two cassette

Friday 29th July 1977 A bomb was found inside the New University of Ulster complex at Coleraine.

The 1lb bomb was discovered in the men’s toilets and the area was sealed off while the army dealt with the device. The device had been left on a windowsill in an area where a reception for Queen Elizabeth II was to be held.

A 42-year-old man from Ligoneil was charged with the murder of 15 people killed in an explosion at McGurks pub in north Belfast.

A 24-year-old man was shot on his doorstep by a gunman in the Woodvale area of Belfast. The man was wounded in the chest when he

Funeral of IRA member Thomas Tolan

incendiaries were found in a Larne bar over a cistern in the men lavatory. The devices in Robinsons in Main Street were both defused.

A shot was fired at Belleek RUC station from across the border but no one was hurt.

answered a knock at the front door of his home in Woodvale Avenue. A police patrol in the area at the time gave chase to the gunmen. Two men were detained and a pistol and revolver were recovered.

near Kelly’s Bar at the Whiterock Junction in Belfast.

An M1 carbine and a machine gun with a silencer were found in a follow up search.

A nine year old boy was shot in the left leg by a bullet fired from a passing car at a pedestrian crossing

Two youths were fired on by the occupants of a car in the Turf Lodge area of Belfast. One was hit in the back and the other only received minor gunshot injuries. In a follow

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Belfast Magazine

up search by the RUC a rifle was found.

A firebomb was thrown into the home of a family in the Ballysillan district of Belfast. The petrol bomb landed in a bedroom of the house and set fire to furnishings.

A woman, her father,

her 10-year-old son and her brother who were all in the house at the time escaped unhurt.

A petrol bomb was thrown into Holy Cross School in Ardoyne burning itself out and causing little damage.

Saturday 30th July 1977 It was claimed that the IRA had obtained a secret document, which gave precise details of the Queens Ulster Jubilee tour.

The army and RUC made two arms finds in Belfast.

A Remington rifle and an armalite were found in a search of Kashmir Road in the Springfield area and 10 bullets were also found. In another search in Atlantic

Avenue off the Antrim Road, 59 rounds of 9mm ammunition and 14 rounds of .38 were found in a house.

Seventy one rounds of ammunition were found in an entry in Cheviot Avenue, in east Belfast and an army patrol discovered three sub machinegun magazines at the junction of Springmartin Road and Springfield Road.

August 1977 will be covered in the next issue of the Belfast Magazine which goes on sale in all leading newsagents on Monday 22nd November

Belfast Magazine

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.... and finally A duck walks into a pub and orders a pint of beer and a ham sandwich.

The barman looks at him and says, "Hang on!

You're a duck."

"I see your eyes are working," replies the duck.

"And you can talk!" Exclaims the barman.

"I see your ears are working, too," Says the duck.

So the next day when the duck comes into the pub "Now if you don't mind, can I have my beer and the barman says, "Hey Mr. Duck, I reckon I can my sandwich please?" line you up with a top job, paying really good money."

"Certainly, sorry about that," Says the barman as he pulls the duck's pint. "It's just we don't get many "I'm always looking for the next job," says the ducks in this pub.. What are you doing round this duck."Where is it?" way?"

"At the circus," says the barman.

"I'm working on the building site across the road," explains the duck. "I'm a plasterer."

"The circus?" repeats the duck.

The flabbergasted barman cannot believe the duck and wants to learn more, but takes the hint when the duck pulls out a newspaper from his bag and proceeds to read it. So, the duck reads his paper, drinks his beer, eats his sandwich, bids the barman good day and leaves.

"That's right," replies the barman. "The circus?"

The duck asks again, with the big tent?"

"Yeah," the barman replies.

"With all the animals who live in cages, and performers who live in caravans?" says the duck.

The same thing happens for two weeks.

"Of course," the barman replies.

Then one day the circus comes to town.

The ringmaster comes into the pub for a pint and the barman says to him "You're with the circus, aren't you? Well, I know this duck that could be just brilliant in your circus. He talks, drinks beer, eats sandwiches, reads the newspaper and everything!" "Sounds marvelous," says the ringmaster, handing over his business card. "Get him to give me a call."

"And the tent has canvas sides and a big canvas roof with a hole in the middle?" persists the duck.

"That's right!" says the barman.

The duck shakes his head in amazement, and says ....."What the hell would they want with a plasterer??!"

Murders, Ghosts and Bodysnatchers

The Darker Side of Belfast’s History Every Sunday the Glenravel Project conduct a fascinating tour which explores the darker side of Belfast’s history. The city centre tour meets at St Anne’s Cathedral and ends at Castle Junction where all the horrific executions took place and where we will look at the gory details behind a few of them. Before that we will tell a few of the ghost stories from that area such as the tragedy which occurred in the Lucifer Match Factory and Smithfield Mill before moving on to the old Victorian red light district and exploring what life was really like there. We will look at the popular bar room activity where bets were taken on killing rats with bare teeth as well as some of the ‘dreadful’ crimes which saw some of the areas residents being transported. There will be more murder stories as well as the sad ghost story telling the fate of the Five Mary’s.

We will visit Academy Street where the lodgings of most of Belfast’s bodysnatchers were situated. We will hear the tales of how they robbed the local graveyards of corpses and why they tore the teeth from the heads. We will then cross to the site of the infamous Hundon’s Entry which was so notorious even the police refused to go in.

The total cost is £7 per person and will include a fascinating DVD looking at the darker side of Belfast’s history. To secure your place you can book online at www.toursofbelfast.com or simply meet outside St Anne's Cathedral any Sunday night at 6.30pm ISSN 1470-0417

£2.50