“By far the most sensational armed robbery
since the Baltinglass affair was perpetrated in Athy on the night of Friday, 5th
December when three armed and masked men, having gained an entrance to the Post
Office, held up the acting Postmaster and the Clerk who were at work on the
accounts and robbed the premises of between £300 and £400 worth of postage
stamps and £102 in cash”.
Under the
headline, “Sensational Robbery in Athy”
the Nationalist and Leinster Times of 13th December 1924 carried the
story which would excite the public’s interest for months thereafter. In interviews I have carried out over the
years I have frequently come across references to the Post Office robbery, but
those who referred to it could only do so in very general terms. Indeed when some years ago I interviewed the
widow of the acknowledged leader of the Post Office raiders, she had but
sketchy details of what happened. The
story can now be told and by a strange coincidence its telling in March 2005
comes soon after a chain of events in Northern Ireland which parallel in many
ways what happened in Southern Ireland 81 years ago.
The Civil War
between pro-treaty and anti-treaty sides had effectively ended in April 1923
with the death of the Republican Chief of Staff, Liam Lynch. Frank Aiken issued a cease-fire and a Dump
Arms Order the following month, while at the same time De Valera issued a
statement conceding defeat while claiming “military
victory must be allowed to rest for the moment with those who have destroyed
the public”. Over 11,000 Republican
prisoners were taken, the majority of whom were incarcerated for upwards of a
year. The bitterness of those years
lingered on and the Free State government of W.T. Cosgrave did not have the allegiance
or even the tacit support of many disgruntled Republicans. Bank robberies and Post Office robberies were
a common enough occurrence in the immediate aftermath of Civil War
hostilities. As it later transpired the
Post Office robbery in Athy was carried out by anti-treaty men who supported De
Valera and Sinn Fein. A year later De
Valera would leave Sinn Fein and set up a new political party which would be
called Fianna Fáil. The Post Office raid
in Athy was intended to further embarrass the Irish Free State Government while
at the same time contributing some badly needed funds for the Republican cause.
At about 11.20
p.m. on Friday night, 5th December, Richard Nagle, acting Postmaster
and his Clerk, D.C. O’Leary were working in the public office of the local Post
Office when they heard the latch of the side door being lifted. A few moments later they heard a man calling
out, “put your hands up”. He was standing in the back door of the
public office wearing a handkerchief over the bottom part of his face and
pointing a revolver at the Postmaster.
Two more men appeared, each wearing a black face mask and carrying a
revolver.
The Post Office
officials were forced into the Postmaster’s office where they were bound
and tied to chairs. The first man to enter the Post Office
appeared to be the leader of the raiders and it was he who took possession of
the safe keys, opened the Post Office safe and took several bundles of currency
and stamps which he put into a green canvas bag. When the raiders were about to leave, Nagle
claimed their leader levelled a revolver at his back and for a moment he
thought he was about to be killed.
However, the masked raider drew back the revolver and suddenly doubling
back the muzzle let a bullet fall out.
He picked it up and replaced it in the revolver, warning the two Post
Office officials not to move for ten minutes.
As soon as the
raiders left O’Leary was able to loosen his ties and immediately telephoned the
local Gardai who were stationed in their temporary barracks at the Hibernian
Hotel [now Bradbury’s] in Leinster Street.
Immediately 13 men in charge of Sergeant William Duggan and Sergeant
Coogan turned out. Garda McNamara and
Garda Keyes were amongst them and they arrived at the Post Office on
bicycles. On arrival McNamara and Keyes
were directed to take the road towards Fortbarrington in the search for the
Post Office raiders. Cycling as fast as
possible they came to the level crossing just beyond the present Pairc Bhride
housing estate and hearing the sound of approaching footsteps they lay in
wait. Within a few moments two men came
running along the railway line who on hearing the Gardai call “halt”, answered with the volley of
revolver fire. The two men continued
running, pursued by Garda McNamara and Keyes while further shots were
exchanged. Garda McNamara hit one of the
men who was seen to stumble and run on for another 20 yards or so before
falling to the ground. McNamara trained
his gun on the injured man, while Garda Keyes chased the second man whom he
eventually pulled to the ground approximately 100 yards further along the
railway track.
The gun fire had
alerted other Gardai who arrived on the scene and they helped to secure the
arrest of the two men. The wounded man
was brought by car to the Garda Station where he was attended by Dr. Jeremiah
O’Neill and later that morning to the Curragh Military Hospital. The second man arrested was kept overnight in
the Garda Station and the next day brought before a special Court in Kildare
where he was remanded in custody. In a
subsequent search of the area where the men were arrested, a .45 Webley and a
Colt revolver were found, as well as spent shells and £150 worth of
stamps. It later transpired that two of
the raiders on leaving the Post Office went by Convent Lane through the grounds
of the Dominican Church and across the field onto the railway track. Where the third raider went remained a mystery,
as did his identity, but recent research has helped to throw some light on both
questions which will be dealt with next week.
The Military
arrived from Carlow at 5 o’clock the following morning, approximately 5½ hours after their assistance had been sought
and long after the crime had been solved, or more correctly, partially solved. The inefficiency of the Military was the
subject of much criticism in the local papers and I cannot but smile at the
similarities between then and now as regards Athy’s reliance on backup from the
Carlow authorities when it comes to dealing with local crime.
TO BE COMPLETED NEXT WEEK
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