“Dublin Jack” was a name I came across on a
few occasions, especially when talking to those who were born or lived in the
Castlemitchell area. So far as I can
find out “Dublin Jack” died in or around 1945. An intelligent man, he was well known in the
Castlemitchell area where he worked and lived for most of the year, travelling
around and working when he could find work, for local farmers. With the name “Dublin Jack” his birth
place was readily identifiable, even if it couldn't be recognised from his
accent or the strange language he used.
For “Dublin Jack” had a
language which owed little to the Queen's english. The Bleeding Horse, a well known hostelry was
a favourite haunt of “Dublin Jack” and the story has come down through
the generations of the night the Gardai cycled out from Athy to raid the
country pub. The luckless late night
patrons, including “Dublin Jack” were duly summoned to appear at the
local District Court when the man from the capital addressed the presiding
Judge. In explaining his presence on the
premises after hours “Dublin Jack” claimed: “Every night before I hit the long jump I
take in a long journey and I was only down to the church windows when the
copper knocked to let him come in”.
Some of the locals who were well accustomed to listening to “Dublin
Jack” and understood his language were called upon to explain to the Court
what he had said and the translation involved explaining that “the long
jump” meant “bed” and “a long journey” meant “a pint of porter”
and “the church window” was “the bottom of a pint glass”. It goes without saying that the colourful
character is believed to have had the charge against him dismissed.
“Dublin Jack”
spent most of the year in the Castlemitchell/Churchtown area and the
Bleeding Horse, or more correctly one of its many outhouses, provided the
sleeping quarters for the knight of the road.
He wasn't in the ordinary sense one of the many men who travelled the
Irish countryside in the 1930's, moving from one place to another in search of
work, all the time sleeping rough and generally returning to the same places at
different times of the year. “Dublin
Jack” spent most of the year in the Castlemitchell area and while he
usually disappeared for the winter months he was always expected to return with
the Spring to his favourite haunts near the Laois border.
“Dublin Jack” was believed to have been a
nephew of James Carey, a leading member of the Invincibles who were involved in
the Phoenix Park Murders. The Invincibles
were a breakaway group of the Irish Republican Brotherhood and five of its
members were hanged for the murder in the Phoenix Park on 6th May
1882 of Lord Cavendish, Chief Secretary of Ireland and his Under Secretary
Thomas Burke. Carey, who was a Dublin bricklayer,
turned informer and in return he was sent to South Africa to start a new
life. However, he was shot dead on the
boat bringing him and his family to that country while the boat was lying off
the coast of Capetown.
The extended Carey family left behind in Dublin,
although innocent of any complicity in the work of James Carey, found it
necessary to move out of the city. “Dublin
Jack” took to the road, while his brother who was a baker ended up in
Celbridge in the north of the county.
There may be some persons who remember “Dublin Jack” who died
over 60 years ago and if so I would be pleased to hear from them.
Anyone interested in the Invincibles should read “The
Irish National Invincibles and their Times” by P.J.P. Tynan who was their
leader. He died in New York in November
1936, aged 94 years, and the Irish Independent of 20th November of
that year in announcing his death referred to him as “the man who at one
time was well known in England as a loyal member of a select London volunteer
regiment and was one of the Guard of Honour to Queen Victoria when she opened
the new law courts in London.” Another
interesting London link with the Phoenix Park Murders was announced in the
Freemans Journal of 22nd June 1883 when the following report
appeared. “On Wednesday by the midday
boat (London and Northwestern Route) from the North Wall the authorities
consigned to the Messrs Tussaud Wax Works Exhibition, the car used by Kavanagh
in the Phoenix Park murder of Mr. Burke and Lord Frederick Cavendish, also the
mare who was on that day yoked to the car together with Kavanagh's whip and the
identical clothes worn by him on that occasion.”
In the past I have made brief references to Seamus
Malone, a teacher, who so far as I can find out taught in the local Christian
Brothers School sometime in the early 1920's.
Seamus who was a teacher of Irish and history spent approximately four
years in Athy and during that time he was responsible for reviving the local
G.A.A. Club. At the same time he was
very much involved in the Republican Movement and it was this involvement which
would eventually cause him to leave the Christian Brothers school. Two of his children, Sheila and Una, were
born in Athy and the Malone family lived in Stanhope Street on the same side as
Winkles newsagents. Seamus was a good
friend of Paddy Gibbons, a local journalist who lived in Woodstock Street, and
both shared strong Republican affiliations.
Thomas Malone left Athy to take up a teaching post in Kilrush in County
Clare and later taught in Newtown Quaker school in Waterford before ending his
teaching career in a Jewish school in Dublin.
Seamus and his brother Tom Malone were very involved in the Irish War of
Independence, Tom being a Commandant in the East Limerick Flying Column. Tom Malone wrote of his experiences in the
I.R.A. in a book published in 2000 under the title “Alias Sean Forde”,
while his brother Seamus wrote of his I.R.A. involvement in a book published by
Sairseal and Dill in 1958 called “Bfiu an Braon Fola” which Fr. Patrick
Twohig, Parish Priest of Churchtown in County Cork translated and published as “Blood
on the Flag” ten years ago. I am
sure there is no one around who remembers Seamus Malone, but perhaps somewhere
there may be a reference to, or a photograph of, the man who spent four years
amongst the Athy people. Again if you
can help in my research surrounding Seamus Malone I would be delighted to hear
from you.
Elections to Athy Urban District Council were held on
15th January 1920, even as the War of Independence was entering its
second year. One of the Sinn Fein
councillors elected at that time was Thomas O'Rourke of William Street who
coincidentally was joined on the Urban Council by Joseph O'Rourke, also of
William Street. Were they related I
wonder? Three months later Thomas
O'Rourke and three of his sons were arrested by a group of Black and Tans and
R.I.C. in a roundup of local I.R.A. sympathisers. How long they were detained I cannot say but
twelve months later Thomas O'Rourke and John Hayden, another Athy man, were
reported in the local papers as having been used as hostages on an army lorry
which passed through Athy. John Hayden
who was captain of the local I.R.A. company was a teacher in the Christian Brothers
school in Athy. John lived with his
brother Paddy, who was also involved in
the I.R.A. at no. 7 Offaly Street. He
would again be interned during the subsequent Civil War and would, like many
who opposed the Treaty, emigrate to America.
He returned to Ireland in 1934 and died 31 years later. Thomas O'Rourke and his three sons remain
somewhat of a mystery insofar as I have never been able to satisfactorily
identify them. If you think you can help
me in that regard I would welcome hearing from you.
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