The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-08-26
ARMY BLUNDERED
 IN DUBLIN RIOTS, ! BARONET HOLDS

kAkUNEI HULUS
 f'.
 London. Aug. 26-In connection with the inquiry now proceeding into the execution of F. Sheehy Sheffing- ton and his two companions during the Dublin riots, the Dublin weekly Socialist organ, The Clarion, pulp fishes some Impressions of the Irish rebellion by Major Sir Francis Pat rick Vane, founder of the World Or- der of Socialism, and a distinguished soldier and writer.
 In his article Sir Francis makes some sensational statements. He was Captain Bowen-Colthurst's superior officer during the riots, but only heard indirectly of the shooting of Skeffing- ton and his two companions.
 Naturally, I at once went to the officer commanding the troops to in- qufre about it," writes Sir Francis, "and found him in great distress as myself about the affair, and that he had Communicated by telephone with Dublin Castle. Quite obviously, no orders to arrest Captain Bowen-Colt- hurst had been given, which seemed altogether incorrect, but as the com manding officer of his own regiment was present, and I had received no official report, it was clearly not my duty to interfere. This I did, how ever, when commanding the defenses, as I publicly said could not be re- sponsible for them if Captain Colt hurst were permitted to leave the barracks at the head of raiding par ties. It must be remembered it was a strenuous time. For instance, I never had my clothes off for a whole week, and only snatched sleep when could.
 Calls Capfain Lunatic and Mailman.
 For one who had been in two wars, and who had in many books and articles deprecated and denounc- ed harsh actions in war other than those of tho battlefield, to find sud- denly that three cold-blooded mur- ders had been committed within my
 military Jurisdiction was almost hu- norous in it's contradictions. That these murders had been committed by a 1unatic could hardly exonerate those who allowed a mailman to have command of troops in a rebellion.
 T soon ascertained the facts and proceeded to try to prevent their re-. currence. Some of these have not heretofore been published. For ex- ample. on that memorable Monday afternoon Captain Colthurst, when on a raid into the streets, had halted his men ih front of the tobacco shop of Alderman Kelly and, as I presume, by way of introduction to the fam fly, had thrown a bomb through a window, Miss Kelly and~ her maid narrowly escaping death.
 With the full approval of Major Rossborough, who commanded the troops, assembled the officers in the post billiard room and gave them a lecture on their responsibilities un- der martial law, having myself been an administrator of it in 1901 Hon. estly, believe I frightened them.
 "It must be remembered that the troops which poured into Ireland on April 25 were all very young soldiers Many of them did not even know whether they were in France or Ire land Most of them had been in training only a few months. It is re- lated, for example, that in marching up from Kingstown to Dublin one of these battalions came under the us- ual sniping fire. It is not easy to 1oca,, such fire; and the command ing officer detached platoon to sur round a certain house and to keep up a continuous fire on it for some three hours. The fact was that this house was occupied by a retired Col onel in the army, who, with his house. hold, spent this feverish time in the cellar. It is not recorded what the gallant officer said during his en- forced Imprisonment.
 Complained to Kitchener
 "On Monday, May 1, the rebellion, so far as Dublin was concerned, was finished, and I was naturally relieved from my active duties as commander of the defenses. A curious part of this transaction, however, was that I was ordered to hand over my duties to Captain Colthurst, who six days before had illegally executed three men, as I well knew.
 T proceeded to headquarters of the Irish command and there officially re- ported the facts of the Skeffington and still the officer who had committed them was allowed to com mand men. Even then, six days af- terward could not obtain any as- surance that this officer would be re- strained, and consequently, being only too we'll aware of the serious effect In Ireland of this obvious attempt to hush up crime which. was at that time matter of common knowledge. I obtained leave to go to England, and reported the facts directly to Lord 
 Tn my presence the late Secretary Tor War wrote a telegram placing Captain Colthurst under arrest, and he asked me why this had not been done immediately. I could only reply l did not know, and this was eight days after the crime was committed"