The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1920-05-08
AN ARMY OF
10000 MEN
Underground Force Has Limited
Equipment, Many Guns Being
Sporting Rifles Captured
From English.

I [By Webb Miller, United Press Staff
/ Correspondent
| DUBLIN, May THE secret Sim
/ Fem Army of the Irish Republic
now aggregates more than 10000
men, according to claims made by
Sim Fem officials.
i Some hitherto unpublished details
of the organization and equipment OF
! this underground" army were given
I The United Press by a member of
1 the Sim Fein cabinet who has been
! active in the work of organization
and holds high rank in the army"
| He declared that the organization
/ is completely equipped with small
+! arms, such as rifles and revolvers,
| and "a certain amount of ammuni-
! ton" Most of the troops" have
| their own uniforms. Owing to the
necessity of keeping their equipment
!; hidden, each man is made responsible
| for the custody and concealment OF
! his own rifle and unifo n. Neither
! the officers, nor men receive any pay.
! Our army is well organized in
companies, battalions and regiments
on exactly the same lines as any
| other army" the Sim Feiner said.
/ Each town, village and district has
| its company or battalion, which is
| known by the name of the district
For instance, here in Dublin there
are four battalions. l organized and
drilled the South Dublin battalion.
In spite OF the strict surveillance
of the police and English troops,
drilling is going on constantly. Al
most every night within a few miles
Of the center Of Dublin could show
you units OF our army at drill. At
present most of our attention is cen.
tered upon drilling for guerilla war
f, fare and scouting.
THE men of the Dublin battalions
are summoned to drill by couriers
and advised of the time and exact
spot-usually an isolated field in the
, hills back of Dublin. They straggle
in by foot or bicycle in their ordinary
clothes, without arms of any sort.
It's too risky to attempt to drill in
uniform or with arms.
CAS- matter Of fact, the drilling
now is mainly designed to keep up
the interest and spirit of the men
and maintain the organization intact.
"The drilling is usually held before
midnight, to allow the men to get
home in plenty of time without arous-
ing suspicion. Sometimes we hold
drills in broad daylight on Sundays
and holidays in out-of-the-way places
in the country nearby. Pickets are
posted on all roads nearby and sig
mails arranged to warn Of the ap
proach of police or troops.
Naturally the names of our Off.
GERS are kept secret, but sometimes
they become known. For instance,
the lord mayor Of Cork was com
mandant of the Cork organization,
which was wen known In fact, we
turned out hundreds Of troops in full
uniform at his funeral and the Eng
lish troops were afraid to interfere.
"Of course, our equipment of arms
is limited to rifles and revolvers,
bombs; and a few machine guns of
various kinds owing to their origin.
Many Of the rifles have been cap
tured from the English and others
are sporting rifes-in fact, any kind
of firearn that will shoot. Unlike
any other regularly organized army
in the world, we have to keep every
thing hidden. We are constantly add
ing to our caches Of arms by raids
upon police barracks and captures
from small bodies Of English troops"
The Sim Fem cabinet member ex.
planned the present policy regarding |
the use of the army. He declared
that there was no idea among mod
crate Sim Feiners Of an organized
rebellion or attack upon the British
forces
Our only hope now is to continue
the species Of guerilla warfare In an
effort to make it as uncomfortable
for the English army of occupation
as possible. We realize that It would
be folly TO attenre an attack in force. f!
The English are heavily armed with /
tanks and armorcd cars and heavy
artillery. We Wolld have little
chance against such formidable
armament
But they have little defense
against sporadic attacks upon iso- +
lated ou;posts and guerilla warfare.
THE very existence of our army is
q weapon in reserve even IL we never
Ese it. It's like this: You iray be a
very big, strong man and able to
whip certain l5ttln man. bnt the
ve"y fact that h viii scratch ger Up
ccnsidfra bly, in TIC scriYnrr as.e IraJ-es