The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1921-06-11
Interment Camp for Irish Political
Prisoners

Ballykinlar, Ireland, hfay little
internment camp for irish political
prisoners established here last Nover1a-
Der is now filed with 1927 men. It
was originally used as a training camp
for Ulster troops in the war and I
divided into two enclosures which are
called cages.
Within each Of these are rows o.
brown huts and an extensive recrea-
ton ground, the whole ringed about
thickly with barbed wirs and over
looked by number of high sent
| boxes.
There have been no escapes fl n
Rallykinlar and no attempted bres IS
'Tunnelling would oe Impossible.
an officer said, because the wa er
comes close to the surface of TIE
ground
The men are housed Is to hut,
each being provided with a plank
bed, straw mattress and four blankets.
The Associated Press correspondent
and a representative q an English
news agency was. the first newspaper
men ever allowed to v4sit the camp,
which is about 80 miles from Belfast.
Scarcely drearier spot IS to be found
in Ireland The camp is pitched on
fat which is swept By. all the winds
that sport on Dundrum Bay we
! have a lot of rain here" said one Of
the British army officers in charge.
We get the maximum rain fall"
The prisoners were shy Of the news
no,
Der of parliament from q Dublin dis
trict, prisoner who holds the post Of
the Irish Supervisor Of InterneeS,"
voiced his distrust of the correspond
ents who sought to interview him
about prison conditions. -,
How do I know who you are 2" he
asked. Any outsider allowed to
come into this camp IS bound to be
suspect from our point Of view. You
could not come unless the military. au-
thorities consented. :.,:S:.;.
Even if you are what you say you
are, anything told you would be sub
ject to censorship before ,,ou were al
lowed to publish it. I ain willing to
give you written statement If you
can undertake to print it as submitted
The Irish people will never learn the
truth about conditions here until we
are relased and can tel, them our
selves
DR.. Hayes, another meraber Of the
Dali Eireann. also refused to maize =
statement, but both men talked: a.
some length with the visitors.
Two sleeping huts inspected by the
newspaper men were clean and we'll
kept and there were stove fires bufn:-
ing. Prisoners do the cooking. under
the supervision of a British army yer-
geant. The interned men were at
their evening meal in the messrooIn
and looked up with curiosity at the
sight OF strange civilians. They ranged
in age from youths to elderly men.
One of the first prisoners encoun-
tered in the camp was Dublin barri-
ster whose long white beard gave him
the look of q patriarch. He complain
ed to the escorting officer that he had
failed to receive the literary supple
ment of a London paper 10 which he
had subscribed
Except for supervision oy the mill
tary authorities, the prisoners run
their own show They ace organized
in units of about 100 each under 9
captain Each Of the two cages has
a supervisor Of internees who, until
a few weeks ago, was known as
camp commandant." The prisoners
had regular military drill daily
and, according to Mr.. McGrath, they
were ready for rifle practice" when
the authorities put a stop to the drill
ing and changed the titles Of the
"commandants' to something less
military in sound.
Football is the principal diversion
of the internees. A reading room .is
provided and the men are permitted
to subscribe to recognized magazines
and newspapers, which are delivered
daily. They have their own chaplain.
prisoner, and anothec priest living
outside the camp is also available.
The colonel in charge Of the camp
| read the following scale Of rations
for internees: Bread, one pound daily:
meat, 10 ozs. days 8. week; bacon.
ozs. one day week; fish. ga lb. one
day a week: beans. lentils. peas. 2
ozs.: potatoes. 10 ozs.: vegetables, 4
ozs.;; tea, 34 o.; sugar, 2 ozs.; oat-
mea: oZs.: salt. IA o.; margarine
l-2 ozs.: milk. three men to the tin.
This could be supplemented from the
prisoners canteen. whose stocks they
were permitted tc select Themselves
NO limit is placed on the number
of incoming letters. From 500 to ZOE
are received daily s prisoner may
send out three letters g week About
400 prisoners parcels arrive daily"
the colonel said. 1t was stated that
ll6 men had been discharged from
the camp since it was opened. After
seven days internment, prisoners may
appeal for relea Sc. Those released
We're usually required. it was said, to
sign a paper stating Ghat they had
never been members Ct the Irish Re-
publican Army and chat they were
| loyal British subjects.
1t seems almost impossible for edi-