The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1921-05-16
mIAI ulIOH UllIEI
Lloyd Georges Offer Gets Quick
Reply From Sim Fein.
Valera Wants Offer To Be Made
Publicly.
FOUR KILLED IN AMBUSH
Three Government Officers and
Wife of One Slain.
Homes in Liverpool Raided-
Irish Reds Blamed.

Dublin May 16.-Premier Lloyd
George. says the Freeman's Journal
today. has offered to meet Eamonr
de Valera, or other Irish leaders with
out conditions.
Mr.. De Valera, adds the newspaper,
replied that if the premier made such
a statement public he ode Valera)
would give a public reply.
Considered Hopeful Sign.
Early this month a conference oc-
CURED between Eamonn de Valera
and Sir James Craig. the Ulster pre-
mier-designate, at which these two
leaders of their respective sections of
opinion in Ireland talked over the sit
uation. The meeting was said to have
been without tangible results but the
fact that it was held was commented
upon in Dublin castle and other circles
as hopeful sign.
Expressions of willingness on the
part of the British government lead
ers and Irish republican representa-
tives to confer here-ro-fore usually
have been coupled with reservations,
notably with regard to the cessation
of hostilities in Ireland.
LOuE Dy lrlSn.
Three government officers and the
wife of one of them We're shot and
killed in an ambush last night at
Ballyeirn, four miles from Gort coun-
ty Galway.
The victims We're District Inspector
Blake and his wife, Captain Corn
wallis and Lieut.. McCreery. The cap
tain and the lieutenant were attached
to the Seventeenth lancers.
The nartV was riding in
car when it was ambushed by forty
men. Military and police reinforce
ments sent to the scene were fired
upon and one constable was seriously
wounded.
Sim Fein Executed.
Cork, May 16.-Daniel O'Brien, of
Knockanbane Liscarrol, county Cork,
was tried by drumhead =courtmartial
Saturday and executed in the Cork de-
tention barracks at o'clock this
morning.
O'Brien met death maintaining the
same attitude that he displayed at his
trial when in ansW eringt the request to
plead he replied. "I have no defense;
I was caught as a soldier and you
can try me-"
Liverpool Homes Raidcd.
Liverpool, May 16.-Six houses in
widely separated parts of this city
were raided and set on fire by parties
unknown, last night. The occupants
of every house thus visited have rela-
tives serving in the royal Irish con-
stabulary.
The inmates were in some cases
gagged and bound; the furniture was
drenched with kerosene and set on
fire, and in some instances the help
less people were left to the mercy of
the flames by the raiders, who fled
in automobiles.
The raids were in all ways similar
to those made in suburban districts
of London and in this city Saturday
night
Counter Raids on Irish.
London, May 16.-Raiding of Sim
Fein meeting places continued here
today as a result of eleven attempts to
fire buildings in London and surround
ing towns yesterday
Suspected Sim Feiners and docu-
ments were taken t. police stations
for careful examination. The dis
covery of pencilled notes on the ad-
dresses of relatives of members of the
Royal Irish constabulary bore out the
first belief that the incendiarism was
meant as a reprisal for the constabu-
lary'S work in Ireland.
Extra police details were on watch
today in the districts attacked by the
incendiaries who were prepared with
petrol and inflammable material No
serious damage was done any of the
building but five persons were wound
ed as a result of surprise attacks by
= fIa