The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser., 1921-03-25
SIX EXECUTED
IN DUBLIN PRISON
Hanged for Alleged Completely in
Killing of British Officers
and PriVateS.
10000 OFFER UP PRAYERS
Crowd, Assembling at Dawn Before
Jail, Makes No Demonstration OF
Force-Atmoophere Rife With An
xiety Of Serious Developments.

Dublin.-Six prisoners convicted or
,eomplicity with the killing of British
intelligence officers and members Of
the Crown forces in Ireland were eX-
ecuted in Mount Joy prison, this city.
The men were hanged in pairs at In
terva of an hour.
Twenty thousand persons gathered
outside the PRISON during the hours
that the executions were going OF and
all work in tle city stopped until IL
o'clock. Even the post office was
closed and telegraph service was sus-
pended.
ri, scene in front of the prison was
impressive. The crowd began assem-
bling at dawn and by 6 o'clock the
prison yard was packed. An hou:
later the crowd had filled the road
way leading to the prison and all the
abutting streets. An altar had been
improvised near the prison doors and
on the walls and trees in the rrison
ward sacred im;;:es and pictures had
been placed.
EVERYWHERE candles were burned,
scores of persons IN the heart # the
dense throng holding them aloft
throughout the long vigil. Here ana
there priests or women led in prayers
or hymns in which everyone joined
earnestly. Hundreds kneeling il the
roadway were compelled to rise when
an armored car forced it's way through
the crowd. From o'clock in the
morning it had moved back and forth
in front of the prison. On the roof
of tie Jail overlooking the entrance,
cast-iron sentry box had been erected
overnight from which soldier kept
careful watch on the crowd.
Two of the men executed, Patrick
Moran and Thomas Whelan, were
charged with completely in the killing
of intelligence officers in Dublin on No
yember 81 last Whelan's two brothers
are IN the United States, one of them
in the American army. The other four
men to die, Frank FlooL, Bernard
Ryan, Thomas Bryan and Patrick
Doyle, were accused of participating
in an ambush near here in Januar::' In
which one member of the attacking
party was killed.
Not since the executions following
the 1916 uprising, with the possible ex-
ception of the hanging of keven Barry.
in November last for an attack On a
military escort, has Ireland been more
profoundly stirred. Although o'clock
had been fixed for the execution of the
first pair, it was not until s ~ that
the crowd knew the fate of the prison
ers. At that time the following notice
was posted outside the Jail gates:
"The sentence of the law passed on
Thomas Whelan and Patrick Moran,
found guilty of murder. and on Thomas
Bryan, Patrick Doyle, Frank Flood
| and Bernard Ryan, found guilty of
l.igh treason in levying war, has been
carried into execution
No hint reached the watching multi
tude of the grim proceedings going on
in a distant wing of the big prison,
but hourly, beginning at 6 o'clock, the
rosary was recited. But fSses number
o., reverent voices and the occasional
sob of a woman, profound silence was
maintained.
Shortly after posting OF the uotlce
that the executions had been carried
out the vast gathering dispersed silent
Iy, many later attending the funeral of
Patrick Doyles twin baby. Mrs. Doyle,
with the other twin in her arms, visit
ed her husband yesterday to say
| goodbye.
Mrs. Bryan, who was taken sudd :
" i'll before her husbands sentence
was confirmed, was not told until the
day of his death that he was to be
| executed.
The atmosphere of the city is rife
with anxiety and expectation of de-
velopments to follow the hangings. EN'
cept for a few lorry loads of military
on the alert with rifles at "the ready,
there was a conspicuous absence OF
| Grown forces on the streets and not
an unarmed soldier was visible.