Breakout from Kilkenny Jail

[jud72]

I now have a copy of the book I mentioned earlier. It's called 'IRA Jailbreaks 1918-1921'. It does have a chapter on the November 1921 escape, but although it names about 20 of the 47 who escaped there is no mention of either Michael Byrne or Paul Sweeney. If you send me a PM with your email address I will send you the details.

[tomahurra]

articile called the flying coloun west kilkenny  published 1987
 list of some of the escaped
 
Lawerence Condon Fermoy
Gerald Kenealy  Youghal
Sean Power Waterford
Martin Kealy Kilkenny - commandant of prisioners
James O  Hanrahan  Cappagh Kilkenny
Patrick Power Carrig an Suir
Thomas Brennan Waterford
William O Leary  Enniscorthy
Sean Quilter Kerry
Henry Meany Limerick
Edward Punch Limerick
Thomas McCarrick Sligo
Edward Balfe Wexford
W O 'Mara Carrick on Suir
Michael Burke Glengoole Tipperary
Sean O Reilly Tullamore
J Keogh Kells
L Fraher Dungravan
D Connolly Limerick
M Kearns Limerick
T Pine Mayo 
Timothy Murphy Limerick
M Bourke Thurles
JJ Keane Cork
Corneilus Conroy Cork
Jerry Ryan  Thurles
T Leonard Dungannon
Father Delahunty Callan

Maybe this might be of some help - if you try finding out about any of the above you never know whay you might find

[TLB]

Thanks Tomahurra, I had seen that list before but the problem I have is both relatives were using allias's so I think it is going to be virtually impossible to find them

[tomahurra]

Don't give up - all you need a is a little break. I realise that you are dealing with alias. But maybe you need to look at some of the names you have and you might get some little information. Have you checked witness statements of the County in question or maybe so of the escapees gave witness statements. Also do you think that you relations got military pensions - if so this can be checks. Only problem is it is a very slow process

[TLB]

Hi Tomahurra, certainly not giving up and we are exploring other avenues but just keep hitting a brick wall. From what we have established my father, brothers and cousins were all in the 'flying brigades' and used more than 1 alais, in fact my cousin is not even sure her father (RIP), after the troubles, was using the correct Christian name as no record exists with his known name.

[tomahurra]

there are published articles on the Tipperary brigades

http://www.dcu.ie/~foxs/irhist/bibliograpy%20-%20journal_articles.htm

[cmacnam]

This is an extract from the great grand fathers account of his involvement of the troubles

Conditions in Kilkenny were very bad. The military guards there were a bad lot and gave us a tough time. I had a bit of good luck, however; our arrival caused the Jail to be overcrowded, especially in the long-term wing. As we were lined up to be allocated to cells, I met a warder named Frawely who had been in mount Joy during the big Hunger Strike there in 1917. He was in sympathy with the Sinn Fein and recognised as soon as he saw me. He told me to wait back at the end of the line. I did so. There was no more room in the long Term wing for the last 10 or 12 of the crowd who had come from Spike Island, with the result that they had to be accommodated with the short term prisoners who numbered about twenty.
   These short-term prisoners, all political of course, had been working on an escape tunnel. On the night after we joined them we were asked to attend a meeting which they had arranged. To my great delight, I learned that the escape had been planned for the following night and we were to be allowed to go with them. The escape plans were to be explained. A prisoner called McCarrick, a native of Leitrim, was to lead the way through the tunnel, which was about 40 yards and opened outside the prison onto the public road. Four others including myself were to follow him. As soon as we got outside the tunnel four men were to guard outside the wardens' house which were right in front of the exit, where I was to remain to haul out the others as they appeared. Along with McCarrick and myself were three Limerick men named Pyne, Punch and O' Halloran.
   The escape worked out excellently and most of the men had got through until one fool decided to bring his suitcase with him. He tried to force this out in front of him, but in doing so managed to jamb the passage most effectively. Not alone did he prevent the remainder of the men escaping, but he nearly suffocated them as well. They all had to go back into prison with him. The warders and the military guards had become alert and found the unlucky ones inside the tunnel. I was surprised when no more men were coming along, as I had been counting those who had got clear and knew there was more to come. I shouted through the exit hole a few times but got no answer. I the heard the prison staff shouting and knew the game was then up. I collected the three Limerick men and followed in the direction in which the others disappeared in the darkness.
   Though we had not the faintest idea of the country we got safely into the fields outside Kilkenny and kept wandering further and further away from the city. After a couple of hours we heard a couple of lorries coming towards us. We were then at the bridge, which had a blind arch, and we crept into it. The lorries stopped right overhead. They belonged to the military that were obviously on our tracks. A searchlight was flashed on both sides of the bridge, but our luck held and we were not seen. A small party of soldiers was left on guard at the bridge while the lorries moved off. They were not long gone when they came back again, picked up the guard and drove.
   As soon as the coast was clear, we resumed our trek. In the early hours of the morning we saw a light in a house and headed for it. Inside we found a old man sitting at a kitchen fire and told him our story. He led us to the captain of the local IRA Company. In his place we washed, cleaned our clothes and had a meal. Through his assistance we were passed along from one Battalion to another until, finally after a couple of days, we landed in Doon, Co. Limerick. There I separated from my three companions and made my way to Castleconnell, where the veteran Mid Limerick IRA man, Sean Carroll, took me across the Shannon to Clonlara and there got a pony and trap in which drove me to Broadford, Co. Clare.

[DAZEM]

Hi and good afternoon, i am a Delahunty and i was told by my great Unlcle that there was a priest in the family who during the WofI had to leave Ireland ,he thinks he went to the US, Now could this be one of my relations. Does any one know what become of this chap Fr.PH Delahunty.
thanks
daz

[mnabolg]

Good morning, all. I'm afraid I don't have information to add on the identity of the jailbreakers. I think the best source for information on that subject would be the Kilkenny People but I don’t think its records are online. I do, however, have quite a lot of information on Fr. Patrick Delahunty and, Dazem, if you are related to him, you are related to me too. Fr. Pat was born in Curraghmartin, Carrigeen, County Kilkenny. His IRA activities occurred when he was in Callan, Kilkenny. He was spirited away to the U.S. and became chaplain at Leavenworth prison in Kansas, where he died in April 1955. (I have heard he chose this posting because he himself had been imprisoned.) He is buried in St. Mary’s Leavenworth. One of his duties as chaplain was to accompany condemned men to the gallows and I've heard that he had great sympathy for them and believed that their poverty condemned many of them. An article at http://www.mail-archive.com/deathpenalty@lists.washlaw.edu/msg00815.html notes that in the case of one double hanging, he was troubled that the two men seemed to lack the mental capacity even to know what was about to happen to them. The article says they were buried in the Catholic cemetery and that the cause of death was listed as "cervical fracture of the spine" rather than "hanging."  After Fr. Pat's death, a high mass was held for him in Carrigeen Church on April 19, 1955. The story is that so many bishops and priests attended that you couldn’t move six inches without tripping over a crozier or stepping on a cassock. Father Delahunty Terrace in Kilkenny City is named after him. While in Leavenworth, he met a local reporter and mentioned that he himself had once been a prisoner, but he declined to elaborate. The intrigued reporter came to Ireland after Fr. Pat died and later wrote an article for a Kansas newspaper which mentioned the jailbreak. I have seen a copy of the article but I unfortunately don’t have a copy. At least some of his brothers were also active in the IRA.  His brother Richard was involved in the ambush at Sinnott’s Cross. His other brothers were Hilary, John (who died in Plymouth) Bernard and Joe. The best research source I’ve found for information on him is the Irish Newspaper Archive http://www.irishnewsarchive.com/

If you want info on his family, the death notices are very good when they list siblings. However, I’ve noticed that in some cases, not all siblings are listed. When searching, don’t restrict your viewing based on the score. The lowest scoring articles are sometimes the best, because sometimes the article will refer to “XXX Delahunty Curraghmartin” and will then instead of repeating the placename, list other persons followed by “Do”. 

On the Irish newspaper archive  site, I found references to him in the Freeman's Journal, the Irish Independent and the Munster Express. Unfortunately many of the articles are fragments.
In the Freeman's Journal, a search for Delahunty Callan found the following:
Nov 12, 1914 Volunteers reviewed in Callan. Address delivered by Fr. Pat, President of the County Volunteer Committee and leader of the Callan Corps.
March 6, 1915: Refers to a letter from Fr. Pat to the Kilkenny People newspaper. (Incomplete)
Oct 6 1920:Fr Pat's house searched by Black and Tans. (Incomplete)
Dec 18, 1920: Fr. Pat on trial. Courtmartialled in Waterford.
Jan 4, 1921: Fr. Pat convicted.
Jan 4, 1921: Priest gets 2 years with hard labour.
Jan 4, 1921 Sentenced to two years.
Jan 18, 1921: Hard labour portion of sentence remitted.
Nov. 24, 1921: Fragment of atricle re escape from Kilkenny jail.

Sunday Independent
Sept 5, 1920: Fr. Pat’s house raided

Irish Independent
Aug. 6, 1917: A meeting in Callan in support of W.T. Cosgrove (who was running for election) was addressed by Fr. Pat and Messrs D. McCarthy, De Valera (later President) and E. T. Keane (who was, I believe, the editor of the Kilkenny People Newspaper.)

I have a copy of a photo of Fr. Pat with De Valera and another gentleman whose name I don’t know. I'm told there was also a photo of him with Arthur Griffith but it was given to relatives in England and no one in Ireland has a copy. If anyone out there has it, I and my relatives would love a copy.

Dec. 18, 1920: Priest found guilty
Dec. 27, 1920: Article listing priests arrested.
May 17 1921: Serving 2 years.
Nov 24, 1921: Escape from Kilkenny jail. (Fragment)

Munster Express

There is a lot of useful information here as regards the family but as regards Fr. Pat’s activities in the war of Independence, try April 8 and 15, 1955 for articles relating to his death.There is also an article dated June 5, 1965 on the Sinnott's Cross ambush.
I hope this helps.
C

PS   After writing the above, I spoke to my aunt, Fr. Pat's niece, who said  he was first assigned to SingSing, before Leavenworth. She also said he didn't leave for the U.S. immediately and that he believed in the "hiding in plain sight" method of avoiding capture and would often take a pony and trap to visit Curraghmartin and would sail up the River Suir. She also said he had to leave because he could no longer say Mass, hear confesssions etc.
 C