Volunteers active in Dublin, German invasion rumours in the US, and Chaplin’s latest

February 8th, 1916

"The Irish [Sinn Féin] volunteers were active on Saturday night in Dublin," The Irish Times reports. "About 11 o'clock a large number of them, uniformed and carrying rifles with bayonets, gathered in Blackhall Place, where there is a volunteer hall.

“From that hour until two o’clock on Sunday morning they took part in what appeared to be a representation of street fighting . The operation aroused many people in the neighbourhood, and many police assembled. It is reported that an altercation took place between one of the volunteers and a policeman who accused the former of having pointed his rifle at him.”

The British government declines to accede to a request from the American Polish Societies to help alleviate starvation in Russian Poland. Local supplies are allegedly being taken by the Germans to support their troops and replacement supplies would also simply be seized. "Liberty is a good thing , but conquerors who offer the people liberty and take away their bread will win scant sympathy," The Irish Times writes.

Princess Cinema, Rathmines: "The principal attraction at this theatre this week is a sensational three-part drama entitled The Great Bank Sensation. The artistes in the film have done their work well, and have succeeded in giving an admirable and exciting story which is particularly well acted."

Coming shortly: The Riddle of the Silk Stocking, a splendid comedy . . .

Also, in the Pillar Picture House, Charlie Chaplin can be seen in his very latest success, Charlie Shanghaied.

According to the New York Herald, the Canadian government has received from its secret agents in New York a "startling report" that 200,000 Mauser rifles have been secretly purchased by German agents and sent to points along the Canadian border. The secret agents are said to believe that scores of German army officers have recently arrived in the United States in the guise of Belgian refugees from neutral ports in Europe, with the object of heading an invasion of the US from Canada.

At a general meeting, shareholders of the Dublin United Tramway Company were told by William Martin Murphy that the receipts for the year amounted to £333,899, the largest amount for any year in the history of the company. The chairman criticised Dublin City Corporation for having undertaken road works involving large expenditure, which were not of urgent necessity.