'Very often the innocent suffer for the guilty'

During Friday night and Saturday morning, government troops killed a number of men and boys on North King Street, near the Four Courts. Kate Kelly, a domestic servant, was present at the deaths of Thomas Hickey (38), his son Christopher Hickey (16) and a neighbour, Peter Connolly (39), who had been discussing the moving of two mirrors of Hickey's when the military rushed down the street and left him unable to return home.

"About 6am on Saturday morning I heard a noise of picking at the walls. I shouted at Mr Hickey, 'Someone is breaking into the house'. He got up, and soon after, several soldiers dashed through a hole which they had made in the wall from next door. . . the soldiers had drawn bayonets and crowbars and picks."

The four were taken prisoner, even though they insisted they were not insurgents. "I remember well, the bell was ringing for 10 o'clock Mass. We were then led in through the hole in the wall through the rooms of Mrs Carroll next door. . .

"The officer said, 'March on, the female first'. Mr and Mrs Carroll and her daughter were in their room, and as they knew their neighbour, Mr Hickey, well, they spoke to him. Mr Hickey, as he passed, said to Mrs Carroll, 'Isn't it too bad, Mrs Carroll?' 'Yes indeed, Mr Hickey,' she said, and the last thing he said to her was, 'Very often the innocent suffer for the guilty.'

"As I came to the hole in the wall I stumbled, was frightened, and nearly fell down. I fell down on the floor of the empty house when I got inside and called out, 'I hope they are not going to kill us'. The soldier replied with a laugh, 'You are a bally woman, you're all right'. I was left lying in the front room and the men were brought into the back.

"Both Mrs Carroll and I heard poor Christy pleading for his father's life - 'Oh! Don't kill father'. The shots then rung out, and I shouted, 'Oh my God!' and overcome with horror, I threw myself on my knees and began to pray."