This book documents the cases of the 10 men whose bodies lay buried in Mountjoy Jail since their hanging 80 years ago until October 2001, when they were reburied. It contains an interesting and diverse collection of documents: private letters, contemporary newspaper reports, official memoranda, addresses to the courts by prosecuting and defending counsel, diary extracts and so on. The private letters of the condemned men are of by far the greatest interest.
Whatever you may think of his actions, his letters quoted here show that there was an engaging sense of fun in Kevin Barry. In one of his last letters to his friend Kathleen he wrote: "I believe the usual thing done in my case is to make a speech from the dock or something but I couldn't be serious long enough to do it. Besides, anyone who ever knew me would never believe I wrote it." Inevitably, a slight note of regret creeps in at the end: "Yes, K, as you remark, we have seen some good times but not as good as we might have seen."
Thomas Whelan and Patrick Moran were suspected of taking part in the "Bloody Sunday" assassinations of British secret agents in Dublin. The evidence that convicted them was extremely dubious. Moran was convinced the case against him would collapse and the shock he got at being convicted is obvious from his letters - which contain some wry humour. When writing to a friend to send him his razor and soap, he asks for a mirror "to see myself as others see me". He was told the date of his execution on his birthday: "by way of a birthday gift, I suppose" is his rueful comment.
There is great sadness recorded in the personal letters - husbands leaving young wives and children, sons their widowed mothers and dependent families - but what is remarkable is the calmness and equanimity in the face of death. The reasons for this were an intense religious faith and belief in the cause they were dying for. Patrick Doyle, who left behind a young wife, three-year-old daughter and twin babies, wrote: "This holy country of ours worth any great sacrifice, nothing too great or too big. I would gladly give twenty lives if I could."
A good biography of Kevin Barry by Donal O'Donovan already exists. I wish this book had given a greater insight into the other nine men who shared his dreadful fate.
Brian Maye is a writer and historian