BACK PAGES:Newspapers were in the line of fire from all sides during the War of Independence as excerpts from these two reports in the same issue of the Weekly Irish Timesin December 1920 indicate.
FREEMANS JOURNAL COURTMARTIAL CONVICTION ON TWO CHARGES
The trial by courtmartial of the Freemans Journal for publishing an account of the alleged flogging of a civilian in Portobello Barracks in October last, was concluded on Monday in the Courthouse, Kilmainham . . .
The Judge-Advocate said that the real issue was whether the report published by the Freemans Journal was a false report. The evidence for the defence was based largely on the evidence of Quirke . It was a matter which the Court might consider, that in circumstances of disorder, political or otherwise, it was easy to imagine that if one person could salve his conscience to such an extent as to commit murder, another might without difficulty quiet his conscience to enable him to tell a false story to a newspaper and to tell it in court. Having pointed to discrepancies between Quirkes evidence and the statements in the Freemans Journal, he said that the Court should interpret the publication in the ordinary sense . . .
The President announced that the defendants, Messrs R. Hamilton Edwards and Martin Fitzgerald, directors, and P. J. Hooper, editor, were not guilty on charges 2, 4, 5, and 6. Charges 1 and 3, upon which the defendants were found guilty, were of having spread a false report, and of having spread a report intended to cause disaffection.
They were remanded in custody: see http://url.ie/31yu
RAIDS IN DUBLIN NEWSPAPER OFFICES
Replying to Mr. T. P. OConnor in the House of Commons, Sir Hamar Greenwood said that the following was a summary of the police report on the burning of the Freemans Journal offices, Westmoreland street, Dublin :- The offices were set on fire shortly before twelve midnight. The police were notified, and immediately informed the Fire Brigade. Entrance was obtained to the offices by forcing a double-barred iron gate. The bottom portion of the building was almost completely burned out . . .
Mr. Devlin - Is it true that the editor of the Irish Times was held up by armed men?
Sir Hamar Greenwood - I believe the office of the Irish Times was entered by armed men. As to whether the editor was held up or not, I do not know.
Mr. T. P. OConnor asked for further particulars with regard to the raid on the offices of the Irish Times, the chief Unionist organ in Dublin; whether it was true that the entire staff were gathered into a large room by a body of men, armed and masked; whether these raiders flourished revolvers in the face of the staff and whether inquiries were being made into the names of the authors of this attack on these two newspapers.
Mr. Denis Henry - The reply is in the affirmative.
Mr. Devlin asked what did he propose to do in this matter?
Mr. Denis Henry - We propose to catch the perpetrators if possible, but it is extremely difficult to do so. Seeing that one newspaper is Unionist and one is not, the persons who perpetrated these outrages seem to be perfectly impartial. (Laughter.)
see http://url.ie/31yw.
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