Sir Hamar Greenwood gave a most striking example of how
careless minds in this country may be imposed upon by the arts of the Sinn Fein propagandist department. It had been alleged that Ballymacelligott creamery as well as a rick of hay had been burned by the police as a reprisal. No doubt photographs of the charred ruins had been distributed and had been printed by English newspapers which accept such tokens as evidence. We hear indeed a great deal about the peculiar wickedness of burning creameries. We are told that the depths of police brutality can be plumbed by the wanton acts of depriving the people of Ireland of their means of livelihood. Creameries, it is said, could not conceivably play any part in the campaign of assassination. But Sir Hamar Greenwood threw quite a different light on the matter. He explained that there was a fight between the police and Sinn Feiners who were in ambush. The ambush was in the creamery and the neighbouring houses, and it was from these points that the Sinn Fein fire was suddenly opened upon the unsuspecting police. After a fight the police captured the Sinn Fein position and discovered that the creamery had been turned into a kind of fortress. As for the hay-rick, it was found to be a hiding-place for arms and ammunition.
Previous page
