On Tuesday morning a Shin Feb gang surprised the barracks
in Mallow, occupied by a party of the 17th Lancers. Most of the soldiers were away exercising their horses. The. Slim Feiners, arriving in motor-ears, took the sentry unawares, killed the sergeant and overpowered the few men under him. They carried off a machine-gun and some rifles and tried to burn the barracks. Some of our soldiers in Ireland, it is to be feared, do not realize even yet that they are at war and must be as watchful as in all other wars. In the evening a number of angry soldiers went into the streets of Mallow and set some shops and houses and the town hall on fire. The police vainly tried to calm the rioters and did their beat to put the fires out. The accounts telegraphed by Irish reporters were evidently exaggerated. One report, for instance, estimated the damage at £200,000, which would probably suffice to rebuild the whole town of Mallow.
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