In the evidence adduced at the Cork Summer Assizes of 1867, on the
trials of persons charged with participation in the Fenian rising of
March 5th, the name of Captain Mackay frequently turned up. The captain,
it would appear, was a person of influence and importance in the
insurrectionary army. He had taken part in many councils of the Fenian
leaders, he was trusted implicitly by his political friends, and much
deference was paid to his opinion. But more than all this, he had taken
the field on the night of the rising, led his men gallantly to the
attack of Ballyknockane police barrack, and, to the-great horror of all
loyal subjects, committed the enormous offence of capturing it. This,
and the similar successes achieved by Lennon at Stepaside and
Glencullen, county Wicklow, were some of the incidents of the attempted
rebellion which most annoyed the government, who well knew the influence
which such events, occurring at the outset of a revolutionary movement,
are apt to exercise on the popular mind. Captain Mackay, therefore, was
badly "wanted" by the authorities after the Fenian rising; there was any
money to be given for information concerning the whereabouts of Captain
Mackay, but it came not. Every loyal-minded policeman in Cork county,
and in all the other Irish counties, and every detective, and every spy,
and every traitor in the pay of the government, kept a sharp look out
for the audacious Captain Mackay, who had compelled the garrison of one
of her Majesty's police barracks to surrender to him, and hand him up
their arms in the quietest and most polite manner imaginable; but they
saw him not, or if they saw, they did not recognise him.
So month after month rolled on, and no trace of Captain Mackay could be
had. The vigilant guardians and servants of English law in Ireland, then
began to think he must have managed to get clear out of the country, and
rather expected that the next thing they would hear of him would be that
he was organizing and lecturing amongst the Irish enemies of England in
the United States. There, however, they were quite mistaken, as they
soon found out to their very great vexation and alarm.
On the 27th day of December, 1867, there was strange news in Cork, and
strange news all over the country, for the telegraph wires spread it in
every direction. The news was that on the previous evening a party of
Fenians had entered the Martello tower at Foaty, on the north side of
the Cork river, made prisoners of the gunners who were in charge, and
had then taken possession of, and borne away all the arms and ammunition
they could find in the place! Startling news this was undoubtedly. Loyal
men stopped each other in the streets, and asked if anything like it had
ever been heard of. They wanted to know if things were not coming to a
pretty pass, and did not hesitate to say they would feel greatly obliged
to anyone who could answer for them the question "What next?" For this
sack of the Martello tower was not the first successful raid for arms
which the Fenians had made in that neighbourhood. About a month
before--on the night of November 28th--they had contrived to get into
the shop of Mr. Richardson, gunmaker, Patrick-street, and abstract from
the premises no fewer than 120 revolvers and eight Snider rifles,
accomplishing the feat so skilfully, that no trace either of the weapons
or the depredators had since been discovered. This was what might be
called a smart stroke of work, but it shrunk into insignificance
compared with the audacious act of plundering one of her Majesty's
fortified stations.
The details of the affair, which were soon known, were received by the
public with mingled feelings of amusement and amazement. The Fenian
party, it was learned, had got into the tower by the usual means of
entrance--a step-ladder, reaching to the door, which is situate at some
height from the ground. One party of the invaders remained in the
apartment just inside the entrance door, while another numbering five
persons, proceeded to an inner room, where they found two of the
gunners, with their families, just in the act of sitting down to tea. In
an instant revolvers were placed at the heads of the men, who were told
not to stir on peril of their lives. At the same time assurances were
given to them, and to the affrighted women, that if they only kept quiet
and complied with the demands of the party no harm whatever should befal
them. The garrison saw that resistance was useless, and promptly acceded
to those terms. The invaders then asked for and got the keys of the
magazine, which they handed out to their friends, who forthwith set to
work to remove the ammunition which they found stored in the vaults.
They seized about 300 lbs. of gunpowder, made up in 8 lb. cartridges, a
quantity of fuses, and other military stores, and then proceeded to
search the entire building for arms. Of these, however, they found very
little--nothing more than the rifles and sword bayonets of the two or
three men who constituted the garrison, a circumstance which seemed to
occasion them much disappointment. They were particularly earnest and
pressing in their inquiries for hand-grenades, a species of missile
which they had supposed was always kept "in stock" in such places. They
could scarcely believe that there were none to be had. Some charges of
grape-shot which they laid hands on might be, they thought, the sort of
weapon they were in quest of, and they proceeded to dissect and analyse
one of them. Grape-shot, we may explain to the unlearned in these
matters, is "an assemblage, in the form of a cylindrical column, of nine
balls resting on a circular plate, through which passes a pin serving as
an axis. The balls are contained in a strong canvas bag, and are bound
together on the exterior of the latter by a cord disposed about the
column in the manner of a net." This was not the sort of thing the
Fenian party wanted; grape-shot could be of no use to them, for the
Fenian organization, to its great sorrow, was possessed of no artillery;
they resolved, therefore, to leave those ingeniously-constructed
packages behind them, and to retire with the more serviceable spoils
they had gathered. While the search was proceeding, the Fenian sentries,
with revolvers ready in their hands, stood guard over the gunners, and
prevented anyone--young or old--from quitting the room. They spoke
kindly to all however, chatted with the women, and won the affectionate
regards of the youngsters by distributing money among them. One of these
strange visitors became so familiar as to tell one of the women that if
she wished to know who he was, his name was Captain Mac--a piece of
information which did not strike her at the time as being of any
peculiar value. When the party had got their booty safely removed from
the building, this chivalrous captain and his four assistant sentries
prepared to leave; they cautioned the gunners, of whom there were three
at this time in the building--one having entered while the search was
proceeding--against quitting the fort till morning, stating that men
would be on the watch outside to shoot them if they should attempt it.
So much being said and done, they bade a polite good evening to her
Majesty's gunners and their interesting families, and withdrew.
The heroic garrison did not venture out immediately after they had been
relieved of the presence of the Fenian party; but finding that a few
charges of powder were still stowed away in a corner of the fort, they
hurried with them to the top of the building and commenced to blaze away
from the big gun which was there _in situ_. This performance they meant
as a signal of distress; but though the sounds were heard and the
flashes seen far and wide, no one divined the object of what appeared to
be nothing more than an oddly-timed bit of artillery practice. Next
morning the whole story was in every one's mouth. Vast was the amusement
which it afforded to the Corkonians generally, and many were the
encomiums which they passed on the dashing Irish-Americans and smart
youths of Cork's own town who had accomplished so daring and clever a
feat. Proportionally great was the irritation felt by the sprinkling of
loyalists and by the paid servants of the crown in that quarter. One
hope at all events the latter party had, that the leader in the
adventure would soon be "in the hands of justice," and one comforting
assurance, that never again would the Fenians be able to replenish their
armoury in so easy and so unlawful a manner.
Four days afterwards there was another "sensation" in Cork. The Fenian
collectors of arms had made another haul! And this time their mode of
action surpassed all their previous performances in coolness and daring.
At nine o'clock in the morning, on the 30th of December, eight men, who
had assumed no disguise, suddenly entered the shop of Mr. Henry Allport,
gunmaker, of Patrick-street, and producing revolvers from their pockets,
covered him and his two assistants, telling then at the same time that
if they ventured to stir, or raise any outcry, they were dead men. While
the shopmen remained thus bound to silence, five of the party proceeded
to collect all the rifles and revolvers in the establishment, and place
them in a canvas sack which had been brought for the purpose. This sack,
into which a few guns and seventy-two splendid revolvers of the newest
construction had been put, was then carried off by two men, who, having
transferred the contents to the safe-keeping of some confederates,
returned with it very quickly to receive and bear away a large quantity
of revolver cartridges which had been found in the shop. This second
"loot" having been effected, the guards who stood over Mr. Allport and
his men, lowered their weapons, and after cautioning all three not to
dare to follow them, quitted the shop in a leisurely manner, and
disappeared down one of the by-streets. As soon as he was able to
collect his scattered wits, Mr. Allport rushed to the nearest police
station, and gave information of what had occurred. The police hastened
to the scene of this daring exploit, but of course "the birds were
flown," and no one could say whither.
Needless to say how this occurrence intensified the perplexity and the
rage of the government party in all parts of the country. There was
surely some fierce swearing in Dublin Castle on the day that news
arrived, and perhaps many a passionate query blurted out as to whether
police, detectives, magistrates, and all in that southern district were
not secretly in league with the rebels. In fact, a surmise actually got
into the papers that the proprietors of the gunshops knew more about the
disappearance of the arms, and were less aggrieved by the "seizure" than
they cared to acknowledge. However this might be, the popular party
enjoyed the whole thing immensely, laughed over it heartily, and
expressed in strong terms their admiration of the skill and daring
displayed by the operators. The following squib, which appeared in the
_Nation_ at the time, over the initials "T.D.S.," affords an indication
of the feelings excited among Irish nationalists by those extraordinary
occurrences:--