20 Sinn Féiners escape from Mountjoy in broad daylight

Dublin, 7 April 1919 - 20 Sinn Féin prisoners, among them the Cork MPs J.J. Walsh and Piaras Béaslaí, have escaped from Mountjoy Prison.

This daring act occurred mid-afternoon on Saturday when the prisoners were exercising in the yard. Initial reports indicate that a number of them turned on their warders and held them down while their comrades arranged for a rope ladder to be placed over a 30-foot wall.

Eyewitness accounts tell of men sliding down a rope from the top of the jail wall to the canal bank outside Mountjoy. The breakout lasted about 10 minutes and was brought to an end when the military guard arrived to assist the warders. The cheers of those prisoners still detained could be heard outside the prison.

Cartoon from Irish Life that appeared under the heading 'For these small mercies': Warder (bursting breathlessly in on the Governer) - 'All the Sinn Féiners have escaped, sir.' Governer - 'Thank God!' (Image: Irish Life, Full collection available in the National Library of Ireland)

The escaped prisoners dashed in various directions and were gone before the police arrived on the scene. Some of the men disappeared into a crowd who had come to help them, some went in the direction of the North Circular Road, others crossed the canal to Whitworth Road. While some made off on bicycles and others on foot, it is stated that one of them asked onlookers: ‘Who will lend me my tram fare?’

The escapees had an estimated 20 minutes head-start on the police, quite a number of whom had been on duty at the Phoenix Park races.

Belfast Jail
In a letter published in the Irish Independent, Harry Boland MP, has drawn attention to the Sinn Féiners still incarcerated, in particular those in Belfast Jail. He describes the conditions there as ‘simply appalling’.

Prisoners are condemned to cells without bed or board, knife, fork or spoon to eat their ‘miserable fare’. They are not allowed out of their cells except to go to the lavatory and last week three men were placed in handcuffs for ringing their bells for that purpose. Mr Boland added that if the men tried to speak to each other while on the way to the lavatory they were set upon by the police, who are present to reinforce the warders.

[Editor's note: This is an article from Century Ireland, a fortnightly online newspaper, written from the perspective of a journalist 100 years ago, based on news reports of the time.]