Local priest murdered by Auxiliary cadet near Dunmanway

Dunmanway, 18 December 1920 - An Auxiliary cadet has been arrested for the murder of the popular Dunmanway parish priest, Canon Thomas Magner, 73, and Tadhg Crowley, a 24-year old farmer’s son. Both men were shot dead on the afternoon of 15 December.

According to an official report from Dublin Castle, Cadet Vernon Hart had been in charge of 30 Auxiliaries who left Dunmanway in two lorries and were en route to Cork where they planned to attend the funeral of one of their comrades who was recently killed in an ambush at Dillon’s Cross in Cork. Witness testimony suggests that Cadet Hart had been drinking heavily and that his judgement may have been impaired.

They were about a mile from Dunmanway when they encountered Canon Magner and Tadhg Crowley. According to the official account, Cadet Hart stopped the lorries and walked over to Crowley, whom he asked for a permit before shooting him dead with his revolver. Hart then turned to the parish priest and shot him dead also.

A reporter who visited Dunmanway for the Irish Independent claims that Crowley had been cycling from Dunmanway when Canon Magner asked him to help with fixing a problem with the car of Patrick Brady, a Resident Magistrate, who had been forced to stop at the side of the road.

Mr Brady tried to intervene with the cadet to inform them that he was a principal government official in the district, but rather than believe him, Cadet Hart threatened his life.

Neither Canon Magner nor Mr Crowley were said to have had any involvement in politics.

Scenes from the funerals of Tadhg Crowley and Canon Magner. (Images: Cork Examiner, 20 December 1920 & Freeman's Journal, 22 December 1920)

A message of sympathy was sent by telegram to the Bishop of Cork, Daniel Cohalan, from the Inspector General of the RIC in Dublin Castle. However the bishop responded that he could not accept sympathy of an officer ‘whose men are murdering my people and have burned my city.’

The killings of Magner and Crowley have caused much distress in the locality and are emblematic of the depressing condition of the country at present.

Other killings
In Tipperary, an ambush of a patrol of eight policemen near Newport left four dead and one injured. The ambush party is believed to have included up to 100 people.

In Dublin, meanwhile, 22 year-old District Inspector Philip J. Sullivan was shot dead on Henry Street at 6 pm, leading to a panicked stampede on the busy street. The young policeman was in the company of his fiancée when he was killed about 100 yards from Nelson’s Pillar. Three or four suspects were seen escaping down Moore Lane after the shooting.

[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.]