Policeman linked to Mac Curtain murder shot dead in Lisburn
Lisburn, 23 August 1920 - Oswald Swanzy, a District Inspector in the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) has been shot dead while returning home from a service at Christ Church in Lisburn.
The attack took place at one o'clock yesterday afternoon at the corner of Railway Street and was witnessed by a large crowd of people emerging from several churches in the town. It is believed that Mr Swanzy was turning onto Railway Street when four men ran at him and, pushing others aside, fired several shots at him from close range. Mr Swanzy fell immediately to the ground and died on the spot.
The attackers made their escape in a taxi-cab which was positioned 200 yards away.
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At an inquest held earlier today into the incident, the jury returned a verdict of murder. District Inspector Moore, representing the crown, stated that the fact that Swanzy had been implicated in the killing of Tomás Mac Curtain earlier this year had caused him to be targeted, referring to the rumours as ‘damnable lies’. The foreman of the jury said that Swanzy himself had concerns about his safety and had told his friend a few days before his death that he was a marked man.
The unionist Belfast Newsletter appealed to all ‘loyal and law-abiding’ people in Belfast and Ulster to ‘keep the peace, and under no circumstances to be provoked to reprisals.’
However, the appeal came too late to help avert disorder in Lisburn where violence erupted in response to the killing. The newspaper reported that a large crowd ‘abandoned all restraint and for hours the work of wholesale destruction of property – shops and houses – of those suspected of connection or sympathy with Sinn Féin went on unchecked by the police simply because the violence and strength of the mob was beyond all control.’ The violence was largely directed at catholic members of the local community, many of whom were forced to flee. The parochial house was gutted by fire and a dozen homes of catholics in Longshore Street met a similar fate.
The violence was accompanied by looting with many of the mob reported to have been intoxicated.
[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.]
