Policeman murdered on crowded Thurles street

Thurles, 30 June 1919 - RIC District Inspector, Michael Hunt, was shot and killed in broad daylight in Thurles, Co. Tipperary on 23 June.

Hunt was returning from duty at the Thurles races and was standing in the square at the end of Main Street with thousands of others when three shots rang out, fired from a revolver. He was hit at least twice; one bullet went through his right shoulder, another entered his body just under the left lung. He died 10 minutes later.

A local GP, Dr Thomas Barry attended to the dying man who, it is reported, suffered great pain and was moaning heavily before drawing his final breath.

Michael Hunt, a native of Co. Sligo, was about 50 years of age and married with three children. He served in various parts of the country, including as Head Constable in Carrick-on-Suir.

D.I. Michael Hunt, who was murdered on a busy Thurles street on 23 June 1919 (Image: Irish Independent, 26 June 1919)

No arrests or searches in Thurles have taken place in connection with the murder. Hunt’s widow, Kate Hunt, has lodged a compensation claim for £10,000.

Archbishop Harty’s response
Addressing his congregation at mass yesterday in Thurles Cathedral, the Archbishop of Cashel Dr John Harty, denounced the murder of the District Inspector Hunt and offered his sympathies to the local people on account of the ‘unmerited stain which has been placed on our quiet and God-fearing town’.

The murder was, the archbishop told his parishioners, ‘a grave violation of the law of God… and a flagrant violation of the fifth commandment’, which declares ‘Thou shalt not kill’.

Government ‘provocation’ to blame
In condemning the murder, Dr Harty also aimed his ire at the government of Ireland and its ‘ugly record of provocation’.

‘Military force has supplanted government by consent of the people’, Dr Harty claimed, referencing what he described as the imprisonment of men for the slightest of causes and the kidnapping of children from their homes.

Excerpt from page 22 of the witness statement of Judge Charles Wyse Power. He recalls the reasons D.I. Hunt was murdered. Click image to enlarge. To view the statement in full on the Bureau of Military History website, click here

Government action has been provocative in the extreme, he continued, especially in Tipperary – so much so that ‘we have to thank Almighty God that so few acts of violence have been committed as a result’.

According to Archbishop Harty, the one and only remedy to the prevailing difficulties is to allow Irish people to choose for themselves the government under which they are to live: ‘When Ireland is a free nation amongst the nations of the world the reign of law will prevail.’

[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.]