Searches continue after jail breaks in Clonmel and Wicklow

Wicklow, 25 July 1923 - On the 23rd of July just days after more than forty republican prisoners mounted a spectacular escape from a barracks in Clonmel, Co. Tipperary, a further manhunt is underway after five prisoners escaped from a Wicklow Jail.

Soldiers from Wicklow, Rathdrum and Arklow have been involved in a search that tracked the escapees through the village of Barndarrig where shots were fired resulting in a man experiencing a serious flesh wound - the man confessed to bringing food and clothing to the escapees who have since fled to a nearby wooded area. 

The events in Wicklow follow the recent jailbreak by 48 republic prisoners from Emmet Barracks in Clonmel using a tunnel that stretched from their place of detention under a wall into a yard adjoining the barracks.

All 48 prisoners escaped as far as this yard, but did not have time to get further than the yard before their attempted escape was discovered. Seven prisoners were recaptured before they could get further than this yard, among them John Cooney from Clonmel, who sustained a broken leg after falling when crossing a wall.   

With the search for the absconded prisoners continuing, a number of noted so-called ‘Irregulars’ were arrested, including John Aylward and John Sharkey, both of whom were believed to have travelled to Clonmel in connection with the escape. The names of all of the escapees have been published in the press.

Dr. Gemma Clarke, Everyday Violence in the Irish Civil War: County Tipperary in Perspective, Courtesy of Tipperary Museum

[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.]