Galway In Days Gone By

Shot at by men dressed as women

One Sunday evening, at about 5 p.m., a boy named Patrick Ryan, son of Mrs. Ryan, Main-st., Loughrea, was fired at by two unknown men on a farm known as the Forde farm at Earlspark – recently the subject of litigation in the High Court – but fortunately escaped uninjured.

The assailants, who were dressed in female attire, with straw ropes tied around their feet, discharged one shot each at a distance of about twenty yards at young Ryan, and then fled. The police are making diligent inquiries into the affair, but so far no arrests have been made.

The farm on which the outrage was committed is being held in trust for the Forde minors and is at present under the supervision of the Ryan family.

Dangerous scourge

The alarming extent to which the influenza epidemic is spreading out to be taken as a serious warning by those who have so far escaped the scourge. In many instances, neglect to treat the outbreak seriously has ended fatally, and not a few deaths that have occurred in the West of Ireland are directly due to influenza.

1943

Ban on harvest amusements

During the agricultural debate in the Dáil, Mr. P. Beegan pleaded for the suspension of all public amusements during the “Harvest Season”, from July 20th to September 20th, so that farmers might concentrate upon harvesting.

He would have dance halls closed on week nights and open on Sunday nights only until an hour after midnight. In addition, he would ban horse-racing or dog-racing during the period mentioned.

“We all know,” went on the Deputy, “that there is such a craze for dancing and amusement all over the country all the year round, every night of the week, that it is interfering with the working capacity and usefulness of large numbers of young people in town and country.

“We all know that, no matter what they may pretend, those people are unable to work the next day after a night’s dancing. The fact that they are contemplating going to a dance disturbs their interest in their work and when they return out next morning, they are unable to give attention to what they are doing for the day.”

Another suggestion by the County Galway farmer deputy which found scant support amongst his colleagues of the Fianna Fáil party was increased remuneration for farm labourers during harvest periods.

New bus depot

Arrangements are nearing completion for the transfer of the Great Southern Railways road passenger services depot in Galway from Victoria Place to the railway station. A new waiting room and public inquiry office have been provided on the station platform and all ’buses plying to and from Galway will use the main entrance to the station platform as the terminus for journeys.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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