Galway in Days Gone By
Galway In Days Gone By
1919
Transatlantic flight
“I’m Alcock – just come from Newfoundland.” In this cryptic sentence Capt. Alcock, D.S.G., announced to the awestricken Marconi operators on Sunday morning that he and Lieut. Arthur Whitten Brown had just arrived from another hemisphere.
The £10,000 prize that had been awaiting some conquering man-bird more daring – and more fortunate – than the rest since April 1, 1913, had been won. The old world and the new had been bridged in flight.
The miracle of ether waves that sent the voice of man over vast spaces from hemisphere to hemisphere had been superseded. Man himself had come on the wings of the wind.
The Atlantic had been flown at the second attempt in a single night. That touching meeting in Derrygimla Bog on Sunday Morning, June 15, 1919, marked a new era in history and made County Galway forever famous.
When Alcock introduced himself to the wondering wireless men, he uttered an epic in six words, and changed, as with a breath, the current of history and romance.
Before we get down to the simple, unvarnished tale told by the pilot and navigator, whose names will rank in the history books with those of Columbus and Capt. Cooke, let us briefly sketch the main facts of the flight:–
The project of the Atlantic flight, originated by Lord Northcliffe in “The Daily Mail” on April 1, 1913, when a prize of £10,000 was offered, was suspended during the war. The offer was renewed last year, with the specific object of securing improved types of aircraft and engines.
In order that the flight should be a direct one, the course – Newfoundland to Ireland – was expressly mentioned, and keeping the same objective of direct flight in view, a time limit of 72 hours was fixed.
The glorious failure of Hawker and Grieve just a month ago is still fresh in public memory. In remote Co. Galway the sporting instincts of the people gave vent in great joy at their rescue in the mid-Atlantic.
First news in Galway
Late on Saturday evening the Editor of the “Connacht Tribune” received a telegram from the United Press of America, informing him that the airmen had started and were making straight for Galway Bay, where they ought to arrive within twenty hours.
On Sunday morning, the “Tribune” received another telegram, this time from the “Daily Mail” giving full particulars of the start of the flight. At the time that telegram was received the airmen had actually breakfasted in the bungalow of the Marconi Works, Ballyconneely, and the first brief message of their arrival had gone round the world on the wings of the Wireless Press.
A few minutes and the news of their arrival at 9.40 a.m., as we reckon Summer Time, was learned. The activity of the airmen from Oranmore told the City churchgoers on Sunday morning that something unusual was afoot. Soon the news spread like wildfire, and it formed the sole topic of discussion throughout the day.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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1921
Silence is golden
Leaders on both sides have stated that the best assistance the country can give in the making of peace is to keep silence.
During the past week there has been a great deal of speculation, most of it harmless enough, as, for instance, the enterprising American journalist’s “exclusive” on the first meeting of the British Premier and the President of the Irish Republic; much of it positively mischievous, as the case of the efforts of a certain journal, which has grown hoary in the reputation for throwing in the apple of discord, to anticipate failure in advance.
Our American colleague was on surer and on safer ground when he told of how de Valera and Lloyd George met.
“Mr. Lloyd George,” he cabled, “was sitting at his desk when the Irish President entered. For just a minute these two gazed fixedly at one another. Then the British Premier walked across the intervening space and shook de Valera by the hand. He led him to a seat where they sat side by side. The atmosphere was tense. They faced one another. Then Lloyd George reached down for a box of cigars. But the Irish President is of Spartan mould. He neither permits himself to drink nor smoke. He politely but firmly waved the box away. Mr. Lloyd George, however, selected and lighted a Havana, and as the smoke curled upwards the atmosphere became decidedly easier!”
Good planning
The wise and practical man always lays by a store against the time when supplies will be scarce. One of the most serious effects of the prolonged drought is the scarcity of supplies of fodder for cattle-feeding during the coming winter and spring.
The hay crop is not more than half the average yield. The corn crop is far below normal. Turnips in many districts are a partial failure. We have frequently emphasised the importance of growing catch-crops to supplement other feeding stuffs raised on the farm, but it is only under circumstances such as the present that their utility is brought home to farmers. Owing to the early harvest, a larger area than is usual can and should be put down this season. This would make good, to some extent, at least, the shortage of hay and other feeding-stuffs.
The demonstration plots laid down by the County Committee of Agriculture have shown that catch-crops, such as vetches and rye as well as other mixtures, can be successfully grown in all parts of County Galway.
We would urge on farmers the desirability – nay, the necessity – of procuring seed and making early preparation for the sowing of an increased area of catch-crops this season.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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1921
Peace at last
Hope “hath happy place” in this land of ours to-day. Those who disappoint it are the enemies not only of Ireland, but of civilisation. Before proceeding to the preliminary conference with Mr. Lloyd George at 10, Downing-street, yesterday afternoon, Mr. de Valera said that he thought the outlook for peace both from the British and Irish points of view was better than it had ever been in history.
The Irish leader would not make this statement unless he had good grounds for it. We may accept it as the confident prediction of one who has proceeded with extreme caution throughout these momentous negotiations.
Yet patient confidence in ultimate justice and patient endurance for a little are needed. There are those who would, if they could, thwart the coming of peace, but they will be borne aside by the widening will to peace, and the larger outlook that the coming of the Truce has brought.
The agony of these days that are past, as we hope for ever, is like a nightmare. Only last week, the pages of the “Tribune” told of the trials and tribulations through which the mothers and sisters of County Galway had gone. The stories related at the Quarter Sessions afforded some index of the hell of ceaseless apprehension and the dread which the women and children have had to bear for many months.
It would seem as if there could be no requital for their sorrows upon this earth. But there is sometimes a balance of justice in human affairs. To-day, as Ireland hopes and prays, this balance is about to be meted out as a common national inheritance.
The Truce has been observed in the spirit of mutual forbearance, good-will and generosity. One can conceive that the horrible conditions of the past nine months will ever be recalled. Indeed, there is no person who would desire or contrive at such an eventuality. Its very contemplation makes us fearful of the outcome of these fateful conferences.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
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1921
Theft in Renmore
At about eleven o’clock on Saturday morning two employees of Miss Behan, carrier and forwarding agent, Galway, delivering a quantity of groceries, cigarettes, etc., at the Army and Navy Stores, Renmore, were held up at the turn of the road leading into Renmore by six men who had come down from the Oranmore road.
The drivers were requested to stop the horses, and this being done, two members of the party searched the cars minutely. One of the two who had searched the cars took away a box of containing a quantity of cigarettes to the value of £30.
The drivers reported the matter on arrival at the military barracks and subsequently investigations were made but without success.
Death in pavilion blaze
Set ablaze early on Friday morning last, the pavilion at Athenry tennis and cricket ground was destroyed. Half buried in the debris on the morning following were found the charred remains of a human being.
Shortly after midnight many of the inhabitants of Athenry were awakened by the lurid flames from the north side of the town which shone all over the place. After some time, the local R.I.C. visited the place and found the pavilion had been almost gutted and gone beyond any hope of salvage.
They, however, succeeded in removing a quantity of the wool which the caretaker, Mr. P. Doherty, had stored in an adjoining shed. Delph, costly cutlery, linens and furniture to the value of £100 were reduced to ashes, as were also two sets of harness and a small sum of money, the property of the caretaker.
When the place ceased smouldering on the following day the charred remains of a human being rendered unrecognisable by the flames were found in the cellar.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App
Download the Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App to access to Galway’s best-selling newspaper.
Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Or purchase the Digital Edition for PC, Mac or Laptop from Pagesuite HERE.
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The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
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