PROTESTANT CANON SHOT.
TERRIFIED CHILDREN.
FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT. BELFAST, THURSDAY. A widespread series of attacks on Government property, on a scale almost equal to that of the Easter Sunday outrages, was carried out in the North of Ireland during the early hours of this morning by Sinn Feiners. Excise offices, police barracks, and private houses of income-tax officers all suffered severely, but the most serious feature of the proceedings was the shooting of the Rev. T. G. Wilkinson, minor canon of Down Protestant Cathedral in Downpatrick. The various raids were preceded by the cutting of telegraph wires, and where they occurred in villages the inhabitants were held up and prevented from venturing out. Outrages occurred in all parts of the provinces, including Belfast, Londonderry, Enniskillen, Downpatrick, Carnlough, Millquarter, Newtown Stewart, Clough, Strangford, Killeter, and elsewhere, while the county of Louth, on the border of Ulster, had also its own list.
The shooting of the Rev. Wilkinson occurred after midnight, when he was aroused by the screams of Mrs. Mcbride, caretaker of the Excise office next door. Eight armed and disguised men had raided the offices, and were carrying away papers when they were disturbed. They had sentries posted, and the appearance of Mr. Wilkinson with a poker was the signal to the sentries to call out. The men from the office then ran down English-street firing revolver shots as they proceeded, and Mr. Wilkinson, intent on securing help, pursued them. At the post office he was shot in the thigh and collapsed. Dr. Murray was summoned, and conveyed Mr. Wilkinson in his motor-car to the county infirmary. The assailants, who came on cycles, effected their escape. The town is seething with excitement at the outrage. Enniskillen was isolated last night, all the wires being cut. The Inland Revenue offices were burned down, and many important documents relating to income-tax were destroyed.
BELFAST OFFICE ATTACKED.
The attacks on income-tax collectors’ houses were numerous, but only one outrage was attempted by Sinn Feiners in Belfast. No. 4 District Income Tax Office is on the third floor of the Scottish Provident Buildings facing the City Hall, and late last night five welldressed men arrived and, putting on masks, entered the offices where Miss Kelly and Mr. Mcmullen, two of the assistants, were working overtime. After Miss Kelly and Mr. Mcmullen had been seized and bound the keys were taken, and then the purpose of the visitors became evident. They collected all the papers they could lay their hands on, piled them on the floor, and after pouring a quantity of petrol over them, set them alight. The fire brigade arrived, and the fire was extinguished.
EIGHT BARRACKS BURNED.
Reports to hand show that eight barracks were burned – Carnlough, and Millquarter, in Antrim; Clough and Strangford, in Down; Killeter, in Tyrone; Omeath, in Louth; Burnfoot, in Donegal; and Carrigans, in Derry. They were occupied mostly by sergeants and their families, who were unceremoniously bundled out in the small hours by armed and masked men. At Millquarter, a Nationalist locality, Sergeant Rourke and his four children were roused by knocks. The sergeant was merely acting as caretaker, and there were therefore no arms or ammunition in the barracks. He opened the door and was immediately held up by a number of armed men, who ordered him out and peremptorily told him to take up a position with his face to the wall, and threatened that if he moved he would be shot. The terrified children were also put out. The members of the party then entered the building, removed some of the furniture and set fire to the barracks, which was destroyed. Before making off, they placed the sergeant and his children in a house and told them if they left before five o’clock they would be shot.
General Sir Hacket Pain, C.B., Divisional Commissioner for Ulster, who was injured in a motor accident on Tuesday evening, was removed to hospital to-day, his injury having proved to be serious.