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Ederney Village, 20 Boa Island Road Belleek, Enniskillen (2026)

11/09/2026

Fermanagh Herald January 29th 1916. A CONSTABULARY INQUIRY AT LACK.
A Royal Irish Constabulary inquiry was opened in Lack police barracks on Friday to investigate certain charges – which included that of tipping and making false entries in the barrack books – brought by Constable James Nicholson against Sergeant Cleary, who has been in charge of the Lack barracks for some years. Constable Nicholson, the complainant, swore that Sergeant Cleary had the appearance of having had drink taken on the 30th of November, and he arrived at that conclusion because the Sergeant was untidy and inclined to be unsteady. On the 1st of December witness noticed that about 4.00 the Sergeant had drink taken, and at 10.30 p.m. that he had a lot of drink taken. On the 2nd of December Sergeant Cleary was drunk on parade – his cap was on the back of his head, his tunic was partially open, and he had not had a shave for at least two days. Witness produced a bill given to him by Mrs. Monaghan, who kept a public house in Drumskinny, in the middle of December. The bill was for two shillings due by the sergeant for Bass beer. Witness did not give the bill to the sergeant, but kept it for that inquiry. The Sergeant’s name was not on the bill……

February 3rd 1916. A GREAT AIR RAID. A ZEPPELIN FLEET. RIGHT ACROSS ENGLAND. The zeppelin raid on England on Monday night was the strongest and most extensive yet attempted. At least six centres are known to have been visited and some 220 bombs dropped doing material damage the extent of which is not officially stated, and casualties were officially given as 54 killed and 67 injured. These figures come second to the casualties in the great raid on the London area on October 13th, when 56 persons were killed and 114 injured. Altogether six or seven zeppelins were employed on the murderous mission, the area covered being the Midlands, North-Eastern and Eastern counties. I.R.

February 3rd 1916. ONE ZEPPELIN LESS. HER CREW LOST. LEFT SINKING IN THE NORTH SEA. The captain of a French vessel which arrived at Hull on Thursday reported having seen a Zeppelin destroyed in the North Sea. Skipper William Martin of the Grimsby trawler Stephen K, says the disabled Zeppelin is L19, that the car was entirely submerged, and part of the envelope was floating in the water, the crew being driven to the higher part of the envelope. Although at least 20 Germans came into view there were others on board, as sounds of tapping with a hammer could be distinctly heard. In all probability the Zeppelin would remain afloat for several hours. Owing to the number of Germans it was impossible to attempt their capture. They asked to be taken on board the trawler, but as the trawlers crew only numbered nine hands all told the presence of two dozen Germans were on board would have been most inadvisable. I.R.

February 3rd 1916. AN EXPLOSION. GERMANS AT WORK IN OTTAWA PARLIAMENT HOUSE. SIX PEOPLE KILLED. A fire believed to have been caused by a German incendiary, which broke out in the Dominion Parliament Buildings, Ottawa, on Thursday night while the House was in Session, practically demolished the structure, the damage being estimated at considerably over one million. The library building has been saved. Six persons including two nieces of the Speaker lost their lives. Several persons, including the Minister of Agriculture (Mr. Burrell) were injured and others are reported missing. The Speakers wife and children were saved by a life-net. The King and B***r Law have sent messages of sympathy to the Governor General. I.R.

February 3rd 1916. A PLUCKY FIGHT. Describing the brilliant bombing feat by a party of British officers and men about the Kemmell-Wytschaete road, in which the enemy suffered 40 casualties and had two machine guns destroyed, a special correspondent says that the raiders tell of a German sentry with a nasty cough. In the silent blackness an unseen bayonet thrust cured the poor wretch of his crouping for all time. Bombs flashed crimson death to right and left and in the squealing confusion the invaders did their work with grim promptitude. An officer having emptied his revolver, snatched up a Germans rifle and either bayonetted or clubbed scores of foes. They came tumbling out of dugouts falling in panic with blankets wrapped around them. Wild rifle fire broke out all along the enemy front but the only casualties which befell the gallant party were caused by the devotion of a couple of men who were assisting a wounded comrade over the par**et. I.R.

February 10th 1916. SERGEANT J. FYFFE 18TH ROYAL IRISH, rushed home from his regiment in France to see his father in Eden Street, Enniskillen, but before he could reach home his father had passed away. Sergeant Fyffe is a smart young soldier and instructor of athletics in his battalion. He met James and Willie Quinn of the Diamond, Enniskillen of the 5th Royal Irish Rifles near his own battalion in France and says that the Ulster division with the local battalion lay not far off from where his own battalion was located. The Ulster division and other Divisions are on the best of terms. All are comrades out there, no matter from the south or north and all are much superior in physique and in condition to the German soldiers. The German soldiers would desert in numbers but that their own officers tell them that they would be shot at once if taken by the British. One of the prisoners taken by the 18th on Christmas night was so frightened and he begged his captors to leave him his German head: he was led to believe that his head would be cut off. The well-known action at the Brickfields reduced the 18th from 1,100 to about 43 men, they were so decimated. The Germans, Sergeant Fyffe says, no longer advance in solid masses as they used to do, but in open formation. They had suffered so much by the former that they were taught a lesson. I.R.

February 3rd 1916. THE INNISKILLINGS COMFORT FUND. WHAT WE HAVE DONE. Our people have risen to the location. £926 10s 1d have been supplied in cash and about £500 worth of woollen and other goods to this office altogether apart from what has been contributed to the Central Depot Fund, the Red Cross and other Funds. I.R.

10/09/2026

January 27th 1916. WHOLESALE ROBBERY OF WAR STORES. HOW PUBLIC GENEROSITY IS ABUSED. The way in which comforts and other stores for our troops mysteriously disappear occasionally is illustrated by a story told by Lance Corporal Caddick. His platoon he says he was billeted upon a farmer who seemed very irritable and who expressly forbade the troops to visit one particular portion of his farm. This naturally excited the curiosity of the troops and one of the privates decided to investigate. He made a startling discovery which he communicated to the officer in command who ordered a raid on the place. The result was the finding of thousands of new shirts sent from Canada and England which he had never been unpacked, besides tins of biscuits, jam, condensed milk, etc. Thousands of pairs of gloves, many with little notes attached bearing the names of the girls who had knitted them and the schools they attended. It is shocking of course that such dishonesty should exist, and it is particularly mean because it does not serve even to annex gift intended for the personal use of the soldiers. The story can be capped by an even more flagrant case. A major in one of the Canadian regiments was in need of socks and went into a shop in a French town to buy some. The shopkeeper supplied him without any difficulty but when the major came to put the socks on he found something inside one of them. He pulled it out and found a Christmas greeting card from H.R.H. Princess Mary! The socks belonged to her Christmas gift consignment, and this proved that some parcels of them at least had got into dishonest hands. The major took the socks and the card straight to his commanding officer and it is hardly necessary to say there was a strict investigation. F.T.

Fermanagh Herald January 29th 1916. MIRACULOUS ESCAPE AT MAGUIRESBRIDGE. CHILD FALLS FROM TRAIN AND IS UNINJURED. A miraculous escape from death occurred on last Tuesday. When the train due from Dublin in Enniskillen at 12.40 arrived at Maguiresbridge, a woman desired to alight at the station, but through a mistake opened a door at the wrong side and discovering her mistake closed back the door but did not turn the handle. Mrs. Cleary and her four children, residing, it is stated, at Abbey Street, Enniskillen, were in the carriage at the time travelling from Lisnaskea. Shortly after the train had left the station at Maguiresbridge, one of Mrs. Cleary’s children, a little boy of seven years, went to the apparently closed door in order to look through the window. He leaned against the door, which had the effect of throwing it open, and the young fellow was thrown from the train and on to the permanent way. Mrs. Cleary, we understand, pulled the communication cord in order to stop the train, but evidently did not pull it down far enough, for the train did not stop until its arrival at Lisbellaw, where very much upset she reported the matter to the station master. The latter gentlemen, with some helpers, walked back down the line and found the young fellow close to the place where he had fallen out, quite uninjured, and none the worse of his dangerous fall.

Fermanagh Herald January 29th 1916. OBITER DICTA, (ED. BY THE WAY) I AM ORDERED FROM COURT. Those who left the Enniskillen Petty Sessions Court on last Monday at the termination of the hearing of the cases missed a treat. Had they remained they would have witnessed what was intended for a tragedy, but in reality was so ludicrous that it bore the appearance of a most diverting comedy, and might well have been entitled “The Man who put his foot in it” – with my old friend, Mr. Trimble, in the leading role of “The Man.” In order to appreciate the incident which I am going to relate, it is necessary to explain that Mr. Trimble and myself are very old friends, so great that we might have fought in the Boer War, side by side, and might have performed a similar feat in the present conflict but –

“Said I to Cope will you fight any more?
O no says Cope my eyes are too sore.”

(Cope – short for Copeland, Mr Trimbles middle name.)

And since then he has studiously avoided me. He has written a good deal in his paper to the detriment of the Nationalists, but since the editor started this column I have watched him and asked him for explanations, facts and figures, concerning many incidents, but he always ran into a corner and put up his hands. This, of course, made him cross, and for some time he has been longing for a “go” at myself, but he never had a chance and he never will have a chance. On Monday, however, he thought he had his revenge and he appeared mighty pleased. It happened like this.

The cases in the Petty Sessions had all been heard, and many of the magistrates had left the bench, only three, I think, remained looking at some papers. Mr. Walker, the courteous Resident Magistrate, was just finishing filling in the book, and was about to leave. The public had also departed. The representatives of four newspapers remained writing. One of my colleagues who is always liberal with his ci******es, very thoughtful he produced his case, and offered one of the reporters a cigarette. He then took one himself and lastly handed the case to me. Our donor struck a match and lighted his cigarette. Mr. Trimble said nothing. The reporter then lighted his friend’s ci******es. And still Mr. Trimble said nothing. Then my cigarette was ignited. And then Mr. Trimble spoke. In infuriated accents he mumbled something about the Court not being over, and added some statement about contempt of Court. At that time I saw visions of 14 days in Sligo jail. But Mr. Trimble got my reply, and on hearing it, immediately exclaimed: “Constable remove that Man!” He directed no particular constable; so he in fact ordered all the constabulary, who were enjoying the joke, to remove me. Then Mr. Trimble left the bench almost frothing, so mad was he that he almost ate a poor woman who addressed him near the Press box. Needless to say, I was not removed; neither did Mr. Trimble’s wrath have the effect he wished. On the contrary, I enjoyed the joke, as it showed me in an admirable manner the class of man he is, and if that is the only retaliation he can have of me, he had better throw down his pen and go in for bird catching. I wonder if he is ever heard that little ditty from the Mikado entitled “Tit Willow.” It might be altered to the following: -

A pompous J.P. who sat on the bench,
Cried: I’m Trimble! I’m Trimble! I’m Trimble.
He saw Obiter Dicta beginning to smoke,
And cried: smoking! Oh smoking! Oh smoking!
It is weakness of intellect, Trimble, I roared!
Or are you seeking revenge ‘cause I’ve got you floored?
But he up with his finger and pointed right out:
Remove him! Remove him! Remove him!

Fermanagh Herald January 29th 1916. JOTTINGS. Sophia Mercer, writing in a Dublin paper, says: the Arigna coal is most satisfactory; it is not so quick lighting, but is much more lasting than English, and in every way a good all-round coal.
Mrs. Hamilton, Pullnaranny, Ballintra, was killed by lightning while in bed early on Thursday morning, her husband being awakened by the fall of the chimney demolished by the lightning and finding his wife dead beside him, a child being uninjured. There deceased woman’s face was blackened, and her hair singed. Two head of cattle and a donkey were killed in a byre, portion of which was also destroyed.
On Tuesday evening a most enjoyable dance was held in their Minor Hall of the Town Hall, Enniskillen under the auspices of the Dr**ers association. For many years the Dr**ers have catered for the enjoyment of the dr**ers assistants, under the careful supervision of Mr. McKeown, President, and Mr. Fitzpatrick, Secretary. Tuesday night’s dance was quite as successful as those held on previous occasions.
We have received a letter from an Arney correspondent which we are unable to publish in full owing to the pressure of space. He takes exception to a reference to Arney in a poem which appeared in the local paper, and points out that over 20 Catholics from the Arney district have joined the colours. He adds that three men from the district have been officially reported killed, one at the Dardanelles, another in France, and the third in Africa. Two more are missing since the period of the early fighting in the Dardanelles. Seven were wounded, four of them have recovered, and went back again in the firing line. One of the soldiers killed leaves a widow and a child, and one of the missing soldiers leaves a wife and five children.
On Saturday morning Mrs. L Hegarty, the Back Street, Ballyshannon, received the sad news that her husband Private J. Hegarty, 1st Battalion Royal Irish Rifles had been killed in action. Private Hegarty was a son of Mr. Joseph Hegarty, Donegal town. He was nine months in France, and saw some severe fighting. The Rev. D. Aherne who wrote acquainting Mrs. Hagerty of her husband’s death and who administered the last Sacraments to the deceased soldier conducted a retreat in Ballyshannon some five years ago.

09/09/2026

January 27th 1916. BRITISH DESERTERS FATE. Mr. Tennant, in Parliamentary papers, last week informed Mr. Farrell that Private T. Hope of the 2nd Battalion Leinster regiment was tried by field general courtmartial on February 14th 1915 on a charge of desertion. The evidence showed that he absented himself from the trenches on December 23rd until February, 9th. It is well known to all soldiers, adds Mr. Tennant that desertion in the face of the enemy is liable to be punished by death. Private Hope was informed of his sentence more than 12 hours before it was carried out. I.R.

January 27th 1916. LISNASKEA BOARD OF GUARDIANS. The clerk reported that Patrick McCormick, the porter, was invalided home from the front, and was expected any day in Lisnaskea. A reply was received from the Gaelic League thanking the Guardians for their resolutions of protest against the curtailment of the Government’s grants for the teaching of Irish. The reply was in English, but the signature to the letter was in Irish. Chairman (Mr. Kirkpatrick) – How nice it would have been if the letter had been in Irish. Mr. McElgunn – We are a scandal to the country we are living in. Irishmen don’t know their own language – for shame! It is not our fault of course for we were prosecuted for it. I.R.

January 27th 1916. INNISKILLING HERO DEAD. SERGEANT JAMES CARNEY. Mr. Edward Carney, Abbey Street, Enniskillen has received word from the War Office that his son, Sergeant James Carney, 1st Inniskillings, was killed during the recent fighting in the Balkans. Sergeant Carney had served in France with the 2nd Battalion and received the Cross of the Order of Saint George fourth class for gallantry on the 28th of October 1914 when he brought in a wounded comrade under heavy machine gun fire, thereby suffering his own wounds. He served through the South African war and at the battle of Colenso brought a wounded comrade from the firing line to the field hospital amid a hail of bullets, and was complemented by his commanding officer. He was specially promoted to Corporal in the Mounted Infantry on which he served two years, for scouting with ability. He has the Queen’s Medal with five clasps and the King’s Medal with two clasps. He served three years in Egypt under Major Hessey, now Lt. Colonel commanding the 11th Inniskillings. I.R.

January 27th 1916. ENNISKILLEN WORKHOUSE. MORE ABOUT EXTRAVAGANCE. The extravagance alleged in the Enniskillen Workhouse about which the public has heard so much recently was further discussed at a meeting of the Board of Guardians on Tuesday. In reply to a member the Master said that though there were no patients in the Fever Hospital, still 6 cwt of coal was sent up for the week, and added Mr. Meehan, that was only for the nurse and the servant. Mr. Crumley, M.P. (Chairman), said that he had got tired of this question, with its accompaniment of anonymous cards coming to him about the coal and egg question. Mr. W. J. Brown calculated this little hospital burnt three times as much as an ordinary house. The question was also asked – were the coal and oil sent up to the infirmary in excess of the Boards allowance. The clerk replied yes. 12 gallons was the allowance and 15 was used. Mr. Crumley said they must be living on oil. I.R.

January 27th 1916. GERMAN AEROPLANES BEAT BRITISH ENGINES. Although our flying men are the best in the world they are out engined by the new German Fokker which is believed by the French to be fitted with a 200 h.p. water cooled Mercedes engine. The machine gun is fixed so that to aim the monoplane must be manoeuvred exactly as the torpedo tubes in a submarine are aimed. It fires directly ahead through the propeller. The bullets which pass between the blades carry straight. Bullets which touch the blades as these revolve are deflected by a bulletproof deviators attached to the blades. The toll of the Fokker stands for the past month at 15 British aeroplanes. F.T.

January 27th 1916. MASTER W. H. A. WEST. Seldom has so large or representative cortege been witnessed in Fermanagh at the funeral of a child as that which followed the remains of William Henry A. West, eldest son of Mr. John West, Crocknacrieve, to Enniskillen cemetery on Sunday afternoon. From near and far came members of the Pilgrim sect to express their sympathy with the bereaved parents while the attendance also included large numbers of members of other Churches in the surrounding district. The deceased little chap was only 12 ½ years of age and had been ailing for about a month. Previous to that he had always enjoyed the best of health and was extremely popular among his schoolmates at Sydare school where he was quick and intelligent at his lessons and give every promise of developing into a clever youth. The funeral as stated took place on Sunday the service at the graveside being conducted by Mr. George Beatty and Mr. Edward Armstrong, two members of the Pilgrim Sect. F.T.

08/09/2026

January 27th 1916. OUTLOOK FOR FARMERS - ARE THEY MAKING BIG PROFITS? Never since the war began has the industrial community in Ireland reached a graver crisis. Foodstuffs are rising rapidly, Meal is almost at a prohibitive price, and unless the farmers bestir themselves ruin may affect many of them before the war be out. We do not wish to be alarmist, but facts must be faced as they are found. About last October the present crisis really began. There was a serious shortage of shipping to Ireland, and the consequence was that freight rose, with the result that the condition of affairs has steadily being getting worse, and if it continue much longer business will be paralysed and the price of all articles of food be at famine rates.
Farmers, no doubt, have made large sums of money through the war. Cattle have been sold at enhanced prices; milk and butter produced at almost the same cost as before the war, have maintained a steady advance of about 50 per cent; and pork reached the record figure of 82s per cwt in Enniskillen market on Tuesday and on yesterday at Irvinestown 83s per cwt. Against all this, feeding stuffs, through the present shortage of shipping and not through traders inflated profits, as some allege have advanced enormously. Meal, the staple fattening food for pigs and fowl, which a short time ago could have been purchased for 13s a cwt, is now at 28s. This price has frightened small farmers, and many have disposed of their pigs and ceased keeping them as they feared a loss. Prices are alarming, but more alarming still are the outlook that supplies may almost altogether cease.
In France the women are able to save all crops by the use of machinery. In the Ballinamallard district the great advantage of machinery has been made evident. There some farmers have binders and potatoes diggers and Mr. E. M. Archdale, D. L., addressing a co-operative conference last week said that his binder which cost him £30 paid for itself the first year and did the work of 20 men. Mr. W. H. West told how he saved 20 acres having one and that it would work in any field in which farm machinery, such as the mowing machine is used. No one would expect a small farmer to purchase a binder or potato digger, but Mr. West urged that poor farmers should cooperate and work on this principle and means are now being taken in certain district to carry out this idea.
Plough then is the watchword. Yellow meal will soon be hardly procurable. Sow oats in the upland and rye in the bog land, also catch crops such as r**e, hybrid turnips and vetches, which make excellent fattening for cattle and pigs and cost a fraction of the cost of meal. Yellow meal has been the groundwork of all our system. The great fundamental asset to the farmers, beef, pork, eggs and butter, depend on it, and now that it will be scarcer, a substitute must be found. At substitute can only be found by the plough.
There is no better manure than lime. 50 years ago every farmer had his own lime kiln. The system of burning line has died out, as artificial manure can be bought or easily and at so low a price. Now prices are up, and recourse is again being had to the burning of lime. The Kesh Co-operative Society has already taken the matter in hand; and in connection with that a Co-operative lime kiln is being organized, to supply the members of the society with burnt lime at a cheap rate. The present state of affairs cannot continue unless disaster is to ensue. Prices of foodstuffs will not decrease: they will increase. I.R.

January 27th 1916. MIGRATING NORTH. EVICTED PROTESTANT TENANTS COME TO SETTLE IN FERMANAGH. Within recent years a number of Protestant farmers have migrated from the Midlands and west of Ireland to the north. During the period before the war, when the Home Rule crisis was at its height, numbers of these farmers sold their holdings and came to Fermanagh to reside. There is now migration taking place, but not from dread of political warfare. The Estates Commissioners, who have purchased the Clanrickarde Estate under the recent Birrell Land Act, which killed land purchase in Ireland, except in congested districts in the west, have compulsory purchased the tenant right of a number of Protestant tenants on this estate. They must leave by the 1st of March next, and a number of them are providing themselves with holdings in Fermanagh. Already some of them have secured a new place of abode, in the Lisbellaw district and others are negotiating for farms in the same neighbourhood. These farmers of the West cannot understand the high price of land in Fermanagh. The land here is not so good as the fattening lands of Galway, but a peaceful and law abiding county attracts purchasers and there is always keen competition. As an example, Mr. P. R. Brown, F.A.S.I., Auctioneer, a few weeks ago sold six and ¼ Irish acres near Lisbellaw for the sum of £600. Almost 100 pounds per acre! It is an immense price, and if the farm had been situated in the west, it might not have fetched £20 an acre. I.R.

January 27th 1916. NOTES. Two infant children are said to die in the United Kingdom for every man killed in the war.
The new German aeroplane, the Fokker, is built for speed and can fly at the rate of 100 miles an hour. It carries a huge engine and can rise in the air with great speed.
Mr. Lort, a farmer who lives near Carnarvon, when charged with not having 25 sheep dipped, said that she did not know whether they were sheep or not, as some of them had six horns, others only four, and were said to be descendants of those which had been found on ships of the Spanish Armada.
The Pope has hitherto appointed an Irish-American to the Archbishopric of Chicago and a departure from the understood rule in the appointment of a prelate named Mundelein has been hailed by the German Press with delight. I.R.

January 27th 1916. DUBLIN SENSATION. NIGHT RAID BY POLICE. SEVERAL HOUSES VISITED AND ARMS AND AMMUNITION REMOVED. A wholesale raid was carried out in Dublin on Saturday by the Dublin police on the residences of a large number of people who it is stated had been suspected for some time past of acting in contravention of the provisions of the Defence of the Realm Act. The raids were a complete surprise, and though the persons concerned expostulated, no resistance was offered, and no arrests were made. The police removed arms, ammunition, and alleged seditious literature, to the Castle where they were impounded. The only name mentioned in the reports of the affair is that of the Countess Markievicz, from whose residence in Rathmines the police are stated to have removed a printing press, with type and paper. This lady, whose husband left Dublin at the outbreak of war to join his regiment in the Russian army, has been a prominent…………… I.R.

January 27th 1916. LISNASKEA, A SHOCKING CASE. DRINKING SEPARATION MONEY. MAGISTRATES LENIENT SENTENCE. Shocking revelations as to how a soldiers young wife, with 25 shillings separation allowance, starved her children and drank all the money, were told in Lisnaskea court on Saturday when the NSPCC prosecuted Mary Molloy aged 24 with neglecting her four children the youngest of whom was six months old. Mr. Winslow, solicitor for the complainants, said that the case had been under the supervision of the NSPCC for almost a year past. Inspector Mallon proved to various visits. The children were poorly clad, barefooted, and filthy. They slept on an old paillasse sacking. Her room was dirty and had no furniture in it. She drank all her money, and two days after she took the pledge from the Parish Priest he found her lying drunk in bed. She received several warnings and was fined twice for drunkenness, and eventually the children had to be taken from her and sent to the Workhouse. Two women witnesses told of defendant’s drunken habits and also of her immorality. She on occasions slept out at night with the baby. The children were covered with vermin and had a scalded ear and sore eyes. Defendant said she did not beat the children which was different from neglect. The chairman Mr. Walker, R.M. said that the case was a bad one and there could be no plea of poverty. Defendant would go to jail for 14 days. I.R.

07/09/2026

January 20th 1916. NOTES. Shop assistants are receiving great criticism and indeed odium for staying at home doing the work of girls and measuring tape or selling ribbon instead of joining the army. At Athy and other Rural Councils they were pointedly referred to. I.R.

The command of battalions at the front is now not to be given to any officer whose age exceeds 40, according to new decision of the military authorities, as the exertions of trench warfare demand useful physical powers.

Half of Armagh L.O. Lodge No 109 has joined the army having given 45 out of 90 members. An Armagh paper gives the names of all the clerk’s in local branches of the Belfast and Ulster Banks which have joined the army, and says that the local branches of the Provincial, Hibernian, and Northern Banks did not supply one. I.R.

January 20th 1916. A RELIC OF 1821. An interesting relic, commemorative of the visit of George 1V to Ireland in 1821 has been found in Lisnaskea. When digging in the garden belonging to Mr. William Richardson, at the rear of the market house, a large medal was found. On the front side was the head of George 1V, and on the reverse side the words “Ireland hails with joy the visit of her Sovereign August 1821.” The medal has been secured by Mr. Peter Costello, Lisnaskea, who is a collector of old and rare coins. Mr. Costello has also a large municipal medal struck to commemorate the er****on of a statue to Napoleon 111. It was taken from a German captured in Lille. I.R.

January 20th 1916. AN ORANGE HALL OPENED IN IRVINESTOWN. SPEECH BY MR. E. M. ARCHDALE. It is questionable if any town for its size in Ireland is as well off for public halls as Irvinestown. There is the Concert Hall, a new Townhall, Mr. Lee’s Hall, and now there is the new Orange Hall, the opening of which took place on Thursday evening last. The need for an Orange Hall has long been felt, as the local brethren of L.O.L. 1270 had no home of their own. Some years ago the building of a hall was discussed and decided upon, and Mr. F. E. Townsend was appointed the architect. The site is within what was known as the grand entrance to Castle Irvine, which had been disused for a long time. It was granted free of cost through the generosity of the W. M., of the lodge, Major C. C. D’Arcy Irvine, J. P. It has seating accommodation for 300 people, and what is so badly needed in most halls, a built up stage, with stage entrance and ante room. It has cost over £400 and of this sum about £100 is required to clear the building of debt. But for the war this sum would have been raised before the opening and the brethren of Lodge 1270 are hopeful of shortly wiping out this debt and intend to let the hall to theatrical companies and for other purposes, so that it will become a source of income as well as a great benefit to the town. I.R.

January 20th 1916. ON A DEAD MAN’S LAP. AIRMAN’S EXPLOIT AT A HEIGHT OF 10,000 FEET. This story is related in the Daily News in a letter just received from a young officer attached to the Royal Flying Corps now a prisoner in Germany. Poor B! I was so sorry he was killed; he writes. He was such a nice boy and only 19. I had a fight with two German aeroplanes and then a shell burst very close to us, and I heard a large piece whizzing past my head. Then the aeroplane started to come down headfirst spinning all the time. We must have dropped to about 5,000 feet in about 20 seconds. I looked around at once and saw poor B with a terrible wound in his head quite dead. I then realized that the only chance of saving my life was to step over into his seat and sit on his lap where I could reach the controls. I managed to get the machine out of that terrible death plunge, switched off the engine and made a good landing on terra firma. We were 10,000 feet up when B was killed and luckily it was this tremendous height that gave me time to think and act. I met one of the pilots of the German machines which attacked me. He could speak English quite well and we shook hands after a most thrilling fight. I brought down his aeroplane with my machine gun and he had to land close to where I landed. There was a bullet through his radiator and petrol tank but neither he nor his observer was touched. F.T.

January 27th 1916. INNISKILLING PRISONERS INTERNED IN GERMANY RENDER THANKS FOR THE GIFTS. Our donations towards the prisoners of war have been greatly increased by the generous donations of Irvinestown per Mrs. D’Arcy Irvine of Castle Irvine and we are sending it out to those for whom it is intended. It is 48 lbs of sugar, 10 lbs of tea, 10 tins of Oxo, 12 packets of cocoa, 2 lbs of candles and 16 tins of sardines. I understand that some tins of condensed milk are on their way also, for all of which we are deeply indebted to our loyal friends in Irvinestown. I.R.

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20 Boa Island Road Belleek
Enniskillen
BT933EP

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7855325693

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