{"id":5233,"date":"2022-08-17T18:14:00","date_gmt":"2022-08-17T17:14:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/westmeathculture.ie\/?p=5233"},"modified":"2022-09-20T18:17:46","modified_gmt":"2022-09-20T17:17:46","slug":"a-divided-town-part-two","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/westmeathculture.ie\/decade-of-centenary\/a-divided-town-part-two\/","title":{"rendered":"A divided town: part two"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Ian Kenneally<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In the previous article<\/a>, we explored the circumstances that led to the shooting dead of George Adamson in April 1922. Here, we look in more detail at the subsequent propaganda battle in which both pro- and anti-Treaty forces blamed each other for Adamson\u2019s death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That propaganda battle began with, as discussed in the previous edition, statements to the press from the headquarters of both the National Army and the anti-Treaty IRA. Those press releases, at least the early versions, made a number of false claims regarding Adamson\u2019s death and one of them, released by the anti-Treaty IRA in the Four Courts during early May, raised the possibility that Se\u00e1n MacEoin has shot and killed George Adamson. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That Four Courts press release made six points. The first two paragraphs briefly summarised details of the shooting. The third paragraph noted that MacEoin was staying upstairs in the house of a man named Duffy which happened to be almost directly opposite where Adamson was shot. The fourth paragraph highlighted sections from MacEoin\u2019s evidence to the initial coroner\u2019s inquest. MacEoin told the inquest that he had heard a scuffle on the street and that he had grabbed a revolver before opening his bedroom window. The fifth paragraph placed MacEoin at the scene of the shooting by highlighting the testimony of a pro-Treaty officer, and a member of Adamson\u2019s search party that night, Lieutenant Liam O\u2019Meara. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shifting blame<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

It was the sixth paragraph which tied all the above together and which was most damaging to MacEoin. It claimed that the evidence shows \u2018that the direction of the bullet was downwards\u2019 before adding: \u2018A levelled revolver is not held and presented so high that the bullet would take the course indicated by the medical testimony\u2019. Of course, in the press release only MacEoin was stated to have been on high ground, the upstairs window of Duffy\u2019s house, and the implication was that MacEoin had opened his window, fired and killed Adamson.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Four Courts statement had used the fact that MacEoin was in the vicinity of the shooting to present a scenario by which he was the only possible suspect, thereby absolving the anti-Treaty IRA. Journalists picked up on this implication and the possibility of MacEoin\u2019s involvement was widely reported. Yet this version of events proved to be untenable. The press release had misrepresented the evidence of Doctor McDonnell, who had told the coroner\u2019s inquest that he judged the fatal bullet to have been fired from very close range. Although, at the later military inquiry jointly organised by the National Army and the anti-Treaty IRA (discussed below), McDonnell was reluctant to state the distance of the shot he still maintained that it had come from behind and probably to the right of Adamson. He made no mention of the fatal shot having arrived from an elevated position. Also, statements from anti-Treaty witnesses who were at the scene of the shooting do not suggest that any shots came from high ground.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most importantly, anti-Treaty officers in Athlone dismissed suggestions that MacEoin shot Adamson. Commandant Buckley, an Athlone-based anti-Treaty officer who compiled a report on the events surrounding Adamson\u2019s death before testifying to the military inquiry, admitted that his report was not accurately represented in the press release from the Four Courts. Soon after Buckley\u2019s testimony, a representative of the anti-Treaty IRA in the Four Courts claimed that the contentious press release did not intend to implicate MacEoin and that \u2018he was not going to stand over any such inference\u2019. Ultimately, the suggestion that MacEoin shot Adamson was dismissed even by its original proponents. That still leaves the question of who shot George Adamson. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The controversy and widespread newspaper coverage of Adamson\u2019s death caused the National Army and the anti-Treaty IRA to agree a joint military inquiry, which was held during May and June 1922. The inquiry concluded that it could not determine who killed Adamson but it expressed the \u2018firm conviction that the shooting of Brigadier-General Adamson was not premeditated\u2019. In the concluding section of our George Adamson articles, we assess the often-contradictory evidence heard by the inquiry and attempt to pinpoint who killed Adamson. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Endpoint<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

On the night of his death, Adamson and three comrades, Liam O\u2019Meara, Christopher Conway and an officer named Walsh, walked from Custume Barracks to Irishtown where they encountered a man standing in the doorway of a house. This man was unnamed in the original newspaper reports but it emerged during the subsequent inquest and inquiry that he was Se\u00e1n Robbins, an anti-Treaty IRA officer. Another anti-Treaty officer, Joseph Reddin, was standing across the street, seemingly unnoticed by Adamson\u2019s group. Reddin told the inquiry that Adamson, who held a revolver in his right hand, ordered Robbins to put his hands up and that \u2018a second man [Adamson\u2019s comrade, Walsh] held a revolver to Robbins\u2019 breast\u2019 shortly before anti-Treaty officer Thomas Burke and a group of six to eight men, who had been looking to obtain a car in a nearby garage, arrived on the scene. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At that point, Adamson and his men turned to look in the direction of Burke. Robbins, according to his testimony, took this opportunity to grab Walsh\u2019s gun before ordering the National Army officer to raise his hands. Walsh \u2018complied and went back a few yards\u2019 and \u2018immediately\u2019 there was gunfire. Robbins reckoned there were about \u201818 or 20\u2019 shots, all compressed into a few seconds. One of those shots left George Adamson stricken on the ground as the combatants scattered through the town. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The accounts of the anti-Treaty soldiers overlap with those of the pro-Treaty soldiers, Walsh and O\u2019Meara, in many areas (although not completely \u2013 Walsh, for example, was unable to accurately identify the man opposite him at the time of the shooting). All those accounts suggest that the key moment, the act which precipitated the shooting, was Se\u00e1n Robbins\u2019 decision to grab Walsh\u2019s gun shortly after the arrival of Thomas Burke and his comrades. That reckless act was immediately followed by an exchange of gunfire during which Adamson was killed by one of the first shots, perhaps the very first. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A fatal shot<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

It is not clear who fired the first shot but testimony to the inquiry suggests that it may have been one of Adamson\u2019s men, Christopher Conway. Among the other pro-Treaty officers, Walsh was disarmed before he could fire his weapon and Adamson\u2019s gun was later found to be fully loaded. There is some confusion as to whether Liam O\u2019Meara fired his weapon. He testified to being disarmed during the stand-off and that a revolver and grenade were taken from him, although testimony from the anti-Treaty participants suggest that he may have fired a single shot. Conway, however, told the inquiry that he had been the only member of Adamson\u2019s party to fire a weapon. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If Conway did indeed fire the first shot, could he also have shot Adamson? It is possible that Adamson was accidently shot by Conway when he reacted, amid a fraught few seconds, to the sight of Robbins taking Walsh\u2019s weapon. Among the various witness statements, Conway\u2019s testimony is an outlier since his version cannot be incorporated into the mass of evidence available from the other statements. Conway claimed that Adamson was pushed to the ground by the man in the doorway who proceeded to shoot the brigadier-general in the head. No one else, including Conway\u2019s fellow officers, testified that such an event had occurred. Indeed, Walsh\u2019s and O\u2019Meara\u2019s testimony bore little resemblance to Conway\u2019s. Walsh\u2019s testimony, for example, gives the impression that the man covering him fired his gun only after someone else had fired the first shot. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Could Conway\u2019s testimony have been the statement of a man desperate to cover his culpability for the death of a comrade? Conway admitted to the inquiry that he had fired his weapon and he may be the man that anti-Treaty accounts mention as having fired in response to Robbins\u2019 scuffle with Walsh. An officer named Buckley, a member of the anti-Treaty group, claimed that \u2018a man in a crouching position\u2019 behind Adamson fired the first shot. Statements made by anti-Treaty IRA witnesses claim that the man who fired the first shot subsequently fired on the rest of their group, before escaping down the road. This could only have been Conway, since Walsh had been disarmed by this stage, while O\u2019Meara remained with the wounded Adamson. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bitter beginning<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The above scenario also leaves open the possibility that Adamson was shot dead by one of the anti-Treaty soldiers. Perhaps Conway fired first, in reaction to Robbins taking Walsh\u2019s gun, and during the return fire from the anti-Treaty group Adamson was shot. Of the anti-Treaty group, at least Buckley, Robbins, and Reddin fired weapons and it is possible that any of them could have hit Adamson. Days after the killing, Se\u00e1n MacEoin claimed to have evidence that anti-Treaty forces were responsible telling a reporter that he had a \u2018sworn statement\u2019 from one of the men in the Royal Hotel that \u2018Brigadier-General Adamson was murdered in the streets of Athlone at ___\u2019s own hands\u2019. This un-named name, according to MacEoin, had \u2018escaped to Mullingar\u2019. However, MacEoin provided no evidence to substantiate those claims. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is possible that this un-named person was Thomas Burke, who was, according to documents in the Ernie O\u2019Malley collection in UCD, accused by pro-Treaty figures of Adamson\u2019s killing. Those documents claim that Burke was interrogated by Michael Collins who then ordered that the anti-Treaty IRA prisoner be held in solitary confinement. It is not clear, however, whether Collins and his fellow officers believed that Burke actually shot Adamson. Burke\u2019s interrogation and confinement may have been both an attempt to elicit information and an act of retribution against one of the anti-Treaty party who had surrounded Adamson moments before he was fatally wounded. Burke denied shooting Adamson. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If the fatal bullet came from the anti-Treaty side then Se\u00e1n Robbins may be the most likely culprit. Liam O\u2019Meara recalled that he heard someone shout: \u2018My God, Sean what did you do that for?\u2019 This statement could be taken as someone\u2019s reaction to Robbins having fired at and killed Adamson. However, it could also have been someone\u2019s reaction to Robbins wrestling the gun from Walsh, thus sparking the violence. Until Robbins grabbed the gun it remained possible that the stand-off could have ended without bloodshed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even today, many rumours cling to the story of Adamson\u2019s death. According to those versions, Se\u00e1n MacEoin or other National Army officers targeted Adamson. Those rumours lack two vital factors: evidence and motive. No conspiracy is needed to explain the death of George Adamson. In the scenarios laid out above his death was unplanned, the disastrous consequence of his location at the centre of a brief gun battle. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adamson\u2019s death would lead to the National Army taking  control of Athlone. Within hours of the shooting, MacEoin\u2019s soldiers surrounded the anti-Treaty IRA in the Royal Hotel and gave their commander, Se\u00e1n Fitzpatrick, fifteen minutes to surrender. Fitzpatrick and his men chose to lay down their arms and they were subsequently imprisoned in Custume Barracks. They were the first of many such prisoners and, as we have seen in a previous blog post about the death of Patrick Mulrennan, the barracks became notorious among opponents of the Treaty. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sources<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

D\u00e1il \u00c9ireann debates; University College Dublin Archives \u2013 Richard Mulcahy Papers and Ernie O\u2019Malley Papers; Westmeath Library Services, 1912-1923 documents; Freeman\u2019s Journal<\/em>, Irish Independent<\/em>, Irish Times<\/em>, Westmeath Examiner<\/em>, Westmeath Independent<\/em>, Poblacht na h\u00c9ireann<\/em>. For further detail, see John Burke\u2019s, Athlone 1900-1923: politics, revolution and civil war<\/em> (The History Press, 2015); Liam Cox, Moate - County Westmeath: A History of Town and District <\/em>(Alfa Print Ltd, 1981); Gear\u00f3id \u00d3 Faole\u00e1n, \u2018The Shooting of Brigadier-General George Adamson, 1922\u2019, New Hibernia Review \/ Iris \u00c9ireannach Nua<\/em>, volume 19, spring 2015; Michael Hopkinson, Green against Green: the Irish Civil War<\/em> (Gill & Macmillan, 2004); Ian Kenneally, \u2018A Medium for Enemy Propaganda: the press, Westmeath, and the Civil War\u2019, Journal of The Old Athlone Society<\/em>, number 10, 2015; and Uinseann MacEoin, Survivors<\/em> (Argenta Publications, 1987).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ian Kenneally In the previous article, we explored the circumstances that led to the shooting dead of George Adamson in April 1922. Here, we look in more detail at the subsequent propaganda battle in which both pro- and anti-Treaty forces blamed each other for Adamson\u2019s death. That propaganda battle began with, as discussed in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5234,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[3],"tags":[71,443,452,434],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\nA divided town: part two - Westmeath Culture<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/westmeathculture.ie\/decade-of-centenary\/a-divided-town-part-two\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A divided town: part two - Westmeath Culture\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Ian Kenneally In the previous article, we explored the circumstances that led to the shooting dead of George Adamson in April 1922. 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Here, we look in more detail at the subsequent propaganda battle in which both pro- and anti-Treaty forces blamed each other for Adamson\u2019s death. 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