From the ArchivesPolitics was still a dangerous business almost a decade after the Civil War
At about a quarter past eight o’clock last night residents of Brighton square, Rathgar, were startled by the firing of shots, and many people left their houses to make inquiries.
Police soon were on the scene, and were followed by soldiers. It was learned afterwards that an armed guard of the house of Mr Michael Hayes, Speaker of the Dail, 20 Brighton square, Rathgar, had been approached by two men.
The Guard challenged the men, and it is stated that they fired at him with revolvers, wounding him in the leg. He returned the fire and the men ran away.
Soon afterwards an ambulance arrived, and the injured man was taken to St. Bricin’s Military Hospital.
The police this morning refused to give any information on the subject.
At two o’clock this morning Mr Hayes’s house was guarded by police.
A resident of the locality, who was walking through Brighton square when the shooting took place, stated that he saw a man dressed in a brown suit of plus fours running away.
He stated also that three shots were first fired, and that they were immediately followed by two shots.
Mr Hayes’s house is the last house on the east side of Brighton square, and is adjoined by a garage.
It is understood that the assailants approached the house by way of the garage.
The Guard was in civilian clothes, and was standing inside the railings in front of the house.
The injured man’s name is stated to be O’Regan, and is understood to be a policeman connected with the plain clothes division of the Civic Guard.
Inquiries at St Bricin’s Hospital this morning showed that he was resting comfortably, and that his injury is not serious.
Late last night policemen made inquiries at several of the Dublin hospitals, with a view to discovering whether a wounded man had been brought there.
Buses and trams in the Rathmines and Rathgar areas were stopped and their occupants searched after the outrages. Policemen in Baggot street detained a man a about midnight whose head was bleeding.
However, he was able to account for his movements, and it was established that he had been injured in a squabble.
A young man told our reporter:--“I was standing on the pavement, about two hundred yards from the corner of the square, when I heard about five shots, apparently revolver shots. Everybody in the street stopped and looked up the road. I saw a young man dashing down the road citywards.
“Four of the shots came in a burst, and there was a single report a few seconds afterwards. There was a ‘bus stopped on the road, and I though at the first report that it was a backfire.”
The sound of the firing and the subsequent police activity gave rise to many alarming rumours.
This is the second attack of the kind within a few weeks. On the night of November 10 last a party of soldiers which had been acting as guard to President Cosgrave was fired upon when returning from his residence at Templeogue.
Read the original at iti.ms/SdlVAJ