Sir, – I refer to Denis Fahey's Irishman's Diary of April 28th and the reference to Patrick Sheahan of the Dublin Metropolitan Police who lost his life saving that of others in a sewer in 1905. Sheahan was a giant of a man who was well known for his exploits in the DMP. He had rescued an elderly couple from a collapsing house in Townsend Street and in a famous incident in Grafton Street he successfully wrestled a runaway bull, quipping after the event that he was afraid the horns would break and cause him to lose his grip!
An interesting footnote to the event is provided by James Joyce in Ulysses. One of those men who had gone down to attempt a rescue before Sheahan's arrival was Tom Rochford, a clerk of works at the Corporation. Rochford appears a number of times in Ulysses, at one point being described as "a hero" by Lenehan for his exploits on that particular day – a bit of a conundrum really, in that Ulysses occurred on June 16th, 1904, and Rochford's heroism occurred on May 6th, 1905! – Yours, etc,
SÉAMUS CANNON,
Monkstown, Co Dublin.