PART 2
BY JOHN FITZGERALD
Last week, you’ll recall that I described how Callan man Jim Bolger was driven to Tan HQ in Woodstock, near Inistioge after being taken from Tom Nolan’s bus on the Kilkenny/Callan Road. As the ambush team at Friary Street was believed to have escaped on bikes, the Tans suspected Jim of possible involvement because he was wearing bicycle clips…Jim was pushed and jostled up steps and along a corridor at Woodstock House…
Stopping at an open doorway, the soldiers flung Jim into a large room or office. Falling to the ground, he struggled to his feet and made eye contact with a one-armed man who stood smirking behind a desk.
He was an officer, with a twirling moustache and a scar on the left side of his weather-beaten face. In place of his missing arm, he had a hook protruding ominously from the sleeve of his military uniform. On the wall behind him was draped a large Union Jack and above this hung pictures of the king and Lloyd George.
“So you are James Bolger from Callan” he asked the tall prisoner standing before him. Jim confirmed his identity. The officer bid him sit down and Jim pulled over a chair. The man in uniform introduced himself as having the rank of Major in His Majesty’s Auxiliary force at Woodstock. “Do you know why you have been arrested?” he asked.
“I was told ‘twas because I was wearing bicycle clips” Jim answered.
The Major explained that the “rebel scum” as he called them who had attempted to ambush the ration party in Friary Street, Kilkenny, had apparently escaped on bikes. It was therefore, he suggested, reasonable to be suspicious of men caught wearing bicycle clips on a bus leaving Kilkenny less than half an hour after the incident.
He asked Jim what he did for a living. Jim told him that he hailed from The Rushes, Castlecomer and had moved to Callan to drive a threshing set for the Creamery. He explained that he was on Tom Nolan’s bus to receive driving instruction to enable him to drive a lorry shortly to be acquired by the Co-op.
The Major chatted in a friendly manner about Jim’s line of work. He complimented him on his skill in operating farm machinery and on his knowledge of rural life.
But then he returned to the bicycle clips. “James”, he intoned, “We have information from friends of yours in Callan. They’ve told us everything about your involvement in this criminal conspiracy and with the IRA murder gang. Your rebel confederates have all been named to us. What we would like you to do is fill in the missing pieces for us. Your rebel friends have already betrayed you. ”
Jim was dumbfounded. He knew the man was bluffing, but he could see too that the officer really believed he was implicated in Republicanism and the insurgency. “I know nothing about that ambush in Friary Street and I never had any dealings with the fellows you’re after”, he replied truthfully.
“You do ride a bicycle James don’t you”? The Major continued. “I do” said Jim. “And you rode a bicycle in Kilkenny on the morning of February 21st, did you not?” the Major pursued.
Jim was emphatic: “No, I didn’t. I drove Nolan’s bus part of the way into town and part of the way back to Callan. I had no bike with me. I heard about the Friary Street thing from a draper in Kilkenny.”
The Major rose abruptly and stepped out from behind his desk. Standing in front of Jim, he glared at him and roared: “Then why were you wearing those fauking bicycle clips, you Irish baustad?”
Calmly, Jim replied “Ah well you see major, I wear them all the time. It’s just a habit. I like wearing the auld clips.”
The Major resumed his seat at the desk. He spoke darkly of the consequences for Jim of not confessing his “crimes.” Twirling his moustache, he threatened: “we can do this the easy way, James, or we can resort to other means of establishing the truth.”
He shouted at somebody outside the office, and in stepped two armed Black and Tans. “Take him to the basement…”
To be continued…
(My novel, Invaders, tells the story of how a small band of men and women in 17th century Ireland took on one of the most powerful armies in the world. It’s available from Amazon and Kilkenny bookshops.)
