Lee Road - May 20 1919

In the Spring of 1919 a brazen escape occurred from the asylum on the Lee Road. The escapee was Sean Moylan, North Cork IRA leader and future Fianna Fail Government minister.

Sean Moylan

Moylan was arrested after delivering a seditious speech in the village of Cullen, just outside Millstreet and for this 'crime' he was sent to Cork City Gaol to serve 12 months hard labour.

In Cork City Gaol Moylan went on hunger strike which affected his health and the prison doctor recommended that the IRA leader should be moved to the prison hospital. As warders were busy prepaing his bed in the hospital a fellow prisoner called Martin Beckett from Kilgarvan approached Moylan who was sitting near the fire. The two men got quietly chatting and a plan for Moylan's escape was cooked up between them.

Moylan (on the left) standing on a roadblock in North Cork. 

Beckett turned to the warders and warned them to hide the pokers and tongs as Moylan was a madman. He exclaimed that Moylan was as mad as Jack the ripper and the startled warders called in the doctor and governor to determine if Beckett's claims were true. Of course they were false but, this was all part of the plan for Moylans escape

"The mad house by the Lee"

Moylan played the madman well. He snarled at the warders and it was decided to move him to the Cork lunatic asylum on the Lee Road, a place which was less guarded than Cork City Gaol! The day after Moylan was moved to "the mad house by the Lee"  Thomas McCurtain paid a visit to "insane" inmate Moylan to initiate an escape.

Main gates to asylum

McCurtain informed Moylan that volunteers were ready to assist in his escape and on the evening of May 20th the escape played out. Volunteers from the Cork No.1 Brigade positioned themselves around the vicinity of the aslyum, out along the road and at the main gates. That evening Moylan calmly strolled out of the aslyum and across the yard. He climbed over a hedge and into a field from where he made his way onto the Lee Road. Moylan cooly strolled up the long Lee Road until he spotted his getaway car waiting for him.

The Lee Road today.

Moylan was whisked off in the direction of Blarney where he stayed in a safe house to recover from gastric flu he had contracted during his short stint as an insane inmate!

Cork Examiner report on the escape

The brazen escape was an embarrassment for the authorities who would later rue the day they let Sean Moylan slip from their clutches so easily!

Grave of Moylan at Kiskeam cemetery

Moylan's Escape - words by Pauline Murphy.

Gerald Griffin Street - August 18 1923

On a warm August evening 33 year old Abina Murphy was walking down Gerald Griffin Street( formally Clarence Street) with her friend Kathleen Deasy. Abina came from St Marys Road in Blackpool, while Kathleen was a Spangle Hill girl. The two ladies were shirtmakers and were making their way home. 

St Marys Rd, Blackpool.

Suddenly a burst of gunfire erupted on the street. A group of lads fired at Free State soldiers standing by a wall. The Free Staters returned fire on what were presumed Republicans and Kathleen and Abina were caught in the cross fire. 

Today's Gerald Griffin Street on the city's north side

A bullet pierced through Kathleen's neck while a bullet lodged in Abinas abdomen. Even though she had suffered a horrific wound Abina was able to stumble to the door of a woman she knew, Mrs Coughlan, at No.25 Gerald Griffin Street. When Mrs Coughlan answered the frantic knocking on the door she opened it and Abina exclaimed ''Oh Mrs Coughlan I have been shot!'' She then collapsed in the doorway.

No.25 Gerald Griffin St, on the left, where Abina collapsed.

Kathleen survived her awful injury but her friend Abina would succumb to death a day later at the north infirmary hospital. She was buried in St Joesphs Cemetery where the large funeral procession included a contingent from the Cork branch of the Irish Union of Distributive Workers & Clerks, which Abina was a member of.