§ MR. M'CARTANI beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, with reference to the shooting of Timothy O'Sullivan, the head porter at Charleville Railway Station, on the arrival there of the hon. Member for East Cork on Sunday night last, he can state if any inquiry has been made into the matter; whether O'Sullivan, while in uniform, found in one compartment five constables without tickets, and was referred by them to the officer in charge, who was in another compartment; whether O'Sullivan, on opening the door of the compartment where the officer was, found the officer sitting there; and a number of policemen, who accompanied the officer, made repeated thrusts at O'Sullivan, and finally pushed him off the footboard, without having shown him the tickets; whether the officer then pointed his revolver out of the window, and shot O'Sullivan, with a bullet, under the right eye; whether this officer has been placed under arrest; and, what steps have been taken with reference to the conduct of the police on this occasion?
§ MR. A. J. BALFOURIt appears from the Official Reports that the door of the railway carriage containing the prisoner and his escort was surrounded by a mob of about 100 persons. It was twice forced open by them, apparently with the object of rescuing Mr. O'Brien, which they said they would do, and in resisting which the District Inspector was injured. The head porter O'Sullivan then came and opened the door demanding tickets. The District Inspector told him that the railway authorities at Blarney were aware that the police had not tickets, and he added that the necessary payment would be made at Tipperary. The mob endeavoured to force its way into the carriage, and as the porter continued there, the officer concluded that he was playing, into their hands. He therefore pushed him away, and closed the door. Two shots were then fired 1457 into the carriage, and the officer, believing the attempt was to shoot him, fired two in return, while two other members of the police each fired a shot. O'Sullivan was examined by the District Inspector at Charleville, who has no hesitation in saying that the marks on his face were not caused by a bullet, and this is confirmed by the doctor who attended the man.
§ MR. T. P. O'CONNOR (Liverpool, Scotland)Has the right hon. Gentleman seen the statement made by Mr. O'Brien on the subject, and in case he has not, may I ask whether Mr. O'Brien was put forward in front of the police, so that if any shots were fired he would, in all probability, be hit first; whether Mr. O'Brien, when the police were preparing to fire, did not draw attention to the fact that the people only desired to shake hands with him, and were not going to rescue him; whether Mr. O'Brien was released on bail two hours after the so-called rescue; and, finally, whether ho did not there and then declare that the only shots fired were those by the police?
§ MR. A. J. BALFOURI have not seen Mr. O'Brien's statement on the matter; secondly, the information I have received is not consistent with the allegations made by the hon. Member on behalf of Mr. O'Brien; in the third place, I gather distinctly that shots were fired by the crowd; in the fourth place, it is true that Mr. O'Brien was let out on bail as stated by the hon. Member.
§ MR. T. P. O'CONNORMay I ask the right hon. Gentleman from whom his information comes? Does it not come from the officers of the police who are charged, and has he any particulars of the damage done by the shots alleged to have been fired by the crowd? Has he any corroboration of the statement of the police, which has no foundation whatever?
§ * MR. SPEAKEROrder, order!
§ MR. T. P. O'CONNORI was misled into the use of an improper word; I will only say that at present the state ment of the police is unproved.
§ MR. A. J. BALFOURI am not aware that any person was injured by the shots fired either by the crowd or the police, or that the injury to the face of the porter was caused by a bullet. As to where I got my information, the hon. 1458 Member has been a Member of this House long enough to know that when a Minister is asked a question the information supplied to him to enable hint to answer it is official. It is not my duty to obtain information from any other sources.
§ MR. T. P. O'CONNORThe police are charged with having fired wantonly, and the question I put to the right hon. Gentleman was whether the answer came from the persons charged, and if he is satisfied with the statements made to him?
§ MR. A. J. BALFOURAs far as I am concerned, I am perfectly satisfied with them.
§ MR. FLYNN (Cork, N.)Is it not the fact that not a single shot was fired on either side until the train was actually in motion, and when O'Sullivan had given the signal to the guard to move the train on? Is it not the fact that O'Sullivan, the head porter, and another porter have stated on oath that no shots were fired by the crowd; but that a man named Noble was shot by the police in the fleshy part of the thigh, and is now in the infirmary? Further, is it not the fact that the crowd had no knowledge of Mr. O'Brien being in the train, but had come to meet friends who were returning from Cork?
§ MR. A. J. BALFOURNo, Sir; I think the last statement is without foundation. I have received no information of any man having been wounded by the police.