On the morning of 10 May 1921, IRA Volunteer James Folan was released from Galway Jail. He had served six months after being caught with seditious documents. The documents contained information about the murder of Seamus Quirke by the Black and Tans in September 1920. As James was leaving prison, one of the wardens warned him not to stay at home that night. He took this advice and made his way to a safe house, which was the home of a neighbour named ‘Mom Connell’. His parents were Pat and Bridget Folan; their other children included Christopher, Joseph, Paddy, John, Miko, Martin and Nell. The family lived in number 15 O’Donoghue’s Terrace. They later said that James was released from prison early, as the Tans had already planned to kill him.
As evening approached, some children were playing with a skipping rope in St Bridget’s Terrace, which is located at the top of Hidden Valley behind the Folan home. Among them was a girl named Kitty Traynor, and as they played, a young man named Hubert Tully arrived in the street. Tully was twenty-six years old and a native of County Roscommon. He was a foreman in Galway Railway Station and was staying in the home of Thomas and Elizabeth Carew in 35 St Bridget’s Terrace. Thomas Carew also worked for the railway company. Tully was a close contact of Sean Broderick, one of the leading IRA men in the city. He had previously stayed in the Broderick home in Prospect Hill. In fact, Tully was there on the night of 8 September 1920 when the house was raided. This was after Constable Edward Crumm and Volunteer Sean Mulvoy were killed in a shoot-out at the railway station. Seamus Quirke was murdered by the Tans later that night. Following the raid on Broderick’s home, Tully took up residence with the Carew family.
Tully sometimes joined in with the children skipping on his way from work; and that day was no different. However, there was an atmosphere of uneasiness as the children noticed a number of Black and Tans at the top of the street. It is not known if Tully was aware of them; if so, he showed no sign of nervousness. After he left, the children went to their respective homes and Kitty Traynor told her parents about the Tans watching the street. Her mother became nervous as Kitty’s older brother, James Traynor, was a member of the IRA. Earlier that evening, RIC Constable Jack Kelly, who lived across the street, had called to the Traynor home. He asked to speak with James; of course, Mrs Traynor was worried as Kelly was a member of the RIC. However, he was also a neighbour and was friendly with the family. Kelly reassured her that she had nothing to fear from him, but the Tans and Auxiliaries were a different matter. She called her son, and Kelly told him not to stay at home that night as the Tans were planning to raid a number of houses searching for known Republicans. Kelly told Traynor that the safest place for him to spend the night was in his attic. Of course, Traynor was a little suspicious at first, but after considering his options, he decided to accept the offer and hid in Kelly’s attic.
Some photos of the Black and Tans in Ireland during the early 1920s
At about 1.00 a.m. that morning, the Tans left Eglinton Street Barracks. They first made their way to the home of James Folan in O’Donoghue’s Terrace. They knocked loudly on the door. When Paddy Folan opened the door some minutes later, three heavily armed men rushed into the house and demanded to speak with his brother, James. They wore goggles, trench coats, civilian caps and had their faces blackened. The Tans searched the house and backyard. They then entered the bedroom of Christopher (18) and Joseph (21) on the ground floor. They had a lamp and asked Christopher where his brother was hiding; whether he knew or not, he refused to tell them. The Tans asked again, and when he refused a second time, they shot the boy, mortally wounding him. They left the room, but for some reason returned moments later and found Joseph trying to support his brother, who was already dead. It seems they asked Joseph the same question; he also refused to answer them, and the Tans opened fire, hitting Joseph five times before leaving. The fact that the boys were completely innocent made no difference to the Tans or ‘Legalised Terrorists’ as some people called them.
After the Tans had left, Paddy and another brother, John, carried Joseph to the County Infirmary on Prospect Hill. They daren’t go by road and took him out through the back of the house and over what was known as the ‘Sanny Wall’, at the rear of the Infirmary. The doctors removed four of the bullets, but were unable to extract the fifth as it was too close to a vital organ. Amazingly, Joseph survived and carried the bullet inside his body for the remainder of his life.
The Tans weren’t finished with their terror tactics, and after leaving the devastated Folan family, they made their way up Hidden Valley to St Bridget’s Terrace. Their next stop was at the home of Thomas and Elizabeth Carew. It was about 1.30 a.m. as they began knocking loudly on the door. When Thomas Carew opened the door, they pushed past him, demanding to see Hubert Tully. Two of them ran up the stairs and found Tully in one of the rooms. They dragged him from the room and forced him down the stairs in his night clothes. Some said that Tully voluntarily came downstairs when he heard they were looking for him. Nevertheless, once they had him standing at the bottom of the stairs, they asked if he was ‘Hugh Tully’. As soon as he replied ‘yes’, they shot him a number of times. He fell to the ground, but was still alive. Elizabeth Carew pleaded with them not to kill him, but they simply pushed her aside and shot Tully again. One account mentions that the Tans pulled him up so that his head rested against the pillar of the staircase, and before leaving they shot him through the head. The bullet passed through Tully and lodged in the timber of the stairs. The bullet was never removed and is covered by a gold cross.
After failing to find James Traynor, they began shouting his name around the terrace. It really was a night of terror as the street remained silent and dark amid shots being fired by the Tans. They then finished their night of raiding and killing by calling to the home of Jack Kelly. The Tans knew Kelly as he was stationed in Eglinton Street. Kelly had no choice but to invite them into the house, lest they become suspicious. They sat in his open kitchen at the front of the house and had a few drinks, while Traynor remained hidden and silent in the attic.
It came to light the following day that the Tan raided the home of the Fitzpatrick family in Bohermore, possibly after leaving Jack Kelly. Luckily for the family, their son escaped out the back door of the house and disappeared into the night.
Some weeks after the attack on the family home, John was taken by the Black and Tans out along the Headford Road. They stopped at the little bridge over the Sandy River and began to question him. They had been drinking heavily, and while interrogating him, they told John they were going to shoot him and throw his body over the bridge. As they were about to shoot him, a patrol of regular British soldiers arrived on the scene. They were under the command of Pat Margetts, who demanded that they release John Folan. Margetts out-ranked the Tans, so they had to comply with his orders. He brought John back to O’Donoghues Terrace. Before leaving, he advised John to be very careful, as this wouldn’t be the last time the Black and Tans would do this, and said there was no law for the Black and Tans in Ireland. John always said that Margetts saved his life that evening. It seems that Margetts remained in contact with the family in the years that followed and even attended family funerals.
The Black and Tans left nothing but appalling memories of their scandalous and shocking behaviour across Ireland. The people never forgot that night of terror; one man in particular was Paddy O’Neill (Number 27 St Bridget’s Terrace and later Shantalla). Paddy was a close friend of Christopher Folan, and he also knew Hubert Tully. During an interview with the author in November 2005 at 101 years of age, Paddy said the Tans were pure ‘scum’; and mentioned the events of that night with great clarity. Paddy said he could never forget being awoken by the ‘shots that sent my friend Christy Folan to the grave’.
