Undaunted, Miss Corry, Miss Duke and Miss Prendergast set off on another walk. 'We went up by Harcourt Street Station, near which was a heap of barrels which had evidently been used as a barricade across a road leading into Harcourt Street, but had been piled on each side of the road to clear the way again. At the foot of Harcourt Street there were a couple of houses which, the story went, had been set on fire by a Sinn Feiner who had a spite at one of the occupants, and who had been shot by some of the military when attempting to escape after he had done the deed. Whether the story be true or not, the houses were destroyed, and there was the dead body of a Sinn Feiner lying in a corner at the other side of the street.' (It should be said that Sinn Fein, which had been set up in 1905 by Arthur Griffith, was not officially involved in the rising, though many of its members were, and it was generally assumed to have been the moving force behind what became known at the time as the Sinn Fein Rebellion.)
'Everything seemed fairly quiet just then, so we ventured down one side of Stephen's Green past the College of Surgeons. Near the other side we could see a barricade of motor cars of every description right across the road, and almost opposite the College there was another similar barricade, where we had to go right out in the middle of the road and squeeze through a narrow space. We didn't know it at the time that the College was still in the possession of the Sinn Feiners, although the Green, White and Orange Flag still floated over it, and we innocently stood and gazed up at the barricaded windows.
 |
| College of Surgeons from Stephen's Green, 2015 |
'Fortunately nothing happened then, and besides we weren't the only foolish people. At the top of Grafton Street looting was going on with more zest than ever. Nobletts was completely plundered and the windows all broken and by this time the mob had smashed the window of the next shop, a sweet shop too, and were still carrying on their game of plunder unmolested. We had only just got past when a shot came almost at our very heels and the people flew right and left. We, too, quickened our steps, only to stop again, for in front of us shots began to come from somewhere else. We hesitated a minute, then tore down the street which was covered with broken glass from both windows and bottles, old papers, and even blood in some places, cut across a side street and home as quickly as our legs could carry us.
'That finished our perambulations for some time as the door was locked and we were not allowed out again until it was all nearly over. In any case the sentries along the Square would let nobody pass on any pretext whatsoever, so we had to content ourselves with what we could see from the windows after that. Of course all the time we could hear the rattle of machine guns and big guns in different directions, and rifle shots seemed to be everywhere.'
