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Auction archive: Lot number 579

''Just a Lad of Eighteen Summers

INDEPENDENCE
20 Apr 2010
Estimate
€14,000 - €18,000
ca. US$18,767 - US$24,130
Price realised:
€87,000
ca. US$116,629
Auction archive: Lot number 579

''Just a Lad of Eighteen Summers

INDEPENDENCE
20 Apr 2010
Estimate
€14,000 - €18,000
ca. US$18,767 - US$24,130
Price realised:
€87,000
ca. US$116,629
Beschreibung:

''Just a Lad of Eighteen Summers.....'' Kevin Barry's Last Letter Barry (Kevin) An autograph singed letter written by Kevin Barry (1902 - 1920) in his prison cell in Mountjoy the night before his execution, written blue prison pencil, apparently with censor's initials, 3pp (two sheets),worn, separated at folds but complete and legible. 'Dear Boys, ' This letter is to the two of you + Mc Manus + Lynch + Paddy as I've no more paper. I was sorry I couldn't see Mc Manus, but I suppose it couldn't be managed. 'I had quiet a crowd of visitors today and a crowd from the college prayed and sang outside the gates but perhaps you were there. 'Well boys, we have seen some good times, and I have always considered myself lucky to have such a crowd of pals. Its the only thing which makes it hard to go, the fact of leaving you chaps and other friends behind. 'Now I charge you thank anybody you know for me, who has had masses etc. said. Everybody has been awfully decent and I can assure you I appreciate it. Also say just a few more prayers when I go over, and then you can rest.... .... Your pal, Kevin? * A unique document of great poignancy. A Dublin medical student, Kevin Barry joined the IRA and took part in an attack on a military lorry in Church Street in which three British soldiers were killed. He was captured at the scene, court-martialled and hanged in Mountjoy Jail on the morning of Monday 1st November. One of Kevin's last visitors on Sunday evening, 31 October, was Father Albert, O.F.M. Cap. they talked in Irish and in English, but there was nothing solemn about the occasion. Some of the newspapers had quoted Kevin as saying that he was ''proud to die like Roger Casement.'' He had no such pretensions, of course, and laughed at the report. When Father Albert asked him for a last message he replied quietly: ''That is making such a fuss. The only message I have for anybody is 'Hold on and stick to the Republic'.'' A warder and two Auxiliaries kept him company through the night. He slept from midnight until 6 o'clock. At 7 a.m. he attended Mass celebrated by the prison chaplain, Canon Waters, who gave him Communion. A few minutes before 8 a.m. he walked to the gallows and stood unflinchingly while final preparations were made to carry out the execution. At eight the trap was sprung and the prison bell began to toll. Everyone in the large crowd outside the gate knelt down in the muddy roadway as the tolling continued. When it cased, an official posted a notice over the main entrance, It read: ''The sentence of the law passed on Kevin Barry, found guilty of murder, was carried into execution at eight o'clock this morning.'' The notice was torn down and the great crowd began to disperse. Kevin's body was buried inside the prison walls where it still lies with the bodies of Thomas Whelan, Patrick Moran, Thomas Bryan, Patrick Doyle, Bernard Ryan, Thomas Traynor, Edward Foley, Patrick Maher and Frank Flood - his friend and fellow -student-who were hanged in the same cause before the Truce of July 1921. That day the Tricolour flew at half-mast over University College. Later a party of British military raided the building and searched some of the students. They fired shots in the air and questioned the president, Doctor Coffey, between two lines of soldiers with fixed bayonets. U.C.D. was proud of its martyred student and was honouring him in the way he would have wished. His youth and composure - evident from this letter - aroused large public sympathy. His execution came only a week after the death on hunger strike of the Lord Mayor of Cork, Terence Mac Swiney, and the conjunction of the two events led to a swell of support for the struggle for independence, both nationally and internationally. 'Just a lad of eighteen summers, Yet there's no-one can deny - As he walked to death that morning He proudly held his head up high ..... ' *An extraordinary memento of a brave and dignified young man. One of only three letters written by Barry the day

Auction archive: Lot number 579
Auction:
Datum:
20 Apr 2010
Auction house:
Adams's
St Stephens Green 26
D02 X665 Dublin 2
Ireland
info@adams.ie
+353-1-6760261)
Beschreibung:

''Just a Lad of Eighteen Summers.....'' Kevin Barry's Last Letter Barry (Kevin) An autograph singed letter written by Kevin Barry (1902 - 1920) in his prison cell in Mountjoy the night before his execution, written blue prison pencil, apparently with censor's initials, 3pp (two sheets),worn, separated at folds but complete and legible. 'Dear Boys, ' This letter is to the two of you + Mc Manus + Lynch + Paddy as I've no more paper. I was sorry I couldn't see Mc Manus, but I suppose it couldn't be managed. 'I had quiet a crowd of visitors today and a crowd from the college prayed and sang outside the gates but perhaps you were there. 'Well boys, we have seen some good times, and I have always considered myself lucky to have such a crowd of pals. Its the only thing which makes it hard to go, the fact of leaving you chaps and other friends behind. 'Now I charge you thank anybody you know for me, who has had masses etc. said. Everybody has been awfully decent and I can assure you I appreciate it. Also say just a few more prayers when I go over, and then you can rest.... .... Your pal, Kevin? * A unique document of great poignancy. A Dublin medical student, Kevin Barry joined the IRA and took part in an attack on a military lorry in Church Street in which three British soldiers were killed. He was captured at the scene, court-martialled and hanged in Mountjoy Jail on the morning of Monday 1st November. One of Kevin's last visitors on Sunday evening, 31 October, was Father Albert, O.F.M. Cap. they talked in Irish and in English, but there was nothing solemn about the occasion. Some of the newspapers had quoted Kevin as saying that he was ''proud to die like Roger Casement.'' He had no such pretensions, of course, and laughed at the report. When Father Albert asked him for a last message he replied quietly: ''That is making such a fuss. The only message I have for anybody is 'Hold on and stick to the Republic'.'' A warder and two Auxiliaries kept him company through the night. He slept from midnight until 6 o'clock. At 7 a.m. he attended Mass celebrated by the prison chaplain, Canon Waters, who gave him Communion. A few minutes before 8 a.m. he walked to the gallows and stood unflinchingly while final preparations were made to carry out the execution. At eight the trap was sprung and the prison bell began to toll. Everyone in the large crowd outside the gate knelt down in the muddy roadway as the tolling continued. When it cased, an official posted a notice over the main entrance, It read: ''The sentence of the law passed on Kevin Barry, found guilty of murder, was carried into execution at eight o'clock this morning.'' The notice was torn down and the great crowd began to disperse. Kevin's body was buried inside the prison walls where it still lies with the bodies of Thomas Whelan, Patrick Moran, Thomas Bryan, Patrick Doyle, Bernard Ryan, Thomas Traynor, Edward Foley, Patrick Maher and Frank Flood - his friend and fellow -student-who were hanged in the same cause before the Truce of July 1921. That day the Tricolour flew at half-mast over University College. Later a party of British military raided the building and searched some of the students. They fired shots in the air and questioned the president, Doctor Coffey, between two lines of soldiers with fixed bayonets. U.C.D. was proud of its martyred student and was honouring him in the way he would have wished. His youth and composure - evident from this letter - aroused large public sympathy. His execution came only a week after the death on hunger strike of the Lord Mayor of Cork, Terence Mac Swiney, and the conjunction of the two events led to a swell of support for the struggle for independence, both nationally and internationally. 'Just a lad of eighteen summers, Yet there's no-one can deny - As he walked to death that morning He proudly held his head up high ..... ' *An extraordinary memento of a brave and dignified young man. One of only three letters written by Barry the day

Auction archive: Lot number 579
Auction:
Datum:
20 Apr 2010
Auction house:
Adams's
St Stephens Green 26
D02 X665 Dublin 2
Ireland
info@adams.ie
+353-1-6760261)
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