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Michael Collins and the Lord Mayor’s Gun
A story about famous Corkman and Rebel hero Michael Collins.
Video Transcript
– We’re at the Michael Collins statue in the center of Cork City on Grand Parade, guys.
Now we’re gonna talk a little bit about Michael Collins, who this famous gentleman was. You might have seen the Hollywood movie called “Michael Collins”. Son of Cork, born in Cork, raised in Cork, Collins, the rebel leader. Joined the Irish struggle for freedom, was shot in the end, and killed by Cork men. Now, I’m not gonna tell you the story of Michael Collins, guys. But I am gonna tell you a story about Michael Collins. And a very famous saga and tale that not many Cork people know about. Okay, so now I’m gonna set the scene. It’s March, 1920. Cork City is a city at war. We’re occupied by the British Army, and the British government.
The whole city is a powder keg, guys. All of a sudden, (snaps fingers) there’s a spark. In response to an assassination of a Crown police officer on Pope’s Quay in the city, the Crown police The British police, they decide they’re going to murder the Lord Mayor of Cork City. A man named Tomas MacCurtain. So they head up to this direction up here to Blackpool, to MacCurtain’s house. They bust through his frontdoor early in the morning. They find MacCurtain in his bed. They unsheath their revolvers, point them at MacCurtain,and without warning, bang, bang, bang!
Three in the stomach. So, guys, MacCurtain, the Lord Mayor of Cork, and also the rebel leader, bleeds out in front of his young wife and his child. So MacCurtain was not only the Lord Mayor of Cork, he was also a personal friend of this gentleman here, Michael Collins. So when Michael Collins hears about this, he is, along with the rest of the city, shocked at the brutality of this murder.
So Collins comes down, he’s up in Dublin directing the intelligence effort. He was a spy, intelligence chief essentially. He comes down to Dublin to handle this matter personally. He meets with MacCurtain’s widow, the Lord Mayor’s widow. MacCurtain’s widow hands Collins MacCurtain’s personal sidearm, his Luger. Collins recruits an assassination squad, led by a young, but experienced assassin. Known as Sean Culhane.
Now you’ll hear more about Sean Culhane from the assassination of Colonel ‘Shoot-on-Sight’ Smyth story, same gentleman. So Sean was very active during the War of Independence. Now Collins puts out the word, “Who gave the order to kill my friend, MacCurtain?”
It comes back, the word comes back, it was District Inspector Oswald Swanzy, a Crown police officer. So what happens next? The British police, the Crown police, they decide to spirit Swanzy out of the city. They know what’s coming. They send him as far away as they possibly can on the island of Ireland, up to Lisburn in the north of Ireland. Sean and his assassination squad track Swanzy down to Lisburn.
They travel up on the train. They find Swanzy coming out of mass one morning, one Sunday morning. Sean confronts Swanzy. He reaches into his trench coat, pulls out MacCurtain’s Luger, the Lord Mayor’s Luger. Points it at Swanzy, and without warning, bang, bang, bang! Three in the stomach, guys, just like the Lord Mayor got.
Swanzy bleeds out in front of the church in Lisburn, and that’s the end of Oswald Swanzy, guys. So now, the assassination squad, they have to escape the dragnet. The police are out there looking for them. They’re wondering who was it that killed the district inspector? They escape the dragnet. They make it to the train station in Lisburn. As they’re pulling out of Lisburn station, in the background, they can see smoke rising in the distance from a suburb of Lisburn.
The pro-British population of Lisburn are burning the pro-Irish population of Lisburn, this town in the north of Ireland. Out of their homes. Now, the assassination squad, they make it down to Cork City, to Kent Station. Who’s waiting for them there? But, you guessed it, guys. This gentleman, Michael Collins. Where is he? Just over here. (chuckles)
Michael Collins is waiting for them. He takes the gun back off Sean. 10 minutes later, this assassination squad, they’re searched by the British Army. Collins saved these guys’ lives. So now to sum up, Collins, to end the story. Michael Collins revisits the widow MacCurtain, hands this Luger back to the widow MacCurtain. She keeps it as a treasured keepsake for the rest of her life. And eventually, when she passes on, she bequeaths it to the Irish state. And now you can find MacCurtain’s Luger, the Lord Mayor’s Luger, in Cork Public Museum, up in Fitzgerald’s Park in Cork City.
About a 20-minute walk from Cork City centre. It’s a free museum and if you’re into rebel history. I’d definitely check it out. Okay, guys, so the moral of the story; don’t mess with Michael Collins.(laughs) Thanks.
