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“The Good Old Way” Or “Down To The River To Pray”

This song hereunder, beautifully sung by Alison Krauss, was often sung by victims of slavery and contained coded messages with regards their attempts to escape.

When the enslaved people escaped, they would walk in the “river” because the water covered their scent from bounty-hunters’ dogs and slave catchers.

Similarly, the words “starry crown” possibly refers to those attempting to escape, to remember to navigate by using the stars.

The words “Good Lord, show me the way” is most likely a prayer for God’s guidance in their efforts to find an escape route, commonly known as the “Underground Railroad.”

The “Underground Railroad” referred too above, was an established network of secret routes and safe houses established in the United States during the 19th century and used by enslaved African Americans to enable their escape into northern free states or Canada.
Regarded as the Father of the “Underground Railroad “; William Still helped hundreds of slaves to escape often hiding them in his home in Philadelphia.
Others unaware of this network of escape routes, would escape independently of the “Underground Railroad”, to take up residence in the swamplands of Virginia and North Carolina, having escaped their cruel enslavement.

A Tale of the Great Dismal Swamp.
By Author Harriet Beecher Stowe.

“Away to the Dismal Swamp he speeds,
His path was rugged and sore,
Through tangled juniper, beds of reeds,
Through many a fen, where the serpent feeds, and man never trod before.
And, when on the earth he sunk to sleep,
If slumber his eyelids knew,
He lay where the deadly vine doth weep
Its venomous tears, that nightly steep
The flesh with blistering dew.”

The International Labour Organization estimates that, by their definitions, over 40 million people are in some form of slavery tonight.

“The Good Old Way” or “Down To The River To Pray”.

As I went down in the river to pray,
Studying about that good ol’ way,
And who shall wear the starry crown
Good Lord, show me the way,
O sisters, let’s go down,
Let’s go down, come on down,
O sisters, let’s go down,
Down in the river to pray.
As I went down in the river to pray,
Studying about that good ol’ way,
And who shall wear the robe and crown,
Good Lord, show me the way.
O brothers, let’s go down,
Let’s go down, come on down,
Come on, brothers, let’s go down,
Down in the river to pray.
As I went down in the river to pray,
Studying about that good ol’ way,
And who shall wear the starry crown,
Good Lord, show me the way.
O fathers, let’s go down,
Let’s go down, come on down,
O fathers, let’s go down,
Down in the river to pray.
As I went down in the river to pray,
Studying about that good ol’ way,
And who shall wear the robe and crown,
Good Lord, show me the way.
O mothers, let’s go down,
Come on down, don’t you wanna go down?
Come on, mothers, let’s go down,
Down in the river to pray.
As I went down in the river to pray,
Studying about that good ol’ way,
And who shall wear the starry crown,
Good Lord, show me the way.
O sinners, let’s go down
Let’s go down, come on down
O sinners, let’s go down,
Down in the river to pray.
As I went down in the river to pray,
Studying about that good ol’ way,
And who shall wear the robe and crown,
Good Lord, show me the way.

END

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“My Dearest Kitty” Love Letters.

100 years ago, as the Chairman of the Provisional Government of the Irish Free State, Michael Collins assisted in leading the Anglo Irish Treaty negotiations, he was also negotiating a new and long distance personal relationship with Kitty Kiernan.

Eight months ago and over the course of 11 episodes, through Kitty and Michael’s correspondence, containing some 300 letters and telegrams, we learn at first hand, [Courtesy of Cork County Council Commemorations Committee], the story of their evolving relationship, in conjunction with the then also evolving story of the Anglo Irish Treaty negotiations, both here and in London.

Episode 1. begins HERE; however we have chosen to publish episodes 11 (‘My Dearest Kitty…’ Finale), hereunder to highlight our point of debate.

It was Major General Piaras Beaslaí, who wrote the first full-length biography of Michael Collins, published in 1926, which was first to suggest that the “Big Fellow” or “Long Fellow” had little or no time for the fairer sex.

Major Beaslaí wrote, “He preferred the company of young men, and never paid any attention to the girls belonging to the Branch, not even to the sisters and friends of his male companions”.
Beaslaí makes no mention of Kitty Kiernan in the biography, nor that Collins was then engaged to be married at the time of his death, in 1922.

Collins had proposed to Ms Kitty Kiernan in the ‘Grand Hotel’, Greystones, County Wicklow, later to be renamed ‘La Touche Hotel’, where I began hotel management training in 1969.

Same hotel, which had initially opened in 1894 and closed in 2004, is now a striking luxurious residential development known as “La Touche Cove”. (But where now is Room 27, then rumoured as used by Collins?)

There was only one floral tribute permitted on the flag-covered coffin of Michael Collins; a single white peace lily from Ms Kitty Kiernan.

Frank O’Connor’s biography of Michael Collins, in 1937, also failed to mention Ms Kitty Kiernan, and essentially ignored the latter’s interaction with other females.

Twenty one years later in 1958, Rex Taylor also failed to mention Ms Kitty Kiernan in his biography.

Many women over that troubled period in Irieland had worked with Collins.
So why was Moya O’Connor, (later wife of solicitor Compton Llewelyn Davies); Lily Mernin (cousin of said biographer Piaras Beaslaí); Nancy O’Brien; Susan Mason; Patricia Hoey and our own Bridget Fitzpatrick (latter Thurles executive and courier for Richard Mulcahy and Michael Collins); Susan Killeen (secretary who worked with him in London); Eileen McGrane, Lady Edith Londonderry, and Hazel Lavery, totally ignored in various writings.

Indeed all these women worked with Collins as either trusted secretaries; incriminating document holders; providers of invaluable information or simply friends; thus these biographers exposed Collins to suspicions of being gay or misogynistic.

Close friend Moya O’Connor is noted, in 1942, as having stated “His friends who wrote about him have distorted him as much or more than his enemies”.

The Collins and Kiernan correspondence must surely now shed a completely different complexion on the private lives of both these young lovers.

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A Peregrine Falcon For Liberty Square, Thurles, Co. Tipperary.

Pictured above; graphic design artist Mr Dan Leo at work, creating his painting of a Peregrine falcon, which is expected to be completed shortly.
Photo courtesy G. Willoughby

Artist Dan Leo was born in London in 1984, before moving to Ireland at a young age. He admits to having always a keen interest in art; his enthusiasm growing from his consumption of 90s cartoons and having a keen interest in American sports logos and graphic design.

His style has evolved over the years, as he moves forward exploring new approaches as well as improving on existing ones.

Animals have always been something he has had respect for and as the viewers of his work can observe; same feature almost exclusively in his work.
To Dan, nature remains a never ending source of inspiration, while painting continues to give him the opportunity to travel and meet many like minds, while allowing him to work at what he loves most.

This project is one of at least two such projects to be undertaken within the Thurles area, over the coming weeks.

Readers can view more of Dan Leo’s work by logging on HERE.

Should this mural not have been a Greyhound?

Perhaps I should explain myself.

The area where this mural is being painted was once the home of publican Larry (Lawrence) Hickey, (more recently J. Griffin’s Newsagent, Liberty Square, Thurles), same building having been demolished in June 2018, to make way for a car park.

On the night of March 9th 1921, five masked and armed policemen raided the pub of Larry Hickey. He was ordered out of his upstairs bedroom, in his night attire, together with his pregnant wife, and when he reached the top of the stairs, he was tripped and thrown down the said stairs by an R.I.C. man named Jackson.

In the fall, Hickey’s neck was broken. While he was in great pain at the foot of the stairs, Sergeant Enright, who was in charge of the raiders, shot him dead, to put an end to his agony.

Larry Hickey was a well-known republican in Thurles at this time, and a detailed account of his death was given to republican James Leahy during the truce period, by Sergeant Enright himself.

Mr Larry Hickey would have collaborated with his republican next door neighbour, Mr Mixie O’Connell, latter who sent the coded telegram with the wording, “Greyhound on train”, giving the time of the departure of the train to brothers Tom and Mick Shanahan at the Coal Stores, in Knocklong, Co. Limerick, regarding the sending of the IRA prisoner Sean Hogan to Cork city, on May 13th 1919.

Lovers of factual Thurles history can read the full story HERE and HERE.

On August 22nd, 2022, exactly 100 years ago, Michael Collins (the Big Fellow or the Long Fellow), then chairman of the provisional government of the Irish Free State, was shot dead on a roadway in the county of his birth; Co. Cork.
On Sunday last, August 21st, 2022, an Taoiseach and Tánaiste rightly addressed a crowd of thousands, who had gathered at Béal na Bláth, in Co. Cork, to commemorate the centenary of his death.

In Thurles there were no commemorations over the past number of years for those Thurles men and women, who including Loughnane, Quinn, Hickey, O’Connell (Mixie), Leahy (James), Kelly, Fitzpatrick (Bridget), Ryan (Col. Gerry), McCarthy (Goorty), or indeed Mulcahy (Richard).

But then, that is what you get when you elect public representatives including two TD’s, who are mis-informed, mendacious and self-serving.

Meanwhile, the last mentions of Peregrine falcons in Tipperary was in July/August of 2013, when 3 nesting birds were deliberately shot dead in a spate of attacks in south Tipperary; and again in Nenagh, North Co. Tipperary in 2021, latter located nesting close at the top of the spire of Nenagh’s Saint Mary of the Rosary, Catholic church.

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Commemorative Stamp Will Mark Centenary Of Death Of Michael Collins.

An Post has issued a commemorative stamp to mark the centenary of the death Michael Collins. Same will go on general release tomorrow, Thursday, August 18th, 2022, and will be available in selected post offices nationwide and from anpost.com/shop.

Designed by Mr Ger Garland, with the design featuring photography by C & L Walsh, the national (N) rate stamp displays an portrait image of the Irish revolutionary, soldier and politician dressed in military uniform; same image courtesy of the National Library of Ireland.

A commemorative First Day Cover (envelope) has also been produced by An Post, which carries the new stamp and a specially designed cancellation mark featuring the name of Collins in similar typeface to that found on the Béal na Bláth monument.
The Death of Michael Collins, assassinated on August 22nd, 1922, was the highest profile casualty of the Irish Civil War, which arose because of the agreed terms of the Anglo-Irish Treaty.

In a break from historical convention, and marking the Co. Cork background of Michael Collins; the cancellation mark includes the designation ‘Corcaigh’.

One disappointing aspect of this welcome Commemorative Stamp – where are the words “Mícheál Ó Coileáin”.

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Thurles Mentioned In Diaries Of Michael Collins.

The pocket diaries of Irish revolutionary, soldier and politician, Michael Collins, will be made available to the public for the first time, having been loaned to the National Archives by his family.

While until now, only two diaries have been on public display, with only two pages made visible to the public; next month a total of 5 pocket diaries will be made available in digitised format.

The pocket diaries were written by Michael Collins, while on the run and thus information contained in same is coded for very obvious reasons.

Pages in at least one of the diaries, dated Thursday March 20th 1919 and the following day Friday 21st 1919, appear to mention coded information referring to Thurles, Co. Tipperary. (See Image above)
The arrow pointing from hand written and coded page, dated Friday 21st 2019, to page dated Thursday March 20th, may possibly mean 8:30 app [interpreted as either approximately – appearance – appointment] as [Irish for ‘out of’] Fogludas [Irish for ‘Foleys’] .

Can anyone of our readers, out there, encode or throw possible light on this message? We would greatly like to hear from you.

The diaries will be available in the National Archives from sometime in September and will also be available in digital form.

Next weekend, more than 5,000 people are expected to attend a commemoration, marking the 100th anniversary of the Béal na Bláth ambush in west Cork; which saw Michael Collins; latter then Chairman of the Irish Provisional Government and Commander-in-Chief of the National Army, shot dead.

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