An Cosantóir

www.military.ie THE DEFENCE FORCES MAGAZINE | 31 the larger and more powerful .45/.455 round due to its stopping power and ability to knock a victim to the ground. A new tactic was also developed whereby squads would operate as two-man units: one to shoot the victim in the body to knock him to the ground, after which the other would shoot him in the head. Detective Daniel Hoey from Co Offaly joined the DMP in 1910. In 1919, the 32-year-old policeman posed a particular threat to the Vol- unteers as he had been the driving force behind DMP raids on Sinn Féin and Volunteer premises and knew too much about Collins. It was also believed that in Richmond Barracks following the Rising, Hoey had identified Seán MacDiarmada as one of the leaders. On Friday 12 September 1919, Hoey led a raid on Sinn Féin HQ in Harcourt Street. Although Collins escaped, Ernest Blythe and Pádraig O'Keeffe were arrested, and the decision was taken to eliminate Hoey. That night, as he passed the back entrance to the Central Police Station, Hoey was shot dead by Mick McDonnell, Joe Ennis, and Jim Slattery, who made good their escape. A number of women brought Hoey to the steps of the detective office to await the ar- rival of an ambulance to bring him to Mercer's Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival. Constable Thomas Wharton had been part of a raiding party on 76 Harcourt Street on Saturday 8 November 1919, from which Collins escaped into the nearby Standard Hotel, from which he then coolly exited into the street and boarded a tram which passed No 76 while the raid was still in progress. On the night of 10 November Wharton, in company with two other detectives, was approached by Paddy O'Daly and Joe Leon- ard at the corner of Cuffe Street and Harcourt Street. O'Daly drew his gun, a Luger P08, 9mm, semi-automatic pistol, and fired one shot into Wharton's back, knocking him to the ground. O'Daly's pistol then jammed and he was unable to get off a second shot. As Collins's men then ran westwards along Cuffe Street to escape, one of Wharton's accompanying colleagues, who O'Daly and Leonard had been ordered not to harm, covertly impeded the actions of his other colleague's line of fire so they could not fire at the fleeing assassins. (Remarkably, the bullet that struck Wharton passed through him and struck a bystander, Miss Gertrude O'Hanlon, who sustained a slight head wound. In a dazed condition Miss O'Hanlon continued walking towards St Stephen's Green from where a man brought her to Mercer's Hospital where her head wound was dressed and stitched, after which she was discharged.) Wharton was brought to St Stephen's Green to the residence of Surgeon Hamilton, who stopped the bleeding from Wharton's wounds and had him con- veyed to the nearby St Vincent's Hospital, where he was attended to by Surgeon Meade. Wharton subsequently recovered from his injuries and was pensioned off in June 1920. (In an unfortunate postscript to this incident, an innocent newspaper seller, James Hurley, who had no connection with the operation, was arrested several days later by Detective Sergeant John Barton. Hurley was subsequently convicted by a military court on the basis of faulty eyewitness identification and sentenced to 15 years imprisonment. Released after the Truce, Hurley was killed in 1922 during the Civil War while helping a wounded soldier into Jervis Street Hospital.) Detective Sergeant John Barton was considered one of the shrewd- est and best detectives in the country. He had an extensive network of informants, through which he had uncovered an IRA arms dump in Dublin. It was also believed that he had given evidence at the court martial of Joseph Plunkett in 1916, as he had been keeping him under observation for some time prior to the Rising. Wharton also boasted that he was not afraid of Michael Collins or republicans. Such an attitude ran contrary to Col- lins's attempts to undermine police morale, and for this rea- son, along with his previous conduct, he was marked down for elimination. On the evening of 28 November, three groups, each operating unknown to the other, followed Barton undetected through the streets of Dublin as he made his way back to the Central Police Station. He was shot four times by one of these groups in front of the Crampton Memorial (removed in 1959). The three groups escaped from the area unhindered while Barton was rushed by ambulance to Mercer's Hospital where he died from his wounds shortly after admission. Det.Sgt Smyth Det-Sgt Smyth facing camera Scene of Hoey Shooting

• Cover