Patrick Moran

Patrick Moran (13 March 1888 - 14 March 1921) was a grocer's assistant and member of the Irish Republican Army executed in Mountjoy Prison along with five other men on 14 March 1921. Patrick "Paddy" Moran, from Crossna, Co. Roscommon, was a veteran of the Easter Week fighting at Jacob's Biscuit Factory and had been imprisoned at Knutsford and Wormwood Scrubs in England, before being sent to Frongoch Internment Camp in Wales. After the amnesty for Irish prisoners, Moran resumed his service with the Irish Volunteers, rising to the rank of Captain in command of "D" Company, 2nd Battalion. He was arrested on two occasions in early 1920 before being rounded up after Bloody Sunday and charged with the murder of a member of the Cairo Gang of British intelligence agents.

While in detention at Arbour Hill Prison, he was identified as being one of a group of men who had killed Lieutenant Ames at 38 Mount Street, Dublin. Moran strongly protested his innocence of any involvement in Bloody Sunday. His alibi was that he was at Mass in Blackrock (over four miles from the scene of the shooting) at the time and seen there by several people including a member of the Dublin Metropolitan Police.

A fellow prisoner described him thus "Moran was stolid and serious. There was a roll in his walk. Of stocky build, but sinewy; fuzzy thick hair, showing two moons on his broad forehead. He had a strong pleasant face. "

He was transferred from Arbour Hill to Kilmainham Jail and incarcerated in the so-called 'Murderers' Gallery', two cells away from Ernie O'Malley, with whom he became good friends. On 14 February 1921, Moran, O'Malley and Frank Teeling broke through the padlock on an outer gate of the prison. However Moran refused to take the opportunity to escape since he felt the authorities would interpret it as an admission of guilt, telling O'Malley "I don't want to let down the witnesses who gave evidence for me." Instead Moran started a concert to distract the guards while the men escaped, with Simon Donnelly taking Moran's place. The event is related in detail in O'Malley's memoir On Another Man's Wound. City Hall, Dame Street, Dublin. Despite the evidence of his innocence Moran was convicted of murder three days later and sentenced to be hanged on the 14th March 1921. The Archbishop of Dublin spoke out against the sentence. The Irish National Union of Vintners' Grocers' & Allied Trades' Assistants, of which Moran had been an active member, called a half-day general strike on the morning of the executions and over 40,000 people gathered outside Mountjoy to pray for the six men who were hanged between 6am and 8pm.

Ames shot at 38 Mount Street

Bennett shot at 38 Mount Street

At a talk in Dun Laoghaire the subject of Patrick Moran's innocence came up, he was wrongly identified as being involved in the murder of Lieutenent Ames in Mount Street but now apparently there has been some sort of admission by his family??? that he was directly involved in the assassination of Major McCormack and Captain Wilde in the Gresham Hotel.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Moran_%28Irish_Republican%29

Patrick Moran (13 March 1888 - 14 March 1921) was a grocer's assistant and member of the Irish Republican Army executed in Mountjoy Prison along with five other men on 14 March 1921.

Moran was born in Crossna, County Roscommon. [1] He was the third of eleven children of Bartholemew and Brigid Moran and attended primary school in Crossna before going to work as a grocer's assistant in Boyle. In 1911 he settled in Dublin.

He was an active member of the G.A.A.. He was involved in the 1913 Dublin Lock-out. He was a member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood and the Irish Volunteers. As Adjutant of D Company, 2nd Battalion of the Dublin section of the Volunteers he fought in the Jacob's Factory Garrison during the Easter Rising of 1916 under Thomas MacDonagh. In the aftermath of the Rising he was imprisoned at Knutsford Prison, Wormwood Scrubs and later at Frongoch. He was released in July 1916.

In 1917, he was a founder of the Irish National Union of Vintners, Grocers and Allied Trades. He went on to serve as the organisation's president and chairman of its Kingstown branch.

After his release from internment he became a captain in 'D' Company of the 2nd Battalion, Dublin Brigade, IRA. He was arrested on two occasions in early 1920 before being rounded up after Bloody Sunday and charged with the murder of a member of the Cairo Gang of British intelligence agents.

Moran was tried the day following the break out in He was transferred from Arbour Hill to Kilmainham Jail and incarcerated in the so-called 'Murderers' Gallery', two cells away from Ernie O'Malley, with whom he became good friends. On 14 February 1921, Moran, O'Malley and Frank Teeling broke through the padlock on an outer gate of the prison. However Moran refused to take the opportunity to escape since he felt the authorities would interpret it as an admission of guilt, telling O'Malley "I don't want to let down the witnesses who gave evidence for me." Instead Moran started a concert to distract the guards while the men escaped, with Simon Donnelly taking Moran's place. The event is related in detail in O'Malley's memoir On Another Man's Wound. City Hall, Dame Street, Dublin. Despite the evidence of his innocence Moran was convicted of murder three days later and sentenced to be hanged on the 14th March 1921. The Archbishop of Dublin spoke out against the sentence. The Irish National Union of Vintners' Grocers' & Allied Trades' Assistants, of which Moran had been an active member, called a half-day general strike on the morning of the executions and over 40,000 people gathered outside Mountjoy to pray for the six men who were hanged between 6am and 8pm.