‘Murdar’ ar an Lochán Beag: Eachtra i gCogadh na Saoirse
Peadar G. Ó Máille
The night of 2 February 1920, a small distance west of the pub Tigh Mholly in An Lochán Beag in Cois Fharraige in Co. Galway a dispute arose between two brothers and a group of men.Shortly thereafter both brothers had been beaten and one of them had been shot. The man who was shot was Patrick Thornton, a former soldier with the Connaught Rangers in the English army. He gave the names of six people to the RIC the following day and 4 people were arrested as a result.
Thornton’s injury from the shooting became critical and he died a few days later. The four men were tried and found guilty of attacking Thornton and they were given prison sentences. During this time the authorities were looking for another man who was accused of possessing the gun and for firing the fatal shot. That man was Peadar Ó Máille, from Cor na Rún, who was a member of the IRA and spent two years in detention until he was also arrested during the Civil War due to his opposition to the treaty.
In this book, his son examines the incident – an incident that he himself was largely unaware of until recently – and undertakes a thorough investigation of the circumstances of the time, as well as taking a close look at the relationship between himself and his father.”
