A CO Sligo community came together yesterday to remember an era when local farmers clashed with landlords against a backdrop of eviction threats, rent strikes and land agitation.
One hundred years ago on the night of January 22nd, 1908, 200 policemen from counties Sligo, Leitrim and Roscommon poured into the Geevagh valley and raided the homes of 19 local men who were handcuffed and taken to Sligo jail.
Yesterday, Minister for Agriculture Brendan Smith was in Geevagh to honour 10 of these men who were to become known as the "Geevagh Prisoners", on the centenary of their imprisonment.
They were sentenced to six months' hard labour, having been convicted of unlawful assembly, intimidation of postmen and preventing the delivery of his majesty's mail.
The Minister was joined by children and grandchildren of the 10 men as he unveiled a memorial in their honour opposite Geevagh church.
Patrick McLoughlin (84), whose father James and uncle Edward were among the 10, laid a wreath at the memorial.
"My father didn't talk much about what happened but I learned about it down the years from other neighbours. I am glad they are being remembered today," said Patrick, who attended with his 82-year-old sister Mae and daughter Joan.
Local parish priest Fr Laurence Cullen said the men had taken a stand against injustice.
The ceremony took place close to the gates of the former Keogh estate where, on January 8th, 1908, a crowd of 100 local people confronted postman Thomas Conlon as he attempted to deliver registered letters containing eviction notices or "processes" to tenants. They were engaged in a rent strike as they battled for the right to purchase the land they farmed.
The prisoners, three of whom were married, were aged from 20 to 44 and included two sets of brothers, Edward and James McLoughlin, and Thomas, Patrick and Michael Fallon, as well as Thomas Nangle, James McManus, John Joe Curreen, Bernard Brehony and Patrick Keaveney.
Two of Edward McLoughlin's children, Henry (87) and Mary (94), were present yesterday. Henry recalled his father telling them stories about the hard labour in Sligo jail.
"They had to dig a hole, then fill it up, and then dig the same hole again. His bed was two hard planks with a rug. There were no mobile phones or televisions in that jail," joked Henry.
The trial and conviction was raised in the House of Commons by local MP, P A McHugh, who complained of jury "packing". He had told a public meeting in Geevagh that there came a time in the history of every people "when submission becomes a crime and resistance becomes a duty".
A report in the Sligo Championin February 1909 records a "meitheal" - where 500 men from surrounding parishes turned out to dig the land of the 10 prisoners and prepare it for potato planting.
