Madam, - John A. Murphy, historian, made a silly, snide attack on Constance Markievicz in your edition of October 22nd. He quoted the British public prosecutor, who had called for her death, as saying that she pleaded for her life saying: "I am only a woman. You cannot shoot a woman. You must not shoot a woman".
Those who have watched Margaret Hassan pleading for her life can see nothing wrong with that.
What would John A. Murphy or Kevin Myers have done? Well, let us ask what de Valera did. Did he say, "I am an American citizen. You cannot shoot an American citizen. You must not shoot an American citizen"? Did our great historian, John A. Murphy, ever check that out?
Finally, Murphy asks, "is there any reason to think Wylie was lying about Markievicz?" I say yes, there is every reason to think he was lying about her.
Constance Markievicz remained loyal to James Connolly while all the other great fighters for Irish independence abandoned him. She also remained loyal to the Citizen Army which she held together as a close-knit unit in support of the IRA right through the War of Independence and the Civil War. She was fighting for the Irish working class, especially the Dublin working class, which she knew and loved.
That was "socialism" and for that she must be kept out in the cold? - Yours, etc.,
TOMÁS MAC GIOLLA, St Laurence Road, Dublin 20