Madam, - Permit me to add some further information to Seamus Martin's interesting Irishman's Diary of February 23rd.
Bowen Colthurst's actual target when he attacked Kelly's shop was Ald. Tom Kelly, a well-known member of Sinn Féin and of Dublin Corporation, who lived on the South Circular Road nearby.
Tom Kelly had read out a document within Dublin Corporation on April 19th, 1916, the week before the Rising, which purported to have emanated from the Chief Secretary's office in Dublin Castle. It had been given to him by Francis Sheehy Skeffington, who had requested him to make it public, as no newspaper would take a chance on publishing it for fear of suppression.
It outlined a plan to intern all known nationalist figures belonging to Sinn Féin, the Irish Volunteers, the Coiste Gnótha of the Gaelic League and other groups, and subsequently became known as the "Castle Document".
When Kelly read it out within the Corporation, it was at once denounced by the British military authorities as an absolute fabrication from beginning to end. Doubts remain as to its authenticity to this day.
The result for Ald. Tom Kelly personally was that Colthurst came to his home several times looking for him, and he had to seek refuge elsewhere. However, he was taken up and imprisoned in Kilmainham Jail, and subsequently in Richmond Barracks after the Rising.
Both Ald. Tom Kelly and his namesake, Alderman James Kelly, served on the Corporation at the same time, but would have had little in common politically. Both were fortunate to have evaded the clutches of Bowen Colthurst. - Yours, etc.,
SHEILA CARDEN, Sandycove, Co Dublin.