Buncrana man was among those slain in 1922 Belfast bloodbath

This week marks the centenary of brutal murders which shocked the world
1922... The bodies of Owen McMahon and his sons along with their bar manager, Edward McKinney (far right), laid out at the Mater Hospital morgue1922... The bodies of Owen McMahon and his sons along with their bar manager, Edward McKinney (far right), laid out at the Mater Hospital morgue
1922... The bodies of Owen McMahon and his sons along with their bar manager, Edward McKinney (far right), laid out at the Mater Hospital morgue

Seconds after being dragged from his bed on March 24, 1922, bar manager Edward McKinney was brutally slain in a Belfast mass execution which Winston Churchill branded “worse than cannibalism”.

Slaughtered by his side was his employer and landlord, 50 year-old Catholic publican Owen McMahon, along with three of the businessman’s sons, 24 year-old Francis McMahon, 22 year-old Patrick McMahon and Thomas McMahon, who was just 15 years-old. John McMahon (21), who was shot in the neck, survived the grisly attack as did his eldest brother, 26 year-old Bernard, although he, too, succumbed to his injuries a little over a week later.

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By that time, Edward McKinney’s body had been interred in his native Inishowen, where many hundreds of mourners in the grip of the escalating Irish Civil War paid their respects to the murdered young man. The Desertegney native was laid to rest at Cockhill Cemetery on Sunday, March 26, 1922. Mr McKinney’s remains arrived in Buncrana the previous day from the morgue at Belfast’s Mater Hospital. A resolution of sympathy to the family of Mr McKinney was issued by the unionist community of Desertegney the following Friday.

Police men outside the McMahon family home at Kinnaird Terrace in north central Belfast.Police men outside the McMahon family home at Kinnaird Terrace in north central Belfast.
Police men outside the McMahon family home at Kinnaird Terrace in north central Belfast.

The Derry Journal of Monday, March 27, 1922 stated that the funeral was “very largely attended”. “Deepest sympathy was shown with the members of the family, bereaved under such appalling circumstances. The deceased was a young man of splendid character and his tragic death is deeply deplored, “ the paper added.

It stated that the public was “aghast” at the massacre which took place amid the ongoing atrocities in Belfast that were “out-Heroding Herod”.

The outrage was described as an “Orange massacre” by the Journal which carried interviews with the survivors. One of the surviving sons told of how all but one of the members of the murder squad that smashed down the door of the family’s home with a sledgehammer were wearing Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) caps and waterproof coats.

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“One of the wounded sons [believed to be Bernard] has declared, on what must prove in all human probability to be his bed of death, that the assassins were dressed in police uniform and spoke with pronounced Belfast accents”, the Journal stated.

The McMahon family grave in Belfast includes a tribute to Edward McKinney.The McMahon family grave in Belfast includes a tribute to Edward McKinney.
The McMahon family grave in Belfast includes a tribute to Edward McKinney.

A statement made by John McMahon from his bed in the Mater Hospital explained that, at around 1am on the fateful morning, he was ordered out along with his brothers and Edward McKinney by men in RIC uniform.

He added: “From the appearance, I know they are Specials - not regular RIC. One was in plain clothes. They ordered us downstairs. When we got down, they lined us up in the room below - my father, my four brothers, Edward McKinney and myself, against the wall. The leader said: ‘You boys say your prayers’ and at the same time he and the others fired volley after volley at us. I think I lay on the floor for half an hour before the ambulance came. Three or four regular RIC came, too.”

It was later alleged that, although the B Specials (RIC reservists) were certainly present at the massacre, it was senior RIC members who masterminded the killings. According to a pamphlet on the killings, written by Joe Baker, of Glenravel Local History Project in Belfast, RIC District Inspector John William Nixon, a leader of the notorious Cromwell Club murder squads, was the man allegedly behind the massacre.

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The Journal further reported on March 27 that the Publicity Department of the newly established Dail Eireann received the following reports from a special investigator: “An official in one of the Belfast Courts remarked to a head constable on Friday: ‘You know blessed well who did this. It was the Specials themselves. Why don’t the papers here tell the truth?’ This is the general feeling among the business people of this city today over the horrible business.”

Inspector Nixon.Inspector Nixon.
Inspector Nixon.

The report further declared that B Specials on duty in the Lower Market Street area stated openly - in reference to the shooting of two of their comrades previous to the McMahon murders - that they would “do in ten Sinn Fein bs for this tonight”, according to the Journal.

Even amid the turmoil of the civil war in Ireland and the reports of daily murders around the country, the grotesque slaying of the McMahon family and Edward McKinney sent shockwaves right to the heart of the British Empire, with the Secretary of State for the Colonies, Winston Churchill, branding the atrocity against the innocents “worse than cannibalism”.

It later emerged that, unknown to the loyalist mobs or the McMahon family, Edward McKinney was an IRA volunteer - a fact later confirmed by IRA General Headquarters. In his book, ‘Donegal and The Civil War’, Liam Ó Duibhir writes: “His membership of the IRA was concealed after the killings as it would have given the police and the loyalist mob an opportunity to justify their actions.”