News Extracts: October 1945

The following are extracts from Irish Independent newspapers during the month of October, 1945:

Irish Independent, October 16,1945

• When the great doors of St.Patrick's Cathedral Armagh, where the remains of Cardinal MacRory lie in state, opened, hundreds of people were already waiting to take their last look at this great churchman. All day yesterday, until the cathedral closed at 2.30 a.m.,thousands had filed past the bier.

• Pierre Laval, the butcher's son who became premier of France, was executed by firing squad at Fresnes Prison, after he had attempted to end his life by taking poison. He refused to have his eyes bandaged, and his request that he might give the order "fire"was refused.

• The death occurred at his Dublin residence of Professor Eoin MacNeill, the eminent Irish scholar and historian. He took steps to prevent the Easter Rising when he issued the famous countermanding order of Easter Sunday,1916. Afterwards he was arrested by the British and sentenced to penal servitude for life.

• Hitler promised the Japanese if they provided a safe refuge for himself and Eva Braun, he would give them plans which guaranteed victory in the Pacific, said a former staff officer of the Japanese Navy.

Sunday Independent, October 21, 1945

• Alois Hitler, the 64-year-old step-brother of Adolf and one-time Dublin hotel worker, wants to change his name to "Hiller". Since 1905, when he left his home in Linz, Austria, at the age of 22, Alois only saw his step-brother on ceremonial parades. He first worked in London, in Dublin (1907), in Liverpool (1910) and finally as a waiter in the Criterion Restaurant in London, after which he opened his own restaurant in Berlin.

• The Gaelic's League's much discussed ban on foreign dances and games will henceforth be relaxed as a result of a two hour-hour debate at the annual Comhdháil in the Mansion House, Dublin, yesterday. As a result each member will have complete freedom regarding personal activities outside of the League. 

Irish Independent, October 23, 1945

• Sgt. Michael Gleeson,"F" District DMG, who is retiring was constable at Green Street Station during the gun-running at Howth in 1914, and was dismissed from the force for refusing to disarm gun-runners. He was re-instated after a public outcry, but resigned in 1921 and was associated with the IRA in Tipperary.