ell before the insurgents; but
neither the attempt upon Amiens Street or Kingsbridge, where the
soldiers from Belfast and the Curragh would necessarily arrive,
succeeded. The military did not secure the former without a struggle,
having to stand a siege, while the latter's approaches were kept clear
by means of an engine, on which several armed snipers were placed, and
which was kept moving continually up and down, sweeping the country of
any Sinn Feiners who might attempt to approach in order to tamper with
the permanent way.

This was rendered necessary because immediately the rebels got
possession of a line their first steps were to destroy signalling points
and junctions, and in one or two instances, such as on the Kingstown
line, actually tore up the permanent way, while in several other places
attempts were made to blow up the bridges with dynamite.

Had it not been for this the whole coup might have been ended on Monday
or Tuesday at latest, instead of dragging on day after day.

Every bridge across the canal which bounds Dublin on the south was
commanded by corner-houses, entered at the point of the revolver and
turned, in spite of all protest, into fortresses in an almost mediaeval
fashion.

Liberty Hall, from whence floated the green emblem which had first been
hoisted when the four Labour leaders were deported, was a sort of
central storehouse of munitions, and was strongly guarded, but strange
to say the Custom House on the other side of the railway was left
untouched.

This was probably because the docks were sufficiently defended by the
factories, like Ringsend and Boland's bakery, vast straggling buildings
on either side of the railway approach, and which were not only
occupied, but stored with food and ammunition and loopholed and
sandbagged to stand a fortnight's siege if necessary.

The one great mistake made by the rebels appears to have been the
occupation of Stephen's Green, a huge open square, which, surrounded as
it is by tall buildings on all four sides, was bound to become a
death-trap, and eventually did so become.

At exactly the same time as the Post Office was occupied, Volunteers
entered the famous square, which might almost be called a park, and
ordered the civilians out at the point of the revolver. They then
proceeded to entrench themselves and make barricades of any convenient
object, seizing trams, cabs, benches, and even holding up motor-cars and
turning them to this purpose.