ding the little chapel at "Woodcock
Hill" found that somebody had broken into the church and stolen some of
the altar fittings and--worse from the Catholic point of view--had taken
the chalice used at Mass. This, of course, was nothing less than
sacrilege in the eyes of the devout Catholic Irishmen.

Rumours soon began to circulate that, on the previous Saturday evening,
after some rifle-shooting had taken place, two red-coats had been seen in
the vicinity of the chapel. These rumours were not long in being spread
throughout the city, and as the regiment was looked upon as being
anti-Catholic, reports went about to the effect that the sacrilege had
been carried out not so much for the sake of the value of the stolen
articles, but purely out of hatred for the Catholics and for the purpose
of desecrating the holy place. The consequences of these rumours soon
became apparent. Soldiers, returning home late at night, were set upon
and hammered in the by-streets. As a result, instead of going about in
ones and twos, they would congregate in bigger groups and took every
opportunity of retaliating on the civilians.

On a quiet Sunday morning, a glorious day, at about eleven o'clock,
red-coats in small groups rapidly began to arrive at the old Castle. I
had been out riding and was returning to my quarters about twelve
o'clock, and I found that there were not less than somewhere between 150
and 200 soldiers within the barrack gates. It had been the custom for
members of other corps to come into the canteen at the "Castle" for a
glass of beer or two, after their dismissal from church parade. But for
such a number to get together was more than unusual.

In the absence of the major, my commanding officer, the responsibility of
dealing with the case fell on me. I determined to send my groom with a
message to the officer commanding the regiment at their barracks, which
were at the other end of the main street in the town, to inform him of
what was going on, and then to order the men off in small groups from the
"Castle." But there was no time, for hardly had I finished writing my
message than the whole lot of red-coats left the barracks together and
proceeded towards George Street. They had their waistbelts on but
fortunately did not carry any side-arms. Still, the good old infantry
belts, with their heavy brass buckles, were quite a formidable weapon to
use about in a crowd which was unarmed. I jumped on my horse and, riding
by sid