Safe House

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Eamon de Valera was a leading figure in Ireland's fight for independence

Eamon de Valera went on to be one of Ireland " s state of men the most influence. But his policies were not the Only thing that earned him a place in the history Books - exactly 100 years ago, he was also the mastermind of a daring Prison Break with cake, candles, and a cartoon on a post card.

The Future President of Ireland the exercise in the courtyard at the Lincoln prison was when he discovered his path to Freedom - a door that led to the outside.

In this moment he hatched, the simplest of plans: You get a key and Get Out .

Eamon de Valera had already civilians serving time for his involvement in the 1916 Easter Rising in Dublin - a series of violent clashes between Irish rebels and UK armed forces on independence, which led to the death of 450 people, 250 of them.

The passionate Republicans were spared the Death Sentence , in contrast to 15 of his fellow rebellion leaders, and after his release The Following year, he became the leader of the Sinn Féin and MP for East Clare.

But in may, 1918, when The British tried to discredit de Valera, the party and their military arm, the Irish Republican army (IRA), the politicians and 72 other leading Irish nationalists were arrested, on allegations of collaboration with Germany.

Some were sent to prison in Usk in Monmouthshire, while others, including de Valera, were Packed from Lincoln.

Eamon de Valera was born in New York in 1882 to an Irish mother and Spanish father, but moved to Ireland at the age of two years, Since opening in 1872, Only de Valera and his associates, Sean Mcgarry and Sean Milroy ever Lincoln prison escape, an imposing building in The East of the City Centre , opened in the year 1872, and in its 46-year history, it had not a single escape.

out of fear of a delegation in the USA was about to tell The Americans that Ireland would be satisfied to remain there, partially under British control, de Valera was desperate to break it.

What followed was described a plot so fat de Valera's grandson Eamon O Cuiv of it as similar to Andy Dufresne 's escape in the 1994 film the Shawshank Redemption , "Only it's really happening".

In the film adaptation of Steven King 's Novella, Andy Dufresne , played by Tim Robbins , spent 19 years tunneling through his cell wall With discovered the door was in the exercise yard, de Valera 's next step a key.

had His Catholic background, led to him act as servers in The Prison chapel, where he discovered the chaplain's key set. Wait until his back was turned, The Prisoner made an impression on this crucial piece of equipment with a wedge of wax, he had gathered from the chapel candles.

The next problem is to de Valera and his fellow revolutionaries confronted was how it to The Ira . With your letters under the magnifying glass taken, by prison guards, the dimensions on a post card came up with a Trick to send.

inmates Sean Milroy was The Task and drew a cartoon of a drunken man trying to fit a large key into a Small key hole on the to be a harmless Christmas card seemed. The reviewers were sent hoodwinked: The Image to their employees was, in fact, a copy of the reprint of de Valera.

A replica of The Key was disguised and sent in a Christmas card from The Prison On the outside, a key was cut to the dimensions of smuggled onto The Card and into the Jail inside a cake. After, The Prison was taken by A Man named Fintan Murphy.

McMahon said in The Statement : "he said he was a commercial traveler, and someone in Manchester had asked him to bring this cake. He was inside [and] The Head warder was called, and brought a very thin knife and began to thrust the cake.

"Fintan was in agony over the matter, as to what would happen in the case of The Knife touch the button. Anyway, he has never contacted, The Key , and the cake was. "

The attack failed, however, because The Key fit in The Lock .

Harry Boland and Michael Collins , left, and center, were sent to get rid of them, de Valera, on the right of De Valera, who have recognized, the wax must be shrunk before the drawing was made, later wrote: "When I had looked at the pleasure of, [The Key ], it was qualified by a feeling that it was too Small ".

A second animated series was sent - This Time with The Key impression is camouflaged in the middle of a ornate Celtic Pattern and a second key, which was smuggled into The Prison in a cake.

If that failed, another was Baked - a "of elongated fruit-cake," McMahon recalls - This Time with a blank key and a set of files, so that it could be shaped to fit in The Lock .

The emptiness was given to fellow prisoners, Peter DeLoughry have been able to examine a prison block, after managing to tell them apart with a contraband screwdriver. With this additional knowledge, he was able to fashion a master key able to unlock every door in The Prison - and the will to win de Valera and his Freedom .

At about 7. 40 at 3. In February 1919, de Valera, Milroy and a third man, Sean Mcgarry , cut The Key , to open DeLoughry, their cell doors and they closed behind them. Slipping into The Dark and misty the exercise yard, they made their way to the gate.

this may also interest You : On The Other hand, the top-ranking Republican Michael Collins and Harry Boland were among those who wait on You .

Collins also had to cut a key, but when he tries to open the gate from the outside, it snapped in The Lock . For fear your luck may come to an end, de Valera slotted his key from The Other side, gouged Collins' broken key, turned The Lock , and the three men hatched.

As The Group made their way out of The Prison they met some of the recovering soldiers, loiter with your friends outside of a hospital in the vicinity, but she made it over without arousing suspicion.

After a short walk they reached the Adam and eve pub, where a taxi was waiting, whip The Men to Worksop in Nottinghamshire. By the time their escape was discovered at about 9. 30, the had taken men, another taxi from Worksop to Sheffield, where a car waited to take You to a Safe House in Manchester.

The Escape later, de Valera said he was ready to Lock the door to the exercise yard gate when he was pushed by his comrades to hurry away from The Prison . "I had locked the door, but no one would ever know how we were to escape," he said.

Liam Mcmahon 's statement revealed The Details of the cake, The escaped prisoners have been taken by taxi from outside the Adam & Eve pub, Worksop Mr O Cuiv for the first time heard the story of his grandfather's escape, as he was a little boy. He said his mother's birth certificate - she was born in August 1918 lists her father's address as the Lincoln prison.

"it was so successful and how neat an escape, as You can imagine," he said. "It was based on a little bit of cunning and wisdom.

"As I grow older, the more I look at it and think, what was a nice escape: no violence, no Nothing - just out the door and disappeared. "

Mr O Cuiv said the story was a "people in Ireland love," and according to Lincolnshire County Council's historian, Dr. Erik Grigg , "many Irish" mistakenly visit The City 's old prison, which closed in 1878, in the hope, to see where de Valera passed his Great Escape .

But the former occupants, the grandson admits The Plan was not without its flaws, and that the commissioning of Collins, Boland and de Valera in the same place was a big risk.

"It's a bit of a disaster, would have been [if You had been Caught ], You would have lost three great players," he said.

"It's like saying what if the Germans had managed to bomb Buckingham Palace and kill The King , or kill Churchill?

"It was perhaps a bit presumptuous, but the idea was to send their Best Men , the most reliable organizers. "

Eamon de Valera was a keen advocate of the Irish language movement and in 1913 the Irish Volunteers , a military organization, the swept was in opposition to the unionist militia, the Ulster Volunteers During his imprisonment, de Valera's Sinn Féin party, the boards in the 1918 General election, winning 73 of the 105 Irish seats, with de Valera, even though You are behind bars, the he both in East Clare and Mayo East.

But the members of the party refused to take their seats in Westminster, and, at 21. In January 1919, assembled at the Mansion House in Dublin to an Irish Parliament, known as Dáil Éireann.

worksop, lincoln, sinn féin, dublin, republic of ireland

Source of news: bbc.com