THE AMBUSH of a force of Special Constabulary, on Wednesday night, 5th inst. near Garrison, County Fermanagh, was the first of its kind in the county.

The ambushed patrol belonged to a platoon which recently arrived from Belfast, at Garrison, a village situated near the Leitrim boundary, which is famous for its fishing lake, Lough Melvin.

Shortly after 9pm, the officer in charge of six constables went on foot patrol. When about 100 yards from the village, a force of Sinn Feiners, estimated at 70-strong, jumped from their hiding places and with a machine gun opened fire on the unsuspecting constables.

The little force was completely overwhelmed. Constable Plum was seen to throw up his hands and fall backwards dead, and three other constables were seriously wounded. The remaining men, with difficulty, escaped to the village.

A Lancia car turned out immediately and, returning to the scene of action, found that the rebels had decamped.

By their prompt turn-out they have saved the bodies of the wounded men from a worse fate, but though they conducted a long search, they failed to find the body of the dead constable.

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The police carried out a dragging operation in Lough Melvin, as it was suspected that the rebels threw the body into the lake.

When the news of the ambush reached Enniskillen, a strong force of Specials was rushed to the spot, but the gunmen had escaped back to their County Leitrim lairs.

The wounded men were taken to Fermanagh County Hospital, where it was found that their wounds were very severe, as the rebels had used dum-dum bullets. One man had his arm shattered. All three are progressing favourably.

Garrison is a little Protestant colony, but all around is a wild, mountainous district, overwhelmingly Sinn Féin.

Enniskillen Unionists thought the ambush answered the resolution passed there on Monday 3rd inst by the Nationalists, who declared that under the Northern Parliament, “life and property were insecure”.

Up to the present, only one Sinn Feiner in the county has been murdered, whereas five Protestants have been murdered by Sinn Feiners.

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