Involved in the shooting of Newberry
1911 census at Ballina, Mayo
The IRA side of it is that about twelve men were admitted to 92 Lower Baggot Street at the same time. Four men went upstairs. William Stapleton was among the men who asked for Captain W. F. Newberry and made their way to the first floor flat. On the Friday prior to Bloody Sunday my Company Captain,Tommy Kilkoyne, instructed me to report armed at Baggot St. Bridge on the following Sunday morning at, I believe, half past eight, and there I would meet Joe Leonard in charge of a party consisting of five members of my Company, including Jack Stafford, Eugo MacNeill, who was somehow attached to our Company and two or three others.I understood from Tommy Kilcoyne that on this particular Sunday a general effort was to be made in various parts of the city to liquidate members of the B. I. Service who resided in private houses and hotels throughout the city. I reported as instructed, and our party moved down to 92 Lower Baggot St., where the British agent we were interested in was residing. We knocked at the hall door, which was opened by somebody from upstairs, and entered. Our information was that this British agent occupied the ground floor flat, which consisted of the back and front parlours. We knocked at the door of the front parlour, and, receiving no reply, knocked at the back parlour doorAfter some hammering on the door it was opened a little. It was evident that the occupant of the room was very cautious and suspicious because he tried to close the door again, but we jammed our feet in it. We fired some shots through the door and burst our way in. The two rooms were connected by folding-doors and the British agent ran into the front room and endeavoured to barricade the door, but some of our party had broken in the door of the front room and we all went into it. He was in his pyjamas, and as he was attempting to escape by the window he was shot a number of times. One of our party on guard outside fired at him from outside. The man’s wife was standing in the corner of the room and was in a terrified and hysterical condition. The operation lasted about fifteen minutes. Stapleton’s report said really very little at all. There was plenty about doors and getting in and getting out, but no details about what happened in that room. Captain Newbury was shot seven times; his body left hanging from the window, where as Stapleton said, he had tried to escape. His heavily pregnant wife could only cover him with a blanket.
IRA men involved in Bloody Sunday