handle major tasks. He obviously respected Dalton’s military experience, his coolness and his ‘can-do’ attitude, and would entrust Dalton with a range of crucial tasks over the following year. Dalton, for his part, looked up to Collins. Dalton would write later of Collins that he never knew a man to possess such an amazing personality – he described Collins as a severe taskmaster but with his mesmeric personality the Big Fellow ‘could make the weakest of us feel strong with the overflow of his courage’.31
In late April 1921 Charlie Dalton was called in by the Assistant Director of Intelligence, Tom Cullen, to discuss with Collins his part in the upcoming rescue. Charlie recalled later that he was ‘overawed’ to be in the presence of Collins, and felt annoyed with himself that he was not at ease as he wanted to make a ‘good impression’.32
Collins had received information from Michael Lynch, the Superintendent of the Dublin Corporation abattoir, who was also an on-the-run Volunteer officer. British soldiers in lorries, escorted by an armoured car, called to the slaughter house on Aughrim Street, off the North Circular Road, early every morning to collect meat.33 The military killed their own cattle at the abattoir, prepared the meat there, which was then taken back in lorries to military base facilities to feed the soldiers. The fact that the crew had a habit of leaving the armoured car while soldiers were dressing the meat or having breakfast meant that the vehicle was vulnerable to seizure. Charlie Dalton’s role was to keep surveillance on the soldiers at the abattoir, and to assess the feasibility of the car’s seizure. He reported back to Collins that he believed the operation could be successful.
A rescue plan was drawn up. Dressed as British officers, Emmet Dalton and Joe Leonard would enter Mountjoy in the hi-jacked armoured car and convince the prison authorities that they were transferring MacEoin. The two rescuers would wear uniforms that Dalton retained from his service as an officer in the British Army. Emmet Dalton would lead this part of the operation. As part of the preparation, Collins held a meeting at Jim Kirwan’s public house. Dalton and Leonard attended, and met a sympathetic Mountjoy Prison warder – probably Peadar Breslin. The warder gave them full information about the position of military guards, meal times and relief times for police and Auxiliaries.34
When Dalton found that the armoured car to be hi-jacked was a Peerless model, equipped with two Hotchkiss machine guns, he set about trying to locate two Volunteers who would be capable of using the Hotchkiss.35 This was a weapon which, he knew from experience, was mainly used by the British Cavalry in the Great War. He had no personal experience of using the weapon himself. He knew a man called Jack McSweeney who had been a pilot in the British air force and found that McSweeney had a working knowledge of the Hotchkiss and, more importantly, was ‘sound’ as regards his national outlook. McSweeney went along with Dalton to a meeting with the two Volunteers who were to act as gunners in the armoured car, and with the aid of blackboard diagrams, instructed them in the operation of the gun. Dalton admitted it was the best that could be done in the absence of an actual Hotchkiss machine gun. (McSweeney later helped Dalton procure an aircraft during the Anglo-Irish Treaty talks held in London during late 1921, which would fly Collins back to Ireland in the event of an emergency.)
The rescue attempt was a high-risk operation. Mountjoy Prison was a heavily-guarded, high-security facility. While outwardly calm, Emmet Dalton feared he might not come out alive. Being a devout Catholic, he took the precaution of going to Confession.36 Dalton later recalled Collins’ briefing on the rescue plans to participants. When Collins detailed the arrangements ‘he seemed to have made molehills of mountainous difficulties’. Dalton went on: ‘His “God Speed” when our little party set out was in itself a tonic to cheer us.’37
Members of Michael Collins’s Squad, the Active Service Unit and of the intelligence staff were mobilized for the rescue. Charlie Dalton was stationed in the home of the abattoir superintendent. For three days he kept vigil on the slaughterhouse while the others lay in wait. On the morning of 12 May 1921, he saw the armoured car crew step out of the vehicle. Recognizing the time had come to strike, he signalled the others by raising a window blind. Paddy O’Daly led an IRA party into the abattoir, where they shouted ‘hands up’. One soldier was fired on when, apparently, he failed to comply immediately with instructions – he may have showed resistance or may simply have hesitated. He was seriously wounded and died later of his injuries.38 Meanwhile, Charlie Dalton ran to a nearby house to breathlessly tell his brother and Joe Leonard that the operation had been launched. The two men already wore their British Army uniforms. The house, An Grianán, on the corner of Ellesmere Avenue and North Circular Road, was occupied by two elderly ladies. Probably fearing the worst, the women knelt in anxious prayer as Dalton and Leonard left the house. The Peerless armoured car, equipped with two machine guns, was commandeered, with Pat McCrea, the Squad’s premier ‘wheelman’ driving, and Bill Stapleton as his assistant. McCrea had never driven a vehicle like this. Also in the IRA group were Sean Caffrey; machine gunner Peter Gough, who had served in a machine gun unit in the British Army during the Great War, and Tom Keogh whose coolness was regarded as an important asset. They wore British Army caps and dungarees. Meanwhile at the abattoir, soldiers and staff were held at gunpoint by members of the IRA group until the armoured car was well on its way – then they themselves withdrew.
McCrea drove the car along the North Circular Road to Hanlon’s Corner where Emmet Dalton and Joe Leonard were waiting. McCrea’s co-driver Bill Stapleton gave the pre-arranged signal – a white handkerchief waved out the window of the car – and the two ‘officers’ were quickly on board. With seven now in the vehicle, it was a tight squeeze. When the armoured car drove up to the prison, the car horn was sounded and a warder looked out through the grille and then emerged from the wicket gate. With an air of authority, Dalton waved an official-looking document, and demanded immediate access to the prison. The main gates were opened and the armoured car drove through. The gates closed behind them but McCrea managed to reverse and to park the vehicle in such a way that the two inner gates of the jail could not be closed. Meanwhile, a separate group of Volunteers hung about outside the prison to open the front gates when the time came for the car to escape.39
Leonard had been a prisoner in Mountjoy. A warder was clearly startled when he recognized Leonard in his British Army uniform but does not appear to have raised the alarm. Dalton was approached by the Chief Warder who asked him why he was there, and Dalton replied that he had come to see the prisoner ‘McKeon’ (MacEoin). Dalton and Leonard made their way into the prison with the help of their inside man, warder Peadar Breslin. MacEoin had already been tipped off by Breslin to expect a rescue attempt. The original plan was that MacEoin would contrive to get himself in the Governor’s office at the time the rescuers came in. They would then leave together. Unfortunately, police in the prison introduced an additional security check on the prisoners which prevented MacEoin getting to the Governor’s office in time.40 Dalton carried with him duplicate keys to the doors of the wing and the cell where MacEoin was being held. The keys had been made for Michael Collins from impressions supplied to him by a sympathetic warder, possibly Breslin.41
Dalton and Leonard passed into the central section, or ‘diamond’ where blocks converged. They were on their way to MacEoin’s cell in C (I) Wing when the Chief Warder again approached Dalton and stopped him, asking him again what his mission was. Dalton told him he needed to see MacEoin to read to him a statement of evidence. The warder said he could not interview the prisoner – he had first to go and see the Governor and get permission. Governor Charles Munro, brother of Hector Munro, the short story writer with the pen name Saki, was an essentially humane man. He had brought in a rule that military officers had to check with him first before seeing a prisoner. The rule had been introduced after prisoners had complained of being abused by visiting army officers.
Dalton and Leonard were shown by the Chief Warder into the Governor’s office. He introduced the visitors and then departed. Now the two ‘officers’ met with another setback – the Governor was not alone. The Deputy Governor and the prison medical officer, Dr. Hackett, were also there. Dalton saluted the Governor, who greeted the visitors pleasantly. Emulating the clipped tones of a British officer, Dalton explained his mission, requesting that he should be allowed to go and see MacEoin, or that MacEoin should be brought to the office. He handed over a forged ‘prisoner transfer’ document ordering MacEoin to be taken from Mountjoy to Dublin Castle. The Governor read the document and went