A champion cyclist, Martin Hegarty, was jailed for 2 months in Ballina Court for illegal drilling¹ during St. Patrick’s Day in Crossmolina. He was escorted to the courtroom from Castlebar Jail by sixteen armed police, who restricted the number of the members of the public allowed into the courtroom. A group of Irish Volunteers turned up at the courthouse and sang The Soldiers Song in support. The defendant did not recognise the authority of the court.

¹The Western People, April 6 1918, p3.