Rescue at Knocklong

These four men had spent much of the previous three months sleeping in the rough or in the houses of Republicans across Tipperary and Limerick, with a large reward on offer for their capture.

However, due to miscommunication, the reinforcements from Tipperary failed to arrive; at that stage help was sought from the Galtee Battalion of the East Limerick Brigade.

When the train pulled into Knocklong, Treacy and Ned O’Brien led the charge into the first carriage, where Hogan was being held in the custody of four armed officers from the RIC.

Despite calls to surrender, Constable Enright put his gun to Hogan's head and was immediately shot dead by Ned O’Brien.

Ring was thrown through a nearby window by another volunteer, while Treacy and Sergeant Wallace engaged in a desperate hand-to-hand battle.

He sent a volley of fire into the carriage where the fight was taking place, causing glass and shrapnel wounds to Scanlon, Ned O’Brien and Treacy.

The Big Four were quickly moved to West Limerick as large numbers of RIC and military reinforcements were put in place in all nearby barracks and search parties were scouring all the local areas around Knocklong for the wounded volunteers.

In the weeks after the incident, intensive police and army activity led to the arrest of many suspects, but they failed to capture any of the actual rescue party.

At an inquest held in Kilmallock Courthouse, Inspector McLean instructed the RIC witnesses not to answer jurors' questions but to portray the deaths of Wallace and Enright as cold-blooded murder.

The jury not only failed to bring a verdict of murder but blamed the Government for exposing the RIC to danger and condemned "the arrest of respectable persons and the exasperating of the people.

They were executed by hanging in The Mountjoy Prison on 7 June 1921, despite the best efforts of many people who looked for clemency including Sergeant Wallace's father.