She ran back towards the road and recognised Alfie Colley who she knew lying on the road. She and a friend crossed a field at the other end of the lane, before hearing a volley of shots. One of the men distressingly cried out: ‘What have we done?’ They were then forced against a wall before one of the armed men stepped forward and fired a number of shots.Īnnie Shepherd from Grenville Street was leaving work at 5.50pm at Yellow Lane and saw a car facing down Yellow Lane with a number of men in it. Revolvers were pointed at their heads and they were ordered to sit on the ground. One armed men alighted from the car and waving his gun ordered people who had gathered near the car to clear off.Īs they were taken from the car the two men made one last dash for freedom. Several witnesses described seeing Seán Cole and Alfie Colley frantically trying to escape from the car, but they were prevented from doing so.
Less than an hour later a car drew up on Yellow Lane. The car eventually drove off in the direction of Fairview with five to six other men beside Cole and Colley. One young boy Vincent Raftery from Foley Street, said that he saw a green uniform underneath the trench coat of one of the armed men on the street. Other armed men stopped and searched pedestrians and cars along the bridge. Witnesses described seeing a black Ford motor car on the bridge with the two young men inside, covered by a man holding a revolver. At 3.00pm on Saturday 26th August the two met at Seán Cole’s home on Buckingham Street before leaving to attend a Fianna Éireann parade at Charlemont House in Marino.Īs they returned home at around 5.00pm across Newcomen Bridge on North Strand they were stopped by a group of armed men and placed in a car. Seán Cole had just completed an apprenticeship as a tinsmith at Dockrell’s on South Great George’s Street the previous Thursday. The young men were members of Fianna Éireann, which was opposed to the Treaty. Both had been shot four times in the head.
On Saturday 26th August the bodies of Seán Cole aged 19 from Lower Buckingham Street, and Alfred Colley aged 21 from Parnell Street were found dumped in Yellow Lane, between Whitehall and Santry. Just days after the death of Michael Collins on 22nd August 1922 during a military engagement in west Cork, Pro-Treaty troops exacted revenge on two young men from Dublin’s north inner city. August 1922: Two young men from Dublin's North Inner City murdered in reprisal for the death of Michael Collins?
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