Conor Clune - Dublin Castle

Dublin Castle

Having been arrested, the three men were taken to the old detective office in the Exchange Court. According to T. Ryle Dwyer, the room was being used as a kind of guardroom, and was furnished with some beds, tables and some stores, which included a box of hand grenades

Brigadier General Ormonde Winter head of the British Secret Service in Ireland and two Auxiliary Division officers, Captain Hardy and Captain King, were the British personnel who interrogated Clune, Clancy, and McKee.

A Republican prisoner, V J. Young, who was in custody at the time in the Castle is certain that Clune was killed in error for Sean Fitzpatrick the man arrested with McKee and Clancy at Fitzpatrick’s home in Gloucester St. Clune and Fitzpatrick he says were of similar build and both were wearing brown suits. Young overheard two Auxiliary officers disputing the identity of one of the prisoners. One said, “That’s him” while another said” no, its him” as they looked at just Fitzpatrick and Clune.

According to T. Ryle Dwyer, the prisoners "supposedly" got hold of the hand grenades and threw them. One of the sentries testified that himself and a colleague heard a noise behind them and noticed that two of the prisoners had thrown the grenades at them. They dived for cover behind some mattresses, but the grenades did not detonate. One of the prisoners was also said to have got hold of a rifle according to one of the guards, which he levelled and fired at the guard commander as he entered the room, but missed. The prisoner then turned the rifle and fired another shot at another guard. The guard said he then fired at the prisoner, and the prisoner dropped, and that the guard commander also fired at the prisoner. The guard commander said, on hearing a noise, entered the room, and "the prisoner McKee fired at me", and that McKee then turned and fired at the sentry. The guard commander also claimed to have dropped McKee. He then said he saw Clancy with a shovel, and that Clancy was attempting to strike another guard. One of the guards (who had dived behind the mattresses) then fired at Clancy and he fell.

A fourth witness was to tell much the same story.

According to Sean O'Mahony, they were tortured in the guardroom in order to extort from them the names of the Volunteers who had earlier that morning shot the fourteen members of the Cairo Gang. Refusing to talk, they were "subsequently murdered" on the evening of 21 November 1920.

The condition of their bodies when returned by the British authorities to their families supports this assertion. There were extensive signs of discolouring, which seemed to indicate extensive bruising. The army doctor claimed that large staining could occur, and this would depend on the way the bodies had been lying. He also said that Clancy had been hit with up to five bullets, which made eight wounds; Dick McKee had three wounds caused by two bullets. He said McKee had no bayonet wounds, but there was a bullet lodged underneath his skin on the right of his chest. Clune, he said, had nine wounds caused by seven bullets. T. Ryle Dwyer also states that David Neligan was adamant that they had not been bayoneted.

His employer Edward McLysaght took charge of the body when the authorities released it. He had the body medically examined. The examination proved that Clune was shot 13 times in the chest. Clune’s body was brought home to Co. Clare for burial. His coffin was draped with the tricolour but when a British Officer objected to it, Canon Slattery the presiding priest complied and removed the national flag. He is buried in Quin Abbey near his ancestors, Clune was 27 years of age.

A book titled Death in the Castle: Three murders in Dublin Castle 1920, written by Sean O'Mahony, and published by 1916–1921 Club records both the life and deaths of the three Republicans.

There is a road in Dublin, close to the Phoenix Park called Conor Clune Road and another called Clune Road in Finglas.