The Catholic Press Sydney, NSQ 21st April 1921 p.16 (abridged)
A sensational story of the burning of the house of a widow and the stripping and ill treatment of seven young men who were inside at the time comes from Caheroncen (sic.) Kinvarra.
Mrs Bridget Quinn was visited in the evening by 14 men, supposed to be members of one of the divisions of Crown forces. They were dressed in civilian clothes and wore false moustaches. They arrived in a motor lorry, and declared that they were looking for the murderers of policemen. To seven men who were playing cards in the house they shouted ‘hands up,’ and, covering them with rifles and revolvers, took them outside where they were kept under guard while the house was searched.
Then the men were compelled to strip and lie flat on the ground. They declare that all that was in their clothes was taken and the clothes burned. The house of Mrs Quinn was burned to the ground, and, having implored the raiders, she was permitted to free a team of horses in a stable.
The naked men were told to sing ‘God Save the King.’ They stated that they did not know the words, and the National Anthem was then sung for them, and they were compelled to repeat it, and then told to clear off, shots being discharged after them.
A doctor who attended them subsequently told me their bodies bore marks, and although they had not been seriously hurt, they were in a very nervous condition.
No member of the Crown forces has ever been attacked in the district.
The Burren and Beyond 