This article is from page 29 of the 2008-01-08 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 29 JPG
THE 50th anniversary of the Carmo- dy’s Hotel crash will be marked next week with a special mass in the Ss Peter and Paul Cathedral.
The tragedy occurred on January 15, 1958 when eight people died af- ter the second floor of the hotel col- lapsed during the course of a heavily attended public auction.
The auction, organised by Limerick auctioneers Louis de Courcy, drew large crowds to the hotel because of Carmody’s close association with po- litical giants like Eamon de Valera.
The accident occurred during the second half of the auction when the doors of the hotel had been closed.
The floor of the Sarsfield Room, Where the auction was being held, collapsed under the sheer weight of
numbers in attendance. Sheer luck prevented further loss of life when a fire that had been blazing in the cor- ner of the room remained unmoved.
Gardai, ambulance crews, fire- men and clergy were on the scene in minutes. Relatives of those trapped inside waited anxiously at the scene and at Ennis General Hospital.
Among those injured was Ennis woman Nancy Murphy. Last week Nancy’s daughter Christina Whelan (née Murphy) recalled, how, as a 13-year-old she heard the disturbing news from a neighbour
“My mother had gone down to the auction. She was looking for sheets, blankets, the practical stuff, and maybe something with a connection to De Valera. She was a big Dev fan. She sent my sister back home to help me with taking the spuds out of the
pot. My father was at the farm on the Inch Road and my three brothers were at school. The young lad from next door came home from school when I was out in the garden and he said ‘did you hear what happened in Carmody’s hotel. It fell down and they are all dead.’ I got an awful fright. I didn’t know what to do, there was no adults in the house.”
Christina’s mother was taken to En- nis General Hospital where she was treated for a deep gash to the leg. She never gave her name to officials, as she didn’t want word of the accident to reach her two daughters living in New York.
When Christina’s father, Bernie enquired about the condition of his wife, he, like many others, was told to first visit the morgue.
“My father went of on a bike to En-
nis Hospital. They lifted nearly every sheet in the morgue. He hadn’t found her by 11 o’clock.
“It was awful day, a terrible day, the worst ever 1n the town,” said Chris- abeee
Among the dead were Ernest de Regge, well known in Ennis as a lo- cal music teacher and choirmaster. His daughter Gislane Kozuh has been invited to attend next Tuesday’s Mass.
The dead were Ernest de Regge (54), Bindon Street, Ennis; ‘Thomas Donnellan (13), Bindon Street, En- nis; James Fitzgibbon (65), Marian Avenue, Ennis; Mrs Bridie Byrne (38), Kilrush; Mrs Josephine Carmo- dy (50), Barefield; Mrs Norah Cond- sidine (60), Corofin; Mrs Michael Coffey (41), Killoo, Clarecastle; Mrs Ellen McNamara (73), Crusheen.