Dreadful murder of 14 Officers in Dublin1
Keen frost + brilliant cloudless day + equally bright moonlight. No fog + no wind. Saw Phyllis Dees2 twice + thought her worse. She is becoming almost comatose. Had some dinner there. Gave Dav. gas at Clark’s3 to have a tooth out. Took Ailie4 down to Faldonside in the evening. Thought I felt some symptoms of Coryza5 coming on as I came home from Faldonside. Took Mrs Dees down a small Selkirk Bannock6.
1 21 November 1920 was called Bloody Sunday (Domhnach na Fola) after the I.R.A., organised by Michael Collins, killed or fatally injured 16, mostly British Army intelligence officers, after which members of the Auxiliary Division and R.I.C. opened fire on the crowd at a Gaelic football match in Croke Park, killing or fatally wounding 14, while later still two Irish republicans and a civilian were murdered at Dublin Castle by their captors; it was 2007 before Ireland and England played rugby at Croke Park
2 Phyllis Mary ‘Fiff’ Dees (1899-1920), daughter of Robert Irwin Dees (1872-1923) and Edith Mary Boileau Dees née Henderson, the new (1920) tenants at Faldonside; she had been involved in a car accident near Berrybush while travelling between the Gordon Arms and Tushielaw
3 Assume Thomas Raeburn ‘T Raeburn’ Clark (1879-1943), dental surgeon at 8 The Green, Selkirk and of Ettrickbridge [1920 Valuation Roll]
4 Ailie Brack Boyd Wilson or Boyd-Wilson, later Ailie Brack Boyd Wilson Milne (about 1891-1955)
5 Dr Muir appears to be going down with another catarrhal inflammations of his mucous membrane
6 For those unfortunate enough to have missed out, a Selkirk bannock is a rich, buttery and fruity leavened tea bread
[Source: Scottish Borders Archives & Local History Service SBA/657/23, Dr J S Muir of Selkirk, medical practitioner, journal for 1920]
Rumbling Clint's Scottish Notes 