Saturday 7th April 1973.
Compound 13 Long Kesh
Compound 13 Long Kesh
There was a fight in the hut last night. The screws had to open the doors after twelve to bring the fella out who got bate up. He got twelve stitches in his head. It started over the card school. There were four of them left in. There was about seven or eight of us watching it. There’s no money involved-they play for snout-tobacco. A pinch of snout equals a stake but as the night goes on the pinches get smaller and smaller. That’s what started the row. Monty-ABH on a peeler- was there-he always plays. There was a new fella-Kevin -breaking and entering- from the country- –Maghera or somewhere. In the last hand he seen Monty’s two pair-Aces and Fives-with a prial of ducks. Monty tipped the table up and your man Kevin gubbed him. Monty got lashed into him and banged his head of the ground a couple of times. When the screws was taking Kevin out the door to the MO’s we heard him saying that he fell off the top bunk. Fair play to him- for a fenian like.
This morning it was work as usual-half six-down to the officer’s mess. It’s one of the better jobs. You get 28 pence a week and you’re never short of food. Plus it’s warm. At break time-quarter past eight- all hell broke loose. There seemed to be more screws about than usual. And a lot of running back and forward. Then a siren went off and Mister Randall-he’s a civilian- who looks after the kitchen told us all not to leave the kitchen. Mister Randall is okay. We all stood about wondering what was going on. Browner-taking and driving away- started crying and somebody asked him what the matter was. He didn’t answer. Just kept crying. After five minutes a crowd of screws came in. Bulldog was in charge of them. He’s a fucker that loves himself. Most of the screws don’t even like him. He was shouting and screaming. Next thing he has his baton out hitting us all round the legs and telling us to get out the side door into the yard in front of the screws club. We went out and they made us line up in single file outside the club. Another two screws cam down from the canteen with the rest of the YP’s who were serving the food. They were running-double time the screws call it. When we were all there Bulldog says “ Have a look around yous and tell me if you notice anything missing”. We all looked up and down the line. I was in the middle of the line. Only thing I seen was Browner shaking like a leaf at the end of the line. Nobody said anything. Next thing Bulldog let out this wild scream-“There should be fuckin twelve of yous-and there’s only ten”!! By this stage all the screws had their batons out and looked like they wanted to use them.
Without another word Bulldog went to end of the line. Not Browners end-the other end. A wee lad who’s only in. For ringing a bomb scare into Aldergrove. A hoax it was. He worked there and was looking a day off. Bulldog didn’t say anything at all. He just gubbed the wee lad and he hit the deck. Bulldog moved on to the next fella-he gave him a punch on the stomach and when he doubled over smacked him with his baton on the back. He sunk to his knees and was crying. Before Bulldog could reach the next in line Browner stepped forward and cried-“It’s Clark and Lewis-they were in the bin lorry”!! Everyone just stared at Browner and he became hysterical. “ They made me help them”.
Lewis and Clark are in for political offences. There’s some Prods and IRA ones in waiting to get transferred to the special compounds. Most of them are doing 3 years or more. Before Browner could say anything else Bulldog had the hold of him by the front of his jumper and was trailing him back into the mess. He told the fat screw Gibson to look after the rest of us. Gibson ordered us all to walk back up to the canteen in single file. They made us all sit at separate tables and told us not to talk to each other. Different screws came and took us out one at a time. When they took me out to the side of the canteen two of them grabbed me and started slapping me-but I didn’t know anything and they stopped after a wee while. One of them kneed me in the bollix and it’s still sore. Nobody else knew what had happened but everybody got roughed up a bit. A wee lad from Carrick- six months for riotous behaviour-pished himself he was that scared. Mister Randall told us that we weren’t required to do any more work for the rest of the day. Just after that another load of screws came and marched us back to the compound. The whole way up they were saying things to us like-“Yer mates are fucked when we catch them”-and-“Think they’re big lads-wait till we get the hold of them”-and-“Bastards-bating an auld screw up”.
When we got back to the cage the PO-a mad wee Scotch bastard-questioned us all again. He didn’t hit us but you could smell whiskey off him. After that they locked us in the half hut. At lunchtime wee Willie-carnal knowledge-came in from the hospital. He was one of the orderlies there and was always stealing tablets and stuff. He told us that the screws bate wee Browner up and he was in the hospital. He had two black eyes and the bake bate off him. An MO told wee Willie that Clark and Lewis had got caught outside and they were in the boards. Have to stop-I can hear the screws opening the door………….
This morning it was work as usual-half six-down to the officer’s mess. It’s one of the better jobs. You get 28 pence a week and you’re never short of food. Plus it’s warm. At break time-quarter past eight- all hell broke loose. There seemed to be more screws about than usual. And a lot of running back and forward. Then a siren went off and Mister Randall-he’s a civilian- who looks after the kitchen told us all not to leave the kitchen. Mister Randall is okay. We all stood about wondering what was going on. Browner-taking and driving away- started crying and somebody asked him what the matter was. He didn’t answer. Just kept crying. After five minutes a crowd of screws came in. Bulldog was in charge of them. He’s a fucker that loves himself. Most of the screws don’t even like him. He was shouting and screaming. Next thing he has his baton out hitting us all round the legs and telling us to get out the side door into the yard in front of the screws club. We went out and they made us line up in single file outside the club. Another two screws cam down from the canteen with the rest of the YP’s who were serving the food. They were running-double time the screws call it. When we were all there Bulldog says “ Have a look around yous and tell me if you notice anything missing”. We all looked up and down the line. I was in the middle of the line. Only thing I seen was Browner shaking like a leaf at the end of the line. Nobody said anything. Next thing Bulldog let out this wild scream-“There should be fuckin twelve of yous-and there’s only ten”!! By this stage all the screws had their batons out and looked like they wanted to use them.
Without another word Bulldog went to end of the line. Not Browners end-the other end. A wee lad who’s only in. For ringing a bomb scare into Aldergrove. A hoax it was. He worked there and was looking a day off. Bulldog didn’t say anything at all. He just gubbed the wee lad and he hit the deck. Bulldog moved on to the next fella-he gave him a punch on the stomach and when he doubled over smacked him with his baton on the back. He sunk to his knees and was crying. Before Bulldog could reach the next in line Browner stepped forward and cried-“It’s Clark and Lewis-they were in the bin lorry”!! Everyone just stared at Browner and he became hysterical. “ They made me help them”.
Lewis and Clark are in for political offences. There’s some Prods and IRA ones in waiting to get transferred to the special compounds. Most of them are doing 3 years or more. Before Browner could say anything else Bulldog had the hold of him by the front of his jumper and was trailing him back into the mess. He told the fat screw Gibson to look after the rest of us. Gibson ordered us all to walk back up to the canteen in single file. They made us all sit at separate tables and told us not to talk to each other. Different screws came and took us out one at a time. When they took me out to the side of the canteen two of them grabbed me and started slapping me-but I didn’t know anything and they stopped after a wee while. One of them kneed me in the bollix and it’s still sore. Nobody else knew what had happened but everybody got roughed up a bit. A wee lad from Carrick- six months for riotous behaviour-pished himself he was that scared. Mister Randall told us that we weren’t required to do any more work for the rest of the day. Just after that another load of screws came and marched us back to the compound. The whole way up they were saying things to us like-“Yer mates are fucked when we catch them”-and-“Think they’re big lads-wait till we get the hold of them”-and-“Bastards-bating an auld screw up”.
When we got back to the cage the PO-a mad wee Scotch bastard-questioned us all again. He didn’t hit us but you could smell whiskey off him. After that they locked us in the half hut. At lunchtime wee Willie-carnal knowledge-came in from the hospital. He was one of the orderlies there and was always stealing tablets and stuff. He told us that the screws bate wee Browner up and he was in the hospital. He had two black eyes and the bake bate off him. An MO told wee Willie that Clark and Lewis had got caught outside and they were in the boards. Have to stop-I can hear the screws opening the door………….
