Posted by murrisk on November 20, 2000 at 06:52:31:
The Mayo News has reported odd items over the years. On January 13, 1911, it reported that windows in a house outside
of the town had been broken by a woman. The attack was assumed to have been made by a Suffragette. The article noted
that "... in the Wild West, far from the high stage of civilization which seems to require "Vote for Women" the windows are
no longer safe". Thankfully those restless times are past. On May 2, 1959, the paper reported vandalism in Belmullet on
a night known thereafter as "The Night of the Broken Knockers". Teddy Boys and blackguards who had attended a dance
in the town were blamed for the smashed door knockers. Conveniently, outsiders were believed to be responsible - but
outsiders from where? On August 19, 1981, the paper reported on the aftermath of the Castlebar Rock Festival. As you
might have guessed, a minority created havoc while the majority was well behaved. The main streets of the town were
likened to the back streets of Calcutta and the town itself was liked to Pearl Harbour "the morning after the night before".
I would assume this is a reference to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour, but maybe Pearl also endured a rock concert.
A local councilar declared that a fellow he had seen hauled before the courts for indecent exposure had not exposed
half of what he had seen young men and women exposing in the town. It sounds like it was quite the fiesta.