Sixty years on, the Redmond hatchet is still missing
Because in 1958, one of the least-remembered but very iconic pieces in the collection in The Hideout was stolen.
It was the hatchet which was thrown by suffragettes in 1912 at the British Prime Minister Mr Asquith while he was on a visit to Dublin. It missed, but struck John Redmond on the ear.
The hatchet was later presented to Jim Byrne of The Hideout — your editor's late father — by a brother of Mrs Bridget Redmond TD, Tom Mallick. John Redmond was Mrs Redmond's father-in-law. For many years it was mounted on a wall on its mahogany plaque.
But in June of 1958 the hatchet was stolen, Jim Byrne always believed by students. At the time he offered, through stories in national papers, a reward for its return.
No questions would be asked of anyone who produced it, and they were guaranteed free drink in The Hideout for six months. Alternative arrangements could be made for someone who didn't live in Kilcullen. However, despite extensive publicity, the hatchet was never recovered.
It was a very recognisable keepsake, with the legend on a brass plate 'On the occasion of the visit of the Rt Hon HH Asquith, the Prime Minister, to Dublin on 18th July, 1912, this hatchet was thrown at the Right Honourable gentleman by a militant suffragette, but, missing him, struck Mr John Redmond MP, chairman of the Irish Nationalist Party, on the head, inflicting a wound upon the ear. Presented with affectionate respect to Mr Redmond by one of the boys of Wexford, 1st February, 1915'.
"My hatchet was probably taken as a joke," Jim Byrne said in an article in the 'Sunday Dispatch' of 6 July 1958, "and the people who took it are probably afraid to leave it back. They need have no fear. The drinks will be there waiting for them. All I want is my hatchet."
But the hatchet remains missing to this day.
