From The Freeman's Journal, 28 March 1923 - INCENDIARIES FOILED. Burton Hall, Foxrock, the country residence of Senator H. S. Guinness, was maliciously set on fire on Saturday night. The attempt proved a failure. The fire did not take effect, and little damage resulted. A band of men broke into the mansion, laid a mine in the basement, sprinkled the upper part of the house with petrol and set it alight. After applying a match to the fuse of the land mine the raiders beat a hurried retreat. They had not departed long when a party of C.I.D. from Oriel House arrived. Their timely arrival saved the building. The fire, which was just getting a grip on the interior of the mansion, was speedily extinguished. MINE FAILS TO EXPLODE. The land mine was discovered unexploded, with a portion of the fuse burned. Scarcely any damage was done by the fire. The only part to receive any injury was the stairway. For some time past Senator Guinness has not resided at Burton Hall. The furniture and other valuables were recently removed from the mansion in anticipation of an attack. Burton Hall contained one of the finest collections of books in Ireland, including priceless old manuscripts and Irish pamphlets of the Restoration period, copies of which are only to be found in the great Universities of Bodleian, Trinity, and the Royal Irish Academy. A few years ago his collection had attained such proportions, and he had such a large number of duplicates of famous works that he sent many across to Sotheby's rooms in London, where they were sold at high prices. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Dennis Ahern | Ireland Newspaper Abstracts Acton, Massachusetts | http://www.IrelandOldNews.com - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -