From the Wicklow People, 27 August 1904, this account of a trio of infant graduates of the Dublin Police Court who got themselves into some very cold water indeed:
“A romantic story was told about three lads who appeared in the Dublin Police Court last week. Two houses in Clontarf, a suburb of Dublin, were broken into in the early part of the present month and property worth £50 was taken. This consisted of silver and gold articles, plated ware, and tan shoes. The police tracked three youths, named Charles Cotter, aged fourteen; George Austin aged thirteen; and Leo Austin, aged twelve: and arrested them on the charge of committing burglary. Other investigations led to the discovery of a good deal of the plunder in an adjoining wood.
When charged at the police courts, the youths were remanded for a week, and meanwhile were sent to the North Dublin Union. They were not long in the institution when they escaped. They walked ten miles to Howth, and entered on another perilous adventure. Between them they had money to hire a boat, and with this they put to sea with the apparent intention of escaping to England. When some miles off the Dublin coast they were picked up by the coastguards in an exhausted state from hunger and exposure. They were immediately handed over to the police.”
The sixteenth ‘Dubliners’ short story? If only!
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