My father, Seamos (or James) O'Farrell, a nationalist and journalist, was the last person to speak to Skeffington before his arrest. I have some notes by my father about that encounter and some details of what ensued; I will gladly make them available to anybody interested in the subject. Skeffington was a truly good man. Members of the Commission of Enquiry thought, though it was not proved, that his protest against the totally unjustified shooting in the street of an innocous young man was the real cause of his death. Or perhaps the fact that he and the two other unfortunate prisoners, who were not only not rebels but decidedly pro-British, had to be eliminated because they would have made awkward witnesses to that atrocity.
Kathleen O'Farrell