Francis McCullagh (1874-1956) - War Correspondent 'extraordinaire'.

  

Over the past few years I have read several articles and books written by Francis McCullagh, an Irishman, who in his day became an internationally  famous newspaper reporter, specialising as a war correspondent, who additionally  wrote several books on his experiences. His writings reveal a man of deep integrity, outstanding moral and physical courage, strong religious faith, and a passion for the truth. If one day a film were to be made of his life and experiences, I suspect it would be hardly believable, except to confirm the old saying that ‘life is stranger than fiction’.  
I believe that the story of his life deserves to be plucked from the obscurity into which it has fallen, and relayed anew to today’s world, so in need  of heroes of the calibre of Francis McCullagh, good men in every way.This post only touches the surface of McCullagh’s life, but it is, as it were, a taster. It deserves much, much more, and perhaps one day the full story will be told.

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Much of the following report is taken from the obituary of Francis McCullagh, published in 1956 in the Fermanagh Herald -  with acknowledgement and thanks.  Also acknowledgement to ‘Studies, an Irish quarterly review’ for a report on the life of Francis McCullagh, by John Horgan. Also ‘El Gran Corresponsal de Guerra’,  Francis McCullagh, 1874 – 1956  by John Horgan.

                                            Francis McCullagh, 1874-1956

                   'Tyrone-born war correspondent dies in New York, USA.'
                           (headline in Fermanagh Herald- December, 1956)

Francis McCullagh was born on 30 April 1874 in Omagh, Co. Tyrone, to James and Bridget McCullagh. His father was a publican, with  premises and dwelling at Bridge Street, Omagh. He had one brother, who emigrated to New Zealand and who pre-deceased him, and three sisters, two of whom also emigrated, one to New York and the other to England. Two of his sisters, the one in Ireland and the one in England,  survived him.

From the Christian Brother’s  schools, Francis McCullagh passed to St. Columb’s College at Derry, then under the Presidency of Dr Charles McHugh, afterwards Bishop of Derry, and just emerging as a force in Catholic education in the north. At the College, Francis McCullagh read the prescribed course with distinction, and deciding to take up journalism, secured an appointment on a Catholic paper in Glasgow.

Career  -  His career in journalism was outstanding, broken only by a short stay in his early years at St Columb’s College to decide whether or not he had a vocation to the priesthood.   He left after some months, persuaded that the priesthood was not for him, and moved to Glasgow where he gained journalistic experience with a Scottish newspaper. Having an innate desire to travel the world, he decided after a relatively short time, to take the plunge, purchasing a one-way boat ticket to Colombo where he soon became editor of  ‘The Catholic Messenger’.  Two years later he moved to Bangkok where he had charge of the ‘Siam Free Press’. His next post was in Tokyo where he was English editor of ‘The Japan Times’, and then of the Port  Arthur ‘Novi Krai’, together with an appointment as Eastern representative of the ‘New York Herald Tribune’, then at the height of its influence. Many countries provided fields for his activity.  China, Russia, Spain, Portugal, the Balkans, Morocco, the United States, and England, all saw him at various times establishing his growing reputation as an outstanding reporter and journalist.  Over the years he became multi-lingual, teaching himself Russian and Japanese, in which he became highly proficient, and to a lesser degree, German, Italian, Latin, and a little Greek.

Amid the Guns of Port Arthur ……

His international fame was assured when in the Russo-Japanese War (1904-5) he secured the only news story of the destruction of the Russian fleet while at anchor in the great base of Port Arthur.

At the time Francis  McCullagh was aboard a British cargo vessel in the harbour, and had a grand-stand view of the piece-meal sinking of some of Russia’s finest naval units.  The vessel he was on flew the British flag, and was the only ship not fired on by the Japanese. McCullagh’s report of the engagement was read throughout the world and accurately divined the course of the struggle, predicting that the Japanese would emerge the victors.  After the Port Arthur disaster he followed the Russian fortunes, and during the Russian retreat from Mukden was captured along with 3000 soldiers, and sent as a prisoner- of- war to Japan.

His value as an astute and informed observer was appreciated by the Tsarist Government, and he was selected in 1905 to accompany the Russian leader Count Witte to the United States, who was to discuss with President Teddy Roosevelt, terms for a peace settlement. Together, they laid the foundations for the Portsmouth Peace Conference, which ended the Russo-Japanese War.

                                                                         Francis McCullagh


The Portuguese Revolution of 1910, involved  the overthrow of the  Portuguese Monarchy and the dethronement of King Manoel, and signalled the advent of the Portuguese First Republic, with McCullagh fully engaged by the world's newspapers as the reporter on- the-spot,  these included the ‘Westminster Gazette’ and the ‘Daily News’. The Italian venture into Tripoli in 1911, aspects of which he was subsequently highly critical, found him similarly engaged.              
McCullagh developed a special affection for Portugal, and in later years often re-visited the country.  

He was next in Agadir where he was expelled by the Moors, after which he  went to the Balkans to report on the First Balkan War.

The First Balkan War, October 1912 to May 1913, comprised military actions by the Balkan League against the Ottoman Empire. The combined armies of the Balkan states overcame the numerically inferior and strategically disadvantaged Ottoman armies, and achieved rapid success.

Outside the Tchataldja lines, McCullagh was taken prisoner by the Bulgars, but as a recognised War Correspondent with the Turkish army, he avoided execution. He was put across the frontier and travelled to Serbia where old King Peter, the pride of the Montenegrins, decorated him with the ‘Order of Sava’.

The Great War - The outbreak of the Great War in 1914 found him in Russia, where he was attached to the Russian Army south of Warsaw. It was here that Von Hindenberg and Ludendorff launched their massive movements that were to culminate in the frightful Russian losses at the Mausurian Lakes, the flower of the Russian armies being either captured or destroyed. Francis McCullagh was recalled and received a commission in the 12^th Worcester’s, transferring to the Royal Irish Fusiliers.  Throughout the war he acted as Intelligence officer at the Dardanelles, in Serbia and in Macedonia.   
The end of the war saw him appointed to the staff of General Knox’s Military Mission, formed to assist the White Russians in their struggle with the Bolsheviks.

A Narrow Escape  -  It was while with General Knox’s mission, when Bolshevik forces smashed those of Admiral Kolchak and his British supporters, that  Captain McCullagh, a fluent linguist, saved the lives of the entire personnel of the mission through his knowledge of Russian.

This incident led to one of Captain McCullagh’s most remarkable exploits, when he disguised himself as a Russian peasant, went on alone to Ekaterinburg, and was the first non-Russian to reach the scene of the death of the Tsar and his family, and to interview their executioner.
               He had many adventures in Siberia, and was captured by the Bolsheviks at Krasnoyarsk while retreating with Kolchak’s army after the fall of Omsk.
            Captured in early 1919, he persuaded his captors that he was a journalist rather than a British army officer, and was allowed to spend many months wandering around Russia before the increasingly suspicious Russian security services arrested him in Moscow, where he was imprisoned for more than a year.  He was released in 1920 as a result of the O’Grady – Litvinov Agreement, and was returned to England.

                          Gens. Sakharov and Kolchak; Francis McCullagh(ext.rt)

Bolshevik  Revolution  -  He returned to Russia in 1922 on behalf of Mr Frank Munsey, the  owner and editor of the ‘New York Herald’, who wanted a reliable and  up-to-date  report on the relationship  between the Bolshevik Government and the Christian Churches. McCullagh’s report highlighted the virtual collapse of the Russian Orthodox Church and its take-over by Bolshevik agents, with the Catholic Church the one remaining Christian organisation continuing to oppose the government.  McCullagh was able to attend the ‘State’ trial of several Catholic Bishops and priests accused of treason on various trumped-up charges, which resulted in findings of guilt for those charged, and the death sentence on two Bishops, Mgr Konstantin Budkiewicz and Archbishop John Cieplak.

                   
                         ‘On March 21, 1923, the trial opened in Moscow  of the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Achrida, John Cieplak; Monsignors Maletzky and Budkiewicz; Exarch Fedorov, head of the Uniat Church; eleven  priests and one Catholic layman, all charged with offences against the State; viz. refusal to hand-over church valuables, which included the Eucharistic vessels,  from churches and religious houses, to agents of the State;  also teaching  the Catholic faith to children and young people, both in church and in their homes.’

 The result of this travesty of a trial, held in the former ‘Club of the Nobility’ now the ‘House of the Red Labour Unions’ near Opera Square, Moscow, which lasted a mere five days from March 21 to March 25, 1923, was a finding of guilt for all the accused, with Archbishop Cieplak and Monsignor Budkiewicz sentenced to death, and varying terms of imprisonment for the remaining defendants, ranging from 10 years in solitary confinement, to 3 years; with the one lay defendant sentenced to 6 months imprisonment.

Monsignor Budkiewicz was executed (murdered - shot in the head) in a cellar, during the night of 30/31 March, the night of Good Friday/Holy Saturday.  As a result of international outrage and condemnation of the trial, the death sentence on Archbishop Cieplak was commuted to one of 10 years imprisonment in solitary confinement.
McCullagh  completes his work with an analysis of the Christian Churches in Russia at that time, concluding with the destruction and virtual dissolution of the Russian Orthodox Church, which included the murder of 28 Bishops and 1200 priests.

         McCullagh was expelled by the Soviet Government in 1923. The full and comprehensive report of his visit is contained in his book ‘the Bolshevik Persecution of Christianity’ published in 1924 by John Murray, London. 

                                       The Bolshevik (1920) by Kustodiev

Mexican Terror  -  McCullagh  went to Mexico during the anti-Catholic persecution in that country from 1926 until 1929, and managed to evade the State police and informants by his use of disguise, particularly when visiting known Catholics. To get into Mexico he first travelled up the Amazon by canoe, crossed nomad - fashion over Central America, and on to the officially closed Mexican border which he contrived to cross. In his book 'Red Mexico', McCullagh reported first hand on his experiences in Mexico, which included a full account of the arrest and execution without trial of Father Pro S.J. and three young Catholic men, for the alleged attempted murder of President Obregon by throwing two bombs at the car in which he was travelling. The bombs were thrown by the occupants of a passing car travelling in the opposite direction, which after exploding caused only minor injuries and damage. There was absolutely no evidence against the accused men, but one was a Catholic priest and the others were known Catholics, and as such they were seen as legitimate targets by the State, and were executed without trial.

                                                    Father Pro at Chapultepec  (Red Mexico)


His Books  -  Throughout his life, splendid and excellently informed articles and reports poured from his pen, and he found time, too, to write several books. Of these, the best known are ‘With the Cossacks’; ‘The Fall of Abd-Ul-Hamid’ (last Sultan of Turkey and known as Abdul the Damned); ‘Italy’s War for a Desert’; ‘Tales from Turkey’; ‘Red Mexico’; ‘A Prisoner of the Reds’;  ‘The Bolshevil Persecution of Christianity’; ‘In Franco’s Spain’.

A man of strong Catholic faith and deep convictions, he was fearless in his denunciation of international, national, and religious authority, when he considered that they had acted wrongly or unjustly in matters of State. He was especially severe in his criticism of international (capitalist) arms dealers, whom he regarded as generally unprincipled and the lowest of the low, making huge fortunes out of war.

I have read several of McCullagh’s books’;  viz.  ‘A Prisoner of the Reds – the Story of a British Officer captured in Siberia’;   ‘The Bolshevik Persecution of Christianity’;  ‘Red Mexico’;   and ‘In Franco’s Spain’, and in every one McCullagh’s  religious faith shines through like a beacon in the darkness. I have not yet read his other books, but intend to do so soon.

I include short extracts from those books I have read, which reveal just a little of McCullagh's  deep  faith:-

“Nor can I ever forget the Masses I have heard on dark, frosty mornings in isolated Catholic churches far in the heart of Red Russia, and how astonishingly the calm and dignity of the noble service contrasted with the mad roar of revolution outside.  The church was dark, save where the altar candles made the silvery hair of the priest shine like a nimbus and lit up the altar, evoking a picture of the same Sacrifice being offered in a dimly lit Roman catacomb in commemoration of Sebastian the Soldier or of Agnes the Virgin Martyr, while a tyranny as bad as Lenin’s howled itself hoarse outside.” (‘A Prisoner of the Reds’)  

“The trial opened on Wednesday, March 21, 1923, under the Bolshevik Judge Galkin. The look  of extreme hatred conveyed by Galkin towards the accused – glances so charged with intense malignity that, if looks could kill, they would cause instant death.
The world wherein for the moment I found myself, was animated by that same passionate intolerance which had led the Roman mob, the Roman officials, and even the Roman intellectuals of Trajan’s time to loathe the Christians with a fury so immeasurable as to embarrass and alarm even Caesar himself.”  (‘The Bolshevik Persecution of Christianity’

              Mgr Budkiewicz - executed (murdered) by the Bolshevik Government 1923
                                                                
                                                                    ***

“He  (Fr Pro)  was fearless, for at a time when he was one of the most ‘wanted’ men in Mexico City, he visited the prisons daily, bringing gifts to the Catholic prisoners, but also hearing confessions and distributing Holy Communion whenever the opportunity arose; and on such occasions he disarmed suspicion by chatting amicably with the warders and gendarmes.” (‘Red Mexico’)

    
               Fr Miguel Pro S.J.- awaiting execution November, 1927.    

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“This war is only one more ill, and not the worst; the worst ills are hidden: there are more terrible things in peace than there are in battle, even in that peace which is marked by a brighter tone in the stock markets, and by quiet conditions in the foreign exchanges. Some people in England and America have started a crusade against war: why do they not start a crusade against sin, the cause of war?  But let's say no more about it. In this world which looks so pleasant, there are, beneath the surface, horrors too awful for words.” (‘In Franco’s Spain’ - a quote from the Padre of a convent, in which the resident nuns, spared by the Republican forces to continue their work, nursed some fifteen hundred female inmates of a lunatic asylum, many diseased and mentally ill, most of whom had been forced into a life of  prostitution from a young age.) 

                                             

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For many years the sole home Francis McCullagh knew was his flat in Paris, or the London club of which he was a member. With World War 2 imminent, he moved  from Paris to New York, where, while still keeping in touch with friends, his work- load diminished and his career slowly came to a  halt, for he was now of an age  for whom the battlefields of the Second World War had no place. In 1953 he was taken to a local hospital suffering from dementia, where he remained in deteriorating health for the next three years, eventually dying in 1956.

His death was recorded in the London Times and the New York Times, and in Ireland by the Irish Independent, Fermanagh Herald,  and some local newspapers.

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‘Trotsky of Russia knows Francis McCullagh.  So does President Calles of Mexico. Peter, the King of Serbia, was McCullagh’s friend.  The head-hunters of the upper Amazon list Francis McCullagh as one of their principal deities. The warring tribes of Morocco call him blood brother.  A room is always ready for him in the Imperial Palace of Siam. The latchstrings of hundreds of Siberian peasant huts are out in anticipation of his coming.’  (ack. ‘El Gran Corresponsal de Guerra’,  Francis McCullagh, 1874 – 1956,  by John Horgan)

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