man was one Patrick Nolan, shot by Bowen-Colthurst outside Delahunt's Grocery shop on Camden Street. He was brought to the hospital at Dublin Castle and survived. After the Portobello shootings, according to a letter from a 'Father Scannell' to Hanna Sheehy Skeffington many years later, Bowen-Colthurst made "frantic efforts to wipe out all the traces of his crime". Father Scannell alleged that Bowen-Colthurst detained several bricklayers from a nearby building site, and ordered them to repair the broken and bullet-impacted bricks in the wall behind where the executed men had stood. The terrified bricklayers had been surrounded by soldiers with fixed bayonets pointed at them. Bowen-Colthurst's reports Months later, when Countess Markievicz – then in Mountjoy Prison — first heard of the executions of the leaders of the Easter Rising, she expressed surprise at only one thing: "Why on earth did they shoot Skeffy?" she is reported to have said. "He didn't believe in fighting." Bowen-Colthurst himself provided an answer to this question in his report of April 26, the day of the shootings. Part of his military operations report was as follows: This morning at about 9 a.m. I proceeded to the Guard Room to examine these two men and I sent for them and for a man called Skeffongton [sic] who was also detained. I had been busy on the previous evening up to about 3 a.m. examining documents found on these men and I recognised from these documents that the three men were all very dangerous characters. I therefore sent for an armed guard of six men and ordered them to load their Rifles and keep their eyes on the prisoners. The Guard Room was full of men and was not a suitable place in my opinion in which to examine the prisoners. I ordered therefore the three prisoners to go into the small court yard of the Guard Room. I regret that I did not have these men hand cuffed and surrounded as the yard was a place from which they might have escaped. When I ordered these three men into the yard I did not however know this. The Guard was some little distance from the prisoners and as I considered that there was a reasonable chance of the prisoners making their escape and knowing the three prisoners (from correspondence captured on them the previous evening ) to be dangerous characters, I called upon the