of sympathisers or sleeping-in-the-rough in the countryside. A large police and military manhunt was launched to find them. A thousand-pound reward was offered for information leading to their capture, this was later raised to ten thousand pounds. The Police Gazette, ‘The Hue and Cry' regularly published accurate descriptions of the wanted men. The houses of known or suspected nationalists were ransacked by the RIC. Relatives and friends of the men on the run were a particular target. "By February, 1919, the R.I.C. were very bitter because none of us had been captured and I got reports of torture to civilians, including Hogan's and Breen's relatives." Hogan’s younger brother Matthew, aged 15, was imprisoned with his school friend John Connors and his brother Tim Connors (aged 11) whose father worked on Seán Treacy's mother's farm, for 3 months without trial, on the suspicion that they knew where Seán and the others were. Hogan’s mother was also imprisoned for a period in an attempt to extract information. Treacy and Robinson travelled to Dublin and met with Michael Collins who offered to arrange for them and Breen and Hogan to escape to America. They rejected the offer and told Collins they would remain in Ireland and continue the fight. Knocklong Hogan was arrested on 12 May 1919 by the RIC after attending a dance near Clonoulty, Tipperary. His three comrades (Dan Breen, Seán Treacy and Séumas Robinson) were joined by five men from the East Limerick Brigade (Ned & JJ O'Brien, Seán Lynch, Ed Foley & James Scanlon) in order to organise Hogan's rescue. He was being transported by train to Cork on 13 May 1919, and the men, led by Treacy, boarded the train in Knocklong. A close-range shoot-out followed on the train. Treacy and Breen were seriously wounded in the gun fight, two policemen died, but Hogan was rescued. He was spirited away to Knocklong village where his handcuffs were cleaved by the local butcher. The rescue was a great morale boost for the Republican cause in the early stage of the war, within weeks a number of ballads were being sung across Ireland regarding the rescue. There was an extensive police and military search for the participants of the rescue. ‘The big four’ were quickly moved to West Limerick where Treacy and Breen recuperated in the houses of members and friends of the West Limerick Brigade. They also spent time