A floorboard with a message scrawled underneath was donated to the Louth County Museum in Ireland in December—100 years after the note was dated on Dec. 30, 1922.
The grim war-time message appeared to have been written before the floorboard was installed in the hopes it would be discovered later, The Argus reported.
The message states:
“Poor Jack Doyle, found shot Dead [sic] this morning
above Sherry’s cross. Folded with his hands tied
behind his back and 4 bullets in him. A label on his
breast convicted spy. How will it all end I hope when
this board is lifted again. That the curse of civil war
and the dark cloud that hangs over our country will
be things -------- [writing is obscured]”
Museum staff are still working to pinpoint the origins of the floorboard, according to The Argus. The Irish Civil War lasted from June 1922 to May 1923.
