It was about the commencement of the actual bloodshed that they differed.

The _Irish Times_ reporter believed that Mr.Shea had begun the fray by striking Augusta Goold behind the ear with his clenched fist.

The _Daily Express_ man claimed to have overheard Mr.O'Rourke urging his friends to brain a member of the audience with a chair.

The _Freeman's Journal_ held that Augusta Goold's supporters had come into the hall supplied with huge stones, which, at a given signal, they had flung at the inoffensive members of Parliament who occupied the platform, adding, as a corroborative detail, that the lady who accompanied Augusta Goold had twice kicked the prostrate Mr.Shea in the stomach.

The _Daily Independent_ advanced the ingenious theory that the contest had been precipitated by a malevolent student of Trinity College, who had flung an apple of discord--on this occasion a jagged paving-stone of unusual size--into the midst of a group of ladies and gentlemen who were peacefully discussing a slight difference of opinion among themselves.
Beyond this point none of the papers gave any account of the proceedings, all four reporters having recognised that, not being retained as war correspondents, they were not called upon to risk their lives on the battlefield.