The events which occurred to the driver, John Hurley, conductor Alex Garvey and passengers on tramcar no 3 were recorded in the Cork Examiner:

"Passengers by the last tram to St. Luke's Cross, which left the Statue at 9 p.m. on Saturday, had a rather eventful journey. The car had got about 60 or 70 yards beyond Empress Place police barracks when a number of men in police uniform, carrying carbines and accompanied by Auxiliaries in plain clothes, held it up. They ordered all the passengers off at the point of revolvers. Male passengers were somewhat roughly handled and then ordered to line up for search. Some few were inclined to run and a voice rang out: "I'll shoot anyone who runs." All then stopped but some shots were fired in the air while the searches were being conducted. In some cases when the search was completed the person searched was ordered home, getting a bit of a rough send-off. The tramcar was then broken in by the police and a rifle shot was discharged, the smell of powder permeating the air. The tramcar was brought back to the Statue by the driver and conductor who when it neared there were ordered off. It was later set on fire and completely destroyed.