World: Tragedy of a Broken Heart

Aug. 10, 1976 was a warm day in Belfast. That afternoon Anne Maguire, a 31-year-old mechanic's wife, was crushed against a school railing with her four children by a swerving getaway car used by terrorists of the Provisional I.R.A. The car's driver had been shot dead by pursuing British soldiers. Mrs. Maguire was hospitalized in a semiconscious state; it was several weeks before she fully comprehended that three of her children had been killed.

In one sense, Anne Maguire's tragedy was not in vain. Betty Williams, who had witnessed the accident, and Anne's sister, Mairead Corrigan, began a door-to-door campaign, seeking...

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