The Sun. — London, England, 1817-07-29 00:00:00

_ - - YORK ASAZiLS. TRIALS OF THE HUDDERsFIELD RIOTERS. CROWN SIDE, SATURDAY, JULY 26. e'lljantin Lockwood, of Salford, in Lockwood, is th e W est indi ng of this county, cloth-dresser; George Woffenden, of the same place, cloth-dresser; ,john Wilson, of the same place and profession ; , 1 Joseph Jysop, of the same place and profei- ii ") were indicted for a capital offence, in aiding abetting, with many others, composing 4 timinlinous assembly, a person unknown, who dt Davicl Alexaocier ou the night of the B ' h of Julie last, at a place called Folly-hall !fear Huddersfield, Vk`iill the intent of mur- 4eri nv. the said David Alexander. There were :'YO other couptts in the indictment, one cl►arg- : "g the prisoners with aiding and abetting the un 14('wn individual in attempting to disable the said 4 lexander, and another in aiding the same person IL ' do the prosecutor some great bodily harm. Air.TOPPI NG, WllO, together with Mr. SCARLETT a rid Mr. RICHARDSON, was retained for the pro lecittion, addressed the Jury, explaining the na ture of the charge, and detailing the circumstances 0 1 th e offence. The prisoners were not themselves ilu.ticl'ett for fit jug at the prosecutor, nor was it necessary - to constitute the crime that the hand of tiny one of them should have held the gun, or that any one of them should have given the. order to fire : if it could be established in evidence that they were present when the guilty transaction took place, and that they were aiding and abetting . the individual who was the agent, their conduct Would bring them within the penalties of the law Its much as if they had been principals. He would satisfy the minds of the Jury that, whatever deci sion they should ultimately come to on the testi mony that should be submitted to their considera tion, such offences as those with which the pri toilet s were charged ought not to pass without an endeavour to bring them to justice. It would be deeply disgraceful to the laws, and highly detri tnenol to the peace of the country, to let such Crimes pass without judicial examination awl public discussion. Some of those Gentlemen who now sat gio the present Jury might have composed a part of the jury of yesterday,when some prisoners were tried tor committing a burglary to obtain arms. With th e verdict of that jury he was disposed to find no fault, as be was convinced they conscientiously decided according to the evidence laid before them. The ptisoners of yesterday were accused of felo iniowdy taking away arms ; and the evidence that Would be given against those now at the bar Would prove in what •unlawful uses of violence sod public diSorder those arms were to have been employed. Great numbers of persons had tumul tuously assembled at Huddersfield on the same night when the outrages which came under the view of the jury yesterday had happened, although it was difficult to guess the object of the as semblage. One or them had fired a pistol at David Alexander, one of the cavalry yeomanry, who went to disperse them, and the prisoners be proved to have been aiding and abet ting the felony. The Learned Counsel then stated the nature of the evidence he meant to bring forward- One Taylor had been called out of bed by the rioters, and compelled to go to a field with them, where he saw 30 or 40 persons assembled for the purpose of outrage, some alined with gulls, I aoine with scythes, some with hay-folks, and other weapons. Another witness, At mit age, who vas likewise compelled to join this unlawful assembly, would describe what he saw of its pro ceedings, and would tell the Jury that lie saw Lail-cartridges dealt out to rimu in arms ; that ho saw them at-mange(' under a leader ; that he heard them desired to fall into ranks, and to march in rgJor order to the engine-bridge near Hudders telt' ; that he heard those who had guns desired to and those who had pistols, scythes, or other , teeapons, to fall into the tear. Why this great preparation, this regular discipline, or this mili tary array, the Learned Counsel would not take toon him to say ; but he left an account of the reasons of them to be given, if any could at all'he riven, by his learned friends who were to conduct the defence of the prisoners. Such an outrage, however, was not to he committed on the peace of the neighboarhood without any exertion by time civil mm ver to prevent it ; and accordingly a constable, \\'liiteheati,of Huddersfield, having heard of the un latvfftt took means to disperse it. Dere the Learned Counsel detailed the transactions,which wilt be found in the testimony of the three first witnesses. Lockwood, and the three other pri soners, would be proved to have borne arms on the occasion ; anti though, when a number of persor.s were assembled for an unlawful object, an d one individual committed the act of outrage indicted, it might be impossible to point out that individual, yet it was not necessary for the pur. p ose s of law, as the deed of one person, in a multitude, acti„g in concert, was considered in l aw a nd justice as the act of all. It would be quite impossible to punish crimes, or to protect the . public peace, upon any other principle ; and the ]ust ice of the country might be made a laughing stock, if none could be prosecuted who joined in th e p e rpetratiou of th e most atroc i ous acts exc ept the very individual could be nointed out who might be the agent of the rest, and who, as tultilling their purposes, would generally be pro tected by the concealment of his crimes against the consequences of his conduct. If the prison ers, therefore, could be proved to be present, aid :lig and abetting the hand that fired the pistol at Alexander, t h e y were eq ua ll y gu il ty as if t h ey h a d any, or all rtf thein, drawn the trigger. The learned Counsel said, lie should have to prove tootne of the material facts by means of a Witness who, in some respects, bore the character of an accomplice, as he was present on the occasion, but in other respects, was perfectly unex ceptionable, as his apparent concert w as not a matter of choice, but of compulsion. In sonic cases accomp!ices gave the oitly testimony that could be obtained; and though he allowed it ought always to be received with suspicion, and canvassed with care, yet lie did not think that when coutirwed by other evidence it oulit to be rejected or disregarded. Here the wit ne , s was not au accompl►ce in icality, as his joining tl►e mon did not depend (on his owu choice. The learned Counsel' proceeded to call evidence. Captain Armitage was the first witness examin ed. He deposed, that lie commanded the yeo manry cavalry of the district of Huddersfield, and ►hat he was called up on the night of Sunday, the Silt of Julie. ul►on information that a tutnultuary assemblage of persons had collected at Folly-hall, or Engine-bridge, near Iludderfield. Ile pro ceeded to the bridge with . six patrole, and the constable Whitehead, about 10 o'clock. The prosecutor, David Alexander, was one of the pa trole. He went'in advance before d►e rest about 50 yards, till he came near the Engine-bridge, which was about a quarter of a_ mile from Hud dersfield. The horse of Alexander was grey. Shires, another of the patrole, Alexander, and the constable Whitel►ead, proceeded as an advanced guard to know what the assemblage wanted, and to command them to disperse. Witness had almost lost sight of Alexander when he arrived near the bridge, as he and the remaining tour of the patrole were a little in the rear. He heard then somebody say, that they were halting. He rode up to Alexander and Shires, who had actual ly halted -within a few yards of the bridge. Wit ness asked why they had done so, and Alexander said here they are. IVitness then looked, and saw an assemblage of men on the bridge, but front the darkness of the night could not perceive whe ther they had armsar not. He then called out to the constable to conic up and speak to them. Time constable obeyed time summons, and as soon as be had come up witness observed fire flash in the pan of one of the guns or pistols borne by the rioters. The constable, Alexander, and Shires, were before witness. The constable said some thing, but witness could not tell what. He was certain that the flash proceeded from the party on the bridge. Almost instantaneously a gun was fired from the same party ; and soon after wards several others, not in time manner of a volley, but irregularly. All time shot fired might be about 20. Witness remained till about 10 shots were fired, and looked forward to examine the force of the party. by the light of their fire. They were assembled on the centre, and on the slope of the bridge farthest from witness ; and he, judging that some on the slope were concealed from his view, while he saw a moving body be yond the centre of the bridge, at about 40 or 50 yards distance, concluded that all the intervening space was occupied by the party, and that con sequently their numbers were consid , Having formed this opinion, and considering that his party only consisted of six to oppose them, he thought it prudent to retreat to Huddersfield for an increase of force. He accordingly did so ; and returning afterwards, when he had gained an loc i cession of numbers, found that the. rioters were dispersed. George Whitehead, a constable at Huddersfield, who accompanied the patrole, confirmed the tes timony of the preceding witness, in so far as he spoke to facts that came under their Mutual ob servation. When the patrole arrived at the bridge, the last witness desired hint to go into the front, and demand of the mob what they wanted. He accordingly went within a few yards of them. He saw a number of men armed—one of tl►em pointed his piece at him, and fired, but the fire flashed in the pan. One of time mob called out, IVlio comes bete ? Witness answered the ques tion by demanding who they were, and what they were doing ? Nothing else was said, when the firing commenced. The firing came from the mob, but how it was directed witness, from the dark ness of the night, could not say. Witness be lieved five shots were fired before he turned round his horse's head from the bridge, and retreated. — After he began his retreat other shots were fired. Witness could not judge of the number of the mob accurately, but believed they might amount to about 400. There is a house some yards from the bridge on time road side, and witness saw on the wall of that house on the following day the marks Of a ball. Alexander was nearer the wall than 'ml. Cross-examined for the prisoners by Mr. Wm- I lAms, the witness said, that 30 or 40 had ab sconded from fear of prosecution since the riot, from his active search of those who were concerned in it. Witness's horse was of a bay colour, and Alexander's grey. The grey he allowed, atter some discussion, could be more easily seen in the dark than a black or a bay, and Alexander's horse was the most likely object in the party to be ob served by the people on the bridge. Being asked, if he thought it a - bad military practice to fire at the horse, and bring dowo both the horse and the rider at the same time, he thought that that was just as it happened. Being asked, if in his part of the country people generally shot at what they saw or what they did nut see, he replied, at what they saw. If it was so dark that he could not observe whether the fire was pointed in one three tion or another, could the party on the bridge see ' Alexander ? Witness did not know. Being asked 1 if he was prosecutor of the prisoners in a bill of indictment that the Grand Jury threw out fur firing at himself, he confessed that he was. David Alexander was one of the yeomanry ca valry of Huddersfield, and was on duty on the Bth of one last. He were a nniform of blue turned up with buff. He went to the Engine -bridge to . disperse the rioters : he was a little imm advance of the rest of the patrole : he halted at the end of the bridge, where he saw men, hut could not tell bow many they were : they appeared to amount to 61) or 70. Before the coustable spoke time mob called out " who comes there ?" Immediately a gun flashed in the pan, another piece was fired, anti soot) after several more ; at the third shot his horse reeled and staggered backwards : the party retreated after several other shots Were fired. About an hour and a half afterwards he examined his horse's head, and took out of it a pistol ball, which he produced imm Court. lie saw the mark of a shot in the wall of the house near time bridge, but there was no appearance of lead on the stone. This witness was cross-examined by Mr. STAR KEY, the other Counsel of the prisoners, for the purpose of throwing a doubt on the accuracy of his conjecture, with regard to the mark on the wall being made by a bullet, anti for proving that the shot in the forehead of his horse, as it was not observed till so long after Wards, might have het-! gq! in some otl,er way than front the party on the bridge, tl not occasioned by the filing of his own pistol at that pirty. lie showed that neither of these latter suppositions could be a& united. Nathati Taylor deposed, that he lives a mile and H half from Huddersfield ; that on the Bth of June last he went to bed about 10 o'clock ; that he was called up about midnight by persons knocking at his door, and threatening that if not opened is would be burst open. Upon going to le door 'be found two men there, Who desired im to dress himselt and accompany them. Each of these two men had a gull. They insisted on his going with tl►em, but they would not tell where they would conduct him. He dressed hitn- self and went with them, very much against his %rill. He had no gull, He. thought Benjamin Lockwood, ti►e prisoner, one of those persons, bnt, on cross-examination, would not B%l'i:dr that he was so. lie went with the men for about thrce quarters of a mile, till they joined a patty at Knowhill, when he ran away. The purpose for which this witness was called was, to speak to the identity of Lockwood, which, on cross.examioa tion, he refused upon oath to ►lo; though he had known the prisoner before, and had walked with him, by his own account, three-quarters of a mile, on the night in question. George Armitage was the next witness. He stated that on the night of the Bth of Juue he was at Lockwood, a short distance from Huddersfield. He had ,been courting there, and was returning about 12 o'clock, as he thought, to Huddersfield, along with an acquaintance of the name of Charles Earnshaw. Two persons with guns, stopped them, and said they must go along with them to a field close to Eugine-bridge, as it had been resolved to try bow many could be mustered. Earnshaw turned round to the witness and said, " Shall we go, Armitage ?" One of those who stopped them said, " You must go, or you shall be shot." The witness and his companion then west along with them to the field near Engine bridge. A considerable number of people, limn filmy to seventy, were assembled there.—The witness saw two handkerchiefs on the wall of the field, with something in each of them ra ther larger than a man's hand. He heard some one say, " Those who have arms may come hi ther." He saw one with a gun go to the place : something was given him : he did not know what : but the man having come from the wall, and stood near him, he heard him say that he had got 12 rounds. He saw others who had arms ad- vancing to the wall, but did not attend to them so AS to observe them get any thing. The Counsel for the prisoners observed that all this was de bene esse ; for that it had not been proved that any one of the prisoners was present at this meeting. George Armitage (examination continued). — He saw none of the prisoners in the field except Wilson. They received orders to advance to the bridge, those who had arias having been previously desired to join the rest of the body of men as sembled. They came to the bridge, where seve ral Others were assembled. Two men with scythes, stretched out, stood on the crown of the bridge, and prevented any one from passing, in case any one had attempted to get away. At the bridge he saw Benjamin Lockwood and George Woffenden, who had guns. He saw the prisoner Jysop there also, with a scythe. A man of the name of Croft appeared to have the command on the bridge, and he heard Croft order those who had arms to arrange themselves on each side of the road, while those who had not arms stood in themiddle.• Croft, soon after the witness came to the bridge, ordered those with arms to kneel. He heard the trampling of the horses' teat when the cavalry were advancing ; and then he heard Croft call out, three times, " Who comes there ?" He did not hear what answer was made to that ; bat Croft ordered those who had arms to fire. The -witness immediately ran back towards Lockwood ; but, while running away, he heard the report of several pieces. As be was running, Wilson, along with several others, out run and passed him. He then saw something in Wilson's hand, but did not know what it was. The party that ran off in this direction halted be tween the woods. A piece was fired at some dis tance, which was understood as a signal to show where another party was. Some one said, " Has nobody here any thing to answer it ?" and then the prisoner Wilson raised Isis hand, and fired a pistol. The party soon after dispersed. The witness did not choose to go to Huddersfield then, and therefore returned to Lockwood, and knocked at the door of the house where his sweetheart lived, but she would not let him in. Cross-examined.—He said that he was forced to go to the field ; that he had no gun in his hand ; that there was a sufficient number assembled to have compelled any two, or three, or even four; to have gone to the meeting ; that for any thing he knew the prisoners might have been so forced. Being asked whether they might not have been forced to take up arms in their hands, he answered that he did not know as to that. Being asked whether, if a party of armed men had threatened with the most dreadful oaths to shoot him imme diately Ulm did not take a gun in his hand, hewould have taken it in Isis hand or not, he said that , he •would sooner have been shot than have taken it on such an occasion,aadthat he meant to swear to that. He would not swear that he had never said to one William Stanley that he was not at the bridge, or in the - field, on the night of the Sth of June, but he would swear that he had no recollection of having had any communication with William Stan ley on the subject on the following day, or at any time. He Irad never said to William Stanley, " By G—, I was not there," as far as he recol lected. He had informed James Greig of Isis being there as a secret. He might have said that he. did not know who were there, as be was afraid of being shot. Hernshaw's sweetheart told him that they would shoot him if he informed about the meeting. ,Re-exatnined.—He said, that after having been examined before a Magistrate, be had consented to be detained in custody, because he was afraid of being shot. The prisoners said nothing in their, defence, but several witnesses were called in their behalf. William Stanley deposed, that on the 9th of Jane, being near the market-place in- Hudders field, he had gone into a passage to avoid the rain. hat a tailor of the Lame of Blades, and Georg= into come into the se iiie piihSrige. That !hry ‘vere talking of the dragoons who had come into Huddersfield that day, mid of the assemblage . of the nig:tt before. That George Artni:rge riven said, that his f,ither's field, in the bourhood of the bridge, had been s o trodden, that there was hardly a blade of grass standiw . , :it'd that there must have been front 300 to 400 at the meeting. The witness said, '' George, were you there .?" No answer %vas male to the ques tion, and the witness then talked to some other persons, and said nothing more to Armitage. John Blades, a tailor at Huddersfield, ‘vho was present at this conversation, deposed to it in the sante manner. Armitage. said, his father's field bad been trodden in such a manner that it was a shame to see it. James Greig.—The witness, George Artnita;;e, lead informed him that he was present at the meet ing ; and knew some of the men. Cross-examined for the prosecution.—lie said that Armitage had mentioned it as a secret ; but that he (Greig) had not promised to keep it se cret : that he had told his f;:ther of it the next day, and afterwards :old it to several other per sons. There was a rumour soon after the Sth of June that Armitage was to be a xvituess. lie (Greig) and his father were cloth-dressers. I e denied that he had been instructed by his father or any body else to question Armitage about the matter. James Woodhouse said, that Benjamin Lock wood had been in his employment for fire years, and that his character was good. Eli Dyson gave the prisoner, George Woffenden, an excellent character. William Mills said, that Wofrenden was one who always paid due respect to his parents, and was of good conduct with regard to evei y other person, John Thornton and another gave Wilson a good character as to a peaceable, sober, and industrious man. • Mr. Baron WooD, before summing up the evi dence, observed, that the law had been rightly stated by the Counsel who led for the prosecu tion, that those who were aiding and assisting were equally guilty with the man who fired flit shot. lie then summed up the evidence, and left the muter to the Jury. . . The Jury retired about ten minutes, and on their return found all the prisoners—Not Guilty. Mr. Baron .Woov, addressing the prisoners, said, that they most not hope always to esc.ipe if they engaged in these tints. One of the prisoners, answering for the rest, said, they would have nothing to do with such riots, in future. IMPUTED OUTRAGE and IMPRISONMENT. We take the subjoined Affidavit from a Morning Paper of yesterday, always to ready to avail it self of any opportunity of inserting whatever may tend to the dis Credit of Government and those un der it, but we know nothing mote of the transac tion. We shall he ready to insert any authorized contradiction : Borough of Liverpool to wit. We, Isaac BROADHURsT and PETER LAWTON, do Itere4 make oath, that on Tuesday morniax, the 15th inst. we were on board the Sampson, Captain Moyle, bound for Philadel phia, when we were taken into custody by John Miller, the Police Officer, who took us, without producing any war rant, to Bridewell, where we were confined from Tuesday moroing, until one o'clock on Saturday; that during our con finement, we were refused pen, ink, and paper, and had nu opportunity of informing any person of our situation, until Thursday evening, when, as Peter Lawton's sister informs us, she accidentally heard of our c o nfinement, and attended at Bridewell; but site says she was refused admittance: we, how ever, accidentally saw her through the grating, and desired her to call on Mr. Jeremiah Crook, for him to obtain a hear ing before the MaYor, and, if possible our discharge ; that dur ing the time we were confined, we had neither bed to sleep up no, nor covering, and had no meat but what we paid for; that we were nut taken before any Magistrate (as other prisoners were from day to day) to ascertain the propriety of our deten tion, until Saturday, at one o'clock, when we were brought he fore John Wright, Esq. the Mayor of Liverpool, who blamed Miller, the Police-ofliaer, for not bringing us up sooner, and expressed his regret at wl:a' had happened; and, as he d d nest conceive we were guilty of any offence, we were then discharged. Upon enquiry, we found that the ship had sailed, but was still near the Black Boa ; we then hired a boat, and went with our luggage and provision on board the shift, where we remained till three o'clock on Sunday morning, when Captain Boyle told us, that,' as our names had been taken off the muster-roll, he would not take us, unless he had a note from the Tide-ser veyor, stating that we were at liberty to go ; he - then landed us at the rock perch, with our luggage, and left us there.— Isaac Broadhurst, one of the deponents, walked to the next ferty, and hired a boat to cross over to Liverpool, and w in company with Mr. J. Crook to the Tide-survevor, Mr. Ford, who gave him' a note, stating the names of himself and Lawton, and that they were at liberty to proceed en their "voyage: the said Isaac. Broadhurst then hired tbe heat ag tin, got the luggage and provisions, and both these deponents went again to the ship t but the Captain positively refund to take them on the voyage, nor did he return the passage money. The ship has since sailed to Philadelphia, and we have lust con passage and our money, owing, in the first in stance, to the unlawful detention by john . Miller; fur which he could have no legal excuse, as we were furnished with re gular certificates, and had passed the usual examination at the Custom'-house. ISAAC BROADHURST, PETER LAWTON. Sworn before me, this 93d day of July, 1017. WILL. Caosaig. SPORTING INTELLIGENCE. STATEMENT of the ODDS on the DONCASTER sT LEGER STAKES, &c.—July Taken— 31 to 1 agst Mr. 1 1 . 7 .iit's e_ by Whitelock. Taken— 71 to 1 agst D. of Hamilton's Restless. Taken— S to 1 agst Sir T. Stanley's Wirrdll. Taken- 11 to 1 agst TA. Milton's Stainhorough. 13 to 1 agst Mr. Catterson's Sober Robtn. 13 to 1 agst Mr. Fletcher's Carnelion. DERBY STAKES, 1813. 14 to 1 agst Sir J. Shelley's Brother to Crecy. 15 to 1 agst Mr. Crockford's c. out of Sister to Re. membrancer. 17 to 1 agst any other. The sale of Lord COCHRANE'S estate and ef fects, at on Monday last, was nume rously and respectably attended. The lawn be fore the house, and the roads leading to it, were thronged with chariots, barouches, and other carriages. mansion and lands were knocked down to Mr. HavGARTH, of Bath, at' 10,220/. The furniture, which was elegant', also sold at high prices. Lord CocullAN2 was present, and publicly gave several bidding! for the estate, till upwards of 10,000/, bad been offered. ~~ 1