The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1883-11-17 00:00:00

SINGULAR SHOOTING AFFAIR IN
LONDON.

An incident, which occasioned considerable alarm
at the time, occurred in Pall-mall, London, on Mon-
day evening. A gentleman, who is said to be Mr. H.
Williams, a prominent member of several West-end
clubs and well known in connection with Sandown,
was walking through Pall•mall, near the memorial
raised to the Guards who fell in the Crimean War, when
he was struck low down in the right leg by a bullet fired
from a revolver by a young man who stood a few yards
off. A number of foot passengers were passing by at the
time, and they hastened to the assistance of Mr.
Williams, who, until it was pointed out to him, seemed
to be unaware that he had been struck by a bullet. In
the meantime the man who had fired the revolver
(which he was seen to do by at least one passerby)
had walked a few yards and seated himself on some
adjacent doorsteps. Here he was almost immediately
afterwards arrested by a police-constable, to whom he
yielded up a loaded six-barrelled revolver, one chamber
of which had been fired. The man was at once con-
veyed to Vine•street Police.station and charged, but
refused to give his name. He is a young man of
about twenty-one and fairly well dressed. He
answered the questions put to him in an intelli•
gent and keen manner, although apparently he
was suffering from the effects of heavy drinking.
The suppcsition favoured by the police is that the
prisoner fired the revolver hap-hazard. One thing
has been proved to be quite certain, and that is
that the prisoner had not the slightest personal
knowledge of Mr. Williams, and that no animus
existed between the two. The wounded man
PM at once taken in a cab to the Charing-cross
Hospital, but the surgeon in attendance did not
succeed in extracting the bullet. Subsequently he
drove to Vine•street and thence home. The prisoner
was afterwards removed to Marlboroueh-street, where
he conducted himself in a strange manner. On his
rerson was found 40 cr 50 rounds of revolver ball
cartridge. The affair occasioned considerable excite-
ment in the West end during the evening, but this was
when it became known that the affair was not due to
any political considerations, but was apparently the
result of a drunken freak.

On Tuesday, at the Marlborough Police-court, before
Mr. Newton, Frederick James Moriarty, alias Peter
Johnson. clerk, raged 26 years, and residing at Luard-
street, Caledonian road, was brought up on a charge
of discharging a loaded revolver in the public thorough-
fare (Pall-mall), and of unlawfully wounding Mr.
Hwfa Williams, of 30, Great Cumberland-place, by
shooting him in the leg. The prisoner, a tall, dark
young man, was not represented by a lawyer.
D. Ryder, a crossing-sweeper, said: I was between
the Atheneum Club and the Senior United Service
Club about twenty-five minutes to six last night. I
was on the crossing and heard a report of firearms.
I ran to the Senior United Service Club, where I saw
the prisoner sitting on the steps, with a revolver in
his hand. I then told a police-constable, who took
the man into custody.

The prisoner, in reply to the magistrate, said: I
would like to ask witness whether the constable
took the revolver and cartridges from me, or whether
I did not give them up to him,

Witness: He took them from you.
Police-constable Everett deposed : Last evening,
about half-past six, I heard a report proceeding from
the direction of the United Service Club, I was about
to cress the road when a gentleman complained to me
that he had been wounded in the leg. I afterwards saw
the pzisoner sitting on the steps of the club. He was ap-
parently unconcereed, and was smiling. I said to the
prisoner, "Stand up; give me the revolver." He
made no reply, and I then began to feel in his pockets.
He then put both his hands behind him and drew the
revolver from his coat tail pocket. He said, "Here
it is; it is only a toy. Mind, it is loaded in three
or four chambers." I then took,him into custody.
He said, "I was practising; just getting my hand
in." On arrival At the station, I asked the pri-
soner if he had anything else, and he then gave up a
box containing 45 cattridges. I then charged him
with discharging a revolver to the danger of the public
in Pall mall. Three or four chambers of the revolver
were loaded, two of the cartridges apparently having
been discharged. I searched the prisoner, and found
he had got 10s. 6d. in his possession. The address
given by the prisoner has been ascertained to be false.
Prisoner, who continued apparently to treat his
position lightly, said somebody had made a second
charge against him, and that it was not the same as
the first.
The prisoner was then formally reman3ed, it being
intended to make inquiry into the state of his mind.