The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1871-09-16 00:00:00

THE ENGINEERS' STRIKE AT
NEWCASTLE.

On Sunday night, a disturbance which threatened at
one time to be eery disastrous in its results occurred in
the Forth Hanks; Newcutle, outside Messrs. Haw-
thorn's engine works. It appears that during the
evening, about 604 the foreign workmen recently intro.
&wed into that establishment in the placeof the engineer..
at present in strike. had been into the town and had
obtained a considerable quantity of drink, with which
they became very exeitash returning to the Forth lianka
shortly before ten o'clock. Just before entering the
work s,•howv eer, they all went into. i nglnlnonnn ing into
tic house, awl demanded ht be ser% ed with more ill ink,
awl though b Id that Hwy hadalready had n use than Aid -
ficient for that night, they is-canine HO very ilnportimate
in their demands that in order to appease them
they were served on din More liquor. Ihey KOMI
began ti quarrel, and the landlord f the house
bccolnimt alarmed, rought aSsistance if sonny police-
men in the neighbourt cod, and aneceeded in getting
them all out into the street. The lublic-11.u,, at
soon as it Was de:MC.I, Wa, eh r:ed with :.II despateln, aunt
the men wont muttering among themsef vex towards the
bwtory gates. Not a long thise after, howe‘er, a ter-
rible uproar was heard in the direction of the factory
gates, and the of the Innen Wino lust shortly before
been turned out of the puhlic-house issued forth from
the works, each on-, maned with iron crowbars,
iron rods, pieces of metal, or large hunps of
wwsl, which appeared to be portions of unfinished
patterns. They sallied into the main roadway,
twiny trailing their hurriedly improvised weapons
behind them, as they were evidently too weighty to be
carried with env, th, men shouting and imprecating
in a fiendish and savage manner all the way, inn,l aev,
panyin•• each oath with a violent I-1 -w in the pave-
ment, Inuit which they etruck tire with sueh rapidity
as to be quite appalling. The only w. all, that were at
all intellig•ble in the shouting were " Anglais," " Eng-
le...Annul," but as there were no Englishmen in the
way, there did not appear tan be any reason for this
frantic eondnet. The four or five policeinen who are
stat: -.I inside the works, were of no serViCe whatever
in quelling the disturbance, and all they did was to
endeavour to coax the linen back into the factory. The
inhabitants of the neighbourhood were terrified at such
an mosouil display of violenee, ninthinine gentleman sun,
eceiled in getting away tin the palm station hi search
of assistance to put a stop to the disturbanen'.
A lssly of borough police Men, ahont fifty in number,
were eventually got together, ami taken to the works ;
but by the time they arrived the foreigners, who had
had Jowly three-quarters of an hour to spend their
fury, Were colliparatively qUiet, and were nearly all
lush into the in orks, a few Id them diverting 0w1..-
.wt es by sitting :Istria° the top of the factory gAteA,
ant beating the wo.slwork with their WeapoW.

A number f the WilldoW4 of the preniLes were
broken. but beyond this there does not seem to hate
been any material damage done, though what might
have lkeen the reodt if any English workmen hail ....me
inbi eollision with the infuriate, I foreigners it is diilieult
to lonilliSe. Several if the boroligh polieeillull were
left 4in duty outside the works for the night, ata well
a.s the county polieetneu, who are stationed inside the
premises.

On Monday night a meeting of the London Trm
Central Committee, acting in millivolt of the Nine
Miura' League Movement at Newcastle, was held at
the "George" Tavern, Glad:friars-road, London.

The secretary reported the receipt of several large
subscriptions from the local and district committees,
and stated that the trades of London were now noire
ali% e to the importance if the movement, and
were subscribing liberally to the fund.: for the suppirt
of the men on strike, and it was expected their
weekly allowance would be increased. Mr. Ship
ton, the einyespinding secretary, real a MA,I4 of
correspondence, including letters f Newcastle of
a most encouraging character. The Newcastle cor-
respondence expressed the opinion that the filleeeM
of the movement, from the liberal support received
from all parts of the country, was all lint certain, and
that public opinion was entirely with the League. It
was not expected that the masters would be aide to
impirt many more foreign workmen, the true state id
affairs at Newcastle now beim,° generally known to the
continental workmen through the efforts of the Inter-
national Society, and other agencies.
Arrangements were then entered into for holding, a
series of district meetings in different parts of London.

The ironworkeis of North Staff.,rlshire, at a meeting
on M nntnnv, passed a res.littii in toucan in work at the
end of this week if their demand for an increase of
ag, to pit:ldlers of Is. per bill :Ma 14 10 per vent. to
the iithcr branches he not ',implied with.llno ma,ters
linn in iiiFered an advaned of la awl 5 par cent., but the
men refuse tin nis:ept these terms, aril the chairman if
Mn inday's nu.eting was requested to notify their deci-
sion to the blunt...kers.