The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1881-01-04 00:00:00

RIOTOUS MOB-LAW AT BRIDPORT.

A most disgraceful lantana, of mieb-law occurred here
ie Ms heart of the town, before the first hour of the
pment year had expired. A fearful affray took place
opposite the Town Roll, at esteedal Ismaili, about
, jest as the watch-night &refold at diferent !gape
01 "'male termisetred. The police cam. into violent
oollisim with the within, toe former me memo black Wm,
end the latter sniped kenekles sad btokea heads. As
fir saws catleert, from eye- witnesses el the meld; tlte
/moping are the MGM. P.O. Radford, who has been
statimed bare about • Mouth, was Is duty near the Tows
Hall where the head wee playing just at ter midnight A
row wee on at the opposite side of the street, and Redford,
who edvseced with the object of costae's It, was home-
distely knocked down. Re was °bill* to draw hie
truncheon in self-defenoa, sad it is *tetrad that several
who assailed him felt its wet./AL Returning to beneath
the Town Hell. • moh of youth and men followed him,
dodging him with pushes and rear attacks from the
engin of the supple, log pillars of the hall. The amicable
need his staff so such • manner, hica showed him to be
rattiest et drill A megalith, named William Whittle,
in Om employ el Ineeme. Riedel' sad Oomph,. Anna in,
who Momently advanced Were whet was -mortis&
rcirived a violent blow from the emistinste's dal, which
twouglit iamesible to the stoned. The wound
Mauled on Whittle is very severe, mad had to be sewn
op an hour later by Dr. Ray, the sufferer herbs*
to keep to his bed for • crept. of data. P.C. Redford
moved towards the Greyhousd Hotel, still followed by his
e..sliests, ant as sore SS he sot In the open. a I..r.ouree
named Williams, living le Alliestoe, struck at R sdfon;
wilt a heavy walking-stick. The mailable closed with
him, and hotq fell to the ground. the crowd crosbuo4 around
them with such ince that P.C. Custard, who had arrived
upon the scene,could milord no assietimos. The combatant*
"oersted, when the two constables in c mpany
moord towards West-street, and when near the Royal
o,e. they were both attacked. A dangerous scuffle took
playa, sad b ith p indium swished a bleak eye. DUl-
mitt•ly the constables moved towards 8 nth-street, fled
entered the stater., upward* of 1.000 Wares feiliewisa.
tune of ihe foremost att irking the comtablas as the way.
After they had regained the station ia safety, ii. crowd
dispersed. It is • matter of much wonder that no limbs
were broken is the muffle ; but the *hole eerie, was of
a moot disgraoidal character. limn Karma, son of It,.
J. B. Rweas, of Rest-street. received a sewers sentsaion of
the soap sad gamy mot mmember 1110111111 uaereloome raps
upo tee teaches. Some of toe crowd sine that P.O
Redford was intoxicated at the um., sod that be, with-
out orovocatioe, oomminiced the attack Others aver that
Redford Was designedly drugged, and the edict of the
draft rendered hlta sent MM. In either case the attack by
a mob upon • stage individual I. cowardly and unseemly,
sad no doubt the real °deaden whoever they way he, will
be punished. Ills expected that more will be heard of the
metier

The great father of the English theatre WM not
over-dattering in his encomiums as to the moral
qualities of those who "have no music in their souls,"
and could the sacred Shakespearean ashes have left the
church of immortalized Stratford, and been with us
early on Christmas morning, they would, if endowed
with the is since' penetration of their eminent
representative, have denounced the rabble in our
streets as a rabble incapable of being moved with
"concord of sweet sounds." It is only during one
season of the year that the inhabitants have the
pleasurable opportunity of listening to such sweet and
plaintive strains, as were those discoursed by our
band on Christmas Eve and morning. It is very hard
Indeed that the performers who take so much pains
to perfect themselves for the occasion, and equally
hard for those inhabitants who keep an annual vigil,
the sole object of which, in many cues, hi to enjoy the
music, to have to bear with such barbarous interrup-
tions as those then made, the result of which was that
the music ceased an hour or two earlier than it
otherwise would hare done. A crowd of rowdies
perseveringly followed in the wake of the band, which
had no sooner made a stand and commenced s
melodious strain, than they commenced a fearfully
accurate imitation of the ravings and niaringsindulged
in by the Salvation Army. The rowdies who thus
amused themselves and annoyed all besides certainly
Aare beard the " Army," but it is questionable if they
have ever heard an American Indian war-whoop.
When they do so they will be surprised to discover
how identical are the euphonious sounds of the Indian
With those indulged in by themselves. Perhaps the
observations which fell (ruin the Bench but a few days
since, implying that the "Army" were more or less
the cause of much of the disturbance in our streets, are
not far short of the truth. It is hard to think, but it
nevertheless appears to be true, that youths verging
Into manhood, and some who have reached mans
estate, should not only be bent upon an organised
annoyance at such • period as this, but that they
should own hearts and souls which music cannot
touch. Can it be true that the spider of the convict
Pelison, and the very reptiles which appear to forget
their loathsome propensities at the sound of a flute,
can teach depraved man a lesson ? Really it looks
like it !

An interesting capture was made early on Christmas
morning by the police, the prisoner being a jovial,
seasonable-looking barrel of XXX. If the owners
would like to test the quality of the liquor, they could
doubtlessly do so by applying at the police-station, in
South-street., where no doubt our obliging sergeant
would throw in a slice of bread and cheese (gratis).
The church bells had Just ushered in Christmas
morning with a merry pea, when a couple of our
nocturnal preservers of the peace saw a welcome
prize being rolled very cautiously down one of the
principal streets by a couple of men, who immediately
took to their heels on the Appearance of a row of
gleaming buttons. No one was left to take possession
but our blue-coated frienda, who continued Cho rolling
to the police-station. Now the query is "What's to
be done with the XXX? It is hardly likely that the
runaways, who, silly -Wows, imaOned the rolling of
a cask along the street was a criminal offence, will
advance a claim! So far as I can see, the constables
who captured it may remain in unmolested possession,
yet if it is ruled to be the property of the borough,
let us heavily-taxed ratepayers equally divide the
contents.

Owners and occupiers of land would do well to lay
• hand upon the army of fern pillaging marauders,
who, to stock the Covent Garden Market, are going
the range of the oounty, and cr,pping the tops a all
the rarer ferns. There would be but little cause for
grumbling if these persons would only leave the very
young plants alone, but they ruthlessly tear up all the
tender plants by the roots, select the most valuable,
leaving the rejected ones to decay. If this is carried
on to such an alarming extent, many rare specimens
will soon be totally extinct in the county, for as every
horticulturist knows, many varieties DOW growing in
our hedgerows, are over a hundred years of age—thus
with each a steady growth and the prevailing destruc-
tion, there Is good roman for apprehension, that
many varieties will ultimately be quenched. These
traders, no doubt, do a lucrative trade, whilst
occupiers of land are ignorant of the value of the plants
which Boorish at their very doorposts. It was but
a week since that a resident gentleman
beautiful and rare specimen of the wlyPtyurfd ern,
which realised FA. Now I know that shall be
accused of a dog-in-thrmanger principle, and it will
be argued that the Covent Garden pillager. have a
common right to the beauties of the highway—that it
Is selfish and mean to cry down • freedom enjoyed by
these people, who can make money out of an article
which' the DoreMshire labourer treads beneath his
foot as useless and valuate& But a theoretical
solution is, I think„ apparent. Who, withooesc
of liberality would grudge the free and undeniable
means of gaining • livelihood? But the uplifting and
destroying with impunity our wayside gems is totally
without a redeeming excuse. Who can blame
occupiers of private land, if they choose to allow this
destruction to go on? That is their own lock-out;
but they, at the same time, are little swore that the
family perquisites may be enlarged by a careful and
judicious disposal of a few of these plants, which may
reasonably be voted to their children rather than to
strangers None would grudge the removal of ferns
to beautify a home, or even for trading purposes, if
pitiful resulta did not accrue from a barbarous
destruction. In the Midland Counties these men have
been mopped in their depredations, and are thus
driven down west, only to be stayed when the
mischief is done. Thom who cried down the raids
made upon our feathered songsters, by the bird-
catchers, not many years ago, were denounced
selfish grumblers, but, when the sweetest warblers of
our groves threatened to become as extinct as the
dodo, the practice woe Mayed, and the " gala
grumbler." were publicly thanked. What was the
result of the barbarous onslaught against the worm,
and grub-eating birds—so ably described by Long.
fellow in his, ' Birds of Kfflingworth I "—why a
threatened destruction of vegetable life by insects. Of
comes no one would be inseam enough to advance such
an argument in the case of fern extinction; but every
lover of nature will rarely raise a voice against • cruel
demolition of our native beauties which is going on in
our reideL