The Express.
London, England, 1867-12-19 00:00:00

THE CLERKENWELL OUTRAGE.

Yesterday afternoon a fully attended and excited meet-
ing of the representative vestry of St. Pancras was held la
the Vestry-ball at Camden-town, when the subject of the
late outrage in Clerkenwell was brought under consider*
tion. Mr. Churchwarden Fatale, prodded, and Mr. Platy,
the vestry clerk, read a communication from the Home
Secretary, stating that as it is possible, owing to the de-
signs of wicked and evil-disposed persons, that the ordinary
police force may at the present time be found insufficient
in number to perform the duties required of it, he had
instructed the magistrates of the police courts to afford
facilities for swearing in special constables, and request-
ing the vestry to lose no time in inviting all well-disposed
persons to come forward and enrol themselves as epeohd
constables, and to grant the use of the Vestry-hall for the
swearing-in of persons who offer to serve. Severe
speeches condemning in unmeasured terms the per-
petration of the late outrage were delivered, and the
following resolution was carried unanimously :—" That
this vestry desire to express to the government their
entire abhorrence of the recent dastardly proceedings
that have disturbed the public peace, whereby the lives of
many of her Majesty's subjects have been sacrificed and
others injnredi and Riede thamolroa to rend
assistance in their power in supporting the government la
the maintenance of public order." As Vestry-ball was
also granted to Dr. tankesfer, the ootoooraor holding the
adjourned inquest on Friday week on one el the indexers ;
and during the sitting of the vestry great excitement was
created by the attendance of large bodies of young men
' who had been sworn in as constables applying for their
batons, of which there are many hundreds in readiness
to be delivered as they are applied for and the constables
show their certificate.

The reported arrest of a suspected Fenian neer the City
of London Gas Works occasioned a little excitement fat
that locality last evening. It seems that about 8 o'clock
a well-dressed man, of gentlemanly appearance, entered
the Rose and Crown public•house, Dorset-street, opposies
the gas works referred to, and neer which, It is said, be
bad been observed walking for some time previously. On
entering the house he called for a glass of something to
drink, and gave money to a number of working man who
were in front of the bar to regale themselves.
From his singular conduct the landlord, Mr.
Bates, refused to serve him with more liquor,
and after this refusal the customer took from his pocket a

seven-chamber revolver and flourished it about. His exo
traordinary behaviour induced the landlord to send forth
police, and two constables were quickly in attendant* and
took the man in custody. At the police-station in Fleet-1
street he produced a pocket-book, and a card, representing
himself as a brother to a solicitor is Bedford•row, and in
other particulars gave what was considered a satisfactory 1
account of himself, and the inspector, did not feel *stifled
in detaining him. The revolver was given back to him.
but some cartridges found in his pockets were detained by
the police. He is said to be an American, and had been in
England about three years. It is supposed that be had
been drinking.
We have received the following additional particulars
of the attack on the prison :—About nine o'clock on Friday
morning the governor ordered the cleaning of the prison
to be stopped, and the officers to proceed at once to the'
yards, with their prisoners, for exercise. When the
warder in charge went to that prisoner's cell, Burke asked,
" Why am I brought out before the usual time r The
warder lightly answered him, and ordered him to the
yard. A change came over his countenance, and he ap-
peared dejected, pound his teeth, and clenched kis furls,',
at the same time casting furtive glances to No. 7,
Corporation-lane, where Crowley, one of the officers,
noticed several men and women in the top room, which
caused him to call the attention of the governor
and chief warder to the fact. When the prisoners
returned to their cells from exercise. Burke was,

transferred from the cell which he had occupied to
another, and three times during that day be Iry re-
moved, in order to baffle his friends as to his whereabouts.
About a quarter past 3 is the afternoon of Friday last the
governor (Captain Oodd) paraded the officers of the prison,
and gave separate instructions to each man how as he was to
set, in the event of attempt being made to obtain acmes to
the prison over the exterior or boundary wall. The
officers then took up their positions in the top
octagon rooms, giving them a perfect view all
over the exterior of the prison, each man being armed
with a revolver and a carbine and twenty rounds of ball
cartridge. The positions were not taken up many
minutes when Crowley noticed • man on the top of a
house overlooking the prison yard where Burke usually
took exercise, and he answered the description subs..
quently forwarded. Crowley reported the circumstance
to the governor, and to Moore, the chief warder. About
twenty minutes to four Crowley saw • woman open the
window of • top room in the house where the man was
seen, and three men were there. They all seemed excited,
and occasionally looked at the place where the explosion
occurred, a few minutes afterwards, hurling the officers
about, and blowing the carbines out of their
hands. The prisoners were highly excited. They
beat the cell doors with their stools, and
kicked and shouted for maistance. Order and dis-
cipline was speedily restored among the officers, and
Mr. Perryman, the clerk of the prison, arrived with a
loaded carbine in his hand, as had also Dr. Smiles, the
surgeon to the prison, who was vary instrumental In
allaying the fears of the prisoners, as they thought they'
were being fired upon or the prison being blown up.
Immediately after the explosion the governor called a
parade, and asked for six volunteers to guard the breach
in the wall which had been blown away, himself taking
the lead. No police had then arrived. The inquisitive
public were shown out of the yard, and told if they
attempted to enter over the boundary wall they would be
fired upon. This kept the mob back until the arrival of
the police.
The following story of a plot to blow up Millbank prison
is published by a contemporary :—" Early yesterday morn-
ing two of the Thames police, on duty near Vauxhall-
bridge, immediately above Millbank, saw • small boat
coming up the river, and stopping opposite the end of the
prison next the bridge. Watching the movements of
the boat, they observed two men leaving it, and
curious to know what the later were about at
that time and place, they made for them, in
order to question them. The men bad no sooner noticed I
the police than they entered the boat, palled off the
river bank, evidently intending to make off, but, after a
moment's hesitation, evidently deeming terra firma safer
for them, they pulled beck to the shore, and fled down the
river side, soon disappearing in the darkness. The con-
stables, seeing pursuit useless, took possession of the boat.
On searching it, underneath some tarpaulin, • keg of gun-
powder, containing about Gffib., was found. Their discovery
was communicated at once to their superior officers, and
an instant search was ordered of every spot of ground
around the prison The hunt for fresh traces was continued
for some time, when a constable who had entered an old
and disused sewer announced another discovery. He had
come upon a keg of the same size, containing the same
quantity of gunpowder as the first, concealed a few yards
from the mouth of the sewer. The mystery of the men
and the boat wee at once explained. This sewer, which
falls into the river, formed at one time the main drainage
of Millbank prison. For some time, however, it had
been blocked up, the sewage being conveyed now into'
one of the drains of the metropolitan system. It
had evidently been ' prospected' as far as the conspi-
rators could go, and their purpose probably was to
mine through the wall that blocked it up, and then at
some suitable time blow up the prison. So far sa we
know there is small chance of tracing those engaged in
the plot. There is no name on the boat, but it is ex- j
pected the owner of it will be found. Should the clues
fail here, the sagacity of the police, having nothing to
work upon, will be baffled, as they seem ill this instance
to have bad no warning a any intention to attack the
prison. A strong body of pnffice, armed with cutlasses
and revolvers, are now on guard within the octagon, and
outside the walls." . . _

At the ordinary meeting of the Edinburgh Town
Council on Tuesday, the Lord Provost, before the ordi-
nary business was begun, took occasion to refer to the
Fenian outrage in London on Friday last, and expressed,
in the name of the corporation and community of Edin-
burgh, the deep abhorrence they entertained of the con-
duct of a band of traitorous and merciless conspirators.
Anything more atrocious, be said, had not occurred
in our tame ; and as the crime wee great, he could
only trust that the punishment would be strict and
unhesitating. He hoped the government would
not flinch from their duty in the matter, and went on to
my that all rebellious demonstrations and outward tokens
of sympathy with mardsrus mast be put down with

igour. His lordship concluded by referring to the grati-
fying fact that them was no appearance of Fenian conspi-
racy, or even of sympathy with Fenians, in Edinburgh and
at the same time stated that, by the Provisional Order
obtained last year, no procession whateverwas legal in the
city without the sanction of the magistrates. The remarks
of the Lord Provost elicited warm marks of approbation
from all the members of council.