The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-10-31 00:00:00

general attack on the house was made
assembl,

the magistrates

Mean-

at the police_ offic(

thL Mayor having issued circulars to each. Several
lioi per, were out of town. and Mr. Cook and Mr.
By 1, were the only two who met his worship. This
vas about half-past seven. The police force was then
austered, and Mr. Byrom and Mr. Cook went amongst
the mob, and endeavoured to appease them. In this,
Tr, they failed. and a loud cry was then rais-
To the Eagle," and the mob accordingly moved
a that direction. Whilst here, Mr. Cook seized
A lad who was in the act of throwing a missile
through the hotel window, but the mob speedily res-
cued him, and Mr, Cook, seeing how affairs were
turning, went back to the police station to the Mayor.
'nd told him that the Eagle Hotel would be destroyed
speedy efforts were not made to protect it.
police were then drawn up, and, accompanied
by some special constables, the whole party numbering
about thirty altogether, . and headed by the Mayor
and the two magistrates we have named, proceeded
into the market-place and faced the mob. The crowd
received them with a volley of stones and large pieces
of wood, and being thus charged by the mob, the whole
body of police (except two or three who rallied round
the Mayor, Mr. Cook, and Mr. Byrom) fled, and were
followed by volleys of stones. The Mayor and his col-
leagues. being thus deserted, were compelled to retreat,
and make the best of their. way to the railway station,
whence they despatched a telegraphic message to Preston
that they were about to send a special engine to Preston for
soldiers. The havoc at the Royal Hotel, Market-place,
was at this time progressing most fearfully, and the conduct
of the mob was outrageous in the extreme. The greater
part of the mischief seemed to be caused by young lads,
and no doubt if the police had made a determined stand
for a few moments at the first, a great amount of the sub-
sequent damage might have been prevented. The hotel,
as far as all the rooms on the ground floor were concerned
were completely gutted, and all the windows in the upper
part of the house were broken. To describe adequately, the
wreck which the house presented this morning would be im-
possible. The windows of the commercial room, fronting
the Market-place, were smashed, and the frame torn out.
The mirror over the mantel-piece was broken in a thousand
pieces, and picture-frames and glasses had shared the
same fate. The rioters had entered the room through
the window, and had mounted the mahogany table and
wrenched the chandelier from the ceiling. The chairs
gnashed, and the floor was literally covered with
stones, blocks of wood torn from the market stalls,
,even and fourteen pound weight—nay, even scales and
beams had been hurled through the windews, having been
seized upon from the hucksters' stalls. From this room
the miscreants had taken two mahogany tables, using them
as weapons to smash the vestibule floor in the hall, which
was of considerable dimensions, and contained no fewer than
forty large squares of glass, which were demolished as well
as the framework. They had then dashed the tables to
pieces on the hall stone floor. In another large room, front-
ing the market-place, similar complete destruction had been
effected. The floor of this room was literally hidden by
the heaps of stone, coals, potatoes, onions, iron weights,
and beams of wood, which had been thrown through
the window. In this room also a large mirror was bro-
ken to pieces, and the tumblers and glasses on the
tables were smashed. Some of the chairs were destroyed.
and the destruction was immense. The rioters had also
first destroyed the bar windows with stones, and then entered
the room. The bar book had been abstracted and was
thrown through the scullery window. In the kitchen, and
in the scullery, all the crockery had been broken, and piles
of stones hurled through the windows. Through the
window of the scullery a quarter-cask had been dashed.
The bed-room floors were strewed with stones, oyster-shells,
and coals thrown through from the street, and not a window
either at the front or the back of the house had escaped.
The ornamental lamp over the entrance to the hotel was broken
to pieces, and everything that the mob could reach had been
similarly destroyed. It is said that the cause of their wreaking
such vengence on the Royal Hotel was, that the mob were
under the impression that some of the coal proprietors were in
the house. The rioters was here joined by the factory opera-
tives, and they seem to have had the principal share in con-
ducting the future riotous proceedings, as evidenced by the
selections of the houses which were attacked. About this
time, all the lamps in the Market-place and in Wallgate
- extinguished by the melt, and many of the lamp frames
token, and some of the pillars bent. The mob then
led up Millgate, and broke some windows at Mr.
Stringfellow's the "Ring-o-Bells." The police station next
suffered, together with the houses adjoining. In Chapel
lane, the windows of Mr. Lowe's shop, provision dealer, and
Mr. Bredford, were broken. From the latter place the mob
took a quantity of bread, and threw it into the street.
Mr. Isaac Wright, provision dealer, suffered most se-
verely. The plate-glass window was smashed, and the
shop ransacked. Two hundred 41b. loaves were taken
L 6 in five shilling papers of copper, and a large quantity of
butter and bacon. From Chapel-lane the rioters went to
the house of Mr. W. Johnson, cotton-spinner, and broke all
the windows, sashes, door panels, and glass within reach.
Mr. Tipping, another master cotton-spinner at Pemberton,
was the next sufferer. The windows, sashes, and frames, in
his house and his office adjoining, were smashed. The
Midge Inn (Mr. Green's) was next visited, and from thence
the mob appear to have made their way into Queen-street,
where the lamps were broken, and the houses occupied by
the following parties suffered tremendously, scarcely a
square of glass within reach being left entire :—Mr.
Kellet, Mr. Graham, Mr. M'Connel, Mr. Taylor, Mr.
Kerrow, Mr. Wallace, Mr. Deans, and Mr. M'Culloch.
These houses aro •on both sides of the way, but the
mob seem to have been impartial in their treatment. The
magistrates had despatched the special engine to Pres-
ton, and also a telegraphic message. As time
passed, continued inquiries were made by the
telegraph, " have the soldiers left yet ?" but for
a long time the same answer was received, " No." The
mob next came to the Wallgate end of Queen-street, at
which corner the offices of the Local Boar'] of Health
and of the Guardians of the Union are situated. The
windows of this large pile of buildings were all smashed.
At this point the mob divided, one half proceed-
ing down Wallgate with the intention of going to
the residence of the Mayor, and the other up Wall-
gate, but the former did not execute their inten-
tion. Proceeding up Wallgate, windows were
broken at Mr. Howard's, boot maker; Mr. Davis's Rail-
way TRern ; Mr. Ainsworth, currier; and Mr.
Marsh, chemist. An attack was commenced on the
shop of Mr. Esplin, the extensive watchmaker and
jeweller, and the shutters were broken, but no further
damage was done. Mr. Esplin extinguished the gas-
lights immediately on the attack being commenced, and
with the assistance of friends, cleared away a large por-
tion of his valuable stock from the windows, out of the
sight of the mob. It was seeing Mr. Esplin's friends so
employed removing the goods that gave rise to the re-
port that the mob were ransacking the shop. Some
men also took up a position in front of the shop, and
kept the crowd away. At this moment the mail train
from Preston crossed the bridge which spans Wall-
gate, near Mr. Esplin's, and the mob appeared to be
temporarily under the impression that it was the
soldiers, and they ceased their attack on the
shop. Finding, however, that it was the mail,
the rioters proceeded to Mr. Taylor's, another mas-
ter cotton-spinner, whose house stands a little back
from the Wallgate, and here all the windows were
also broken. The Victoria Hotel next suffered, the
large plate-glass sheets in the ground floor windows
being smashed to pieces. The Clarence Hotel shared
the same fate. Stones were also hurled through
the windows at the Post Office (Mr. Wall's bookseller),
Mr. Davidson's, the Bay Horse, and the Moot Hall,
which stands opposite; at;Mr. Collinson's, the Queen's
Head, and here they went inside and committed some
havoc also. Messrs. Roberts and Co., booksellers, bad
also been visited, and had several window, broken. The
mob then proceeded through the Market-place, and paid
a second visit to the Royal Hotel. The Unicorn Inn, in
Standishgate (Mr. Bullin's), next attracted their atten-
tion, and similar treatment was awarded to it as to all
the others. The Royal Oak windows were damaged.
The shop of Mr. Liptrot, provision dealer, in Standish-
gate, was completely sacked. The rioters demolished
all they could lay their hands on, even to breaking the
counters, and carried off the contents of the shop. It
was rumoured that they were now making their way
to " the Larches," the residence of Mr. H. Woods,
coal proprietor and cotton spinner. At this moment
the welcome sound of the approaching train from
'
Preston, with the soldies, was hear. As soon
as the military had arrived (about half-past eleven),
Mr. Cook, Mr. Acton, and Mr. Part, re-assembled the
civil force, and proceeded after the rioters, the Mayor
remaining at the station, and accompanying the mili-
tary. The civil force, headed by the gentlemen above
named, followed the rioters, and came up with
them in Standishgate, and at once attacked them.
Four youths were captured, and one was found to have
his pockets filled with green tea and crackers stolen
from a shop in Wigan-lane. The mob then dispersed
the military were fast advancing up the road, and
more restored to the town, after being

f son

)aving-1

were 1

peace was one

in possession of the rioters for four hours, during which
an enormous amount of damage had been done. The
riotous portion of the mob were chiefly young men, and
the women were particularly active in inciting them to
mischief. The 31th patrolled the streets for some time,
and when all fears of any further outbreak were quelled,
the solders were quartered in the Moot-hall and the
Town-hall, and were still stationed there when our

reporter left.
Numberless other houses in all parts of the town also
had their windows broken to a less extent.