The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1825-07-11 00:00:00

POLKT.

GOSPEL TRACT SOEIETV.
Max;lcse Ilouse.—Row AT TM? LONDON TAVEIN....-
Saturday, 3lr. Exiles, of Coleman-street, one of the Gospel Tract
Society, appeared before Alderman THORP, who sat for the Lord
Mayor, charged by Mr. Rolph, of Crutched-friars, under the fol-
lowing circumstarces
He had on Thursday evening attended a Meeting of the Gospel
Tract Society, at the Old London Tavern, and had not sat lung
when a gentleman who was nest to him rose to ipeek, hut wen
objected to by some of the Meeting, while others expressed a wish
to hear him. NVitness said " Hear, hear !" and an uproar arose,
which lasted a considerable time. At length a party of the Gospel
Trim Society bore down upon the gentleman and the witness, and
forcibly turned them out of the room. The defendant was amongst
the breakers of the peace, and used as much violence as he was
capable of using on the occasion, in assaulting not only the gentle-
man who wished to speak, bitt the witness who wished to hear him.
Had not the owner of the tavern interfered, the witness would he
believed have certainly lost his life, as he must have tumbled from
the top to the bottom of the stair?.
Mr. Tyrrell, a Roman Catholic Clergyman, stated that in con-
sequence of having seen an advertisement in the newspapers, in.
slung all persons to attend at the Old London Tavern, and having
read; only a few days before, that Mr. ISutterworth asked in a
meeting why there were not any Popish Priests to answer him,
he thought fit to attend this meeting, in order to answer any charge
that might be mule against the Clergy of the Roman Catholic
Church. Several assertions were made, one of which, he believed
by a Mr. Hope, was, that the Pope was a man of sin. He ( wit-
! nes.) stood up, in order to flake a few observations, as he thought
he had a right in a public meeting to reply to a public accusation,
more particularly as an impression might go abroad, that if charges
of the kind remained unanswered, it might be supposed they
were incapable of being answered. lie bad, at the same time,
no idea of retying a word in opposition to the Gospel Tract Society,
to which be had no objection to make. lie had, however, scarcely
got up, when a number of persons bore down upon him, and en-
deavoured to prevail upon the officers of police to take him in
charge. The officers, however, refused, anti in a very gentleman-
like manner endeavoured to protect him. At length the party used
violerre. He received several blows, but he could not see from
whom, and was finally shoved out of the room. The landlord of
the tavern witnessed a great part of the transaction, but he was tin-
willing to call that gentleman, as his situation wan rather elelicate.
The defendant solemnly denied that lie was at all engaged in
the row. He was one of the Committee, and had taken his seat on
the hustings, where he remained until all was over. lie never moved
he never stirred.
Thomas Russell, of No. 31, Little Britain, staled, that he sat on
the hustings near the defendant, and was convinced the gentleman
never left his place till all the confusion subsided.
A police officer said, he had been called to take Mr. Tyrrell into
custody, but as he did not see the peace broken, he refused to in-
terfere. _ _

Rolph declared *most positively again, that Mr. Eades was
his and Air. Tyrrell's at sailant. lie had reason to recollect him,
fnr lie wax quite ill after such violent treatment. He would swear
that Mr. Eudes struck both, and was in the midst of the patty that
expelled them.
Alderman THORP asked how lung this extraordinary row lasted?
Mr. Rolph said it continued for twenty minutes.
Several of the Gospel Tract Sudety expressed their readiness to
come forward and swear that the whole was a mistake, us Mr. Eades
was sitting quite quiet when the disturbance took place.
Mr. Rolph said he had no vindictive motives for complaining;
he merely wished to ascertain whether. at a religious meeting of !
this nature, a man might not ',speak without being ;subject to rip_
lence and insult ?
_

Alderman I'm con]. Paid, the evidence of one party wait so di-
rectly opposed to that of the other, that he could not take upon
himself to decide upon the merits of the case, and would leive
it to the decision of aJury, if tht complainants should think pro-
ver to prefer an indictment.
BRUTAL ASSAULT.
Woasitte-srnEET—On Saturday a young man, named John
Wheelhouse, was charged before Mr. OsnonNE and Mr. BENET'',
the :11.gistrates, a lilt a-most outrageous assault upon John Lynch
and his wife Mary, two poor Ilibernians, in the course of which the
left eye of the fatter was literally knocked out of her head.
The husband first stated his case, from which it appeared that
latterly he and the defendant never met without quarrelling, in
consequence of his having sonic time since charged the defendant
with robbing him. On the day when the assault complained of
took place they chanced to meet in the skittle•ground of a public
house, and, as a matter of course, renewed their quarrel, after
which the defendant, 'WO by several of his companions, tell upon
poor Lynch, and best him dreadfully. insomuch that several per-
sons cried out the Irishman will be killed." This coming to the
ears of Mrs. Lycl,, she, unfortunately for herself, interposed for the
protection of her husband, when site also was attacked by the
ruffians.

Mrs. Lynch being sworn corroborated the testimony of her hus-
band. The defendant, she said. struck her so violently on the eye.
that it dropped out of her head into the hand which she held up
to protect it, " and that's the villaiu that did it, your Worship, es-
claimed, poor Mrs. Lynch.
A letter. confirmatory of the unfortunate woman's statement as
to the entire loss of the eye, front the medical gentleman who had
attended her, was then banded to the Magistrates. after which the
defendant was ordered to find bail for each assault, and in default
thereof was committed to prison.
UNION-II AL L.,Saturday Robert ilrilliams was brought up on
a warrant, issued at the instance of Mrs. Jane Story. charging him
with aiding in the removing and concealing of goods fradulcntly
carried away.
Defendant is the proprietor of several vans for the rzmova
of furniture, and her residence is in Gibson-street, Oakley-street
Lambeth.

Mrs. Story occupies the haute No. 319, Strand, and has also the
house No. 39, Ironmonger-row, Old-street—the latter is in the Oc-
cupation of John Owen, her tenant, at the yearly rent of 33/. On
the 24th of June last 91. 10s. was clue to her for a quarter's rent.
On Monday, the 27th ult. hearing he had removed his goods and
furniture, she went, on information, to the defendant's residence,
iu Gibson.street, and asked bins if one of his vans had not been em-
ployed on the occasion—he answered in the negative, but afterwards
said that he had intrusted his van to a strange man, who had
brought it home empty, it was, therefore, out of his power to give
any information as to the place to which Owen's goods had been
conveyed. Witness told him they were on his (defendant's) pre-
mises—he said they were not, nor ever had been—" or (he added,
after a pause) it they were here, they were immediately removed
elsewhere." Witness offered hint a sovereign to tell her where
they were—lse said he could not then, but he would in a day or two.
William Hill lives in Ironmonger-row, Old-street, and is a
watch-gilder. On the 27th of June, about half-past five o'clock in
the morning, he saw the defendant's van at the door of No. 39 in
the same row ; it was loaded by several persons with furniture and
other articles, and the defendant afterwards drove it away. Having
his suspicions respecting the transaction, lie followed it to Gibson-
street, Oakley-street, where it stopped at an empty house, and be-
gan to unload. As he was watching it, defendant came up to him
and asked it he had been following the goods, as if so be might as
well tell him, adding, " they ware going into that house." Wit-
ness then went away, hut returned in the evening with Mrs. Story,
when he heard her ask him (defendant) where the goods were re-
moved to from Ironmonger-row, defendant replied that lie did not
know ' • that he had accompanied the van as far as Norton-falgate,
where he was taken ill, and intrusted the van to a strange man,
who brought it back empty. Plaintiff' told him lie had moved
some of the furniture into his own house. lle said that was true,
but that it had been subsequently moved elsewhere, to some place
with which he was unacquainted.
Charles Hughes, wilding at 38, Ironmonger-row, Old-street,
saw the van at the adjsining house (No. i 9), on the morning in
question—defendant brought it there a few minutes after five
o'clock, when several persons assisted him in loading it.
John Yates Humphries lives at No. 32, Galway-street, Saint
Luke's, and is an appraiser—this witness valued the goods,
sworn to as having been in the cart by the other witnesses, at
6il.

John Irwin is a tea-dealer, residing at No. 103, St. John-street,
Clerkenwell ; at half-past four o'clock on the morning in question,
June 27. he had an appointment with a policeofficer, a Mr. Potter,
and a sheriff a officer, to look after and arrest or apprehend T. and
R. Winningham. At the time appointed 51r. Glannon, of this
office, and Mr. Potter, cabinet-maker, residing in Union-street, ar-
rived. Levy, the sheriff officer, did not meet them until forty
minutes afterwards. His son, who goes by the name of Charles
Lewis. witness understands is the solicitor of the Whittinghams,
and others of the gang, and believes that his tardy appearaace at
the place appointed was attributable to a previous knowledge of
the illegal occupation of his clients on that morning. At ten mi-
nutes after five o'clock they, however, proceeded up Ironmonger-
row, and discovered the two men they were in search of assisting
in loading defendant's van with furniture from the house occupied
by John Owen. Unfortunately they (the Whittinghams) per-
ceived witness and his eompanions, and immediately ran away and
succeeded in effecting their escape. The van was directly after-
wards driven off by defendant, the goods not being tied down.
The worthy Magistrate convicted him in double the amount at
which the furniture, sworn to have been in his van, had been ap-
praised. with costa—in the whole 141. 7s.
Against this order Williams declared his intention of appealing
to the Sessions.

In the woollen mannfketoiieein the West of England,
the following is the average rate of earnings:—Pickers,
3s. 6d. a week ; spinners, from 6s. to Bs. a week ; weavers,
from Bs. to IGs. a week ; sheannen, from 10s. 6d. to 11. Is.
a week ; burlers, 10d. a day ; billyboys, from 2s. to Ss. a
week ; feeders, from 3s. 6d. to 4s. a week ; sloobers, from
10s. 6d. to lis. per week ; milkmen and gigmen, who have
'ouch night work, earn about a guinea a week. In some
branches of the trade, extraordinary gocd workmen tnay
get considerably more than is here stated ; but a respectable
manufacturer says, that ilium the whole, the preceding
statement is rather above titan below the average. There
was lately established in Shepton Mallet a lace manufactory,
but the earning of the persons engaged in it are not more
than one-third of those paid in Nottinghatn about last
March. The lace machines have lately experienced a
great depression in price. They have fallen more than
one-half. The crape weavers at Shepton Mallet have
lately struck. According to their masters' statements,l
they cat ned about ten shillings a week; but the men say
not more than from six to eight. Two hundred hands are
now wanted in this trade in the vicinity of Sbepton Mallet
alone.