The Sun.
London, England, 1852-04-17 00:00:00

1 A 52

the employment of 51,--tsrS. Matrisley end Fief, the
extensive engineelt i't Ll4-158'4"
Mr. Wood, a tiolici or, appeared on behalf' of the corn-
, plainant; and Mr. Gaines was retained for the
Mr. Wood, addressing the magistrate, said it would he
his endeavour, if possible, to induce his Worship to send
the (ease to the quarter-sessions, 'row the impedance of
the subject e"eraii7, as tnvirdieng a q..estion, riot of a
shiglie woe, but also that et teoweeri the em-
ployers and the Amalgamated Engeeeiri' Society. The
impoteance of the subjec al,ln t would, he appreheAecl,
sufficiently ti' it for sect) a tri 'wee), lieceus •, In "34"44
of this deetiripaon, there was tee peculiar feature of
fund in existence for the 0,3,m„n, of p„,„1 „y fi in-
' flatted upon those who violated the taw. Soch wise tle
fact in the present ingancr.
Mr- Gemee's clerk, who atteeded on the parr of his
Rower, objected e) ex petite 4.1,c1 ~en.r:Al statements, rt:..d
submitted that the &feudal:lN A.PrP present to answer a
charge of assaul!, and tea" matters connected with toe
Amalgamated Engineers' Society.
Mr. Wood then proceeded to detail the alleged facts
attending the assault, and called the following eve-
James Goodman said—l Rtll an pr.gieer in the em-
ployment of Messrs. Meuchlay seri Field- On Sa-urdity
jest, the 10th inst., I left my work at lour echult,
went alone to the Tower put-Ale-house. utter I had
been there about ten minute's the two defendants came
in together, and two °there accompanied them. The de-
jenelante ur.ked if there were many at work in our pl ote,
and I replied that there was a great number 01 them.
They said. " I suppose yea have signed he di curve
(a decleraiien by thwe who have signed that they had
no corm, xion with the Amalgamated Society), stet I re-
plied '• Yes." Richard Otani addressed ins' I then
added that we had a great number at work, and that a
great many others would like to come too, if they lied a
chance. They then tailed me all T.he "knobstiA6" they
could think ot. and used bad language. A friend of
mine, named Cumming was present, and he, addressing
• them, said, " Why don't you let the young man alone?"
Up, to this time I had not spoken to them, but they
immediately began cursing and swearing at me as hard
as they could. (The witness here corrected himself by
saying that Orem alone had used bad language to him.)
He proceeded—Cumming then went out for a policeman,
and the defendants followed him out, and I walked be-
hind. I then saw two friends of the defendants on the
opposite side of the way. All four came across the road
and ran after Cumming, and struck him. Oram struck first.
I received several blows on the note, and while striking
me the defendants made use of a bad expression, saying,
"Yon are one of them." [The witness exhibited marks
• eta his face.]
In cross-examination the witness said—l am not and
never was a member of the Amalgamated Society, but
I did receive Is. 6d. from them for eight days. I am
not a working engineer but an engineer's labourer.
There were seven or eight people at the bar of the pub-
lic-house,: I will swear that before any words were
spoken by the defendants neither Cumming nor the
others present, nor myeelf, nor unyb-ely in the employ-
ment of Messrs. Maudalay, began shaking our pockets
and ringing our money. I will swear I did not see any
money shown to the defendants. I did not hear any-
body present say to the defendants, " You poor amalga-
mated —." No threats were used towards them.
I did not bear the defendants say, " We don't want to
have any words with you; we will leave." The defend-
ants walked straight to the Crown public-house, where
the committee of the Amalgamated Society meet. I
went a little .beyond my direct turning perhaps, but I
don't know that it is much further than any other route.
Mr. NORTON—Surely we cannot go so far as to cir-
cumscribe the limits within which any person must con-
fine himself. •
Cross-examination continued—l did not see Cumming
strike Oram, but cannot iv whether he struck aim or
not.
Mr. NORTON—From what has occurred, do you feel
in any danger from these men? Witness—l feel that I
don't like to walk anywhere there, because I have had
enough through this.
Mr. NORTON—Do you feel intimidated by what they
have done? Witness—Yes, Sir, Ido lodes;. I have
seen some of the Atnalgsmated Society's men since the
alleged assault, and they said nothing to me.
Jatnee Joseph Cumming, an engineer's labourer in the
employment of Messrs. Maud lay and Field, corroborated
the greater part of the statement of the last witness. He
also said that he had himself been violently assaulted
by the defendant Oram, and that he had gone to the
Tower-street police-station and given information of what
had occurred.
Mr. NORTON—Did either of the defendants use any
threats to you or Goodman ? Witness—Yes, Sir ;
they threatened to give us somethhing not pleisaut, be-
cause we had signed the declaration ; that was the
grievance.
Mr. NORTON.—From what they said, do you go in
fear ? Witness—Yes, most decidedly.
In his cross-examination this witness said, be never
belonged to the Amalgamated Society. but he had re-
ceived Bs. 3d. altogether all the time he was " out." He
had never applied to the society to support him. He
made no direct application to the society, but, under-
standing that the censmittee were sitting at the Crown
public-house, he went there, and received 5, out ot
nations received at two public-houses, and altogether got
88. 3d. Would swear most positively that on the day of
the assault he had no,, rattled money in his pocket, nor
had he done any single set with the intention of insult-
ing or offending the defendants. He never had been
attaeked before, but was in tear the defendant's conduct
would be repeated,
A third witness was called in support of the charge,
and on behalf of the defendants it was contended that
the evidence was not suffAent to sustain a charge of
intimidation, or even of serious assault.
A witness named James Swain was also celled, who
said he saw the complainants and defendants standing
near the •nd of the Waterloo road on the day in ques-
tion. The former had their hands in their pockets, and
kept calling after the latter that they had money in
them. A scuffle then ensued, but it was very soon over.
This witness denied being a member of the Amalga-
mated Society, though be acknowledged receiving mauey
from the society.
Stephen Shorthouse, a blacksmith, who was in com-
pany with the last witness. completely corroborate d his
evidence, at actied that the complainants put their
fingers to their noses and pointed towards the defen-
dants. This witness admitted being a member of the
Amalgamated Society and re ceiving pay from it.
Mr. NORTON said it was clear that the evidence of the
complainants did not bring the case within the terms of
the Combination Act, sad be was inclined to think that
they had in a great measure provoked the treatme-nt
they had experienced by calling after the defendants
and acting offensively towards them after having parted
peaceably. He should not. therefore, send the ca.e to
the sessions, but impose a fine of 20s. each and the costs
of the warrant, or, in default, to stand committed to
prison for twenty-one days each.
The fines were immediately paid, and the defendants
at once discharged.