The Sun.
London, England, 1863-12-15 00:00:00

The Riots in Pennsylvania.

- -
The following is a letter from a Pennsylvanian to his
brother in London, dated November, 1863 :—" Matters in
the Pennsylvanian anthracite coal region are in ade.plorable
state. Enormous prices for this description of mining have
been forced up by fearful violence on the part of the em-
ployed—or I should have said, the Irish part of them—to
nearly treble the rates of a year and a half ago, and we do
not see the end of it. These Irish are influenced largely by
low politicians, even in defiance of the advice andgahorta-
dons of the Catholic priests, to the most brutal and hideous
tyranny—that of a ferocious ignorant mob. No man's life
in the coal region is safe who may be inimical to them, and
their cowardice is equal to their cruelty. A Cornish man,
Walter Peters, a colliery boss, at Wilkesbsne, an excellent
man, had given his Irish employes some offence in the
course of business. A month since he was leaving the col-
liery. office for his house, in the evening, when he was thrown
down on the pavement, and there stoned to death. Lately I
had to write to Mr. G. K. Smith, an English mining sur-
veyor, in Lucerne county, for some business papers. He re-
plied that he would send them to me in a f,w days ; adding,
in reply to some remarks of mine about the state of the Irish
population in Schuylkill county, bad as things aro with ) ou,
they are no better here. A 'Welshman was murdered in his
house a fortnight ago, and people (except the Irish) do not
care to venture out of an evening. Poor Smith I By yes-
terday's New York paper I find the melancholy account of
his death—shot in riding from the post office to his house I
"In going to and from the collieries some of my friends
think it but prudent to avoid doing so except by daylight
The aggregate of murders and serious personal assaults in
the coal districts is frightful ; and none of the villanous
population has been brought to justice. Unfortunately the
judges and other officials are elected, and the ignorant im •
migrant population being the majority is the coal region,
the court is consequently Irish in feeling, and unfit for its
position in respect to uprightness and other requisites—it is
the mere creation of the mob."

The Late Poor-law Inquiry in Bethnal-green

At a meeting of the Bethnal-green Board of
Guardians, held yesterday, at the workhouse, ner,r
Victoria-park, Mr. Howard in the chair, a letter
was read from the Poor-law Board communicating
its decision with reference to the recent inquiry by
Mr. Lambert, Poor•law Inspector, into the circum-
stances attending the death of Caroline James, and
the alleged neglect and improper conduct of Mr.
Christy, the relieving officer, in respect to the case.
The following is a copy of the document :

" Poor-law Board, Whitehall, Dec. 11.
" Sir,—l am directed by the Poor-law Board to
inform you that they have received from their in-
spector, Mr. Lunbert, a report of the inquiry re-
cently held by him into the conduct of Mr. Chi isty,
relieving officer of the western district'of the parish
of St. Matthew, Bethnal-green, in the case of the
late Caroline James, and they have carefully con-
sidered the evidence given on that occasion. It
appears that the first intimation received by the re-
lieving officer that the deceased required relief was
between 5 and 6 on the afternoon of Saturday, the
17th of October, and that he visited her about 7
o'clock on the same evening. When he arrived,
he saw her furtiture was being removed in a van,
and he was then referred to a house on the opposite
side of the street, where he found the deceased sit-
ting in a chair in the back room. In the first in-
stance he told her that she ought to be taken to the
place where the goods were going, but he after-
wards offered to admit her to the workhouse on
condition that she would allow the furniture to be
removed there, and that her children should accom-
pany her there. That offer, however, was not ac-
cepted, and the deceased was removed the same
evening in a cab by her mother, who was present
during the two interviews with the relieving officer,
to the mother's own residence, where she died of
consumption on the following Wednesday, the
mother having maintained her in the meantime. In
the depositions taken at the coroner's court no men-
tion whatever was made by the relieving officer of
his offer to receive the deceased into the workhouse,
and the Board find from his own admission that
when he visited the deceased he made no inquiry into
the state of health, the ability to work, the condition
and family, and the means of the deceased, but con-
cluded she was not destitute entirely from the
quan-
tity of furniture in course of removal. It is evident
also, although the fact is denied by the relieving
s
officer, that he used coarse and improper expressions
towards Caroline Delmer, one of the
in attendance upon the deceased, neighbours
as he was
leaving the house ; and the Board have reason
r respects was not
to believe that his conduct in other
ought to have been.
The board, however, are uursu e
so temperate and forbearing as it
nable to arrive at the con•
elusion that the death of
e
Caroline
t Jamesthe eourwas
p
accele-
rated in any sensible degree by
d
by the relieving officer, and,trhaarvdiangtarke
regard r
and
also
main-
tained t
o
by her
the fact that she was af ew
mother, and that her funeral
by her brother expenses
and
were afterwards paid sister, they
think that the circumstances of the case are not such
require so extreme a step as that of
as to reqrequiring
his
resignation • especially when they
take into con-
sideration the length of Mr. Christy's services, and
the deliberate opinion expressed by the guardians
that in this instance there is great extenuation for
his conduct. The board at the same
time consider
that Mr. Christy is censurable
for his omission to
make due inquiry into the circumstances of the de-
ceased, and also for using the very improper expres-
sion already referr d
e to. He ought also to have
known that if he
considered the deceased a fit object
for the workhouse, he was not justified in attaching
to his offer any such condition as that already al-
luded to. This is not the first occasion on which
complaints have been preferred against Mr. Christy,
and the board request that in conveying to him their
decisions on the case the Guardians will remind him
that if any serious neglect or omission in the dis-
charge of his duty is established against him here-
after, he will not be allowed to retain his office-

" I am, sir, your obedient servant,
(6C. Guys/pi', Secretary.
"To Mr. W. T. Howard, clerk to the Guar-
dians of the Poor of the parish of St.
Matthew, Bethnal-green."
On the motion of Mr. COLLINS, it was resolved
that Mr. Christy be called in and reprimanded by
the chairman, which
emphatically denied that he had ever
Was done accordingly ; and
Mr. Christy
made use of such language as had been attributed

to him.
The board soon afterwards adjourned. The other
business wasot of general importance.