The Sun.
London, England, 1839-09-20 00:00:00

BIRRINGHAM RIOTS.

MONDAY, Strr. 16.

The examination of witnesses by tl:e Con mittee of
the own• Council, was resumed this morning. Aldo.-
' man Sturge in the chair.
William Middlemore, of Edgbaston, currier, &c., ex
unlined :--The last witness, Daniel Mason, is in my
employ, and has been so for the last eight or ten years.
He is thoroughly honest, industrious, and sober, and
has acquired the goodwill of the whole manufactory,
consisting of one hundred people, from his kindly
disposition. On the night on which be received the
injuries of which be complained, he had been directed
with a shopmate to sleep at the manufactory, for its pro•
tection. The place where he states he received the
injuries from the soldier is in the direct road from his
house to my manufactory. I waited upon the Magistrates
the following morning, and saw Mr. Francis Clark, at the
Public Office, to whom I made a representation of the
case. He expressed regret at what had happened. At
the same time, to the hest of my recolleciiou, lidding,
" That the soldiers and police had meived directions
from the Magistrates to discharge their duties without
unnecessary violence."
Win. ;ames. of Aston-road, tailor, examined
work for Mr. Chilton, in Aston-street. On the sth of
July I went on business to meet Mr. Mogg, a customer of
ours, at the Wheat Sheaf, in Digbeth. I was returning
home a little after 9 in the evening, and was crossing the
end of Park-street, where there were, I should think,
from fifteen to twenty of the London police standing.
With the exception of the police and some soldiers,
there was no one about. One of the policemen, who
stood outside the others, pushed against me, and forced
me into the body of the police. I was laid hold of
by several of them ; they searched me all over, as I
understood, to ascertain if I had any weapon upon me.
They, however, found nothing, and did not pretend to
have found an}•thing. Whilst the search was going on,
some of them struck tne upon the head. I put up my
h Bends to save the blows, which otherwise must have
Knocked my brains out. The blows were still continued,
and were received upon my arms, whiclrwere bruised.
They swore at me, and asked me, what I had been
doing. I answered, I had done nothing, and said
nothing, which was the truth. One said, " You d—d
rascal, come along with me." 1 said, " I will go any-
where you like to take me, rather than be beat in this
way." Policemen No. 1 and No. 27 then took me to
the public-office, where two Magistrates were sit
ling.. No. 1 charged me before the Magistrates
with striking him, at the end of Park-street, and No.
27 said he witnessed it. I denied it, saying it was not
likely I should have struck a policeman, when so many

other policemen were about him. The Magistrates re-
manded me until next day, for further examination.
About three o'clock next day I was again taken before
the Magistrates. Policeman No. 1 being sworn, said
I had struck him several blows the previous evening,
but he did not say under what circumstances. He said
policeman No. 27 witnessed it, and he said he had
another witness, Mr. Muntz. I asked Mr. Muntz
to be examined, as I believed he would not have taken a
false oath, if the policeman would, but the Magistrates
said Mr. Muntz was not required, there were witnesses
enough. Policeman No. 27 was then sworn, and said
he was witness to the blows, but he did not state under
what circumstances they were given, nor did the Ma-
gistrates inquire. The Magistrates committed me to
take my trial for the assault. I tried to sand to my
friends with the view of getting bail, and for this put-
pose applied to one of the Birmingham police, and
offered to pay any thing in reason for the trouble. He
did not do so, and afterwards told ma ha had not time
to do it. The next day (Sunday) 1 was taken with
others to Warwick gaol, where 1 lay until eight o'clock
on Monday night, when I was sent for before a Ma-
gistrate, to enter into my own reeosrnizances, my
father and Mr. Chilter having. as I learnt, already
given bail in Birmingham. I was bound to an-
swer any charge which might be preferred at the
Assizes. I attended at the Assizes ; a bill was
round for the assault. 1 pleaded not guilty on the
Friday, and on Wednesday following I was brought up
far trial, when one of the Counsel briefly stated to the
Court that I was charged with the assault, but that he
declined to offer any evidence, and I was discharged the
same night. I never attended any of the meetings in
the Bull-ring or at Holloway-head. I was perfectly sober
on the night I was assaulted. I had had nothing to
drink that night. The policeman seemed sober. When
the police laid hold of me, I did not resist or struggle.
Even if I bad been guilty, there was not the least ne-
cessity to have struck me, in order to have taken me
into custody. On the road to the police-cflice, police-
man No. 1 struck me several times with his staff. I was .
then walking quietly along with them, and did not re-
sist, or express any unwillingness to go. I told them
not to knock me abaut. I would go anywhere with
them. On the way, Policeman No. 1 std to me,
" You struck me, did you ?" I said, " I have not,
and you know that very well." Whereupon, he gave
rue a poke with his staff, with which he kept pushing
me on. He was a little behind me, and Policeman No.
27 had hold of me. Policeman No. 1 directly after said
to his comrade, " hold him still." 1 did not resist, we
ail stopped, when Policeman No. 1 took a pair of hand-
cuffs out of his pocket, when I said, " What ! are you
going to put those on ? are you afraid 1 shall run away ?"
To which he replied, •" There is nothing like making
sure ;" and p!aced them upon my wrists. We were
then in High-street, about ten or twenty yards above
the end of Moor-street. Having placed the handuffs
on, Policeman No. 1 gave me another blow across the
shoulders, and said, "Go on." I had not objected to
go on. I found they did not know their way to the
Public Office, and so took me some distance round.

James Gretton, of No. 5, Ludgate Hill, press tool-
maker, examined :—I ha‘e observed the Bull-ring
meetings on several occasions, when passing down, but
never stopped to hear what was said. They were always
very quiet, and I never experienced any annoyance or
obstruction from them. When I saw them, the roadway
and footpaths were always clear, and persons and ve-
hicles passed along without any obstruction. On Mon-
day the Bth of July, I had been into Digbeth, about
nine o'clock in the evening. As I came up High-
street, a large body of the London police were
coming down ; there was no crowd, and nothing
more than the ordinary traffic going on ; they halted
a few yards before they came to the end of New-
street, whereupon I stopped upon the footpath. I
saw two of the policemen running after several persons
who were walking along, singly, and, as it seemed, upon
their business. One of the policemen shoved a man,
who was walking on, with his staff, saying, "
you, move on, or we'll put some life into you, or
take that out you've got in." I was only two or three
yards distant, and distinctly heard these words ; it
occurred upon the foot-path in High-street. The man
had not been standing, and seemed desirous of getting.
on as fast as he could. When so treated by the po-
liceman, he quickened his pace, and went off. He
seemed like a working man. Directly after, there was
another respectable man, who seemed like a clerk,
coming in the same orderly way, when another of the
policemen went after him, and shoved him on with
his staff, telling him to move on ; he followed him to
the corner of New-street, the man kept moving on,
without speaking, and when near the corner of New-
street, the policeman struck him a blow with his staff;
the man said nothing, but moved off. I saw the police
go after several other persons, shoving them on ; some
they stopped and searched their persons, but I did not
see that they found anything. The people I.have de-
scribed were all moving on, and there was noresistanet.

cff!red. Tile people Were not Shouting, or offering any
insult whatever to the police, or others. I was not
molested ;- and, although I was standing to observe

what passed, I was not. told to move on.
Edward Savage, of No. 13, Great Bow-street, shoe-
maker, examined—l work ter Mr. George Haines, of
801 l Barn-road. On the evening of the 15th of July.
between seven and eight o'clock, I left my employ, anti
went, with two or three neighbours, to attend a meeting
at Holloway-bead. The last speaker had just finished,
and was descending the chair. A. man got up :.n
the chair, and directed the people to go round b\
Lucy's Mill, down Holloway-head, and up Suffolk-
street, along Ann•street, and down Bull-street, and
then they might go where they liked, meaning, as
I understood, that they were then to break up, and
go home. Another got up, and told them to go across
the green instead of round the mill, as the nearer
way, which they did, arm in arm. I and William
Cooper, who was with me, -went on first to the bottom
of Suffolk-street, where we stopped till the procession
came up. There was a great number present. Henr)
Wilkes then got upon some steps, and told them to
go down Smallbrook-street, along St. Martin's-lane.
down Digbeth, and along the Warwick-road,iNt,oarnwirceit,
Lovett and Collins, mho were coming.
from
beard
that night. I left him speaking,
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Cooper went to the end of Moor-street, where a parcel o!
op
about a dozen, were talking. I observed, in par-
,p ticular, a man in a barragan jacket addressing five o
six persons around him. I did not hear what hu
said, but a London policeman came up to him al('
collared him. Tne max said, " What are you goi
to take me for ?" Policeman said, " I have lea ti
enough of what you have said." Then another policy
• man laid hold of him, and the two were taking 'him aw, y
up Moor-street. Some of those whom he had been a.,
dressing cried, " Don't let them take him," and we• t
and collared the policemen. A struggle tork
I place; in the course of which the man was rescued
il having lost his hat. The police struck three or fon.
, who assisted to get him away. Theme were no blow,
given in return ; and directly the man was rescued thei
all ran away. The man ran down the Bull-ring with: