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, 1E63 :—" Matters in
the Pennsylvanian anthracite coal region are in a deplorable
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 arc influenced largely by
low politicians, even in defiance of the advice and exhorta-
tions of the Catholic priests, to the most brutal and hideous
tyranny—that of a ferocious ignorant mob. No mans 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 Wilkesbane, an excellent
man, had given his Irish employ6s 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 few days ; adding,
in reply to some remarks of mine about the state of the Irish
population in Schuylkill county, bad as things are 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! 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
"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 in 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, near
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. Lambert, a report of the inquiry re-
cently held by him into the conduct of Mr. Christy,
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 furniture 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
officer, that he used coarse and improper expressions
as he was
leaving the house; and deceased, towards Caroline Palmer, one of the neighbours
in attendance upon the
the Boa rd have reason
to believe that his conduct in other rest t respects was not
so temperate and forbearing
as it
to
itough thave been.
The board however, are unable
arrive
at the con-
clusion that the death of Caroline James was accele-
rated, in any sensible
degree by the course pursued
and, having regard also to
afterwards taken and main-
hivtheaeri
nsghoe: washffirecre ,a'nd that her funeral expenses
main-
tained e the
fact
a c relieving e
by
that
n
were afterwards paid by her brother and sister, they
require so extreme a step as that of requiring
his resignation, especially when theysty s services take into con-
sideration the length of Mr. Chri
as think
to that the circumstances of the Case are not such
and
the deliberate opinion express e by the guardians
d '
that in this instance there is g
his conduct. The board at theresaatme time extenuation
consider fo r
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 referred 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
tl
uo hisde
d to.
offer any such condition as that already al-
This is not the first occasion on which
complaints have been preferred against Air. 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
here-
dis-
charge of his duty is established against himee.
after, he will not be allowed to retain hi "1

"I am, sir, your obedient servant,
"C. Gri.ris, Secretary.
"To Mr. W. T. Howard, cleft 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 was done accoldingly ; and
Mr. Christy emphalically denied that he had ever
made use of such language as had been attributed

to him.
The board soon afterwards adjourned. The other
business was not of general importance.