The Sun.
London, England, 1841-09-21 00:00:00

ATTEMPT TO ASSASSINATE

LORD HOWICK.

PARTICULARS OF THE EXAMINATION.
The person accused of the outrage is Edward Liddle,
and he is, or rather was, the proprietor of a public-house
called the Reform Tavern, in Whitburn-street, Monk-
wearmouth. He'Was a partisan of 11Ir. Wolverly A ttwood,
the Tory candidate, during the election, and had acted
as leader of .his band of music. The following details of
evidence were taken at the Mayor's Chambers on Saturday
morning :
The prisoner having been placed at the bar, Inspector
Bailes, of the Sunderland police, formally charged him
with the offence above referred to.
John Sedgwick, fruiterer, of the High-street, Bishop-
wearmouth, sworn, said—l went in the procession
before Lord Howick, till I came opposite Dundas-
street, near Liddle's house, at which blue and white
(Mr. Attwood's) colours were displayed. I was in
company with the clerk to the .Northern Advertiser,
and when we came opposite Liddle's house, I said to
my friend, " What a disparity between e flag and
the sign !" the latter being "The RgfornillTavern."
Liddle was then sitting in his shirt sleey,!'s at his
window, smoking, and leaning on his elbow. In the
other window on the same floor of the house there
were a great many men smoking. When the carriages
came opposite Liddle's house, a man came out and
waved a bunch of blue arid white ribbons, and said,
"Now lads!" After that, Liddle laid down his pipe and
took up a gun, an exclaimed, " I'll shoot you, you
thief I" or "you rascal !" and either pulled or pretended
to pull the trigger ; and I saw either a smoke or a
flash, I cannot say which, I was so much agitated at
seeing the gun. There was no one near Liddle, and the
smoke or flash was not from his pipe, which he had laid
clown, Liddle then took in the gun, and did something to
the lopk. The gun was again presented, when I was oppo-
site the first horse of the carriage, on which I cried
out' repeatedly, "A gun ! a gun !" The horses then
went off at full speed. Liddle presented the gun at the
carriage, pulled the trigger again, and then took it in
again. When the gun was presented the second time,
stones were volleyed from every window of the house,
F 4,014 the door or front of the house. a quantity of filth
was thrown upon the carriages. I then made off, but
looking round, r saw something presented from the win-
dow a third time, like a gun -barrel, or a walking-stick,
but I was too far off to say which.
By Mr. Backhouse—l heard no report of the gun, nor
saw any smoke from the muzzle.
Bernard Ogden, Esq., said—l was, ill a gig behind
gr. Belj's cordage, which contained Mr. and Mrs.• Bell
and Lady Howl& In going up the street I saw a stop-
page--a row of some sort or other. My servant said,
" There is a man holding a gun out of a window !"
After the procession moved on, I saw flame and srcel-a
like the flash of a gun, and scionetliq; pis7tject from the
Witifiow likr a gun. I heard no report. I
could not identify the man that held the instrument. I
saw none of the windows broken as I passed.. .
Sir Hedworth Williamson,. Bart., sworn, said—Whet
the stoppage took place, T. looked toward Liddle's house,
and sat,. some teen starting back as if in alarm. Lady
Howick exclaimed, " Oh, there is a man has fired a gun,
and there are some white things come out of it." A volley
of stones was discharged at the carriage from close. to
Liddle's house, one of which struck a man close to the
pupinp: flu OAI pulled Lady flowlek down into the
bottom of the carriage to protect her, and fell.over her.
I went on in the procession to the " Wheatsheaf," but
returned to pacify the people, and found the house
pretty nearly gutted. The police had pnivv.6,
and an active search took Voce for the man, who
1144 4ql kc4e4 grassing a little back lane. He
was pursued into a house at the corner of the
street, which was beset front and rear. A door was
forced open and the house entered ; one of the rooms
on the ground floor
.was locked. I ueboltv4 lAA
"Ft°,4Chilit 4,1? HIM TllO PUN want up stairs,
anci in 4441" 4 P.Patite Fame down With the prisoner, who•
41Tornwpitoileittiggitu,arnewp atoisttooheast,taatinodn
station-house,
his u s
ehairan
db
hadoo dy'
somel
difficulty in preserVing him from the fury of the mob.
He did not say a word. I went back to theahlies
house, and found the crowd foreinir their way lento it.
The police eleUvq the Way, and 1 addressed the people,
telling them it was desirable to search for the gun.
Some of the police up stairs called out that the gun
was found, and I saw it in the hands of Serjeant
Pearson. .It had no ramrod in it, but the rod was Alund
broken in 411Qciler part of 00 VOW% I (Ailed to Mr.
A. J, Moore, and, on putting the ramrod into the gun,
I found there was something soft in it. The ramrod '
being too short to draw the charge, we sent for another
rod and drew the gun. First came out this pellet,
[Here the -witness produced a hard mass of citewo
paper, three times the size of an plaltt...y paper wad.]
This pellet and fil gTVA4y, a;---if it had been taken
nut , a
gum recently fired, and it made a stain on my
hand. On turning down the muzzle of the gun, a good
deal of powder fell on the ground, but a good ehargo of
coarse powder was saved, which I proclace,
The Magistrate here asked who conducted the case
against the prisoner ; on which, after a brief consultation
between Inspector Billies aad Mr. A. J. Moore, one of
Lord HOwiek's law agents, the latter gentleniari took the
management of the prosecution.
Thomas Milton, of Newcastle, sworn, said ho was
'struck by a stone from the public-house as ho was pass-
ing, holding by the handle of Sir Tiedworth's carriage-
door, lie also saw the prisoner, whom he knew well,
present the gun, but he did not see it fired. lie heard
the clash of the windows broken before he saw the gun.
Walker Featherstonhaugh, Esq., sworn, said— I was
in the carriage with Lord Howick, with my back to the
horses, when his Lordship exclaimed, "Good God, there
is a man with a gun !" On looking, I saw a man at one
of the upper windows, in the act of cocking something
like a gun. From another upper window a volly of
stones was thrown, one of which struck Lord Howick
and another myself. No glass had then been broken,
and all had been quiet up to that time. The carriage
then drove off at.a quick pace, and I saw nothing more.
William Boves Walker, sworn, said—l was standing
near Liddle's house when the procession came by, and
distinctly say that no attack was made on the house
before Lord Howick's carriage came up. Some one
cried out, " There's a gun !" and on looking up I saw
prisoner in the act of presenting a gun, and apparently
using threatening language. I saw nothing more, but
went away, thinking there would be mischief. As I
passed the back lane, I saw Liddle with two stone por-
ter-bottles in his hand, which he threw into the crowd.
I saw another man come out of the house with a heavy
piece of wood in his hand, which he threw into the
crowd.

Cross-examined by Mr. Wright—Many of the mob
and Lord Howick's carriage: had passed the house about
20 yards before I saw the gun presented. It was not
presented at the carriage at first, but was afterwards.
Mr. H. Hindmarch, barrister-at-law, sworn, said—
I was sitting on the box of the third carriage in the
procession, when I heard a cry—" A man is going to
fire 1" I looked forward, and saw a man in his shirt
sleeves with a gun at his shoulder, and apparently
aiming it at Lord Howick's carriage. As the carriage
was passing on the man moved his gun so as to take a
proper aim. I also saw a large quantity of stones coma
from the windows of the house. On looking
again at the house, I saw something proceeding from.
the gun, which I believed to be smoke ; I have a doubt
on the point, but very little doubt. The man then ap-
parently pointed his gun at the second carriage, in the
same way as at the first ; but I saw no smoke then.
We drove on as quickly as we could, and as we passed
the house, a shower of stones was thrown at us from
the house. I saw two or three panes broken as we passed,
Cross-examined by Mr. Wright—l cannot say from
what part of the gun the smoke proceeded, but I think
from the lock.

Sir H. Williamson explained, that the broken ram-
rod, though too short to draw the pellet from the gun,
was of sufficient length to have drawn any charge that
might have been over it, supposing Liddle to have at-
tempted to unload his gun during the interval between
the outrage and his capture.
Mr. Moore here prayed the Court for an adjournment
of the case till Tuesdav, win n he expects to bring proof
of a large quantity of stones having been collected in the
house, and also of Liddle's having cleaned his gun with
the intention of using it in the way described.
Mr. Wright requested the Magistrates, if they re-
manded the prisoner, to allow him to go out on bail, as
he should show that he had acted merely in self-defence.
This l‘tti objected to by Mr. Moore ; but after a private
consultation the Mayor announced that bail should be
taken for the re-appearance of the prisoner, himself
being bound in BCL, and two sureties in 401. each.
Messrs. George Hudson and William Story, two of
Mr. Attwood's Monkwearmouth friends, are Liddle's
bondsmen.

Liddle's house is a perfect wreck, every article of fur-
niture having been smashed to atoms, and his stock of
pro-visions and liquor thrown into the street by the crowd
in revenge for his conduct. The prisoner's wife says
that the sum of 2001., which she had concealed in the
house, was carried off by the mob.
Immediately after the outrage, Lord and Lady Howick
drove off to• Sir Hedworth 'Williamson's, at Whitburn,
but will return on Monday, the 20th inst., when a public
dinner is to be given to his Lordship in the Athenaeum.