The Sun.
London, England, 1869-06-04 00:00:00

THE RIOT AT MOLD.

The following are some additional particulars of the riot at
Mold on Wednesday, the cause of which we have already
explained. At a quarter past seven the train was due
which was to convey the two convicted prisoners, about
whom the excitement arose, to Flint, and the crowd,
knowing this, lingered about the County Hall till within
about ten minutes of the time. A company of the 2d
battalion of the 4th King's Own, which had been in bar-
racks all day, having come from Chester in the morning,
under the command of Captain Blake, and numbering
fifty men, were then marched out, and, as they passed
by the ball, the police, under Captain Brown, fell in at
the rear. In the centre of a posse of thirty of the latter
were the prisoners, in the charge of Inspector Hughes,
Lockwood, and other officers. The escort had scarcely
got through the gates from the green when stones were
thrown as they commenced their march of about 200
yards down a slight declivity to the railway station. On
their right, extending along the line of march to the
back of the station, was a high bank, formed by a new
road, where loose pebbles were plentiful. On the left
was the railway, the bridge over the cutting of the new
Mold and _Denbigh branch line with its rising ascent
affording, unfortunately, another vantage ground to the
rioters, who had here also, within easy reach, a mound of
rubbish, supplying missiles. From both sides stones were
thrown in volleys by the mob, which numbered not fewer
than 2,000 men, women, and boys. The women picked up
large pebbles in their aprons and supplied the colliers, so
that they were able to keep up, as they did, an incessant
shower of stones. An accident favoured the assailants.
The little wicket gate to the railway platform was closed
in anticipation of a rush, and the escort had to enter
from a recess through a side door. They could not
readily do this, and fell into confusion, and for several
seconds were exposed to a most merciless pelting of
stones and pebbles. To the honour of the 4th (King's
Own) they never in the midst of this quailed for one in
stant. Cheered on and urged to forbear by their officers,
they endeavoured to get shelter, heedless of the inju-
ries they received. Equally courageous were the police,
and equally obedient to their chief. Not knowing what had
been done with the prisoners, the mob seemed baffled for
a few seconds. Inspector Hughes had fallen bleeding to
the ground, but Lockwood, the other inspector never re
linquished his grasp of the prisoners and hurried them into
the telegraph office. As far as a spectator at some distance
could see, it was this which caused the building to be riddled
with stones to the imminent danger of the soldiers and police
inside. The full force of the attack at one time was expo•
rienced there. Not a bit of glass was left in the window
sashes, and the panels of the door and the panes in the sides
of the desk were broken, hut the telegraph dial and works
were uninjured. It was not till the mob threatened
to surround the station that Mr. Clough, J.P., who was
in the break van of the train, recommended that a defence
should be made. Even then Captain Blake was reluctant
to order the men to fire. The Riot Act had not been read,
and the rioters seemed to be proceeding with impunity.
One man after another, first a policeman and then a
soldier, escaped into the station covered with blood, and
the soldiers became half frantic. At last—whether
with or without authority is not known—one of
them fired through the front window of the
telegraph-office, and a young man fell, whether wounded
only or dead we cannot say. This caused the most
active of the rioters to retire, but still stones came thick
and fast, breaking the windows of the carriages of the train
in waiting and doing other damage. The soldiers con-
tinned to fire for some ten minutes. Meanwhile the train
was moved out of the station, the prisoners being in safe
custody. Then, having room to manoeuvre, the men die-
continued firing, and fell into line. No regular volley
had been fired, and only in one instance, where a man was
shot down with a stone in his hand, did it appear
that the soldiers were taking aim. As soon aa
the military wero faced about the Riot Act was read
by Mr. C. B. Trevor-Roper. The mob then fled in all
directions, and the disturbance was virtually quelled.

An important link connected with the Grimsby
tragedy has been discovered. The coats worn b
yy tho pri-
soner Charles Traves and by Robert Traves ave been
found under a hedge amongst nettles. Search is being made
for the guns.
THE MONMOITVISHIRE COLLIERY EXPLOSION.-.....
The inquest, opened some time since, upon the bodies of
seven colliers, who were killed by an explosion of gas in
the sinking pit, near Aberychan, has terminated. Every
man of the gang at work was killed, tx, that the evidence
as to the cause of the disaster was almost entirely con.
jectural. The jury returned a verdict that the deceased
were accidentally killed by an explosion of gas caused by a
blower in the C wmnantddu Pit, and suggested that the
Government Inspector's recommendation of an increase of
air through the whole of the workings should be carried
out, and that safety-lamps should be so placed as to be
available at all times.
UNLIMITED WATER POWER. —An engineer Of
this city proposes to employ the waves of the ocean as a
motive power for running mills, factories, &c. His plan
is to build on the beach (at Long Branch, Rockaway, or
elsewhere) a dyke several hundredlfeet in length, against
which the waves of Old Ocean are privileged to break as
wildly as they will, but are not to be allowed to recede.
In the sea face of the dyke are the openings of conduits
which conduct the water to a reservoir within the dyke.
A canal from the reservoir reconducts the water by a cir-
cuitotvs route to the ocean, to turn, on its way, the wheels
of as many mills as can be Jilt on the canal kiti3UL.m
New Ygrit.2'imm