The Sun.
London, England, 1867-01-14 00:00:00

IRELAND.

DUBLIN, Jan. 12.
The offi,ers of the detective police to-day made
three arrests.

John Dowling was arrested at Portland-row. He
is a lecturer on chemistry, botany, and other
branches of natural philosophy, and was a rather
distinguished student of the scientific school at-
tached to the Museum of Irish Industry, St. Ste-
phen's-green.
William Joseph Smith was arrested at Summer-
hill. He is stated to have held the rank of colonel
in the American army. When the Habeas Corpus;
Act was suspended in 1865 his brother was arrested,
and the police were on the watch for himself, but
he contrived to escape to America. He has re-
turned within a short period, and has since been
without ostensible means of earning a livelihood,
although appearing to have no lack of money.

Denis Cashman was arrested in Preston-street.
He is a law-clerk, and for sonic time has been under
the surveillance of the police.
The three prisoners were conveyed under the
Lord Lieutenant's warrant to Kihnainham Gaol.

The evidence given at Dungarvan, on Thursday,
enables us to understand tolerably well the nature of
the collision between the troops and the people.
Dr. Hunt, the medical officer of the workhouse, de-
posed that he had examined the head of the deceased
Wm. O'Brien, and saw no marks or wounds of any
kind. Mr. John Butler Green, who is a resident
or stipendiary magistrate in the county of Monaghan,
deposed that he was on duty at Dungarvan on the
day of polling, and that the Lancers, who escorted
the voters on that day, were under his direction as
a magistrate. He went to meet the voters in com-
pany with Lord Hastings, and brought in about 100.
Half a mile out of the town they were taken off the
cars and were placed in a mass between half a troop
of Lancers in front and half a troop in the rear.
When they came to the bridge they observed a crowd
on each side at the town end. Witness directed
Major Wombwell to divide the troops so as to keep
back the crowd and allow the voters to pass in.
This was done accordingly by backing the horses.
When they came to the square he saw stones flying
from the crowd towards the troops. There were
a thousand people about the spot—men, women, and
1 children. The whole affair, stone-throwing and the
scuffle, did not last more than ten minutes. The
troops got no order, except to keep back the people.
What occurred afterwards way, instantaneous. In
placing the men, Major Wombwell had said to
them, " Keep steady, and don't be skedaddling."
One of the men said, " Sure, Major, we can't stand
to be battered with stones ; sure flesh and blood
cannot bear it ?" To which the Major replied,
" Oh, we must all bear it, and keep steady."
Hundreds of stones were thrown, they were like
hail. They were stones laid down for macadamising
the streets, and witness said he never was in a town
that he did not see the same, especially at an elec-
tion. He saw only one man struck, and that was
Major Wombwell. From all that came under his own
eyes that day he considered that the troops had
acted with wonderful forbearance and temper
under the treatment they got. The stone-throw-
ing, he said, continued while he was crossing the
square, and when he put the voters in a yard near
the Devonshire Arms Hotel, and whoa he retired to
the square there was some excitement there, and
stones still throwing. The troops then kept the
people back, and the stone-throwing ceased in a
few minutes. He kept the troops
going round and
round the square. He remained with them about
15 minutes. The troops remained in the square
while he was going to the yard with the voters. Mr.
In his cross-examination by. Waters, witness
said that he did not see even a scratch upon any
one of the troops, except Major Wombwell. In
the whole of the election he saw nothing that
would justify him as a resident magistrate in order-
ing the soldiers to use deadly weapons or to fire,
or to lower their lances ; but, if he had a deadly
weapon in his hand, and was pelted with stones,
he did not know what he might have done. Human
nature is human nature, and a soldier is flesh and
blood like any other man.
The next witness was Mr. S. E. Maguire, a
magistrate of the county of Waterford. He stated
that almost immediately upon the military clearing,
the way on this side of the bridge they were as-
saulted with a volley of stones. That was from the
Shandon side. There were, perhaps, over 100
stones thrown. They were principally macada-
mising. stones. He saw others, one a huge stone; it
must have required a perfect Hercules to wield it.
The Lancers within his observation behaved with
remarkable forbearance. But if a Lancer rode
against a crowd of unoffending men and struck
them, or pierced an unoffending gentleman at his
own door, he would consider it a most outrageous
thing.
A man named Patrick Daly was the next witness.
He was produced to prove that the deceased man
threw a atone at the military just before he was

The fineness of the morning caused large numbers of
people to assemble in the various parks, but the ice on the
waters was very weak, owing to the wind having kept the
surface of the water in constant motion and preventing its
being frozen except in the more sheltered parts. There
was hardly any ice on the Serpentine, and the waters in
the Regent's-park, the Long Water in Kensington-garden;
and the ornamental water in St. James's-park were only
partially frozen, and printed placards were posted up by
orders of the Humane Society warning persons of the dan..
gerous condition of the ice. Despite this warning and %a
personal cautions given by the icemen on duty, several
foolhardy men and boys ventured upon it, the majority of
whom fell in before they had been on many minutes. At
the Regent's-park water and at the Long Water in Ken-
sington-gardens, where the water is about 9ft. deep, seve-
ral persons were only saved from drowning by great efforts
on the part of the icemen and the use of the apparatus. In
St. James's-park a number of the more thoughtless people
amused themselves'by throwing halfpence on the ice, ar.d
inducing boys to go on after them, and, then, when tlaey
broke through, indulging in a hearty laugh at their pia-0-
The water here is so shallow, however, that them is no
fear of loss of life by drowning.

In the afternoon the crowds assembled in the parks wore
very large. Regent's-park was thronged by promenaders.
The icemen reported that, if it continued to freeze during
the night the ice would be in good condition for a moderate
number of skaters this day, but not for any large numbers
of people.

The number of persons in St. James's-park from 2 until
5 o'clock was very great, the keepers reporting that up-
wards of 250,000 people had passed in at the various gates
during those hours. A great proportion of these persons
were respectable tradesmen and mechanics, with their
families; but there was also an immense assemblage of
roughs and young blackguards of both sexes. Not being
able to amuse themselves on the ice, they found amuse-
ment in other ways, by snowballing and bonneting each
other, varied by a sham fight here and there, which col-
lecting a crowd gave the light-fingered gentry an oppor-
tunity of plying their vocation. When tired of this rough
play with each other, as might be expected in the absence
of the police, they turned their attention to any respectably
dressed person, male or female, who came in their way, and
maltreated and insulted them in the most disgraceful
way, few escaping without the loss of hat, shawl, pin, or
some other article. The foot-bridge over the ornamental
water, however, was the chief scene of their exploits. This
bridge on these occasions is always crowded by people pass-
ing from one side of the enclosure to the other. Gangs of
these roughsa,nd thieves assembled to the number of several
hundreds at each end of the bridge, and at a given signal.
when the bridge was crowded with respectobly-dressed per-
sons, they rushed on pell-mell, hustling and bonneting all
who came in their way, watches, purses, and pins changing
owners with extraordinary quickness. This disgraceful
scene was repeated almost every half-hour until it grew
dark. Tho park-keepers did all they could to repress the
disorderly scene, but they were comparatively powerless.
A dozen police-constables would have been effective for
the purpose, but they were not there, and so the roughs
had uncontrolled possession of the park until all respect-
able people had left at dusk, and there was no more plun-
der to be obtained or persons to be hunted down.