The Sun.
London, England, 1867-06-26 00:00:00

society had paid them. Mr. Torr had never
spoken to him about returning the books which
had been stolen from his warehouse—in fact, he

knew nothing whatenr about them. The lock-out
in 1866 lasted 16 weeks. The cause of the lock-

out was in consequence of the grinders asking for
an advance in prices, which the masters refused to
give. Witness was examined by Mr. Overend for
the purpose of ascertaining whether the men who
were rattened during the lock-out were working at

the old prices or at the advanced prices. He said
he believed they were not working at all, because at
the time they were rattened they were receiving

scales. Witness had no doubt that Mr. Torr's con-
duct had been brought before meetings of the society
several times. lie could not say how many times
his name had been before the meeting before his

ardening cistern was pierced. It was generally

-
understood that old water was the best for harden-

ing purposes, but it was not true that if a cistern
was pierced a manufacturer was stopped working
for several months. Witness denied that he ever

paid a man named Wolstenholme £5O to induce him
to leave Mr. Torr's employ, but it came out iu reply
to some other questions that he had paid Wolsten-

holme il a week scale for about 50 weeks. Witness
admitted that at one interview respecting Mr. Torr's
men resuming work he stated that if Mr. Torr would

pay £8 175., the sum which the society had paid to
his men, the Union would allow the dispute to be
settled. He admitted that the picketting system was
well carried out during the dispute with Mr. Torr,
for whenever he sent out any steel to be made into

files it was watched to ascertain where it was sent to.
He remembered that on one occasion Mr. Torr want•

Log some work done sent it to a Mr. Diet, whose

shop shortly afterwards was broken into. He con-
fessed that that looked very much like a trade affair,

but the society had no knowledge of it. The pickets
were paid a little more than the ordinary amount of
scale ; they were ordered not to use any intimida-
tion, and that if they did use any they would have
to stand the consequences. He believed that ratten-
ing was almost universally adopted in all grinding
trades. In 1864, when so many manufacturers had
their men out, he received a letter on which were
drawn a pistol and a coffin. Underneath these were
the words, " Death is sure and time is short." lie
attributed this letter to a non-society man named
Benjamin Taylor. He had been intimidated several
times by non-society men, some of whom carried
knives and pistols for him, and on one occasion his
windows were smashed. The number of members
in his Union was upwards of 3,000, who now paid
a contribution of ls. 6d. each a week. The non-

society men numbered only about 100. Messrs.
Turlon and Son's men were now out, in consequence
of their employing a grinder named Jeffcock, who
had seven apprentices. In the File Smiths' Union
the rule was that no apprentice should be taken un-

less he was a son of one of the members of the
trade. This rule was occasionally broken to the con-
sent of the trade ; for instance, 200 apprentices were
taken some years ago to meet the demands of the
manufacturers. If Jeff cock were turned away or
reduced the number of his apprentices, Messrs.
Turlon and Son's men would no doubt return to
their work.
Christopher Rotherham, sickle manufacturer of
Dronfield, a very aged man, said he was a very de-
termined non-Unionist, and he had had to suffer for
it. He had had his works blown up three times,
nine pairs of bellows destroyed, 12 bands rattened,
and other damage done. Once one of his homes
was blown up, and his two nephews, who were
sleeping therein, narrowly escaped. He had also
received numbers of threatening letters. The out-
rages had been commenced because he had refused
to compel his men to join the Union. He had per-
sisted in allowing them to please themselves whether
they joined the Union or no. The last time an at-
tempt was made to blow up his works was about 18
months ago. On opening his warehouse one morn-
ing a two gallon can full of powder was found in-
side. The fuse attached had not burnt down. Close
to the works were rooms occupied by five members
of his family, and had the power exploded nothing
could have saved them. Shortly before the explo-
sion he received several threatening letters. He had
since advised his men to join the Union, as he could
hold out no longer. They paid small sums and
were admitted, ani he had not since been interfered
with.

Mr. Overend—Have you paid to the Union ?
Witness —No ; I would rather rob them of a
sovereign than give them one. (Laughter.)
Mr. Overend—After the explosions did you go to
the secretary of the Union and complain ?—Not I.
I would rather have blown them up. (Laughter.)
The secretaries used to come to our men ; but they
would not see me, as they did not like me.
(Laughter.)
Thomas Holland, joint secretary with Mr. Cutts,
was next called, and confirmed generally the evi-
dence given by Mr. Cutts. He also denied that any
of the ratteniugs or illegal acts that had taken place
in the trade were done with the sanction of
,the
Union.

Joseph Rolly, secretary to the File Grinders'
Union, said rattening prevailed in the trade, but it
was not approved by dm Union. In 1857 a file-
grinder named Gillott was blown up. At the time
he was not subscribing to the Union. That was the
last outrage, he believed, that had occurred in his
trade. If a member fell into arrears with his con-
tributions he ceased to participate in the bene-
fits of the Union. Nothing was done to him. The
contributions were 2s. 6d. per week for a man and
ls. 6d. for a boy. Two days before Gillott was
blown up a general meeting of the trade was held
and a committee was appointed to investigate cases
of men who were in arrear, but witness denied that
the outrage was connected with the trade. Gillott
was not more obnoxious to the trade than the other
men who were in arrears.
Gcorge Gillott, file grinder, the person referred to
by the last witness, said one night in 1857 some
person broke the cellar grate of his house in Bramble-
street, and put down into the cellar a can of gun-
powder. Six persons were in the house at the time,
but they escaped uninjured. The house was very
much shattered by the explosion. Some time before
a man named Royston threatened to blow him up if
he did not join the Union. Royston was apprehended
on suspicion, but was discharged. He believed he
was blown up because he refused to pay to the
Union. his house was blown up 21 years ago,
and he had also been rattened. Ile had never re-
ceived any threatening letters.