The Sun.
London, England, 1859-12-31 00:00:00

eh belonging to the Tower Hamlets Militia on
his head. He seemed in an excited state, and to
have been drinking, though not drunk. There were
no men in my company drunk at the time. I did
not see Hatton with a rifle, though he was confined
afterwards for having a loaded rifle by his bed, and
10 rounds of loose ammunition in his pockets.
Major Adams, of the Tower Hamlets Militia,
said he wished to add to his evidence of yesterday,
with regard to the one bullet mark found through
a window on the side occupied by the 24th, that a
hole had been found in one of the supports in the
upper gallery exactly corresponding with the hole
in the window, thus clearly skewing that the ball
proceeded fioni the inside of the room and was fired
from the 24th's side of the barracks into the quar-
ters of the Tower Hamlets Militia. He wished to
add, also, that up to Christmas night last there had
never been the slightest ill-feeling between the two
regiments;; he had never even heard of any existing
between the regular regiments and the Militia.
Lieutenant and Adjutant R. N. Surplice, of the
24th Regiment, said,—On Christmas evening last I
was messing with the other officers when, a little
before eight o'clock, an orderly came from the bar-
racks and said there was a disturbance going on be-
tween our men and the Militia. I went imme-
diately to the barracks, and on my way there I
heard a shot fired. Seeing it was so serious I went
back to the mess and called out the captain and
subaltern of the day, at the same time informing
the commanding officer, Major Finch, of the facts.
I again returned to the barracks, and went at once
to the far end of the middle gallery on our side,
where there was the greatest confusion, and where
several shots were being fired. I saw no man in
the act of firing, though I saw several men with
rifles in their hands, and one man loading. I can-
not identify any one of those men ; the night was
too dark. I took several rifles away from men in
the room I went to at the end of the
.gallery, though
I cannot mention the name of a single man from
whom I took a rifle. I did not identify them at the
time, though I knew they belonged to No. 4 com-
pany. I then went to the room above this, where
firing was also going on. Some men were outside
in the gallery, and some inside in the room. I took
a rifle away from a man in that room. I do not
know the name of that man either. I cannot say
whether or not it had been discharged. I did not
examine it at the time, as I wanted to get away as
many weapons as I could from the men whom I
saw with them. In this way I myself col-
lected five or six rifles, and ordered the pay-ser-
geants to collect the whole of the ammunition from
the men, which was at once done, and it was placed
under the charge of the captain and subaltern of the
day. The next day it was sent down to the maga-
zine in blankets. All the rifles taken from the men
that night are still in the same state under the
charge of a guard. Those rifles have numbers which
at once show the names of the men to whom they
belong, but nothing has yet been done to find the
names of the privates. Any man might have taken
the rifle of another man and fired it. Any private
may do so with another's rifle, as they are all placed
indiscriminately in one rack. The names, therefore,
of the men to whom these rifles belonged might not
afford any clue to those who really used them. I
saw one flash from the Militia side, but cannot say
who fired it.
Sergeant George Sparkes, of the 24th Regiment,
said he was on duty on Christmas-day at the can-
teen of the West Block barracks from 2 o'clock in
the afternoon till 6 o'clock in the evening. There
were parties of the King's Own and 24th in the
canteen all day from the time it was opened. At
half-past 6 o'clock in the evening he was sent for
by Corporal Elisson, and found a great disturbance
going on in the canteen, where the men were fight-
ing in twe parties—the Militia against the 24th.
Witness separated them, and turned out those who
were fighting most. At half-past 7 o'clock witness
was again sent for with the guard. He could not
recognise any of the men who were quarrelling
then, nor recollect if Hatton, Williams, or Lord
were among them. At half-past 7 o'clock there
was a desperate fight again between the Tower
Hamlets and the 24th. The room was thronged
with men and all were fighting. Several of the
Militiamen said as the guard at last turned them
out, that if they could not fight there they would
in the barracks, to which the 24th replied they did
not care where they " had it out." Disturbances
are very frequent in tie canteens, so the row was
nothing unusual. When the firing commenced wit-
ness went to the centre gallery and saw some shots
fired from the 24th side. There had often quarrels
arisen between the men simply because one belonged
to one regiment and one to another.
Barrack-Sergeant James Tunnicliffe was next
examined, but his evidence went only to prove the
amount of dilapidation done on both sides to the
buildings.
The inquiry was at this stage adjourned to procure
attendance of two witnesses of the 24th, who
were wanted and who were absent.
After an interval of about an hour one of them,
Corporal Howard, was forthcoming. He said he
was present when the riot took place in the West
Block last Christmas night. He went with Ser-
geant Banks to the second gallery, where witness's
company was. He went to get the men to put
back Their rifles. When this was being done he
saw a rifle on a bed and took it up, when the man
Wm. Lord tried to take it from him, saying as he
did so "I am charged, lam charged ! which he
understood to mean that the rifle was loaded. He
examined the piece and found it was charged, upon
which he ordered Lord to the guard-room' and
gave the rifle to Sergeant Banks. After Lord
was taken to the guard-room he searched his bed,
where he found a quantity of loose ball ammunition
with the caps loose, all of which he gave to the
sergeant. He then searched Lord's pouch, and
found that his ball ammunition was deficient.
Heard the first shot fired just as the non-commis-
sioned officers were summoned by the bugle call.
That shot came from the militia side at the further
end of the top landing, but witness could see no
man. He never saw but that one flash on that
side, and had not since been to see if there was any
bullet mark about the place where the shot was
aimed. He was with Sergeant Banks during the
whole time the firing continued, but never saw two
men fire from the Militia side. Non-commissioned
officers were sounded tol fall in just as the riot
commenced, and did not return till the firing began.
Major Finch, in command of the 2d battalion of
the 24th, proved that he had examined the rifles
taken from his men on the night of the 25th, and
had found 14 loaded. There were also five rifles
unloaded, but which had been fired. The ammuni-
tion had also been examined by the Quartermaster,
who had found 32 rounds deficient. He had no
doubt that among the 14 loaded rifles some of them
had been fired before they were last loaded.
With this witness the evidence concluded, and
The Coroner proceeded, in brief terms, to point
out the chief facts of the case to the jury, He said
that, unsatisfactory and meagre as was the evidence
before them, it was all they seemed likely to be able
to get. The two questions which the jury had now
to consider were—first, whether the deceased,
James King, was wilfully murdered, and with the
deliberate intention to kill him, or whether he was
feloniously slain by chance medley daring the
struggle and fighting which took place that night,
when it might fairly be supposed that the injuries
were inflicted in heat of blood and without delibe-
rate intention of killing any one. The next ques-
tion for them (and a most difficult question it would
be upon which to arrive at any decision) was, to
whose hand the fatal wound was to be attributed.
On this point there was really no evidence at all,
and the evidence relating to the firing itself was of
the most contradictory character possible. One set
of witnesses swore most distinctly that the firing
was equally fierce on both sides, while the others as
positively denied that any shots had ever come from
the Militia side at all, and swore they were entirely
confined to the quarters of the 24th. It would, per-
haps, be impossible to expect that among the non-
commissioned officers and men who had given evi-
dence before them some would not be biassed by a
wish to favour or shield their own regiment, and
throw the blame on their opponents. But, even
making allowance for the existence of such a feeling,
the evidence was still in the highest degree unsatis-
factory. One witness, named Banks, a sergeant of
the 24th, swore that many shots were fired from the
Militia, and that he in fact had seen two of them
fire at the same time. In the face of this testimony
they had the plain fact that all the rifles of the
Militia, were found elean, and their complement of
ball ammunition complete. Other portions of this
witness's testimony had also been set aside, but it
was entirely for the jury to say what weight they
chose to attach to it. They had seen the wit-
nesses giving evidence ; they had given the ut-
most attention to all they had to say, and none
could be more competent than themselves to decide
upon the value to be attached to those conflicting
statements. The Coroner then proceeded to read
over the evidence of the chief witnesses, pointing
out the facts, and commenting upon them as he
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the individual who had fired the fatal shot. The
cause of quarrel, from the violence with which it
raged, would seem to have been deep and bitter;
yet they were unable to find a single witness who
knew anything about it, and it must have struck
the jury as a remarkable fact, that not one of the
witnesses called before them could identify a single
one of the many comrades with whom they had
passed the greater part of the day in the canteen.
'I he whole facts of the case were before the jury,
and in coming to their conclusion he was sure they
would feel that the whole disturbance had been
quelled with the utmost promptitude, and that, in
fact, the officers seemed to have done their very