The Sun.
London, England, 1842-09-19 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, SEPTEIVIBER 19, 1842

STATE of the MANUFACTURING
DISTRI CTS.
MANcnEsuat, SATUILDAY EVENING.—In the course
of yesterday afternoon, one of the persons who at-
tempted to turn out the hands at the factory of
Messrs. Morris, in Oldfield-road, Salford, died from
the wounds inflicted on him by the hands in the en-
counter. This affray seems to have produced a con-
siderable degree of exasperation amongst the turn-out
power-loom weavers and the Chartists, who plainly
assert that the unfortunate victim was a mere passive
spectator, and has met his death by unfair means; in
fact, nothing less .than the conviction of his assailants
of the crime of wilful murder will satisfy the turn-
outs. Subjoined is a report of the evidence as it was
given before the C.oroner this evening. In the town,
however, there are indications that all is not over, and
in consequence of certain reports which have reached
the authorities, it is considered necessary again to have
detachments of police and special constables in almost
cnnstant patrol through the streets:
In the surrounding
.towns matters do not wear any
better aspect, but rather the contrary,. and you may
not be surprised if next week should not again wit-
ness as extensive a suspension of labour in the mann-
facturing towns and villages of Lancashire, if not
more so than that of the 9th of August. There is
now an attempt being made to effect such a measure;
and in order to do that, deputies have left this town
for all parts of the county. Whether it will be suc-•
cessful or not, is at present of course only matter of
conjecture. At _Bolton, Blackburn, Hindley, and
several other places, the notices given by the men that
they will leave work unless the masters agree to give
the prices of 1839, expires to-night, and in some in-
stances it would terminate last night. As it is the
general determination of the masters not to give the
advance required, there will probably be a turn-out of
considerable numbers on Monday morning. In fact,
already have a large body of hands refused to work at
Bolton-le-Moors, and were this day idle.
The circumstance of the death of the man in the
infirmary has caused the appearance of a large placard
of an inflamatory tendency, emanating from the
Weavers Committee, which has been very plentifully
distributed throughout this town and Salford, headed
"Starvation and death demands justice;" and after
alluding to what the writer terms the "lying" state-
ments
rnmehetsogether, and ter Guardian,
hen alludes to
cans on the
weavers to
the
stand M
firm
the death of the party above-mentioned as follows :
"Englishmen, Irishmen, and Scotchmen !—ls this a
time to submit to the tyrants'grasp, when some of the
blood-thirsty villains in the employ of Messrs. Morris
have most brutally beat and killed poor Lyons ? It is
high time that the authorities of Salford should take
some steps to prevent the wholesale massacre which is
carried on by these fellows."
IN—

QUEST ON THE BODY OP A RIOTER.
This afternoon, at five o'clock, a respectable Jury,
consisting of gentlemen from the townships of Salford,
Pendleton, and Broughton, Was summoned by Mr.
W. S. Rutter Coroner for the Hundred of Salford, to
inquire into die circumstances of the death of Joshua
Lyons, who died from the effect of wounds inflicted
on him at the mill of Messrs. Morris, in
Oldfield-road
Salford, on Thursday morning last. The Jury, to
,
the number of 18, assembled at the King's Head Inn,
in Salford; and,having been sworn and briefly charged
by the Coroner, proceeded to the Manchester Infir-
mary to view the body. After having done so, the
following witnesses were examined :
Mr. Edward Tomlinson, house -surgeon to the Infir-
mary, being sworn, said, the deceased, Joshua Lyons,
was adMitted into the Infirmary on Thursday last,
the 15th inst., at three o'clock in the afternoon. He
was then. in a state of insensibility, and labouring
under symptoms of compressure of the brain. Wit-
ness examined him, and found a scalp wound on the
left side of the head, with protrusion and discoloura-
tion of the left eye-ball. He remained in a state of
curred on the folio wing morning at ten o'clock. This
insensibility up to the time of his death, which oc-
day (Saturday) witness had made a post mortem exa-
mination of the body. On opening the head, he
found a quantity of extravasated blood under the
scalp, and also covering the left temple. There was
also a fracture of the skull in that situation, and rup-
ture of the vessels internally, causing the infusion of a
large quantity of blood into the skull. This was
quite sufficient to account for death. There was more
blood infused into the orbit, which had caused the
protrusion of the eye-ball. The external injuries might
have been caused by a blow from a bludgeon or a
brickbat.

Rachel Wroe was next called, and she said she
lives at No. 22, Hulme-street, Oldfield-road, Salford.
Winess did not know the deceased. On Thursday
last her little boy was out in the crowd about Messrs.
Morris's., factory about half-pmteight o'clock in the
'll°ll)ing. On hearing a noise in the street witness
ran to fetch him in. When she reached near the gate
of Messra. Morris'3 factory there was a large crowd
about the gate. 'Three men went up to the deeeased
and knocked him down. They struck him with their
sticks or bludgeons. Thev also struck him after he
fell. The deceased then got up
and ran across into a
field thirty or forty- yards off. None of the parties
who struck him followed him into the field. They
all three struck him at once. A woman, who is at the
door, followed him into the field to take care of him.
They struck the deceased once before he fell, and all
of them struck him once after he fell. The deceased did
not go to kick at--the gates—he was standing at some
distance very quiet. : •
In answer to questions from several Jurors, the
witness said the three persons a
eared to strike him
about the same part of the body') At the time they
struck him he was doing nothing more than witness
was then. He had nothing in his hand, and was
standing quietly on a hea -
p of cinders. Witness did
men
not know any of the three
who attacked the de-
ceased. p.

Elizabeth Hughes stated that she was a widows re-
siding near Messrs. Morris's factor Witness heard
y.
the noise of the mob on the morning in question, and
heard some children say the snob were coming. She
went to the bottom of her yard, and saw
in Messrs. Morris's employ beating the the hands
mob. Soon
after the deceased (Lyons) came round the corner of
the factory, between the stable and an
old boiler.
He was followed by a man, who struck him with a
piece of wood over the left ear. Witness believed
they called the pieces of wood it picking sticks."
When the deceased was down, the man was about to
strike him again, when witness asked him how he
could for shame strike a man in that way ? on which
he left him. Witness then took the deceased to her
house. Ile was bleeding from a wound behind the
ear, and the blood was runnin—
g on his jacket. She
gave him some water, and he washed himself; after
which he went into the was very sick.
yard , and
After that he fainted,
and witness bathed his temples
with vinegar. When witness first saw the deceased,
he was walking towards a field, and appeared quite
insensible. Witness only saw him struck once. The
people called out that 'lt
:rigley had murdered him.
The deceased had a cap on
at the time.
The CORONER here observed that the inquiry was
likely to last a considerable time, and therefore, if the
Jury wished, he would adjourn it.
It was then agreed that the inquest should be ad-
journed till Wednesday next.
A great mass of evidence is about to be brought
forward by the power-loom weavers, with a view of ,
implicating the parties who attacked the deceased in
the crime of wilful murder. On Monday nex
(to day), they intend to
apply to the Magistrates for
warrants for their apprehension.

. .
___.
POLICE
THE T GOVERNMEN
AND • THE
MANCHESTER MAGISTRATES. •
Captain Sleigh's name - (the Assistant-Commis-
sioner of Police) having b.
-en broug the Manchester
ht into question
in connexion with the conduct
of
Justices during the disturbances of the last few days,
that gentleman has addressed a letter, of which the
following is a copy, to Sir Charles Shaw :.._.
" Sir,—My duty to the public
carryingch out your order, and the importance of
a consideration for my
official aracter, . urgeupon me
the necessity of
being released from the serious
ing in conjunction with, or followin, instructions
l'eisponsibility of act-
emanating from, either an erroneous
judlment or sug-
gested by biassed impressions. 'this request and
these observations are founded on the
following cir-
cumstances :—On the 13th inst.
the afternoon, I received informatio.that concourse
of people were assembling at -k
' about 5 o'clock in
—street,-street, in- and
around a Chartist meeting-house, and
I immediately
proceeded to that neighbourhood
witb a body. of 100
police, and, finding the report correct, and that the as-
semblage that crowded the surrouudin„
ground and
streets were addressed by a man from theivindow of the
Chartist meeting-house, who bade them stand fast, and
finding they would not be removed without force, the
police immediately dispersed them, and succeeded in
arresting 45. The prisoners were accordingly es-
corted by two strong detachments Of police ; however,
on the line of march to the Town-h ii
--a.i- When they ar-
rived at Portland-street, I observed Mr. 'Walker, Ma-
gistrate, speaking to an inspector of police, who was
on duty with the escort detachment, and on inquiring
from that officer the reason why Mr. -Walker ad-
dressed him, he answered that the Magistrate had
asked what the prisoners were taken for ; the officer
explained the nature of the occurrence, when the Ma-
prisonersgistrate retheplied, ' What is the 1
-Ise of taking them
, re is no case against them?.
cc 're
time after the same Magistra.te visited the-
lock-ups, where the prisoners had hem conveyed,
accepted bail for two, and suggested that bail should'
be taken for others, and finally said that he ' would be
absent from town and the Court-house
to-morrow,
therefore he would be out of that mess!
" On the following morning this circumstance was
reporto to me by a S
uperintendent, to whom it had
been communicated by the officer on duty at the time
at the lock-ups ; and during tha da he feline,
i by the.;
official returns, that 48 prigmers realwe l set at liberty
by the stipendiary mneistrate on their own recog-

nizances in 201. each to keep the peace for three
months, and the remaining two were bound over in
401. each( 'and 201. from two sureties, to keep the
peace for the same time, one of whom was foremost
in throwing stones at the police, and the other in ex-
citing the mob.
" I will not here comment on the above conduct or
magisterial measure, nor advert to the reason why
they are represented to you, till I explain the unac-
countable instructions and the facts by which they
were preceded and followed.
"At half-past ten o'clock on the morning of the
14th inst., information was brought to the Magis-
trates, and conveyed to me, that vast numbers of arti-
sans and weavers were assembling on the borders of
this borough, beyond the township of Beswick, that
they were armed with bludgeons, and that their in-
tentions at the time were unknown.
"Further information confirmatory of this arrived
shortly after; I therefore immediately concentrated
200 of the police in that quarter of the town, and
awaited the order of the Magistrates. Further re-
ports up to one o'clock wero continually received by
the Magistrates and transmitted to me, to the effect
that numbers were coming from Ashton to unite with
those who were meeting at the before-mentioned place.
Notwithstanding the information of these threatening
circumstances, I still remained without instructions
from the Magistrates to proceed to the ground where
the meeting was going on.; but fearing, however,
some evil consequences, I ordered out 100 of the
special constables, who were on reserve at the Town-
hall ; and when in the act of doing so I was addressed
by the Magistrate on duty, who told me he would
first go to consult the stipendiary Magistrate (who
was then at the Borough Court) about the special
constables going out to the meeting. I informed him
in reply that it was then one o'clock, and since eleven
o'clock informations to the foregoing effect had ar-
rived, and were communicated to him ; he therefore
had had three hours to consult or deliberate, and that
I should forthwith proceed with the force to the
ground; I would do my duty to protect property
and the public, he therefore might send his instruc-
tions after me.
" On arriving at the boundary of the borough, near
Beswick, having on my way united with the 200 re-
serve police previously stationed near that quarter, I
found that the reports to a very great extent had been
correct ; but on the approach by two different roads
of the force under my command, they moved off
towards Ashton, many people having appeared on the
roads, and crossing the country in considerable num-
bers ; I rode forward to Ashton, being anxious to
satisfy myself, if possible, of their intention, leaving
the police stationed within the limits of the borough.
On my return to Beswick I found, much to my asto-
nishment, that the force which I left there to stop
any body of people that might attempt to come in
that way, and in order to protect the works of Mr.
Chapel, which in the forenoon were threatened by the
mob, had been reduced by the unnecessary with.
drawal of the special constables, at the direction of
the Magistrates, although I had left 50 as a reserve at
the Town-hall ; thus leaving exposed that part of the
borough to the incursions of those who had been hold-
ing illegal meetings during the forenoon.
"Although I feel the high importance attached to
the moral influence Magistrates should possess, and
consequently am sensible of the criminality of unjustly
animadverting on their conduct, yet I conceive myself
bound, while reverting to that which I have already
stated, to direct your attention to the following facts,
which, when linked together, will leave you to draw
such conclusions and take such steps as you conceive
that justice and the public are entitled to. In the
first place, on the night of the 12th of August I waited
on the Mayor by your orders, to inform him the
police were worn out, and that the town, therefore,
was unprotected, and that I was to urge his Worship
to request of the military chief to furnish night pa-
trols, as it was impossible to say what might occur in
the present excited state. His Worship regretted
that I should have troubled him, and referred me to
the stipendiary Magistrate whom he had deputed,
and who was at the York Hotel; I accordingly
hastened there, and saw the Magistrate, in the pre-
sence of the Assistant-Adjutant-General. To the
former I made the same communication as I had to
the Mayor; his reply was, that he did not think
anything would take place, and that there was no
alternative but to leave the town as it then was.' I
replied that it was exceedingly dangerous in my
opinion, more particularly as the Riot Act had been
read during the day ; and that, at all events, I should
'main on the look out all night.
"Again, on the following day, while moving to-
wards Granby-row Field, where it was reported that
the rioters were re-assembling, with the police and
special constables, accompanied by Mr. Steward, a
Magistrate, I was ordered by you to hasten the force
forward, in order to take up an advantageous position,
which could not be attainable if the military, which
was marching on the same point parallel to us,
arrived at the fields before us. I accordingly gave
the order, but on the instant it was countermanded
by the Magistrate, who obliged the body to come
almost to a dead halt, although I explained the object
end necessity of the order. The result of this was,
that the military force halted across and before at
right angles to the civic force, and became clubbed
together, which so embarrassed both, that had a mo-
derately determined resistance taken place, the confu-.,
sion and the evil consequences might have been serious.

" Furthermore, on the 7th inst. I was requested to
attend at a meeting of the Mayor and Magistrates, in
order to account for some falsely-stated inactivity of
the police on the preceding day, which the Guardian
newspaper had represented, and on the faith of which the
Mayor remonstrated with me on the mob which the re-
port alluded to not having been dispersed. Ireplied I was
on the ground myself, and the statement was un-
founded. At the same time I requested definite in-
structions from the Mayor and Stipendiary Magis-
trate; when I was told by both that her Majesty's
proclamation of the 13th of August, and that of the
Mayor and Magistrates, were still in force, and would
be during the continuance of present circumstances,
by which alone I was to be guided, and that every
meeting should be dispersed at all hazards, and if the
assemblage; would not separate arrests were to be
made, and that the law would be enforced. On the
faith of the sincerity of those instructions I acted on
thz evening of the 13th inst. in dispersing the meet-
ing in Brown-street, and arresting 45 prisoners, all of
whom were liberated, as previously intimated, by the
Magistrate who was resolved to be out of the mess on
the 14th, I also acting on the same, when three hours
were allowed to pass without the Magistrates ordering
the borough to be protected from a re-occurrence ;
and when at the expiration of that time I moved off
on my own responsibility to afford that protection,
and to disperse, according to the proclamation and my
instructions of the 7th inst., illegal assemblages, I
was told by the Magistrate on duty, he would consult
before I was to take the special constables ; and
lastly, the withdrawal of that force, without my know-
ledge, at the Ashton road, while danger still threaten-
ed that quarter of the town. These circumstances,
united to the transactions of the night of the 12th
and the day of the 13th of August, the instructions
given to me by the Mayor and Magistrates on the
7th instant, added to other anterior occurrences of a
judicial nature, emanating from two of the before-
mentioned persons, which, although serious in them-
selves, are, in some degree, irrelevant to the present,
became imperative reasons' in honour and honesty why
I should lay theni before you for the public good as
her Majesty's Chief Commissioner of Police, and in
order that in future I may be held irresponsible by
sou and her Majesty's Government if obliged to act
in conjunction with or follow the instructions of those
in whom I cannot repose confidence."
(Signed by Captain Sleigh, and addressed to Sir C.
Shaw.)

TOTAL DESTRUCTION OF AN EXTEN-
SIVE COTTON FACTORY BY FIRE
MANCIIESIER, SATURDAY.—This morning, at' an
early hour considerable alarm was spread through the
town in c
situateoc no tsteoqnufmai
tci
lelß of
aocf
ki tfsA
ilaebrsess.irnsstg; e aeLtn,oncsokuawlnfooc
oer
ddd that
The mill is situate on the borders of
rnh el
of,
ral
namtr.
oge
use
Salford, on the edge of the Irwell, which divides the
towns of Manchester and Salford, and in a densely-
populated neighbourhood, where the streets are ex-
ceedingly confined and narrow, except the main
street, to which the factory fronted.
Soon after the arrival of the engines an immense
body of water was poured into the factory from all
six engines, but it was of no avail. It was
after this experiment that the efforts of the
police were directed to the surrounding pro-
perty, and it is fortunate that nearly a dead calm
prevailed, or the whole of Blackfriars-street would
most certainly have been consumed. It was rumoured
about that the factory had been set fire to by an in-
cendiary, but on the best inquiry that can be made at
present it is ascertained with tolerable certainty that
it was a pure accident, having originated in what is
termed the blowing-room, and is supposed to have
been caused by friction from one of the shafts. From
the basement story there is a communication from
room to room to the top of the factory, by means of a
kind of basket or tub, which is hoisted up through
trap-doors in each story. Through these places the
flame* immediately spread through the factory, and
with such astonishing speed that the workpeopfe, who
lit.d only just begun labour, were compelled to make a
pi ecipitate retreat from the spot, must of them with
tFe loss of some portion of wearing apparel. Such
was the rapidity with which the flames spread
that in little more than two hours the whole
edifice may be said to have become little better
than smoking ruins, not a vekige of the property
having been saved except the books of the con-
cern. For some time considerable alarm was ex-
perienced lest an explosion of the boilers should
talie plaeo, they having been filled with water for the
day, and it was apprended that should the fire heat
them red hot, the quantity of steam which would in
consequence be generated would cause a tremendous •