The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1840-12-18 00:00:00

ATROCIOUS MURDERATASHTON-UNDER-LYNE

(From Me Manchester Guardian.)
On Friday evening last, this town was made the scene of
one of the most atrocious and apparently deliberately-planned
murders that it has ever been our lot to record. What adds
to the atrocity of this crime is, that it was perpetrated at no
late hour, but as early as six o'clock in the evening ; nor
was it committed in any secluded spot, but near a great
turnpike-road, and within 140 yards of the centre of the
town of Ashton. The murderous act was committed upon
the premises—a timber-yard—of Mr. Richard Whitfield, a
timber-merchant, joiner and builder, and within 20 yards of
the dwellings of several respectable gentlemen. What ren-
ders the circumstances of this atrocious murder still more
harrowing is the fact, that hitherto nothing has transpired
which dan lead to any supposition save that the unfortunate
man has been murdered because he was supposed to be a
" knobstick" by some malcontent sawyers of the town or
neighbourhood. He was almost a stranger in the district,
where he had only worked about two months ; but, in order
to place the circumstances of the case before our readers in
the order of time, it is necessary to commence some time
anterior to the late murderous attempts ; for it will appear
in the sequel that there have been no fewer than three, made
at different times, during a turn-out which commenced in
October last.

appears, then, that since February, 1832, the timber
merchants, builders, and joiners of Ashton and the immedi-
ate neighbourhood, have been paying to their journeymen
sawyers higher wages by about ten per cent than those paid
in Manchester, as fixed by an agreement and list of prices
adopted by the masters and journeymen in Ashton in the year
1827 • and which has subsequently been regarded here as the
standard rate of wages. While the trade continued good and
money was plentiful, the masters in Ashton, though aware
of the disadvantages under which they had to contend, as
compared with those in the same business at Manchester,—
a distance of only six miles,—did not make any very strong
or universal complaint ; but the present commercial pressure
having acted injuriously upon the building, as upon every
other, trade in the manufacturing districts, has at length
compelled them to reduce their workmen's wages to the Man-
chester list of prices, as agreed upon in 1827, in order that
they might not be driven out of the market by their compe-
titors in neighbouring towns. The journeymen sawyers of
Ashton and the neighbourhood resisted the proposed reduc-
tion, and, overlooking the fact that employment to persons
engaged in building operations is necessarily less plentiful in
the winter months than in summer, foolishly determined to
make " a strike ;" to use their best endeavours to resist the
proposed reduction, and to obstruct the business of the em-
ployers by preventing them obtaining fresh supplies of bands.
Accordingly, in the early part of October last, the men, only
about 30 in number, in the town of Ashton, turned out. Mr.
Richard Whitfield, joiner, builder, &c., who employed saw-
yers on his premises, finding that his former workmen did
not choose to accept the reduced rate of wages, was obliged
to procure fresh hands; and, amongst others, he was applied
to by two young men, named. Benjamin Cooper and James
Coope, from Tintwistle (in Cheshire), for employment. As
their characters were found to be unexceptionable, he at once
accepted their services ; but the rate of wages at which they
agreed to work is entirely unknown to any person, except
Mr. •Whitfield and themselves. On their first commencing
work, they were soon discovered by the sawyers' union,
which meets at the house of Mr. James Whitehead, the
King's Head Inn, in the Old Square, Ashton ; and the
turn• outs, having found means to communicate with the two
Coopers, invited them to come down to their club-house, on
the first Saturday evening after they had commenced working.
The Coopers consented, and attended the club-room, where
they were treated with drink, strong efforts being made to in-
toxicate them ; and many rather pointed questions were put to
them, in order to ascertain what wages they received. They ob-
stinately declined to give any information on this subject ; and
the only satisfaction the turn-outs could obtain was from
Benjamin Cooper, who plainly told them, that, as they (the
turn-outs) had " given him a lift," (meaning that they had
taken work which he had left, when a lower rate of wages was
offered him,) they could not object to his giving them a lift"
now ; and that, as soon as he could get work in his country
(Cheshire) he would return to it. For better security, the
Coopers lodged at the house of Mrs. Wood, the Swan Inn,
at the top of Stamford-street, Ashton, on the Stalybridge
Road, as n, ,t only being nearer the premises of their employer,
but being also, as was supposed, a place more secure from the
visits of those who might be disposed to molest them. But
the turn-outs have been in the regular habit either of " pick
eting" the saw-pits and yards, or of visiting the different
saw-pits, upon various pretences ; and in the forenoon of
Friday week, the 4th instant, two turn-outs, named John
Williams, (whose real name is Williamson,) from Stalybridge,
and William Shaw, of Ashton, visited Mr. Whitfield's pre-
mises, and had some conversation with Benjamin Cooper,
who was at his work, and who is what is technically termed
the " top sawyer," being engaged above ground at the saw-pit
(whilst his companion stands below ;) and he agreed to pay
for some beer for them at his lodgings. Shaw and William-
son went there, where they were joined by the Coopers at
dinner time, and had some ale. After dinner the Coopers
went to their work ; and, in the course of the evening, were
engaged in lining (marking) a piece of timber which was about
to be sawn, when some miscreants discharged at them either
a gun or pistol, loaded with sparrow shot, which all lodged in
the boards of which the shed is formed—fortunately without
injuring either of them. The miscreants, favoured by the
darkness, immediately escaped. Mr. Whitfield, when ac-
quainted with the circumstances of this cold-blooded attempt,
made all the inquiries in his power, but nothing could be
learned respecting the dastardly assassins.
From that time, until the evening of Friday last, nothing
particular happened, when about six o'clock, the circum-
stances now to be detailed, took place. The Coopers were
just commencing work, to cross-cut a short piece of foreign
oak timber, when, without any previous notice or noise being
heard by either of them, a most terrific explosion took place
close to the side of the shed in which they were working.
The noise of the discharge resembled that of a small piece of
artillery, fired close to the spot ; and Benjamin Cooper, who
was just in the act of stepping upon the log of wood, which
had been placed upon the bearers for the purpose of being
sawn' exclaimed to James Cooper, who was in the pit below,
" Oh, lam done for !" He almost instantaneously reeled
to the end of the saw-pit; and James Cooper, who was at
first rendered insensible by the concussion, as soon as he re-
covered his senses, went to his assistance. No footsteps
were heard; but it was seen at once that some piece of fire-
arms of large calibre had been discharged through the side of
the shed, for the wood planking which formed the hord of
the shed had been blown away for the space of several inches ;
and, upon examining the opposite side of the shed, it was
found that several large slugs had entered the planks.
some of them perforated them, having been scattered in such
a way as to make it utteriy impossible_ that they ..n
WII g-piece,
kfirtnigithirnileSt finhigt'enCteigci ft -equally improbable
that they had been discharged from the barrel of a pistol. A
joiner, named Hadfield, who was at work in a shed adjoining
the saw-pit, was so alarmed at the explosion, that he had not
at first the courage to go and inquire what had been the
matter. He was soon, however, alarmed by Benjamin
Cooper, who called, to him to go and help him ; and be
sprung over his bench in the dark, and found Benjamin
Cooper sitting, wounded in several places. He was
taken to Mrs. Wood's, the Swan Inn, as soon as practicable;
and Mr. Whitfield having been sent for, he called in Mr.
Cheetham and Mr. Broadbent, surgeons, and the poor man
was examined, and his wounds probed. Two or three slugs
of large size had entered his groin, and one had penetrated,
it is stated, as far as the colon, at least two of them inflicting
mortal wounds. Upon examining the shed in which the
man had been working, it was found that one slug, about
three quarters of an ounce in weight, had passed through an
inch board, and had lodged in the roof of a wooden shed
adjoining. Cooper, as it may be supposed, mourned pite-
ously, his thoughts being directed to his poor wife and two
children, the eldest of whom is not more than about six years
of age, and his wife is again near her confinement. He ex-
claimed repeatedly that he was done for, and he was certain
he must shortly die (an opinion which the surgeons in at-
tendance considered it mere hypocrisy to contradict ; and his
continual exclamation was, " Oh ! what will become of my
poor wife and children ! gentlemen, do stab me." The poor
man lingered in great pain, his extremities being cold, until
about eight o'clock the same evening, when he expired. He
was attended in his last moments by the Rev. John Hand-
forth, curate of the parish church, and the Rev. Mr. Quirk,
his newly-appointed coadjutor, who hastened to the bedside
of the dying man the moment they heard of what had taken
place. It is impossible to conceive the consternation which
this diabolical act occasioned in the neighbourhood. The
noise occasioned by the discharge of the piece (or infernal ma-
chine) was heard all over the town • nay, it is said that it
actually shook the houses in the immediate vicinity of the spot
where it occurred ; but the most remarkable thing about the
matter is, that with the exception of Mr. Whitfield's own
men about the yard, nobody thought of inquiring into the
'ntil it was known that one of Mr. Whitfield's men
-. Mr. Whitfield, immediately after procuring the
surgeons, gave information to the police, and Newton, the
deputy constable, although labouring under serious injuries,
(inflicted upon him by a party of drunken soldiers belonging
to the 68th foot,) immediately went to the place and exami-
ned the spot where the shot had been fired. Nothing could
then be found which could afford the slightest clue to the vil-
lains who had discharged the fatal shot. The ground, a piece
of unenclosed waste, was examined ; but no one could be
found, the ground being such as to afford ample opportunity
for an immediate escape. In the course of the evening, Jas.
Lord, Esq., one of the Ashton magistrates, was informed of
the murder ; and with Mr. Henry Hall, one of the clerks to
the magistrates, attended at the police-office, where they re-
mained till a late hour. Mr. Newton, in consequence of
some suspicious circumstances, apprehended three men,
named Edward Davies, and Samuel and Henry Hardwick,
(two brothers) the secretary and the stewards of the sawyers'
union ; and Mr. Gatley, the deputy constable of Stalybridge,
apprehended John Williams. or Williamson, the party be-
fore alluded to. The police also visited the house of Mr.
Whitehead, in the Old-square, and asked both Mr. and Mrs.
Whitehead which was the box belonging to the sawyers'
union. Both said that they did not know which was the saw-
yers' box (a denial which, it is almost needless to state, was
not believed ) ; but Keys, one of the nfficers, having
left in charge of all the club boxes in the house, accurate in-
formation was eventually obtained, and the sawyers' box was
seized. It is unnecessary to state, at present, the contents
of the box, or the nature of the letters and papers found in the
possession of the secretary and in the box ' • as such statement,
prematurely xaade, might materially tend to counteract the
ends of justice.

matter, 1
was shot

We have, however, hinted that three attempts to destroy
life and property have recently been made, in the case of Mr.
Whitfield and his men. On the 25th of October last, a few
days after the commencement of the present tarn-out of
sawyers, an attempt of the most diabolical character was
made on the premises of Mr. Whitfield's dwelling-house,
which is situated near the timber-yard, upon the Stalybridge
Road. This attempt, which has not before been suffered to
transpire, Mr. Whitfield concealing it even from his own
family, was made under the following circumstances
About three o'clock in the morning of Sunday the 25th Oc-

tober, Mr. Whitfield was awakened by shouts of " murder, '
apparently close to his house ; and, in the course of a short
time afterwards, heard the watchman at the door. Upon
proceeding down stairs, he found that some miscreants had
bored a hole in the kitchen door, and had inserted the fun-
nel of a tundish, through which they had poured upwards of
two pounda of gunpowder, which had fallen upon the
kitchen floor, and more than three quarters of a pound of
gunpowder was found in a paper in the yard ; and, in addi-
tion to this, a piece of touch-paper was found lying close to
the door, and a train of gunpowder laid from the yard into
the street. The watchman stated, that he had come upon
three men with their faces blackened, concealed in Mr.
Whitfield's yard ; and, upon being disturbed in their fiend-
ish operations, they had set upon him, ill-treated him, and
escaped ; his being the cry of murder that Mr. Whitfield bad
heard. Mr. W. removed every trace of the gunpowder
from the Ilitchen and yard ; but did not then discover the
train laid thence . . .

Llch some of his neighbours
What renders this affair the more re-
.le watchman himself bad formerly been a
er, all Mr. Whitfield's private investiga-
affair proved fruitless; and, being apprehen-
_ ,ner mischief from the turn-outs, he had kept a
watch on his yard and premises, so that it would sp-
ear, save on one occasion, and' that (remarkably enough)
the very day on which the first attempt was made to shoot
the deceased, none of the turn-outs had gained admission
into the timber yard on any pretence whatever.
all the murderous attempts
,s men have been exposed ;
..ough they are ell that have come to our knowledge as oc-
curring since the commencement of the present turn-out.
Some years ago, while Mr. Whitfield was in the service of
Messrs. Bellhouse and Sons, as an agent or manager in
Ashton, some villains threw a sort of hand-grenade or canister
filled with combustibles into his house ; fortunately, without
the murderous elects which it was calculated to produce.

.kable i

morn'

.t these are not

Whitfield and