The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1850-07-16 00:00:00

SERIOUS OCCURRENCE IN CHADWICK-
STREET.

During the proceedings the court became much crowded
by persons anxious to hear the particulars of a case of a
very serious character. The time having arrived for the
hearing of the case,
Inspector Johnson stepped into the witness box, and
made a long statement, from which it appeared that three
persons had been wounded on Saturday night from having
received the contents of some fire-arm, discharged from
the house of a man named Henry Wright, who then stood
in the dock to undergo an examination as to his guilt or
innocence of the act. Wright is the landlord or proprietor
of a beer-house in Chadwick-street, and is known to hold
political opinions opposed to those of the Roman Catholic
population of Ireland. The evidence of Johnson was to
the following effect :—That he was on duty in Great How-
ard-street on Friday evening, and in the execution of his
duty passed down Chadwick-street, at about a quarter be-
fore nine o'clock ; at that time the street was perfectly
quiet, and he passed to the end of Great Howard-street,
returning again to. Chadwick-street, where he found a mob
of nearly two hundred persons ; these were " Ribbon
men," and were•conducting themselves in a riotous man-
ner, threatening to break open Wright's house. The
inspector dispersed them, and cautioned them as to the

consequences of attacking any man's house, and shewing
that they were not justified in assailing the house or in-
juring the occupants, on the ground of a difference in
political opinion between such occupants and the persons
rigtoht
informedattack
is
he was appealing to. He left two police-officers in the
to uard Wright's premises. street with instruettoa.,
night meted over without the ofturrince i-jf !Inv serious
outrage, and on Saturday (the following) night, inspeetoi
him Johnson again
understood v si e
there
etrhee
was street,a p
c conspiracy
rWa y
house during the night, and if he were not protected he
shotild employ fire arms in his defence. The Inspector
took immediate steps for preventing any breach of the
peace by placing two officers before the house, whom lie
charged to keep a good look out, and to give an alarm id
case of an attack, when he would return with assistance.
Subsequently two additional officers were added to the
guard, and the inspector went to another part of his beat.
On his return to Chadwick-street, after a lapse of about
fifteen minutes, he ascertained that two or three shots had
been fired from Wright's house. and upon subsequent
inquiry he went to the Northern Hospital, where he saw
a boy from whose knee two slugs had been extracted.
Another person was lying in the hospital, who had been
injured in the legs. He was passing at the time of the
transaction, and had had no part whatever in the disturb.
ance.

Mr. Superintendent Townson produced a blunderbuss
anda horse pistol which had been fired, taken out of Wright's
house, and with him brought to the Rose-hill station.
Mr. Townson drew a charge from each of these projectiles ;
they were loaded to the muzzle with slugs and shot.
Police Constable No. 635, one of the two officers placed
to watch Wright's house on Saturday evening, stated that
he, with police-constable No. 40, were on daty before the
prisoner's house about ten o'clock on Saturday night ; a
great number of persons bad assembled before the door;
they were 4• heaving" bricks and stones through the win-
dows of Wright's house ' they completely set hialand his
comrade at defiance, and succeeded in driving them from
their position. As they were retiring a cry of " Look out
police," or something to that effect, arose, and immedi-
ately afterwards witness heard a shot fired ; he and his
brother officer ran back in the direction of the house, when
another shot was discharged from an upper room window.
In reply to questions from Mr. Rushton, the officers
stated that they were unable to state whether the premo-
nitory cry came from the house or the mob. In proof of
the violent character of the assemblage it was stated that
out of twenty panes in the windows nineteen were smashed
by missiles, This witness also stated, that when he got
back to the house the prisoner Wright was standing at his
door ; the time which elapsed between the report from
the window and witness observing Wright at his door was
not in his (witness's) opinion, sufficient to have admitted
of a person descending and taking up his position where
the prisoner was observed when the officer returned in
consequence of hearing the discharge of fire-arms.
Police Constable No. 40 stated that he met the two
officers before alluded to coming from Chadwick-street,
on Saturday night, and understanding they were in want
of assistance returned with them to Wright's house. He
heard a report as of a pistol, and immediately afterwards a
second report, simultaneously with which he perceived a
light flash from an upper window in Wright's house.
When he and his comrades arrived at the spot, Wright
was standing at his door.
The concurrent testimony of all the police-officers went
to establish the fact of the outrageous conduct of the
assailants, which, apparently, was without provocation,
as no party colours were displayed from Wright's windows,
or any other demonstration of a party description ; there
was no association held at the house, nor any party in
the house in connexion with a political club. The only
cause that could be assigned for such dastardly conduct
was, the fact of Wright having joined in the procession
on Friday, inferred from the circumstance of his alighting
from a coach at his own door on the evening of that day.
Mr. ASPINALL. the barrister, who appeared profes-
sionally for the prisoner, put a few questions to the wit-
nesses ; after which,
John Byrnes was called. This witness was described
as the most violent of the mob ; he is known to the police
also from the circumstance of having been twice in cus-
tody on charges of smuggling tobacco. He is a person
about middle age, and, having but one eye, does not
possess the most prepossessing appearance. In reply to
Mr. Rushton, he said he was employed about the docks.
He was called by a man named Sangster, whose son is
lying in the Northern Hospital, suffering from the effects
of wounds inflicted from the cause above stated. Sang-
ster asserted that he could produce a witness who would
swear that Wright was the person who fired the charge
which had resulted so seriously. This witness stated
that, at the time of the occurrence of the catastrophe, he
was standing at the entrance of the court in which he
resides, and which is divided from Wright's house only
by the width of the street. He positively swore that the
shot was fired by Wright from the window of the upper
middle room ; he further swore that he had seen Wright
in the room during the ten minutes preceding the firing
of the shot.

Mary Delany deposed to the following effect :—She
was walking along Chadwick-street, in company with the
boy Sangster, between ten and eleven o'clock on Saturday
night, when she heard the shot fired, and saw the boy re-
ceive part of the contents of the charge in his knee.
Mr. Evans, one of the surgeons of the Northern Hos-
pital, stated that he had extracted two slugs from the
boy's knee. He described the wound as a lacerated one,
and considered it dangerous. He had also examined
wounds on both legs of a gentleman of the name of
Alexander Moss, which wounds were received in the same
manner as the boy Sangster. Nor was this the least of
the mischief ; the same shot had hit a lad named Patrick
Moon on the arm. This lad, like the two preceding vic-
tims, appears to have been an innocent sufferer. .His
evidence went to show he was passing at the time of the
occurrence. As an evidence of the bitter animosity of the
" Ribandmen," Mr. Evans observed that a man had
been brought into the Hospital on Sunday with a scalp
wound, which had been inflicted on him by some of
these blood-thirsty wrett hes hecause he was seen speaking
to an Orangeman.
Mr. Rustmrs regretted that they had not been able to
induce these associations to discontinue walking in public
procession, for the law which empowered the magistracy to
put down such public demonstrations was confined to Ire-
land; it was not in operation in this town although the
town contained a larger Irish population than any town in
Ireland, with the exception of two or three. He charac-
terised the attack on Wright's house as most unjustifiable
yet he could not sanction the rash use pf firearms. Mr.
Aspinall pointed to the direct evidence of the police-offi-
cer, which went to show that Wright could not have fired
the shots ; he contrasted that evidence with the deposition
of Byrr.e, the only witness on whoae evidence a conviction
could be secured. The magistrate was inclined to the
belief that Byrne was in error, but he could
not resist evidence of so positive and direct a character
as that which had been given by this man. He should,
therefore, remand the prisoner for a week,—the time
stated by the surgeon as likely to place Mr. Moss out of
danger; the boy Sangster might be confined for a month.
An application from Mr. Aspinall for bail was refused,
as was a subsequent one from the same gentleman that
the committal should take place at once.
At an earlier period in the morning, the mother of the
boy Sangster was placed in the dock charged by Mrs.
Wright, with breaking Windows. In her defence, the
prisoner, an Irishwoman, stated that complainant's hus-
band had shot her son. She was required to pay the
amount of the damage, or be committed for one month.

LINES ON THE DEATH OF SIR ROBERT PEEL
By the Author of " Ruins of Many Lands."
(For the Liverpool Standard.)

Who are the great of earth ?
Not they who draw the red aggressive sword,
And leave upon the world their trail of gore,
Who to their fellow-men no love accord,
Still casting down what others rais'd before ;
More might is theirs than worth.
Who are the great ? declare—
Not they who at the shrine of Mammon bend,
And dedicate their energies and years
To gathering sordid gold—their being's end,
The source of all their joys, their hopes and fears ;
No lofty deed they dare.
The great are they who consecrate their powers,
Their life, their all, unto their country's weal ;
Who, though they err as mortals, scatter flowers
Of good around, all honest in their zeal ;
These are the great of earth

And thou wert great, whcse soul—earth's passing guest—
Hath just with time dissolved the mortal tie,
And launched into th' abyss such fears invest,
As the fledged eaglet from the mountain's crest
First plunges on the sky !
And yet we doubt, and scarcely deem those lips,
Late pouring eloquence, are ever still,
No more the listener's soul to fire and thrill,
That Wisdom's eye bath closed in dim eclipse.
Oh 1 Death what hest thou done ?
Could not thy dart an humbler quarry find
Than one—a Nation's hope—of giant mind ?
Thou say'st, " his sands were run ;
" The mightiest fall beneath my equal stroke,
" 1 blight the flower, and crush the mountain oak."

The bell is tolling on the summer air,
The statesman's dust the mourners ab wl - bear,
And sighs are breathed above the honoured bier
Of him each Briton held in life so deft%
Rest I noble Statesman ! rest !
Thy great renown from age to age shall ring,
Wisdom her halo o'er thy memory fling ;
But more—thy name for manly honest worth,
For virtuous deeds, shall brightly shine on earth.
Be treasured and be blest.
Oh ! if 'twill soothe a parted soul to know
What sad regrets are breath'd for him below,
Thou wilt be happy : Through this teeming land
There beats one heart, there seems one mourning band ;
The hard browed peasant bending o'er the soil,
The pale mechanic at his nightly toil,
Repeat the name no " party" e'er could bate,
Tell all they can of thee, and mourn thy fate.
From them the sympathetici chord ascends,
And but with one—the Nation's Sovereign—ends.
Oh ! brighter than that gem from Eastern lands,
The " Koh-i.noor,"* now placed into her hands,
Telling how deep tor worth her soul can feel,
Is the pure heart-wrung tear she sheds for Peel.
*Koh-i-noor, or the " Mountain of light."

The following is a good phrase, descriptive of an ener.
g icir character
wasractehroe
z but" Cromwell
SCIENTIFIC LAMPLIGHTING.—A rapid and scientific
mode of lighting and extinguishing public gasburners has
tcoamade
i hdoltdbnyosti wrialitntg o.
the strike until
been invented by a person named Villatte. The opening
of the burner of each lamp is covered with a piece of soft
iron, mounted upon a hinge. In connection with this is
a wire extending from a galvanic battery the entire length
of the service of the gaslamps, and close to the orifice of
each burner is a small slip of platina. The soft iron, be-
coming a magnet when acted upon by the electric fly* k `',V,
opens or closes the orifice according to the motion ,w
parted to it; the platina ignites when it is necessary NEI
light the lamps, and thus every lamp in a large town Ifta
be lighted simultaneously, or extinguished in the , • qt
way, by a different action on the magnetised iron.— • '• ••• At"
Correspondent of the ninth
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