The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1842-08-19 00:00:00

HALIFAX.

(FromWednesday'sManchester Gaurdian,Second Edition.)
Last night a rumour was very prevalent in this town, to
the effect that a party of military had been overpowered by
the mob, and deprived of their arms. Not being abletto
trace this rumour to any authentic source, we did not think
proper to allude to it, although we found it credited by some
of the civil and military authorities. It now appears, that
although the report in question was untrue, there had been
serious collisions between the military and the rioters, in
which both bad suffered ; and that the loss of life on the part
of the latter had been rather serious. We subjoin such par-
ticulars as we have been able to collect from private letters,
and other sources of information.
" Sowerby Bridge, 16th August.
" Halifax is all in commotion, and the mob is both des-
perate and determined their proceedings. Twelve of the
military went with two omnibuses, conveying about fifteen or
sixteen prisoners to the railway station at Elland (to be sent
thence to Wakefield house of correction,)and on their return
were met by the mob, which attacked them in a most furious
manner, and wounded an officer, who is now lying danger-
ously ill at Elland, and four privates, whom they have con-
veyed to Halifax in a very precarious state : the authorities
have sent off two expresses for additional military force, one
to Leeds and one to Manchester."

Another letter, also of the 16th, states, " The mob and
soldiers have had several skirmishes; a good deal of firing,
and some loss of life ; but, though on the spot, nothing po -
sitive can be ascertained. The railway omnibus was at-
tacked, and almost every passenger hurt.—Tuesday Evening.
The report of the deaths ranges from three to twelve."
A third letter contains the following :
" Northgate Hotel, Halifax, August 16,
Five o'Clock, p.m.
" I got here last night, and have been completely a priso-
ner; for it would have been dangerous to go out. This inn
is the head-quarters for the military, and never have I wit-
nessed such dreadful scenes as I have done to-day. I have
seen many a poor fellow shot this day ! While lam writing
this, five have just been brought in wounded; two of whom
have just breathed their last! Several of the soldiers are
dreadfully cut. Where I am I can nearly see all that is
doing."

" Halifax, August 15, 1842.
" I arrived here this morning minus a hat, and with a se-
vere wound on the left side of the head, a black eye, a
wounded leg and shoulder. The omnibus I was in was at-
tacked by a mob at the time some soldiers were passing ; and
such a shower of stones I never saw before. lam thankful
I escaped with life. The omnibus was smashed."
"I beg to add, to the reverse of this sheet, that my gig
was this morning taken from me on the road, to convey
wounded soldiers, whilst I walked by the side, leading my
horse, 'midst a shower of from lib. to 61b. stones. This is a
most wretched state of affairs."

We have seen a gentleman who was on a commercial jour-
ney, but finding the neighbourhood in so disturbed a stat
he deemed it most prudent to return to Manchester, whie
he did by railway on Tuesday evening, leaving the Sowerby
Bridge Station at eight o'clock. He says it was there stated,
that the soldiers had shot six of the rioters at Halifax, and a
respectable person told him he had seen four of the corpses
lying near the Northgate Bridge. This was about three
O'clock in the afternoon.—A clergyman who had just left
Halifax, corroborated this statement, and said, that when he
left that town, the soldiers were re-loading their pieces in the
streets. Another passenger in the train, had made his escape
from the range of the soldiers' guns by climbing over a high
wall into a timber yard.—Another passenger stated, that he
was going from Huddersfield to Halifax, and went by the
omnibus from Elland to the latter town, when the mob at-
tacked the omnibus ; every passenger in which was much
hurt by stones, brick-bats, and other missiles. This passen-
ger had received two lacerated wounds on his head ; and
his thigh had also been severely wounded by a sharp
stone. It was bandaged and bleeding profusely when
he got into the train. He states that the omnibus was
broken to pieces. Another account was, that as a
detachment of the Eleventh Hussars were conveying a
number of prisoners from Halifax to the Elland Station,
they were very furiously attacked by a large mob, armed with
bludgeons, and throwing showers of stones and brickbats ;
that the mob succeeded in rescuing the prisoners ; two of the
the hussars were knocked off their horses, and, it was said,
had been captured by the mob : and, according to a report
at Sowerby Bridge, they were stripped by the rioters ; but it
was not known what had become of them. Their horses
were at Sowerby Bridge, both much wounded by missiles ;
and one was in a dying state when the train left. [With
respect to this version of the matter, we have little doubt
that it was founded upon the fact of two wounded horses
being at Sowerby Rridge. The affair is, no doubt, the one
which occurred, not as the prisoners on their way to Elland
but as the omnibus and its escort were returning to Halifax.]
—Another railway passenger said, that, before he left Halifax,
he had seen two of the corpses. A musket ball had passed
through the body of one man,:and the other had been killed
by a bayonet thrust, which had passed quite through the
neck. The mob, on leaving Halifax in the evening, cried
out in the streets, " We are coming again to-morrow, lads,
and we'll arm ; we may as weel arm as th' soldiers." As the
train left, large numbers of people were seen proceeding
across the country from Halifax and Sowerby Bridge in the
direction of Blackstone Edge ; where, it was said, they in-
tended to lie out out all night.