The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1842-02-18 00:00:00

ALARMING ACCIDENT,

On Friday last, during the sitting of the Rev. Thos. Airey
and the Rev. John Sedgwick, magistrates for Sedberg, in the
West Riding of the county of York, and on hearing a ease of
assault closely bordering on rape, committed on a youngfe-
male of the name of Blades, by five young mer
portion of the floor of the offic

the middle

gave way, precipitating 150
- brutal

individuals to a depth of 20 feet. It appears that th
case of assault had created the most lively disgust and indig-
ighbourhood. and had brought together a large

nation in th

concourse of 1
tion. The of
The office

) listen to the results of the investiga-

luring the time was crowded to excess
of larg

Las recently been erected,

niensions, and has t

n chiefly occupied for the meeting of

oard of guardians, and othe

purposes, and was considered in every respect substantial and
eligible. The crowd, as the Rev. Thomas Airey was about
to pronounce judgment on the delinquents, pushed forward
to the centre of the office, when the middle beam of the
building gave way with a heavy crash. As might naturally
be expected, the greatest terror and alarm prevailed for the
self-preservation of those within the falling pile, who, as it
was then supposed, were about to be hurried to immediate
destruction by falling into the opening chasm below. The
shrieks of the vast multitude at this moment were heart-
rending and appalling in the extreme, every one expecting to
be launched into eternity. As soon as the accident became
spread the inhabitants of the town were aroused, and the most
praiseworthy assistance rendered to rescue the unfortunate
individuals from an untimely grave. In the end, however,
it was found that human life had not fallen a sacrifice to the
sad and melancholy catastrophe, although several were so se-
verely injured as to leave litle hope of their recovery. Amongst
those was a man of the name of Christopher Gosling, whose
right thigh was broken in three places, whilst his other leg was
dreadfully fractured, and he was taken from the ruins in a
state of insensibility. One of the parties also, who was
charged with the assault on the female Blades, had several
deadly cuts on his head, and his recovery is at present des-
paired of ; twenty others were so dreadfully hurt as to cause
apprehensions of their ultimate restoration to health and
strength. As is generally the case wren accidents of this
nature occur, there are some who, although placed in the
most dangerous predicaments, providentially escape without
suffering those casualties which seem to be entailed upon
others. A more striking instance of this sort never occurred
than in the case of Mr. Smith, of Sedberg, who was sitting
close by the magistrates at the time when the melancholy
occurrence took place. Two of the feet of the chair upon
which he was sitting were on the part of the building which
fell, and the opposite feet on the other part. Mr. Smith felt
a giving inclination, and had the presence of mind to lean in
a contrary direction, and thus saved himself from the im-
pending confusion, whilst Mr. Sutton, who sat next to him,
was carried away in the common crash. Mr. Kettlewell,
innkeeper, of Seldberg, on falling, seized the magistrates'
bench with both hands, from which he continued suspended
till he was released, after a lapse of three quarters of an hour,
and probably through the dread of being buried in the ruins,
held on with an iron grasp that was with the greatest diffi-
culty loosened by .his extricators. That part of the office
upon which the magistrates were sitting was supported by
other beams, and did not fall, consequently they and those
around them did not sustain any injury. although dreadfully
alarmed. Several other persons escaped, who were left sit-
ting upon the window seats.
The loss will be very heavy on Mr. Taylor, of the Black
Bull inn, Sedberg, who, besides being proprietor of the
building, had two carriages, with other minor vehicles, de-
stroyed.

HOW TO GET UP AN

ANTI-CORN-LAW

PETITION

(From Mr. FeiTand's Speech in the House of Commons on

Monday.)

In his (Mr. Ferrand's) own neighbourhood he had made
some inquiries into the state of trade, and he would call the
attention of the house to a placard dated the Bth of May,
1841. In the commencement of that month (when her Ma-
jesty's late government were tottering to their fall) a circular
was issued throughout the country calling on their friends to
agitate for a fixed duty on corn. One of these circulars found
its way to Bingley, and a meeting of the land and mill-owners,
and other persons interested in trade, was held in that town,
William Ellis, Esq., in the chair. It was then stated that
the stocking and woollen trade carried on in the parish had
been in a most depressed state for the last three or four
years ; that such depression had reduced to poverty and dis-
tress great numbers of the working classes, who were wander-
ing through the day in search of work in a state of miserable
despondency ; that this was to be attributed to the corn-laws.
The petition, which was of considerable length, contained a
vast quantity of the phrases of the Anti-Corn-Law League.
(Laughter.) There were thirteen signatures attached to this
petition, one copy of which was transmitted to the House of
.Commons, another to the House of Lords, and a third to
the Secretary of State for the Home Department, to be used
by him in a certain quarter in order to obtain a dissolution
of parliament. (Laughter.) The chairman of that meeting
had realised a large sum of money, and purchased a mill, as
well as considerable landed property ; and during the last
three or four years, when the cotton and worsted trade were
said to be in such a depressed state, be had erected one of the
largest mills in the country and taken another. The second
signature was that of a gentleman, a member of a firm which
during the last 25 or 30 years had been running four very
lsrge cotton-mills ; they had bought estates worth £lB,OOO
a year. They were possessed of an income of £25,000 a year,
and were still proceeding in the purchase of property, and
the accumulation of wealth. The next signature was that of
a person who was a linendraper 30 years ago, but who, during
the last three or four years, bad purchased one mill and ta-
ken two more, which were fitted up with power-looms. This
person was now carrying on what in Yorkshire was called "a
rattling trade." (Loud laughter.) The fourth on the list
was an operative paper-maker 12 years ago, but he had, du-
ring the last three or four years, purchased one of the largest
mills in the county, some landed estates, kept his carriage
and pair, and lived in " rattling " style. (Continued laugh-
ter.) The fifth signature was that of a manufacturer, who
during 20 years had made £40,000 or £50,000 in the worsted
trade, and during the time that trade was so deeply depressed
he erected one of the largest cotton mills, and fitted ►t with
Rower-looms. The sixth was a grocer in the town, who had
accumulated a very nice income, and educated his family in
first-rate style. This gentleman happened to be a dissenter,
and to prove his hatred of the church he bad brought up one
of his sons to enter it and receive a little of its wool. (Laugh-
ter.) The next individual on the list three or four years
ago purchased a very large mill in the parish, and a conside-
rable' quantity of land surrounding it. The mill was fitted up
with power looms, and he also was carrying on a " rattling"
trade. (Laugher.) Then came the signature of a manufac-
turer who had fitted up his mil`► with power-looms, and that
of a person who had made a large fortnne in trade and then
retired from it. The remaining signatures were those of per-
sons in some degree connected with those parties whom he
had already mentioned. (Hear, hear, and laughter.) He
wished this was the only matter connected with the letter
to which he bad referred. But he would now mention a fact
which would prevent hon. members fromperying. " hear,
hear," so readily. The chairman of that meeting, the man
who placarded the parish of Bingley with these resolutions,
pointing out the landed proprietors as the persons who had
brought misery and distress on the workpeople ; this man,
at the time he occupied the chair, was on the point of taking
a mill. (Loud laughter.) Soon afterwards that mill was
fitted up with power-looms. But did that gentleman go
into the market-place and say to the people, " Why stand
ye idle all the day long? Why eat ye the bread of idleness?
Why do you not come into my mill and work ?" He did
not do that, but he went into the county of Lancaster, where
that infamous conspiracy existed between the poor law com-
missioners and the cotton spinners for the purpose of equa-
lising wages, and reducing the 10 per cent. that had been
advanced upon the wages of the poor weavers. He went
there and picked up a large number of poor families, who
had been reduced to such a state of misery and distress by
their former employers that they were glad to eat their food
from off their dungh►lls—he brought these poor people down
to the town of Bingley there to amass another fortune from
their sinews in another mill. (Hear, hear.) He forgot the
claims of the working classes of Bingley—he forgot those
men whom he had excited to a pitch of desperation—he for-
got that he along with other manufacturers had reared and
bred them in the parish—he cast them off, and they were
"now in a state of the utmost wretchedness—he had left them
to " wander through the day in search of work in a state of
miserable despondency."