The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1842-10-14 00:00:00

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THE SPECIAL COMMISSION.

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NISI PRIUS COURT."-TUESDAY.
(Before Lord ADINGER.)
RIOT AND FELONY.

James Dolan, 22, Frederick Johnson, 16, Aaron Thorp,
18, William Hughes, 19, James Robinson, 18, John Manley,
22, and George Edge, 41, were indicted for having, on the
10th of August, at Manchester, feloniously stolen ten loaves
of bread, the property of Joseph Howarth.
The Attorney-General and Sir Gregory Lewin conducted
the prosecution. Dolan was defended by Dr. Brown ; and
Mr. Whigham appeared for Thorp and Robinson. The
other prisoners were undefended.
The ATTORNEY-GENERAL, having briefly stated the na-
ture of the case, proceeded to call witnesses.
Mr. John Scott Green, barrister-at-law, said he was in
Princess-street, at the time of the riot, and he saw the pri-
soners Dolan and Manley there. Close to the prosecutor's
shop, he heard a person in the mob call out " here is a shop."
The mob then rushed towards Mr. Howarth's : Dolan was
among the foremost of them; and three or four loaves were
thrown by men from the shop. The mob were violent and
threatening. The police came and apprehended Dolan and
Manley.
Mr. Joseph Howarth, owner of the shop, said the mob
came up at about half-past twelve o'clock, on the 10th
August, from the number of one to three hundred. They
demanded some bread, and witness gave them five or six
loaves. They seemed satisfied with what he had given them,
and in return they saluted him with cheers. Witness gave
them the bread because he was afraid they would break into
the shop. No damage was done; nor did he see any of the
prisoners there.
The JUDGE asked the Attorney-General whether he could
carry the charge of felony any further ? At present it was
not sufficient.
The ATTORNEY-GENERAL said he could not, and he
would abandon that charge.
The Jury, under the direction of the noble and learned
Judge, then acquitted all the prisoners on the indictment for
felony. The same prisoners were again placed at the bar,
and indicted for a riot. The evidence was the same as in
the last case, with the addition of the testimony of Macelroy,
a police-officer, who apprehended the prisoner Johnson with
a piece of bread in his hand. Superintendent Irwin iden-
tified Robinson, Manley, Thorpe, and Edge, as being there.
Robinson had a piece of bread in his hand.
Mr. WHIGnAm, in his address to the jury, on the part of
Thorp and Robinson, contended that they were not part of
the mob who made the demand on Mr. Howarth's, and that
there was no proof that the bread which Robinson was eating
was the bread from Mr. Howarth's shop.
Johnson, in his defence, said he was not engaged in the
mob at all, and that when he was taken he was on his way
home. He called his father, a member of the Society of
Friends, who gave him an excellent character, and stated
that he was, at that time, upon his way to his dinner.
Witnesses were next called, who gave Thorp and Robin-
son a good character.
The JUDGE, in summing up, went over the principal parts
of the case, after which the jury retired to consider their
verdict. On their return they found all the prisoners guilty,
except Frederick Johnson.
The JUDGE, at a subsequent period of the day, sentenced
Dolan, Edge, and Manley, to one year's imprisonment to hard
labour; Thorp and Robinson, to six months' imprisonment
to hard labour ; and Hughes, to three months' imprisonment
to hard labour, all in the House of Correction, at Kirkdale.
After the above case had been disposed of, the following
prisoners were placed at the bar to receive sentence :—Row-
land Davies, William Reed, Jeremiah M'Cormick, John
Platt, and William Cash, convicted of a larceny in the shop
of Mr. Shipman, of Manchester. His lordship, after ad-
dressing the prisoners in similar language to that of Kelly
and another, on the previous day, sentenced them to be
transported for the term of seven years.—The moment the
sentence was uttered, the mothers of the unfortunate young
men uttered the most piercing shrieks, and earnestly im-
plored his lordship for mercy, in which the prisoners joined,
saying they had never been guilty of any offence before.
They were then removed from the dock, but it was some
time before order was restored in the court.