The Liverpool Standard, and General Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1854-12-19 00:00:00

THE COLLIERY DISPU TES AT WIGAN

James Gidlow, colliery proprietor, Arley-hall, near
Wigan, who surrendered on bail, was indicted for violently
assaulting Mary M. Kenyon. Mr. Sergeant Wilkins and
Mr. Blair appeared to prosecute, and Mr. Monk defended.
The action was well known to have arisen from certain
disputes between the prisoner and the Earl of Crawford,
who own adjoining estates. There was a second indict-
ment against Mr. Gidlow and two other persons, on
another charge, arising out of the same circumstances.
With the assent of the under-sheriff, the prisoner was not
placed in the felon's dock, but was accommodated at the
attorneys' table.
Sergeant Wilkins, in stating the case, said that the pro-
secutrix, Mary Margaret Kenyon, was the wife of a collier
in the employ of Lord Crawford. The defendant was Mr.
James Gidlow, a gentleman until lately engaged in the ma-
nufacture of cotton. He had recently purchased an estate,
the Arley-hall estate, contiguous tothe estate of Lord Craw-
ford. Some complaints had been made in this case that
this gentleman had not been placed before the magistrates,
but that, instead of the usual course, a bill of indictment
had been preferred before the grand jury at the close of
last assizes. But he, the learned sergeant, must say that
everthing appeared to have been done by the attorney for
the prosecution to render him acquainted with all the par-
ticulars of the proceedings taken in the case. In July last
the attorney for the prosecution sent the defendant a letter,
informing him that a bill of indictment had been taken out
against him, and proceedings were entered into in accord-
ance with this notice. If he, the learned sergeant, was well
instructed, the defendant James Gidlow appeared to have
acted with great harshness towards the prosecutrix,
in defence, he must admit, of what he (the defendant) sup-
posed to be a right of his. Supposing this woman was a
trespasser on Mr. Gidlow's land, he must be told that
there was a proper course to obtain redress, and that he
must not take the law into his own hands. It appears
there has been a well near Arley-hall, which for the last
30 years had been used by the cottagers of the neighbour-
hood to obtain a supply of water, without any one inter-
fering. On the morning of the sth of August the prose-
cutrix went to the well to obtain her daily supply. The
road to the well is a highroad. She was not trespassing,
damaging any herbage, interfering with any fences, or
doing anything, it appeared to him (the learned sergeant),
of which Mr. Gidlow had any cause to complain. He in-
tercepted her on the road, and in answer to his questions,
she told him that she was going for water. He told her
she must not go, when she replied that she must have
water for her children. He threatened that if she tres-
passed upon his property he would remove her; he went
and laid hold of her, seized a couple of cans, and wished
to wrench them from her hands. She said she would
have water, and then, she says, he " picked" her—a pecu-
liar expression, which the gentlemen of the jury would
no doubt see the force of—he picked her down, got
hold of the handle of her sling can, and dragged
her for several yards along the road. She said to
him. " Well, if I am not to get water in future,
let me have ,some this morning, and then I shall
not have to go for any until Monday." He said if
she died upon the spot she should not have a drop of
water. He subsequently took out a knife, not for the
purpose of using it against her, however, cut a stick
from the hedge, and beat her upon the head and hands,
until, in the words of a medical man, they were in a very
shocking state. She was in such a weak state from the
effects of this attack, that she lay on the side of the road,
and was seen by several persons lying there. Whether
the poor people of the neighbourhood had a right to get
water from the well, would, no doubt, have to be decided
in another court, on some future day. The question for
the jury was, "aye," or "no." Had Mr. Gidlow been
guilty of a violent and unnecessary assault ? He, the
learned sergeant, had no doubt, if his instructions were
correct, that he had. One would have supposed that if it
had been this poor woman's husband, instead of herself,
he would scarcely have dared to have acted so violently ;
and he hoped the jury would, by their verdict, tell the
prisoner that he could not be allowed with impunity to
commit this unmanly and cowardly assault on a defence-
less woman. The learned sergeant then called the prose-
cutrix,

Mary Margaret Kenyon, wife of Thomas Kenyon, a
collier in Lord Crawford's employ.—On Saturday morning,
the 6th August, went from home towards the Arley well.
The way is along the canal bank, and past Mr. William
Gidlow's stables. There is a footpath all the way to the well.
Had a sling-can and a big can with her. Near the canal
bridge passed the orchard pit, and saw Mr. James Gidlow
there. [Plan of the property put in.]
His Lordship asked Mr. Monk what was the point of
this case ?

_ .
Mr. Monk replied that it was the right of way to the
well, and right to the well itself ; also, if the right of well
was established, whether unnecessary violence was used.
Sergeant Wilkins, in answer to his Lordship, said he
was willing to allow the right of way to be assumed for
the present, and rest his case upon the question of unne-
cessary violence. _

Exaininationcontinued.—Saw a cart loading. Mr.
Gidlow left the cart and followed me, asking me was I
going for water ? I said " Yes." He said, " Are you
going for my water ?" I said "I am going to Arley
well." Mr. Gidlow said " I should have no water there
this morning." I said " I must have water this morning,
and then I should not have to come again until Monday
morning." He followed me to the hall gate, and said I
should not have any water : asked me my name, which I
refused to give. He said " Mr. Peace has sent you to be
my master, but I will be Mr. Peace's master, and you shall
have no water on my land." Mr. Gidlow, in a kind
of splutter, got before me and said, I must go no fur-
ther : I said I must have water for my family, that I
wanted the sling-can filled for a cripple girl, and the.large
can for myself. He again asked me for my name, and
that of the little man that came with me on Wednesday
night, but I refused to tell him. He came up to me, and
got hold of my can, saying, " You might as well take the
can into the hail and fill it in the pantry upon the table,
as come to take my water." He dashed the can against
the rails, driving in its side ; I took up the can, and set
off to go to the well whether or not. He said, "You will
have water, then, whether or not, but I'll kick you if you
don't go home." He then picked me down, and dragged me
by the sling-can and by one hand,on my back and side, back
to the cart-road. My top linsey petticoat was torn to pieces.
He let me down, and banged me to the floor. I got up
and went back. He said, Will you go home ?" but I said
No, I'll have water before Igo home ?" Mr. Gidlow
then said, "If you don't go home, send for the police."

I told him that I must have water, as there was no-
where else to get it. He said to me, " You ill-looking
villain, if you were dying you should not have water,"
and he dragged me down on to the ground again. He
then cut some bramble boughs, and put them with the
others. I then took off to go for water. Mr. Gidlow
came back with a small stick in his right hand, and a
small knife in his left. He got hold of the sling can, and
hove up his foot to kick my hand from the can handle.