The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1842-09-02 00:00:00

THE RECENT DISTURBANCES.

At Manchester all the working classes, with the excep-
tion of a portion of the spinners and power-loom weavers,
have returned to their respective occupations ; and there is
reason to believe, that the last-mentioned class of operatives,
who have been the most obstinate, will soon follow the ex-
ample of their fellow-workmen. 45 more mills are at full
work, and on Tuesday the hands in many of the mills were
partially at their posts. Only one instance of intimidation,
and that comparatively trifling, has occurred in Manchester
during this week. On Monday morning, about half-past
seven o'clock, as Mr. Superintendent Beswick was going
round his division with a number of special constables, he
observed about 50 or 50 women collected opposite Mr.
Wooley's mill, River-street, Hulme. He rode round them,
and found that they were using violent and threatening lan-
guage towards a woman named Fanny Crompton, who was
going to work at the mill. After listening to their threats
for some time, he apprehended a woman named Mary Casey,
who was the most violent, and apparently the leader of the
gathering. She was taken the same morning before D.
Maude Esq., at the Borough Court ; and, the above state-
ment having been given in evidence by Mr. Beswick, she
was ordered to find two sureties in £2O each to keep the
peace for three months, with notice of bail.

GLOSSOP.—FOUR MEN SHOT.
(From the Manchester Guardian.)
Since our last publication, this place has been the scene of
some proceedings of a more violent and lawless character
than any that had previously occurred in the neighbourhood
since the commencement of the disturbances. During the
last week, the factories of Mr. Samuel Shepley, of Brook-
field, Mr. Joseph Cooper, of Holehouse Mill, and Messrs.
Platts, of Hadfield Lodge, recommenced working with full
complements of hands. The people employed in the other
establishments in Glossop and the neighbourhood, however,
were not disposed to permit them to go on peaceably ; and
on Wednesday an attack was made, by a large mob, upon
the mill of Mr. Cooper, whose hands were driven out, and
compelled to fly in order to avoid ill-treatment. On Friday,
a similar attack was made on Mr. Shepley's factory ; but
not with the same success. Mr. Shepley, having armed some
of his workpeople, resisted the attack; and a body of special
constables coming promptly to the spot, the assailants
were beaten off. Some of the parties engaged in these
attacks being very well known, four of the ringleaders at
Mr. Cooper's mill, and three of those at Mr. Shepley's
mill were apprehended ; •and, being brought before the
the magistrates at Glossop, on Monday, they were severally
identified, and committed to Derby for. trial. After their
commitment, Mr. Cooper and his two sons, who had been
examined as witnesses against those concerned in the attack
upon Holehouse Mill, were returning home across the fields,
accompanied by one or two of their overlookers, when they
were recognised by some women, who, by their outcries,
speedily collected a mob ; and the Messrs. Cooper were per-
sued for some distance, and severely pelted with stones. Mr.
Cooper and one of his sons, and the overlookers, succeeded
in making their way into a house, where they were concealed ;
but Mr. Joseph Cooper, jun. having been knocked down by
a stone, fell into the hands of the rioters, who treated him
with the most savage barbarity, and eventually leaving him
for dead upon the ground. Indeed, we have heard that he
has sustained a fracture of the skull, and that his recovery is
considered extremely doubtful.
As the turn-outs at Glossop had found themselves unable
to turn out the hands at the factory of Mr. Samuel Shepley,
and had also experienced the inconvenience of attempting
outrages where their persons were well known, an intimation
was forwarded to the turn-outs at Ashton and Stalybridge ;
and, yesterday morning, a large body of men, headed by
some persons who are well known, proceeded in a straggling
body from those places towards Glossop, with the intention
of turning out Mr. Shepley's hands. These parties assem-
bled, to the number of four or five hundred, on the green at
Wednesough ; and, after remaining there for a short time,
proceeded towards Mr. Shepley's mill, where they arrived
between eleven and twelve o'clock. Having, from previous
experience, been convinced of the necessity of some force
being upon the premises, Mr. Shepley had caused a
number of his hands to be sworn in as special con-
stables, and these, headed by their employer, came out
of the building, and kept the rioters in check. Mr.
Shepley told the mob that he was not disposed to allow his
works to be stopped ; and, having exhibited fire-arms, told
them that he should certainly fire upon them in case they at-
tempted to enter his premises. The mob, regardless of his
threats, advanced with loud shouts. The special constables
met them outside the large door of the mill, and for some
time succeeded in keeping them at bay. At length, finding
that the mob were too numerous for them, they retreated ;
and Mr. Shepley came out, telling the mob that they cer-
tainly would be fired upon if they made any attempt upon
the premises. This seemed only to increase the fury of the
mob ; for they set to work with stones and bludgeons, to
demolish the windows. Mr. Shepley, finding that the mob
were still determined to enter the premises, ordered the con-
stables to retire into the building ; and, having loaded a
double-barrelled gun, thrust it between the large doors
and pulled the trigger. It did not, however, go off.
He tried the other barrel with a similar effect ; but,
on other guns being handed to him, he fired off the
contents of two or three, loaded with small shot, and
also a pistol loaded with ball. Persons were.seen to flinch
from each successive discharge ; and, as the shots were fired
low, it was presumed that the parties were badly wounded,
for they began to withdraw, when they found out the
determination with which the place was defended. An ex-
press was sent off to Glossop for the assistance of the mili-
tary—a company of the 58th being stationed there. A re-
quest for the assistance of the dragoons from Stalybridge
was also sent, and was complied with as soon as possible.
John Cheetham, Esq. one of the magistrates of the division,
having heard of the proceedings of the parties, went to the
spot as soon as possible; and, finding how matters stood,
succeeded for e time in keeping back the mob, who threat-
ened to pull down Mr. Shepley's mill, and murder both him
and his family. At length the mob got into the fields
round about the premises, and were about to com-
mence another attack, when the infantry appeared in
sight, and so completely terrified them, that they scam-
pered off in all directions, Such is the account that we
have heard from parties connected with Mr. ShepleY-
On the other hand, it is stated by persons who were pre-
sent with the rioters, that Mr. Shepley fired upon the
mob before they arrived upon the spot ; and, it is fur-
ther alleged, that the wounded parties were not at all
implicated in the riot. What had brought theni from
their own homes, however, or what they were doing
there, the parties did not attempt to explain.

The work-people at Ashton, on Tuesday, still remained
out.

At Rochdale, though the turmoil has nearly blown over,
a good deal of angry feeling and discontent has been left
behind.

....
There is no prospect of the dispute between the manufac-
turers and operatives, of Stockport, being brought to a close.
None of the mills, except the silk mill of Messrs. Newton of
Heaton Norris, have yet commenced work.
At Norwich, the Jacquard weavers have struck for an ad-
vance. Several of the manufacturers have agreed to give the
additional sum demanded.

STRIKE AT DUMFERMLINE.
The whole trades in Dumfermline have now struck work.
The chartists' committee have waited on the majority of the
shopkeepers, soliciting subscriptions, and deputations have
gone to country places on the same errand. On Thursday.!
public meeting was held at Crossgates, about 10,000 or 12,0uu
are said to have assembled ; and in the forenoon a great band,
of colliers marched through Dumfermline to the place 01
meeting. They had music and a flag with a figure of Justice,
with scales in equilibrie. The meeting unanimously agreed
to the suspension of labour for eight days, also to the other
resolutions adopted by a previous meeting held in the Abb'Y
Pends. Some masons wlio were engaged at a work that
could not be delayed, would not resume work till they
obtained a line from a person named Morrison, a shoemaker
(secretary to the chartist committee), that they would not be
obstructed. After getting this, they resumed work.
COLLIERS' STRIKE.

AIRDRIE, COATBRIDGE, AND HOLYTOWN.—Matters in
this district remain without alteration since our last notice.
The few works which commenced about the middle of last
week are still going on, but the great mass of the colliers and
iron-stone miners are still out. The plundering of the Po'
tatoe-fields has, as stated in our last, in a great measure
ceased, and the people are understood to be supported bY
subscriptions and by aid rendered them in some instances bY
coal masters. All fears of any breach of the peace are al-
most entirely dissipated.
RENFREWSHIRE.—We have much pleasure in stating that.
the colliers at Hurlet peaceably resumed work yesterday, after
a strike of fifteen days. We understand the colliers at Salt*
coats and neighbourhood are putting out a few coals, by wag
of working up their warning, but they are in hopes that some
arrangement will meanwhile take place. No supply has been
received from the Kilbirnie pits this week. No supply fro°
Quarrelton since Wednesday, but hopes are entertained of
speedy settlement. Mr. II oustoun has reduced his prices,
from 9s. 3d. to Bs. 9d. per waggon.—Paisley Advertiser of
Saturday.
A large meeting was attempted to be held on Saturday
the Sheriff along with the military interfered, and ordered
them to disperse. Instead of obeying, they walked across
the boundary into Perthshire, where the Sheriff's authoritY
did not extend. A requisition was in the course of signature.
yesterday (Monday) forenoon to the Provost, requesting In'
sanction to their holding a meeting, and, we believe, after
consultation with the other authorities he refused. The strike
would expire on Monday night, and it will depend on the
frame of mind the parties are in to-day, whether it will con'
tinue for another week or if they will go to work. Morrison
was apprehended late on Saturday night, or early on Sunday
morning. A rumour was spread on Sunday forenoon that an
attempt would be made by the colliers on Monday to release
him ; but whether from fear or the intervention of influential
parties in the town, we know not, but no attempt of the kind
had been made up to Monday afternoon. The reduction 0f
wages is not, we hear, the cause of the strike, as the manu-
facturers resolved last week, to continue at the old rates'
Almost all the people are idle, hundreds of them not because
they wish to be so, but because they are afraid to offend the
violent leaders who vow to take revenge on all deserters.

A letter from Christiana, in Norway, quoted by the Ham'
burgh Gazette, says—" Oldelsthing have come to the ex-
traordinary resolution of prohibiting, at the expiration of ten
years, all distillation of brandy."
-

The Russian papers say, that for the purpose of completing
the army and the navy a levy of five men out of every LON
inhabitants is ordered to be carried into effect throughout the
western half of the empire.
BRITISH ASSOCIATION.—Among the interesting novelties
in the exhibition of machines at Manchester, was an auto-
maton blacksmith, who seemed to be the neatest-handed and
best workman who ever operated on malleable iron. His
blows, though made at the rate of 650 per minute, were
quite noiseless. He converted a rough bar of iron into
cotton-mill roller, with all its required variations in diameter
and form, in .50 seconds ; and did this so correctly as to
leave little surplus metal to be removed by the turner or MO'
A round bar of 1 diameter was reduced at one heat to a
square rod of guage 29 inches long. The parent of this
automaton is a gentleman at Bolton. Another remarkable
machine was a table-clock without an escapement, toe
fingers of which, instead of progressing by steps, wen
their rounds with an uniform continuous motion. This Wee
effected by substituting for the scape-wheel and pallets
an upright axis, which protruded from the top of the
clock-case. This axis being acted on by the mainspring
(through the train), would revolve with great rapiditYs
and soon run down were it not prevented as fol-
lows :—Over the top of the case is placed (concentrically)
a glass hell of about ten inches high ; from the apex of this
hangs, by a silk thread, a wire pendulum-rod, with a bullet
at its lower-end. The axis of the clock, in turning round;
has to push this pendulum before it; and as a pendulum.roa
of determinate length requires a determinate time for its
swing, the axis cannot turn round any faster than the Pori
dulum consents to circulate by its centrifugal force; and, 1'
the length of the latter be adjusted so as to perform its gYre"
tion in a second, it becomes the governer of the rate of the
clock, in the same way that the long pendulum does in ordi-
nary timepieces. It is probable that this construction 1118/
present some drawbacks to counterbalance the advantage
gained by the absence of the escapement and its friction, en
that it may not be available for the higher purposes of Ho-
rology;
but it may, nevertheless, be a good one for other!'
and is certainly an elegant one for chimney-piece and table
clocks. -T h e office-bearers for 1843 are—Earl Rosse,
&dont ; Earl of Listowel, Lord Adair, Sir William Ale-
rnilton, and Professor Rphinson, (Armagh,) Vice-Presidents;
James Roche, Esq., Local Treasurer; Professor StevellYj
Rev. Joseph Carson, F.T.C.D. Dr. W. C. Taylor, an
William Keleher, Esq., Local Secretaries.