Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1886-02-09
An Immense C0ncOurse Of Unem-
plOyed WOrkmen and So.
cialiStS.
Ahe MOD in Possession Of Nearly
all the Thoroughfare
Inc Police Powerless to OueII the
Disturbance - Fifty Thousand
Persons Estimated TO Have
Been in the Riot.
LONDON, Feb. s.

ihe STARVING mechanics of London MONDAY
neio mass meeting in the square around
the Nelson monument, which resulted as fol
lows. Inc proceedings were opened with ar
asSemblage of 10000 men.
Inc socallstic element of London greatly
predomlnated in the crowd, which was also
managed by well-known socialist, and ex.
traordlnary vigilance was ordered to preserve
peace at all hazards. Conspicuous among
the leaders of the multitude was Mr.. Burns
VINO ran as the socialistic candidate in Not.
tlngham in the recent election. He sneered
at the police and acted generally as if he
wished to bring about conflict between
them and the people. Finally, he ascended
the pedestal of the Nelson column for the pur.
pose OF delivering harangue. He was well
aware that this act would not be tolerated
and an officer ordered him to get down. This
he refused to do, appealing to the crowd to
resist interference with the exercise of popu-
lar rights. The officers, however, were de.
termin-d and they pushed their way through
the excited and surging mass of humanity and
by force moved Burns from the pedestal.
| Burns was then removed some distance
| from the position he had attempted to occupy.
He became emboldened by the cries of the
throng and made desperate attempt to re-
cover his ground. He was so etfectually
helped by the mob that the officers on the
street were brushed out of the way. Burns
quickly reascended the pedestal accompanied
by number of other socialist leaders. Burns
bore red flag and he waved it to the assem-
blage as signal of his triumph over the au-
thorities. He was greeted with deafening
shouts, repeated again and again.
Burns now leisurely finished his address,
then read wordy resolution. This denounced
tho Quthnrs nf tha diStra in Tn nd
demanded Parliament should start public
works to give employment and bread to
thousands of deserving men who are out of
work through no fault of their own, but be-
cause of bad government The resolution de-
clared it was the duty of the government to
afford every facility for the employment of
British capital at home for the British peo-
pie and to give British enterprise the prefer
ence over foreign. and asserted that the time
had arrived for Parliament to earnestly leg
islate for the relief of the depression in Eng
lish agricultural districts. The resolutions
also demand the immediate appointment of a
minister of commerce and a minister of agri-
culture, and concluded with the resolution
that copies should be forwarded to Gladstone,
Lord Salisbury, Mr.. Parnell and the board of
public works.
The reading of the resolution was accom-
panied by fierce comment and short explain,
at)ry speeches by various orators who stood
with Burns. Some of these orators went so
far as to warn the government that although
the starving mechanics OF London were now
attempting to draw attention to their needs by
quiet and peaceful agitation, they were bound
to get bread and would get it by attacking
bakers shops next, if the government did not
ccme to their relief. Burns, himself, in one
ot those si1a snaaches dppounced the Dres
ent House of Commons as a body of land
| lords and crushers, for whom hanging was
too good. He also declared that the people
| had assembled to summon Parliament to
| Immediately relieve the distress of the Brit
ish working men, that the people wanted the
question settled at once and peacefully il
possible, otherwise trouble was inevitable.
| All this so aggravated the excitement of
| the throng about that the police formed with
increasing force and made another assault
They succeeded in forcing their way up tC
| the pedestal.
They reached this point just as the resolu
tions, which had already been offered and
seconded, were about to be submitted. They
ordered the proceedings discontinued and
dragged Burns and his colleagues down by
force and drove them from the PEDESTAL Ii
was evident Burns expected that the applca-
ton of force to him would precipitate riot
and it was also apparent that the officers i'm
mediately engaged in removing the orators
feared an attack, but the men composing the
mob contented itself for the time by hootinG
at the police aud smothering them with gar
bage and ofial. The officers behaved admir-
bly under the abuse and offered no resent
ment.
The mob split up into many divisions by
/ ho;p forae1 dawn yariOus nv tht
pressure from the struggle around the square
to get nearer the speakers at the club house:
and various divisions started off hootng
bowling and challenging the authorities
| The invaded streets were at once abandoned
| TO the rioters, who, finding themselves NJ
longer opposed, vented their ill will against
we'll housed people and against the clubs by
stoning dwellings and club houses along the
way.
At the time of closing, dispatches from al
parts of the city, in the neighborhood of thu
National Gallery, Carleton Club and Reform
| Climb ia IN possession of the mobs. Severa
factional fights have already taken plac'
among the rioters and fusions. The mob il
now q p. NJ marching through st. james
street, and Piccadilly, on its way to Hyde
| Park to hold meeting. The mob is cursin!
the authorities, attacking shops, sacking ss
| looms, getting drunk ana smashing WINDOWS
| On their way to Hyde Park the front of th'
mob made an effort to enter the war office
but turned away when the sentinel at the en-
trance confronted the intruders with bayo'
net. Conspicuous among the buildings at
tackled by this mob was the Dovenshire Clul
and the residence of Arnold Morely, a newly
appointed patronage secretary. The police
along the wav to Hyde Park were brushed
out of the way by the rioters, as 80 man,
men of straw, and many officers were terribl,
whipped for their interference.
The mob which went to Hyde Park wa
composed of hordes, which had filled NJ
Cockspur street, Pail Mall and 81. james
streets, when the Carlton club was attacked
This long, drawn out throng bent at Regen
street. which begins at Pail Mall, about hal
way between Nelson's monument and st
James street, and moved northward through
Regent street to Picadilly, quarter of
mile away. Passing around Regents circu
thew went north again through Regent street
half mile to Oxford street. The rioter
turned here to the left. went west down Ok
ford street to Hyde Park, some three guar
tiers of a mile.
This route was undoubtedly chosen by th'
1 r. L., ekn