The Sun. — 1841-09-24 (London, England)

EVENING SUN.  F ster, his comrades, to the Hand and Crown public-house‘ hurch.street, St. Giles's, for the purpose of having some ref . shrnent. when they called for a pot of porter. The prisoners and some other Irishmen were sitting in the tap-room wall some women, when it was proposed that they should get up a dance, to which witness and his comrades agreed, and at, er enjoying themselves for about an hour and a half, a signal was given, and a cry raised, " Let us serve out the soldiers," on which four or five of the party, including the prisoners, without the least provocation, jumped up, and seizing hold of witness, commenced beating and kicking him in a violent manner, and dragged him into the street, were he was surrounded by mote of their gang, who caught hold of his collar and belt, and held him down whilst the prisoners struck and kicked at hi:a over the head and body, and had it not been that his cries for help brought the police to his assistance, he would have been murdered by them. The prisoners' companions escaped. The witness had a most shocking black eye and bruised head. George Green, sworn, stated that he got up to dance with his comrade, when Daley gave Hideout a kick on the leg, and he was immediately surrounded and beaten in a desperate manner by the prisoners and their party. Witness remonstrated with them, when he was attacked and knocked down by them. Hideout made his escape into the street, when witness followed him, and found him surrounded by a mob of Irish, who were using him in a shameful manner. There were upwards of 20 about him, " pitching into him and hammering at him with their fists, and kicking at him." The prisoner Daley- then made a blow at witness, and kicked him on the knee, and whilst witness was retreating in order to save himself, he fell into a. ground kitchen, and whilst he was falling Daley made a desperate kick at him. George Foster, of the Grenadier Guards, corroborated this esi.lence. He added, that when Green fell into the cellar, tie thought they would have murdered him, and on proceeding, to his assistance they made an attack upon witness, and maltreated hi in dreadfully. Smith, E, stated that he received information of the outra.,:e, and on proceeding to the spot he found .nearly a thousand persons assembled, when Daley rushed into the crowd in his shirt sleeves, with a handkerchief tied round his waist, evidently with a desire to fight, and exclaiming violently, " Let us give it to the soldiers." lie then rushed into the Hand ands Crewn public-house, and witness took him into custody withnut resistance on his part. Mr. GREENWOOD said, that after what he had heard, he wa, only surpriseal that murder had not been committed by the prisoners. If Ri4eout had pushed against Daley, that did not Justify them in acting the violent part they had done. It was evi,tently their intention to have destroyed the soldiers, had not the police arrived to assist them ; and from the marks of violence they bore, it was plain that they had been most. gr ssly ill-used. " You Irish," said Mr. Greenwood, " when, your blood is up, will risk anything, and would take lifeaway and, as far as the punishment of law will go, we must put it into force, to endeavour to check such violence." Ile then convicted them in the extreme penalty of 51. each, and, in default of payment, two months' imprisonment in the House of Correction. '1 hey were then locked up, and the soldiers left the Court wi,h their sergeant, who attended the investigation.