Part 53

Morning dawned on such a scene as had never before been witnessed in this place. The flames, it is true, were subsiding, but the appearance of Queen-square was appalling in the extreme. Numerous buildings were reduced to a heap of smoking ruins, and others were momentarily falling in; while around, in various parts, lay the rioters, in the last stage of senseless intoxication, and with countenances more resembling fiends than men. Meantime the soldiers, who had been ordered out of town, were remanded; and the magistrates, having again assembled, came at length to a decision, called out the _posse comitatus_, and made an application to Mr. Herapath, through the medium of Mr. Under-Sheriff Hare, for the assistance of the Bristol general union. Mr. Herapath, their vice-president, called the members together by public notice--a course which we understand he had already determined on; and in a short time a large body of them had collected together; previous to which Mr. Herapath was invested, by the magistracy, with an authority equal to that of the Under-Sheriff. We are sorry to have to record another piece of folly. The military were ordered to clear the streets--an order which was fulfilled to the letter by a party of the troops which had experienced some rough treatment, and had, in consequence, fired upon the people on the previous day. The sight of this useless piece of duty was peculiarly distressing; nothing was to be seen on every side but unoffending women and children, running and screaming in every direction, while several men, apparently on their way to work, were deliberately cut at, several seriously injured, and some killed. Yet worse effects might have followed this ill-advised measure, if the soldiers had not been shortly after withdrawn from their bloody work, and the streets principally manned with the inhabitants, armed with good strong staves. Several troops, however, of soldiers, together with the eleventh regiment of foot, continued to reach Bristol during the day, and, in the course of the afternoon, intelligence having arrived that there was some disturbance in the neighbourhood of Lawrence-hill, a party galloped off, and secured four countrymen in the very act of robbing a house. With these exceptions, no further collision with the military took place.

Towards the evening, the flames in several houses of the square broke out afresh, and part of the pavement in King-street was forced up by the heat arising from some brandy which was burning in the vaults beneath; but the engines being in readiness, no further injury occurred. An attack on the shipping having been anticipated, the ships' bells were rung, signalguns were fired, and every thing was prepared for resistance. The Earl of Liverpool was moored in the centre of the river, and mounted with guns, an attack on her in particular having been expected; but happily these anticipations were not realised. It being thought possible that if the rioters renewed their attempts, they would, in all probability, endeavour to reduce the streets to total darkness, by cutting off the gas-pipes, the magistrates issued a notice, recommending the inhabitants to illuminate their houses--a recommendation which was pretty generally complied with. The churches also were lit up, and the _posse comitatus_ of the several parishes were stationed in them, a constant guard being kept up, and relieved at stated intervals. The members of the union paraded the streets during the whole of the night.

These measures at length effectually put an end to the frightful scenes which had been enacted during the last two days. In the course of the ensuing week, the magistrates and other authorities of the place were occupied in adopting such measures as would prevent the repetition of the attack, in disposing of the cases of the various persons in custody, who had been concerned in the riots, and in making other general arrangements to secure the tranquillity of the town. Nearly two hundred persons were found to have been secured, but of the whole number, there were very few who were really inhabitants of Bristol, or who were in any way connected with the political party interested in the opposition offered to Sir Charles Wetherall. Many of the facts which were disclosed in evidence before the authorities, as to the occurrences of the days of the riots, were of the most astounding description. Prisoners were proved to have been made, whose pockets and houses were crammed with stolen property, consisting of furniture, gold and silver plate, specie, bank-notes, and other matters of great value. Many inquests were held upon the bodies of persons who had been killed during the riots, in the course of which the most frightful disclosures were made. No new riot, however, arose, and the system of watch and ward, which was adopted, effectually prevented the repetition of such outrages as had been committed. The conduct of the magistrates became the subject of discussion, and many were found who did not hesitate to assert, that they had exhibited great pusillanimity in the course which they had taken. The magistrates were not backward in entering into a defence of their proceedings. They in turn imputed blame to the military, whilst Colonel Brereton declared that he had been actuated by a feeling of humanity only, and by a positive conviction of the uselessness and the danger of infuriating the mob, to the destruction of life, as well as property, by adopting steps more decisive than those which he had taken.

The result of this event, however, was a conviction throughout the public mind, of the necessity of some improvement in the police system of the country. Already had the institution of a metropolitan police force produced a firm reliance in the powers of such a body to suppress outrages of a similar description, and the adoption of some new measure, more extensively carrying out the general plan, was strongly recommended to the attention of Parliament by his Majesty, on his opening the session, on the 6th of December following. The recommendation was not unattended with good results, and the adoption of a measure sanctioning the establishment of a police force in Bristol, similar in character to that which existed in London, afforded considerable satisfaction to the inhabitants of that city.

A special commission for the trial of the persons who were in custody, and who were charged with having been concerned in the riots, commenced at Bristol on Monday, the 2nd of January 1832.

On Tuesday, William Clarke, Patrick Kearney, James Williams, Daniel Higgs, James Courtney, and John Mackay, were placed at the bar. They stood indicted for that they, in that part of the parish of Bedminster within the city and county of Bristol, with others riotously and tumultuously assembled, and pulled down and destroyed a house, the property of his majesty. Other counts in the indictment laid it as the property of the corporation of Bristol, of the citizens, of the commissioners for building the jail, and of the governor.

Having pleaded severally "Not guilty," they were again arraigned upon the indictment for having burned down the same jail; to which also they in a firm tone put in their plea of "Not guilty."

The attorney-general, in opening the case, said, that the charge now against the prisoners was framed on the words of the Act of the 7th Geo. IV., which contained almost in precise words the terms of the Riot Act, passed in the 1st Geo. I., "that if any persons shall riotously and tumultuously assemble together, and begin to pull down any house, &c., every such offender shall be a felon without benefit of clergy." Under this Act of Parliament, persons tumultuously assembling together for the purpose of destroying any house were guilty of felony. With regard to the individuals now before them, it would be proved that they were riotously and tumultuously assembled together, to the disturbance of the public peace; that they were parading the town about noon on Sunday, the 20th of October, in the most riotous and disorderly manner; that after destroying the Bridewell by fire, they proceeded to the public jail, and whether for the purpose of liberating the persons there confined, or with a view to the general destruction of property, they broke into the jail, and set fire to several parts of it. Clarke was seen with a crowbar on his shoulder, actively engaged in the acts of violence and outrage at the head of the party that attacked the jail, which was a strong building, and the gates of which required considerable force to break them down. They did resist for some time all the combined efforts of the mob. At length, however, an entrance was effected by making a small hole through one of the gates, through which some of the rioters made their way, and who succeeded in wrenching them from their hinges. Arrived at the interior of the jail, the mob proceeded, amongst other acts of outrage, to the destruction of the governor's house, which was in a short time reduced to a heap of ruins. These acts would be satisfactorily proved; and it would be also proved, that the prisoners criminally participated in those acts of outrage. To establish still more clearly the guilt of the prisoner Clarke, it would be proved that he was afterwards seen with the keys of the prison in his hand, going about in one of the public-houses in the town, boasting of what he had done--talking of the keys of the "Hen and Chickens," or some expression to that effect, and indulging in the most violent and inflammatory language. He believed that this prisoner was rather of a superior caste, and one from whom such conduct was not to have been expected. He stated himself to have been a Dorsetshire man, and it appeared that he had for some time been himself the proprietor of a public-house. It was to be the more lamented that an individual thus raised above the common crowd should have demeaned himself in so disgraceful and criminal a manner. With regard to all the other prisoners, he did not believe that they would be affected by evidence of the same strong description; but he believed there was not one of them who would not be clearly proved to have taken a large share in the late disgraceful riots.

Several witnesses were then called, who proved most distinctly the

## active part which Clarke had taken in the disturbances. The trial was

continued by adjournment from Tuesday to Wednesday, when the jury found Clarke, Kearney, Higgs, Courtney, and Mackay, "Guilty;" but acquitted Williams.

Clarke, the principal prisoner, appeared throughout the investigation in a most deplorable state, and his weak nerves, contrasted with his muscular figure, rendered him an object both of surprise and compassion. He fainted two or three times, and seemed in a state bordering on insensibility during the three hours which it occupied the lord chief-justice in summing up. He was a strong athletic man, rather above the common size, with nothing in his countenance indicative of the determined outrages laid to his charge. The prisoners Williams, Kearney, Higgs, and Mackay, were young men of about twenty years of age, and Courtney about the middle age; they all appeared to be of an inferior station in life, and presented nothing remarkable in their appearance.

Thomas Evans Bendall, aged nineteen, and James Sims, aged eighteen, were then placed at the bar, charged with having riotously assembled, together with other persons, to the disturbance of the public peace, and with having demolished and destroyed, or begun to demolish and destroy, a certain dwelling-house, the property of the Lord Bishop of Bristol. The attorney-general, in stating the case, said, that though by the act of parliament, the mere beginning to pull down and demolish any building was sufficient to constitute the offence with which the prisoners were charged, yet in this case he should be enabled to prove that the prisoners had been most active on this particular occasion. An attempt was made to prove that Sims was _silly_, but both were found guilty.

On Wednesday, Christopher Davis, a man of most respectable appearance, about fifty years of age, was placed at the bar, charged with having, on Sunday, the 30th of October, with divers other persons, riotously assembled, demolished and pulled down a certain house belonging to his majesty, called the New Jail. The attorney-general, in opening the case, described the prisoner as having acted as a leader of the mob. He would be proved to have been first at the Mansion-house, encouraging the mob by gestures and by language; to have been one of those who entered that building; to have been up during the whole night; and to have been present at all the disturbances of Sunday. He was near the Bridewell when it was broken into; he was afterwards in Queen-square and at the New Jail, where he was seen at the time that building was in flames. He would be proved to have been seen waving his hat, saying that it was a most glorious sight, and what he had long wished to see; that the churches should be pulled down to mend the highways, and that the bishops should be put down. When the Bishop's Palace was in flames, it would be stated to them by a witness, that he appeared quite overwhelmed by joy. He expressed his readiness to head any mob for purposes such as these. He waved his hat on his umbrella, as if it were a cap of liberty. He was a man of most respectable situation in society, retired from business, and living with his family on a comfortable independence thereby acquired. From such a man a very opposite course was to have been expected--one would have thought he would have rather dissuaded the mob from their disgraceful outrages, than have given his open approval to them.

Several witnesses were then called, who sustained the opening of the attorney-general to the letter, and on the following day the prisoner was found "Guilty."

Many other prisoners were also convicted in the course of the week, and on Thursday a most heart-rending scene was presented. The capital convicts were then brought up to receive sentence of death. Their names were Christopher Davis, William Clarke, Thomas Gregory, Richard Vines, and Joseph Keys, and each prayed with earnest cries for mercy.

The Lord Chief Justice, in a most impressive, though tremulous, manner, addressed the prisoners:--

"Prisoners at the bar:--You have been convicted, five of you in number, upon evidence, in each particular case, which can leave no doubt of your guilt, upon any reasonable mind, of crimes so deeply affecting the interests, and even the very existence, of human society, that your lives have become justly forfeited to the laws of your country. Assembled together with multitudes of other evil-doers like yourselves, you have, by threats and acts of violence, thrown the peaceable and industrious inhabitants of this city into a state of panic and alarm--you have deprived many of their only means of livelihood--you have carried fire to public buildings and to private dwellings, and have exposed the property of all to pillage, and the lives of many to destruction. Human society cannot be held together, if crimes like these are not put down by the strong hand of the law. Unless others are deterred from the commission of similar enormities by the just severity of your punishment, all that makes life valuable to man--the free enjoyment of the fruits of his honest industry, and protection from personal violence, must be altogether given up. The innocent and weak will become a prey to the wicked and strong; and mere brutal force will take the place of order and of law. What motive could lead you to the commission of these crimes it is impossible, from the evidence brought before us, to judge with any reasonable certainty. It was not the pressure of want or misery--it was no grievance, imaginary or real, under which you laboured. I fear no other purpose can be assigned that will apply to the greater number of those who shared in these wicked transactions, than that of giving up this city to flames, that it might become the object of universal pillage. You stand, each of you, a striking and awful example to others, of the wickedness which men commit, and the misery which inevitably follows it, when they throw off the restraint of the laws of God and man, and give themselves up to their own unbridled passions. I can only pray that your unhappy example may be the means of preventing all others from treading in your steps."

Having then separately referred to the circumstances of the cases of the various prisoners, he said in conclusion--

"Let me most earnestly exhort you all to prepare yourselves, by every means in your power, for that great and awful change which doth most assuredly await you within a very short time; apply yourselves earnestly and fervently to the Throne of Grace, that you may endeavour to obtain from him, who knows how to reconcile mercy with justice, that forgiveness which the laws of man cannot extend to you. And now, nothing more remains than the duty, to me a most painful one, of pronouncing the last sentence of the law--That you, and every of you, be taken to the place from whence you came, and from thence to the place of execution, where you will be severally hanged by the neck until you are dead; and may the Lord, in his infinite goodness, have mercy on your guilty souls."

This awful ceremony having been gone through, the prisoners were removed in a most pitiable condition.

The following prisoners were then brought up:--

Patrick Kearney, Daniel Higgs, James Courtney, John Mackay, T. E. Bendall, James Sims, John Powel, Matthew Warry, Cornelius Hickey, James Snook, William Reynolds, George Andrews, Patrick Barney, Benjamin Broad, Stephen Gaisford, Michael Sullivan, Timothy Collins, Henry Green, and Charles Williams.

The Lord Chief Justice addressed them in the following terms:--

"Prisoners at the bar,--After patient trials, before impartial and intelligent juries, each of you has been found guilty of an offence against which the laws of your country have, for the security of all, denounced the sentence of Death. You have, with many others, who for the present have escaped the hands of justice, devoted to plunder and destruction the city in which you live, and the place which had afforded to all of you subsistence and protection. You have reduced parts of it to a state of ruin and desolation, more complete than any foreign enemy, unless the most merciless, would have inflicted upon it. You have deprived many industrious families of their only means of support and subsistence; and the blood which it was necessary to shed in order to repress your acts of wanton outrage may be justly considered to lie at your door. But the hope we entertain that the fate of those upon whom the sentence of the law hath been passed, will operate as a sufficient warning to all others, induces us to join in an humble recommendation to his majesty that your lives may be spared. I would not, however, have you expect, that by escaping the bitterness of death, you have avoided all punishment for your offence. You will pass the remainder of your lives in a foreign and a distant land, separated for ever from parents, relations, and friends, and in a state of severe labour and privation."

Patrick Kearney, who, evidently, when first brought up, expected the extreme sentence would be passed upon him, and was then crying and begging for mercy, when he had heard the sentence, brightened up, and said, waving his hat at the time, "Never mind, my life is saved and Ireland is free."

The day's proceedings thus concluded; and on the following day the business of the commission terminated.

On Friday, the 27th of January, the sentence of death which had been pronounced, was carried out upon the four convicts--Clarke, Davis, Gregory, and Keys, Vines having been respited on the previous day. The miserable convicts, after their trials, conducted themselves with much propriety. They were attended by the reverend chaplain of the jail, and by the Rev. Mr. Roberts, a dissenting minister, whose exhortations were received by them with much apparent satisfaction. The place where they were doomed to receive their death was the very spot which had witnessed the commission of the crimes of which they had been found guilty--the New Jail. The outside walls now only remained--a sad memento of their desperate purposes.

Every precaution was taken to preserve order. The sheriffs arrived about eleven o'clock, and immediately proceeded to the cells of the wretched men, who were deeply engaged in devotion. It was not till past twelve that they were brought from their cells. The short time of anxiety which had elapsed since their trials had made a deep impression upon all. Still they were all comparatively firm, without the slightest tendency to bravado or improper boldness. The mournful procession slowly paced the prison-yard, the chaplain repeating the Burial Service--"I am the resurrection and the life." Having gone round the ruins of the governor's house, they approached the lodge, and then went up the winding staircase to the press-room.

The customary ceremonies were here gone through, of pinioning the convicts; and the procession once more, and for the last time, resumed its march, going up the winding staircase to the top of the lodge on which the scaffold was erected. Here all knelt down, and the Rev. Mr. Roberts offered up a prayer for heavenly mercy. The executioner now made his appearance. Davis was then conducted up the stairs to the frail scaffold, followed by Gregory. The latter bowed to the populace. Davis took no notice of those beneath, but once cast his eyes up to the fatal beam. Clarke next ascended, and was followed by Keys. The reverend divines having prayed with them a short time, and again taken leave of them, the caps were pulled down over their faces, and the fatal bolt was drawn. Keys apparently suffered much--the others died almost instantly. The crowd did not utter any expressions of approbation during the time of execution--all were quiet, and apparently were not much affected by this dreadful exhibition.

During the time occupied by the proceedings of the special commission, other inquiries were carried on scarcely less interesting to the inhabitants of Bristol. The first of these was an investigation by court-martial of the conduct of Lieutenant-Colonel Brereton in the affair. The charges made against him were, for negligence and want of due energy in assisting the civil force to suppress the tumultuous outrages of the mob during the riots in the city of Bristol on the 29th, 30th, and 31st October. The case against the defendant was opened on Monday 9th January, at the Merchant's Hall, in the presence of a very crowded audience, including many ladies. Captain Thomson, of the 81st foot, acted as Deputy Judge Advocate. Mr. Erle was counsel for Colonel Brereton; and General D'Albiac, at the command of his Majesty, conducted the prosecution. Colonel Brereton, on the charges being read over, pleaded Not Guilty.

General D'Albiac opened the case, calling upon the Court to form their judgment strictly upon the evidence, and to relieve their minds from all extraneous observations which might have arisen elsewhere.