=Source.=--_The Illustrated Times_, February 16, 1867.
Much alarm has been caused this week by an apprehended raid of Fenians
upon the ancient city. The following summary is obtained from Mr.
Fenwick, the chief constable of Chester.
The Fenians have recently organised in New York a band of fifty, whose
special mission it is to proceed to England and Ireland and endeavour
to resuscitate the dying brotherhood. These men are understood to have
arrived in England. Fifteen of them are stationed in the metropolis,
and there form a Directory. Eight of them are ex-officers of the
American army.... A meeting was called for Sunday at Liverpool, and it
was then resolved to attack Chester Castle the following day, seize the
arms deposited there, cut the telegraph wires, tear up the rails, and
make good their escape by rail to Holyhead, and trust to fortune to
get across to Ireland. It was also understood that they would attack
the banks and jewellers’ shops. It was also given out freely at the
meeting why Chester Castle was selected. Up to midnight on Sunday
Chester was not protected by more than half a dozen soldiers on guard
at the Castle, and twice as many unarmed policemen in the city. Under
their protection were no less than 9,000 stand of arms, 4,000 swords,
and 900,000 rounds of ammunition, in addition to powder in bulk. There
were also stored in another part of the Castle 900 stand of arms
belonging to the militia; and in a small building in the city were 200
stand of arms belonging to the volunteers. It was stated that the whole
force stationed at the Castle was one company of the 54th Regiment, and
that they were disaffected. The first intimation received in Chester of
the intended raid was at 12.30 a.m. by Mr. Fenwick from Superintendent
Ryde of Liverpool, and was to the effect that an ex-officer of the
American army, who produced his commission as an officer in the Fenian
service, had revealed the whole plot to them. Prompt measures were
taken and the commandant telegraphed to Manchester for reinforcements.
Mr. Fenwick next went to the station and gave instructions for the
trains to be watched as they arrived. At 2.30 a batch of thirty fellows
arrived from Liverpool, and were evidently under the command of an
officer. They marched up and down the platform by twos and threes, and
at length took possession of the first-class refreshment room. They
were soon followed by further detachments of from thirty to sixty from
Liverpool, and some from Manchester, all of similar appearance. These
dispersed quietly into the town. Early in the morning the volunteers
were called out. They were sworn in as special constables. By the
assistance of the police at Liverpool and Manchester, the Chester
police were kept apprised of the different departures of suspected
bodies of men. At three o’clock it was ascertained that over five
hundred of these men had arrived, and that a number of their officers
had been in Chester over night. Early in the afternoon the strangers
became much bolder and assembled in threatening bodies. Fortunately
at this time a company of the 54th Regiment arrived from Manchester,
and the police are strongly inclined to think that this fact saved the
Castle from an attack early in the evening. Affairs went very quietly
up to four o’clock, when a train from Manchester and Stalybridge
brought a reinforcement of four hundred in one batch. Later on forty
men arrived from Halifax and seventy from Leeds. Shortly after five it
was ascertained that the Fenians numbered from 1,400 to 1,500. A number
of men who were supposed to be their leaders collected at a house where
the police had been informed they would meet for orders.
Spies and scouts had been sent out among the Fenians early in the day,
but found them extremely reticent, and could get no clue from them. At
6 p.m. these scouts brought information that the men were forming in
column on the Liverpool and other principal roads.
Captain Smith, the county chief constable, had drafted a body of the
county constabulary into the Castle to assist the military. A copy
of the following anonymous letter sent to the chief of the Liverpool
police was received by Major Fenwick in the evening, and coincided
singularly with the information already in his possession: