badly wounded, on the Sixteenth of August. Coroners' Inquests had been
held, without effect, upon several of the bodies! "They all died a
Natural Death!" till, at last, an Inquest was held at Oldham, on the
body of John Lees. This Inquest was attended by Mr. Harmer, and, at the
end of the third or fourth day, the evidence was so conclusive, that the
Jury were prepared to have returned their verdict of Wilful Murder! but,
by some extraordinary fatality, by some unaccountable cause, Mr. Harmer
kept calling fresh witnesses, and the Inquest was adjourned from day
to day, and from place to place, for a month, and after the last
adjournment, they never met again. As the Petition of Robert Lees, the
father of the murdered man, speaks fully for itself, and will explain
this very curious circumstance better than any thing that I can say, I
shall conclude the subject by inserting it at full length, as follows:--
"TO TO THE HONOURABLE THE COMMONS OF THE UNITED
KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND, IN PARLIAMENT
ASSEMBLED.
The HUMBLE PETITION of ROBERT LEES,
Of OLDHAM, in the County Palatine of LANCASTER,
Cotton-spinner,
SHEWETH, That your Petitioner's son, John Lees, a
youth twenty-two years of age, having attended the
meeting held at Manchester on the 16th of August last,
was, as your Petitioner is led to believe, without any just
cause or provocation, most inhumanly attacked and cut by
Yeomanry Cavalry, and afterwards most unmercifully
beaten with the clubs or batons of Police and Special Constables,
and also trampled upon by the horses of the Cavalry,
whereby he was so much injured, that he was, from
that time, incapable of attending to his ordinary employment,
and lingered in pain and debility until the night of
the 6th of September following, when he died.
That the Surgeon who attended your Petitioner's
son having certified that his death was occasioned by violence,
several householders in Oldham and the neighbouring
townships were served, late in the evening of the
7th of September, with summonses from the Coroner of
the district, to attend the next morning at half-past ten
o'clock, to serve as Jurors on an inquest to be held on the
body of your said Petitioner's son. At the time appointed
the said Jurors assembled, and were met by a person
named BATTYE, who attended as Deputy for the said Coroner,
for the purpose of inquiring into the cause of the
death of your Petitioner's son; and, having sworn the
Jury, he went with them to take a view of the body. But,
finding that several witnesses had arrived from Manchester,
to give evidence upon the said inquiry, he refused to proceed
in the inquest; and having adjourned the same for
three hours, he, at the expiration of that time, further
adjourned until the 10th day of the same month, when the
said BATTYE promised, that either Mr. FERRAND, his employer,
or Mr. MILNE, a neighbouring Coroner, should
certainly attend and proceed in the investigation.
"That, on the next day, a Surgeon attended, by the direction
of the said Mr. BATTYE, to open and examine the
body of your Petitioner's son; and he was then allowed
to be interred.
"That, on the 10th day of September, the Jury again
assembled; but, although Mr. MILNE attended, he refused
to interfere in the business, as he said it did not belong to his
district; and the inquest was further adjourned until the 25th
day of the same month. And, during this interval, some of
the Manchester newspapers inserted the vilest falsehoods,
to depreciate the reputation of the deceased, with a view,
as your Petitioner believes, to extinguish every feeling of
sympathy for his fate.
"That, on the said 25th day of September, Mr. FERRAND
attended; and, after swearing the Jury, and ascertaining
from them that they had all seen the body, he proceeded to
examine witnesses; but, in the course of the investigation,
he adjourned several times for days together, without any
reasonable or probable cause, and merely, as your Petitioner
believes, to harass and tire out the witnesses, who
came day after day a considerable distance to give
testimony.
"That, in detailing his complaint to your Honourable
House, your Petitioner exceedingly regrets he should be
Please note
All known copies of volume 3 are "imperfect" and are "wanting
after page 640".
It is possible that these pages were suppressed as they were
"written by himself in H'.M's Jail at Ilchester".
End of Project Gutenberg's Memoirs of Henry Hunt, Esq. Volume 3,
by Henry Hunt