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.
The first witness called was Mr. Serjeant Ludlow, town-clerk of Bristol.
He was at the Mansion-house on Saturday the 29th of October, from twelve
at noon till twelve at night. There was a riotous and tumultuous
assemblage in front of the house; the troops were called out under the
command of Colonel Brereton; orders were given to Colonel Brereton to
clear the streets, disperse the mob, and get the city quiet; this was
not peremptorily and effectively done; the riots continued at intervals
till twelve o'clock at night. The following statement was then made by
the learned serjeant:--When Lieutenant-Colonel Brereton and the troops
came to the Mansion-house door, the people on the outside were engaged
in battering the front door; they had battered in one of the windows on
the ground-floor, and some of them had entered into the dining-room. The
immediate effect of the arrival of the troops was to remove them from
the front of the Mansion-house, but they did not withdraw far. I
repeatedly noticed, that the people having withdrawn from the streets
while the soldiers were passing, immediately afterwards returned again
to the front of the very door of the Mansion-house; occasionally stones
were thrown at the windows, and indications of tumult and violence did
not appear to me to have decreased materially. Colonel Brereton
occasionally went down stairs and returned, and said that the people
appeared to be very good-humoured, and he had no doubt he could drive
them away by merely walking the horses. Just before one of these
occasions, two of the soldiers of the 14th were brought in wounded--one
of them very seriously. I asked Colonel Brereton if he thought that a
symptom of good-humour on the part of the people out of doors? I said
also they appeared to me to be increasing in number rather than
lessening; and it certainly was intimated to him that it would be
desirable to get the city quiet. The effect of his answers was such as
to induce me to ask him if he had any recent instructions from the War
Office to prevent him from attending to the directions of the
magistrates? He said, "My directions are to attend to the orders of the
magistrates." I then said, the mayor and one or two of the aldermen
being near, "Your directions are immediately to clear the streets, and
to get the city quiet as soon as you can," or to that effect. Some sort
of cavalry movement was made in the interior of the square, where the
people had collected; they were driven from the green part of the
square, and entered the courts in front of the houses, and occasionally
returned to the front of the Mansion-house, and continued the same kind
of conduct which had prevailed the early part of the evening; in short,
they were not effectually dispersed. Late in the evening, probably
eleven o'clock, an officer of dragoons came into the room where we were.
Colonel Brereton was in the room at the time. The officer stated, that
his troops were receiving considerable annoyance in one of the streets
near the Mansion-house, the situation of which he described. He said,
that the lights (lamps) had been put out--that it was quite dark--and
that the people, when followed by the soldiers, retreated into some
boats or barges lying in the river, from which they annoyed the troops,
and where of course the troops could not follow them; he said he wished
to fire a few ball-cartridges in that direction. One of the magistrates,
I believe Mr. Alderman Daniel, said, that in the situation in which the
boats were described to be, there were probably a good many people going
from market in the market-boats, and it would be desirable to avoid
injuring those persons if possible. One of the gentlemen present, I
believe a special constable, said, "Let me have twenty-five men, and be
supported by the troops, and I will undertake to go down and dislodge
the people in the boats." That operation certainly would have been
undertaken if it had not been for what Colonel Brereton said. He said,
"If you'll take my advice, you'll let them alone; it's getting very
late, and I dare say they will go quietly home to bed." Some observation
was made as to the necessity of getting the city in a state of peace and
quietness; upon which Colonel Brereton answered, his men should patrole
the streets during the night, and that he would be answerable for the
peace of the city, or words to that effect. The officer of the 14th went
away, and Colonel Brereton retired shortly afterwards.
Several other witnesses were called, whose testimony went to show
considerable want of energy on the part of the colonel, as well as
mistaken lenity, that led to the perpetration of outrages, which, had a
more decided and vigorous policy been adopted, might have been
prevented.
The inquiry had proceeded to a very considerable length, and on Friday
was approaching a termination, when an event occurred which effectually
put a stop to all further investigation, while it cast an additional
gloom upon this most lamentable affair. It appears, that the gallant
colonel seemed to feel the full force of the evidence against him as it
went on, and was obviously much depressed. On quitting the court on
Thursday afternoon, he went, as usual, to Reeve's Hotel, where he
remained during the evening. At twelve o'clock his gardener brought his
horse and gig, and he drove home to his house, called Bedfield Lodge,
about a mile and a half from the city. He retired to his room without
exciting any particular remark on the part of his servants; but about
three in the morning his housekeeper heard the report of a pistol: she
immediately called the guard and footman, who entered his room, and
found the unhappy man weltering in his blood on the bed. Life was
extinct; and on examination it turned out that he had shot himself
through the heart. Surgical assistance was instantly summoned, but it
was without avail. The news of the melancholy event reached Bristol at
an early hour on Friday morning, and produced a most painful sensation
in all ranks.
The effect of this tragical circumstance was the termination of this
court-martial, which, however, was followed by another upon Captain
Warrington, the inferior officer of Colonel Brereton at Bristol, at the
time of the riots. The insertion of the following paragraph, however,
which appeared in most of the public prints of the day, will be deemed
only just to the memory of Colonel Brereton, before we proceed to the
conclusion of this dreadful business:--"The proceedings of the
court-martial evidently preyed on his susceptible and humane mind. He is
acknowledged by all parties to have been a man of the most kindly and
benevolent disposition, and during the eight years he has held the
command of the district, was universally respected. He has been a
widower for above two years, and has left two daughters, the one five,
and the other three years old. He had served abroad, and distinguished
himself as a brave and excellent officer. He was fifty years of age,
thirty-three of which he had been a soldier; and as a testimony of the
regard in which he was held, had received a sword, value two hundred
guineas, from his brother officers. There is no doubt his mistaken
lenity was influenced by his desire to avoid shedding human blood, and a
conviction that he should have been able to pacify the mob without
proceeding to those extremities which his duty under the circumstances
clearly demanded. It would be ungenerous now, however, to dwell on the
errors of one whose fate every feeling heart must deplore."