The Dock and the Scaffold | Page 5

policemen, not less than
twelve were entrusted with its defence. Of this body, five sat on the
box-seat, two were stationed on the step behind, four followed the van

in a cab, and one (Sergeant Brett) sat within the van, the keys of which
were handed in to him through the grating, after the door had been
locked by one of the policemen outside. There were, in all, six persons
in the van: one of these was a boy, aged twelve, who was being
conveyed to a reformatory; three were women convicted of
misdemeanours; and the two Irish-Americans completed the number.
Only the last-mentioned pair were handcuffed, and they were the only
persons whom the constables thought necessary to lock up, the
compartments in which the other persons sat being left open.
At half-past three o'clock the van drove off, closely followed by the cab
containing the balance of the escort. Its route lay through some of the
principal streets, then through the suburbs on the south side, into the
borough of Salford, where the county gaol is situated. In all about two
miles had to be traversed, and of this distance the first half was
accomplished without anything calculated to excite suspicion being
observed; but there was mischief brewing, for all that, and the crisis
was close at hand. Just as the van passed under the railway arch that
spans the Hyde-road at Bellevue, a point midway between the city
police office and the Salford gaol, the driver was suddenly startled by
the apparition of a man standing in the middle of the road with a pistol
aimed at his head, and immediately the astonished policeman heard
himself called upon, in a loud, sharp voice, to "pull up." At the spot
where this unwelcome interruption occurred there are but few houses;
brick-fields and clay-pits stretch away at either side, and the
neighbourhood is thinly inhabited. But its comparative quiet now gave
way to a scene of bustle and excitement so strange that it seems to have
almost paralysed the spectators with amazement. The peremptory
command levelled at the driver of the van was hardly uttered, when a
body of men, numbering about thirty, swarmed over the wall which
lined the road, and, surrounding the van, began to take effectual
measures for stopping it. The majority of them were well-dressed men,
of powerful appearance; a few carried pistols or revolvers in their hands,
and all seemed to act in accordance with a preconcerted plan. The first
impulse of the policemen in front appears to have been to drive through
the crowd, but a shot, aimed in the direction of his head brought the
driver tumbling from his seat, terror-stricken but unhurt; and almost at

the same time, the further progress of the van was effectually prevented
by shooting one of the horses through the neck. A scene of
indescribable panic and confusion ensued; the policemen scrambled
hastily to the ground, and betook themselves to flight almost without a
thought of resistance. Those in the cab behind got out, not to resist the
attack, but to help in running away; and in a few minutes the strangers,
whose object had by this time become perfectly apparent, were
undisputed masters of the situation. Pickaxes, hatchets, hammers, and
crow-bars were instantly produced, and the van was besieged by a
score stout pairs of arms, under the blows from which its sides groaned,
and the door cracked and splintered. Some clambered upon the roof,
and attempted to smash it in with heavy stones; others tried to force an
opening through the side; while the door was sturdily belaboured by
another division of the band. Seeing the Fenians, as they at once
considered them, thus busily engaged, the policemen, who had in the
first instance retreated to a safe distance, and who were now reinforced
by a large mob attracted to the spot by the report of firearms, advanced
towards the van, with the intention of offering some resistance; but the
storming party immediately met them with a counter-movement.
Whilst the attempt to smash through the van was continued without
pause, a ring was formed round the men thus engaged, by their
confederates, who, pointing their pistols at the advancing crowd,
warned them, as they valued their lives, to keep off. Gaining courage
from their rapidly-swelling numbers, the mob, however, continued to
close in round the van, whereupon several shots were discharged by the
Fenians, which had the effect of making the Englishmen again fall back
in confusion. It is certain that these shots were discharged for no other
purpose than that of frightening the crowd; one of them did take effect
in the heel of a bystander, but in every other case the shots were fired
high over the heads of the crowd. While this had