THE BELFAST BUTCHERY.

NZ Truth, Issue 119, 28 September 1907, Page 8

THE BELFAST BUTCHERY.

HOW fHE R.I.C. STRIKE OCCURRED. f he Fight m the Darkness, VfHUJBG. CONSTABLES RUSH FOR THEIR RIFLES, jpsciyhe Baimksr Cried the Police— Events that " Terminated m the Belfast Massacre.

©iftrb'f itk'e" • mTtfsf? sengaSaoaaT! of recant industrial trouSjics m the United ■Kingdom was the strike of the members of the Royal Irish .Constalbulary stationed at Belfast. »The daily newspapers told us that /thte leader of this strike was an alleged constafole ■ named Larkin ; but it is now shown, l>y'tfe 'British. Labor papers, that the" deader of the striking comstafbles was Barrett, who sympathised with ,the carters and dockers on strike.- iThe strike of policemen was ialroostf an insurrection',- and is thus (.'described m the British! ' 'Labor Leader byH. R. Stockman R—

The employers of Belfast had a ru<te shock on Thursday : morning last, ..iwhen .they, learnt on their way to ', (business that, their hitherto most jofefodient servants, -the 'Royal Irish 1 JConstaibttlary, had at last kicked over ,}the traces,: and were openly threatjenJßfg to make common cause iwith vthe strikers of the city .*'• ,THE REVOLT OF THE -CONSTABULARY,

: As I stated m last week's "Lead.er," this' revolt of the R.I.C. has been expected for some time past. ■The leader of.it is a consffcaJbile named {Barrett. Early m the struggle he gave evidence that while he was pre;.pared to perform' his legitimate dufties, he was not going -to assist th& .employers in' breaking- the strike. Since the commencement of the present dispute the whale police force ;of ; the city has been used by the emiiployers to act- m the dsual capacity of tescorts and guides fo.r, the English! and Scotch. 'carters

IMPORTED TO BLACKLEG: Barrett was the first to raise the standard of revolt against this. He .Contended that it was no part .of his iiduty to guide the .■•blacklegs gh their :rounds, and 'he flatly -refused to accompany a carter for that purpose. pHe was promptly ordered "back- to [ibarracks and suspended. His • reinstatement was at once ordered by .'ithe Inspector-General., Tfaat closedi *ifche first stage of his present career. ; . THE GRIEVANCES. OE THE :; : FORCE.

On Wednesday of last week another iwas begun. The men of the R.I.C. 2,re miserably underpaid. The pay of a constable is from 20s to 25s per jiweek, and there is no Kmit' t-o the •number of hours he may be wforked 13 n a week. The men have for some .itime past been agitating for im,iprovements m their lot. but without •much effect. The long hours and other -hardships entailed by the present strike brought matters to a crisis. 'A meeting of the men was' called for (Wednesday of last week, to discuss "their grievances. It was duly, held m Musgrave-street, one of the largest barracks m the city.-:

f ,THE COMMISSIONER ■ OF, POLICE. ; During the progress of tlie meetinK iA.cbin#-Comin£ssioner. Mor«H', who is ,-at present m charge, of tine city poflice, appeared on the scene; and ior-,-ibade the meeting. The men defied ;3iim, and he and another officer attempted to arrest Constjable Basarebt. ■ f 'ln a moment the lights were extinguished, and Morell was knocked to r /the ground. When he rose to his feet j.ii'e seems to Dave lost his head com- ' lipletely. He told the men that unless IVthey dispersed he would call m the BQilitary. This was like attempting ,-to put out a fire by pouring paraffin ioil on it. The men promptly rushed ito the barrack-rbom and seized their ■lifles as a preparation for receivin«

the military fffoy ttien' prepared ".fa MARCH THROUGH THE CITY, and hold their meeting m one of the puiblic halls.. This had a sobering effect on their officers, and the iActdns 1 Commissioner appealed to them lor "God's sake not to disgrace the force." If they would return to their duties he would reinstate Constable Barrett, whom he had ordered to be suspended, and receive a deputation of the men on the following Saturday, m order to consider a statement of their grievances. To this the men agreed, and the incident then closed. Next morning a full account of these exciting incidents appeared .m the local Nationalist paper.. In th« eveninn- papers there appeared an official denial., and an assertion that the only, foundation for the story of the ■ASSAULT ON MR' MORELU

was the fact tivat m the excitement one of the constables had stepped on his corn.- This artistic version of the occurrence was accepted by the public for what it was worth. Constable Barrett boldly wrote t 0 the Nationalist paper bearing out their account of the incident which* that paper had published. On Saturday 700 men of all ranks again assembled at the barracks to await the result of the conference between their superiors and their dele 7 gates. The conference had' not proved .very satisfactory.- Constable Barrett, who was one of the delegates, was told that he was to be suspended for a week for writing the letter to the press.AN UNPARALLELED SCENE.-

There was then a scene,, the like' o f which lias never been witnessed m the city. The barrack gates were fluag open 5 , and the .vast crowd of the dockers' strike pickets and citizens who had assembled outside were admitted. Pressmen belonging to unsympathetic papers were unceremoniously flung- out, and the policemen "let themselves go." "Wreck the barracks !" was the general cry, and there can be no doubt that the majority of them' meant it..

. THE STRIKE LEADERS SENT FOR. Alarmed by, the turn events had j taken, the Commissioner and his staff hurried out by the back gate. Urgent messages were sent to the strike leaders, asking them to come and address the police.; Larkin, the dockers' organiser, was on* of town ; tout Councillor James Sexton, John Murphy (Belfast Trades Council), and Councillors Boyd and McKeown (local Labor leaders) addressed one of the most remarkable strike meetings ever held m any part of the United j Kingdom h Drawn up oh the barrack square in-military order were

700 STALWART POLICEMEN, feead«<i toy their chosen leader, Constable Barrett. Around them was a vast crowd, composed of strike pickets and the general public, who had come to encourage the policemen m a struggle for a living wage.

Constable Barrett, Messrs Sexton, Murphy and Boyd addressed the men, and appealed to them not to do anything hasty ? Afeove all. they urged) them not to carry out their threat to wreck the barracks. The speakers advised them to set about the formation of a trades union, and press for the redress of their undoutyted grievances m a perfectly constitutional manner. Mr Sexton assured them that if they would act upon this advice the Labor Party would see .that

they had fair play, m their fight.. Mr Miurphy, told them that the workingmen o£ Belfast would standby, -them # THE POLICEMEN'S DECISION.

Aotiiig on thie advice of the strike leaders, the civilians then lert the barracks to sive the policemen a chance of coming to a decision rcgard-in-g their own future action. It wa^ decided that the men should go about their ordinary duties for the next week, and that m the meantime a memorandum setting forth their grievances and demanding immediate redress should be prepared. This memorandum has now been submitted to I the Inspector-General of the R.I.C. Amongst other things, it demands themen's rights to combine, an increase of Is per day m pay, payment oi overtime, and increased pensions. If a satisfactory reply is nut received by August 3 the men will so on strike. If the authorities persist m their threat to import country, policemen : into the city, the consequences will ! foe disastrous.' So'me of those sanguinary conflicts between police -and public for .which Belfast is notorious have had their origin m the injudicious importation of raw and tactless country men ;■ a.nd if the experiment is repeated 1 ,- there will "ne a recrudescence of all the- old strife. The appearance of 'blackleg policemen m th<e city m the present excited* state of the public wall undoubtedly be followed by bloodshed. THE COAL TRADE LOCKOUT,

Meanwhile I should state that the ockout m the coal trade is af; an end.- Th' 3 coal merchants have < had enough of it. How far the police revolt has influenced their decision -to throw up the sponge I cannot say. Tihey have withdrawn the lockout manifesto, and restored to the men the conditions granted six weeks agcF In the city there is a general feeling that the coal merchants have been let off lightly. It is felt that the men have been too moderate m -ac-epti-ng the withdrawal of the maniesto as a complete settlement. Without, the slightest, provocation .the coal merchants decided to cast m their lot with the other employers, and it. -is felt that 'they 1 should have been made to pay heavily for their unjustifiable action m locking out their men. The number of coal men affected was about 1000, and they all eturned to work on Friday morning last.

EMPLOYERS' BITTER DISAPPOINTMENTS. , What with- the revolt of the Constabulary and other, things, there have been many bitter disappointments for the employers. They turned up m force to hear Larkin's sen- | tence for alleged assault on Bamijer, the ""blackleg. They openly boastedthat he would gjet at least two years, and that this would end the strike. | Their expectation was disappointed. Larlcin's counsel put m an affidavit !to the cficct that m the present state of feeling amongst the ' class from | which- the jurors arc drawn his client would not receive a fair trial.' Efc quoted misleading leading articles m the Tory press, attempting to

STIR UP PREJUDICES a^am-Su his client.. He applied for a postponement till next Assizes, m order to give him an opportunity of applying for a change or venue. Acting on instructions from the Attorney-Cieueral, Crown counsel did , not oppose ■this application. Judge | Kenny was furious., and m his re- . mark's lie made no secret of liis anger. I Next day, when Hie case against I Bamber, for using the knife, came : up, his Lordship returned 1o the charge. He criticised the action . of ! the Attorney-General, and m the ad- ! dress to the jury made an impasrionert hara.ng.ue that was nothing; less than a, violent speech for the | defence- of Baarober. He drew a terj rible picture of the hunted blackleg, i pursued toy a murderous mob, headed Iby Larkin, and obliged to use the I knife m self-defence. After this it ds not surprising that the jury acquitted the prisoner. Larkin' s fate at the hands of the same judge and jury can he imagined. THE A\S.R.S. AND THE CARTERS 'AND DOCKERS, Mr Mear, the Irish organiser of the

Amalgamated Society of 'Railway Servants,, has arrived m the city. He tells me he has been sent by the executive of his society to do all m his power to assist the carters and dockers. He says that members of the A.S'.R.S. who have been compelled to blackleg have only to communicate with him,., and the Union will stand by them. He has attempted to commu'iiicate with the blacklegs, but without success. They are housed m special steamers, guarded by military, and it is almost impossible for an outsider to reach them. Last week a Midland Railway porter was dismissed for refusing to blackleg. He was brought to Mr Mear, and'th'ough not a memiber of the A.S.R.S., it was decided to make him a special allowance and employ, him m picketis?. The A.S.R.S. are now actually paying him better wages than he earned as a porter. THE PREVAILING- UNREST, A great deal of unrest with' regard to the strike still prevails. A few days ago, m broad daylight, m the principal street of the city, d van, driven by a blackleg, was • seized by a crowd and set on fire within sight of the military,; and close to several police barracks.. Other vans were tossed into the river.

j On Friday lasj) a huge demonstration 1 m support of the strikers was held. The procession occupied about 45 minutes m passing a particular pointj The whole population of the city seemedt to be sympathetic, and they were wildly cheered on their line of march,.- . Negotiations are :at resent, m progress with a view ' to a settlement ; lint the attitude of the British railway companies does not give much ground for hoping tha t a settlement can be effected. •At tlie hour of writing troops are being poured into the city. On Tuesday afternoon the Ist Battalion Gamer onian Highlanders arrived, with a Maxim gun attachment, and m the evening the Ist Berkshire Regiment, with Maxim guns, also entered..