THE BELFAST RIOTS.

Te Aroha News, Volume IV, Issue 171, 25 September 1886, Page 3

THE BELFAST RIOTS.

Rioting ocmmenoed again in Belfast on July 3lat, caused by a band of muaio and accompanying crowd on the wsy to uioet % Sunday school excursion. The'crowd hooted a knot: Of Catholics assembled on Carrlck Hill, and they replied with stones. Soon a. large mob of Orangemen assarnbled, and' the fight became general. A large tavern owned by a Catholic named McKenna was,wrecked r and also a number of houses believed to be inhabited by Catholics. The police were ordered to fire* buck&hot; which they did promptly, killing' an errand -boy name v Knox and 'Berioualy wounding many rioters. The military, were also called out Fighting coatiuued; "more or less severe, till August 6th, when affairs' assumed a very grave aspect. The city -was placarded -with the Mayor's proclamation forbiooing assemblages in tho street; which < was- preay much uoheeded. In respoose to urgent telegrams sent from Belfant to Dublin, on the Bth, four hundred, soldiers, summoned by Ingle m " the streets, were despatched in hot haste to tho tcene of the riote, followed by a body, of two hundred dragoons and infantry next morning. Thft rjotiog on the morning of The Btu waß severe and i-auguinary., It br^ko out in Old Lodge Road, where the police fired on the moh, ana. in tho evening, w&s renewed with greatur violence in the same yjioinity, as well as in Qrosvenor and Springfield Roads. Many persons with gunshot wutmas was sent to the hospital. Eleven deaths were reported, and the number of wounded were put down at two huDdred. The Inspector-General was surrounded by the mob on Lodge-str;et, and was obliged to run for hie life. On the 9tn hostilities wore renewed by a fierce encounter between the Boldiers and the mob, in! which a number of the, Litter wore wounded. ' A soldier at close quarters fired at a boy and chattered hia thigh, for which he was arrested. 1,200 troops arrivecl on the 9th inst, The attempts to stop the meeting were unsuccessful; the violence of the, mob rather increased.' 1 Thirty rioters were 1 wounded during the morning by the merciless fire kept up by 1 the poliqe. The hospitals were taxed to the utmost to accommodate the great, number of wounded persons in need of assistance. A painful feature was the number of children Wounded, while bands ot youths and girls indulged in every kind of rowdyism. The shops and busino&a places in the city remained open as usual, but the authorities ordered all taverns to bo closed till' the evening of 'the 10th, at tho same' time notifying the wholesale spirit and beer dealers that a penalty of £10 would be inflicted for aelUrg drink for consumption in the vn_-lriity of their pretutsefl. ' >",<!., > i The. heavier fighting on, Sunday night, tho Bih". occurred, at Springfield. Here a battle was waged in regular guerrilla fashion,. Ihe Catholic^'hold 1 a field protected by trees, while' the Protestants occupied an enclosure opposite,- in which* they lay down, . , The -cputeatant-j aimed, with remarkable coolness, picking eaoa other off as if they were so iaahy targets. They were not interfered with by the polioa or soldier^ who were fully occupied in the city. It is said that, in this affair sixty, of , the rioters were shot many fatally. l ' • "- rr * ' ' Throughout tha day and evening; dri the 10th' sullen crowds gathered inthe streets.' < A desire 10 renew.jjit} fighting* was evident, hut the Jean, of the trodpa' prevented freeh outbreaks. The' Queen's Mand "men rejected* 'th'e mapfistratea* appeal to return to their homes in small bodies, . instead ot in a compact crowd. Thoy earned a good supply of missiles, for UBe in the event of being atcucktsd. ( The magistrates' dealt severely »with th*» rioters v wh"o were tried on the 10th. About fiye o'clock in the afternoon, two-men, were' shbtiby disorderly" peWris i'n^dTlfferent' parts of the c.ty. t,Oti'e was killeaitoa" Catholic cemetery while attending- the funeral of a vieUna of, tho 4 riots. 'JSxp oity,,owing to ihe, wreck and ruin'of tfte.'hdaee'a,'- presented % deplorahle aspect/, ItB ? apptjaran"de was similar to that'ot Paris after^the Gomravrae i <n m t -i ,im» „ ' ■, ' a * c L /&i9^l>#MawB]' attributes the' solo, responsibility ,of ttibse scenes of olpodshed to 'Lord Randolph!' CnuVcWfll. Thft'tiittei-nesaW »feeling,iwaBTnloBt) intense;} and the* presence of v the -BoUw .sjtended. , ,to,-,,> iftor^ase,, rattier ihan dimMgh l 5 'jtho / dieorder. < . The > N Pro testanta*" 'declare ttiat ' the 1 , 'Catholica were t the ' agaressor gtf toy ' wreokihg' » Protestant thouaed, whUe;* 4 the^patholioS' are equally ;certaih ' , that, the,. Prpte^tatota^wera ,fhe aggrb^sorß. „ut • one thing theraWnd aoiibt/ Never 'did twomobs of difife^ent reHkiona'di^piay a ni'orb bl6oa■thirnty desire ito vkill- tit' maim > eacU'f other. : ,l}ttx*ogithe Ught^'g ,9'fi.Sunday, |ho r and- f the ; next.^day, tthe , powder, ( ran/Bhor.t,, '■viragos •on I Boffl'iide^ fidt/ronß^ha OtHer implements'- ground larg'd^gr'aiiieti 'blasting into a siza, .suitable fou small arms, while .boys of "KSHPy^VS^W I fflSSl in J9 bjilleta .and, slugs. While tiu rioters wef prln^/yquths^nd women stood behin'a^thißm>buBtry l .lMuingn.pa s rd guns In 1 ..order t6prev6iit'a>wast«r:pf time, .^tie f ustlade ' ftyetedtw,a Afftfy wb?n c thQ.«K^«njunition ga,v«tpu^ - anda,t«cit^ruc;e , # enoued, bpTh sidoa, removing fM^&WS wowiW Vttieir 4 ndnVes.^ ( Both 1 \ CatD!olic^ana?, I PrSatestantft'4ttidi6tf9ly 'concealed" IOHseB/.jywtJV^oii^iy^tfee^rotoatantß received 25* fnkßinolO si^aHefiallßtds »'th%^ Gath'olics 3 asupply ofi ammunition iand ,manyjrevolvers t>V the tone P^Mi^WiecithearjßiMf Thja.plcntifiil-^ hbuBi>B'earohrfor.arjm«fii lj*3,|>xta tfu«&jit(?«nt tdXfet? c^^>Bimt)W*iquie^on th||»Uth.>'ftndi UlO^WQunHeo, <,|[CMuul^Jlaip,rQving, A,numeW "on f Watf'diyfldemandißg ■ the * n^pomttaon t of a • jKo^jli^tagMsejl^U tooi^vestiß^to and«report j 1 upon the - Cftuaes of, the ' diaordera which have octurred'irijßelfkst'eirice June last. ; The.Cabi- 1 net deoidedohtWe; 13th to: appoint such a Com-^ minaionV; Thu Irish newepapcrs expressed great gratification at thier The polioe have not dared

,to venture intothe Shank Hill Road district l(fi jfearof themobs^j Wf^ ,i „'^wi , ' • r ~ I Rioting; was resumed On the 15th. From mtdnißhtlpreoeding until 4 ololock a" m. a rifle flghip ■ was waged o%Shank Hill, and/Old, .Falls ,Road (> One .person. Was killed and' many wounded. The town seethed. f wltE 'eiditomefit, • and"- the -peour^ ' renoe o* the sectarian' strife was in the bloodiest* : fabhion.^ texpert riflemen joined »in .conducting? the ehopUDg^from, roof, tops, chimney,,! stock's,, , rfrid'strtfet; owners lf 'Immense droWds ? o« tiarti-T , , zans, whd 'carefully kept oufc'of-' rttnfee;vasHi"stea^ !in ,Buppjyin« >auimuiJit,ion\'eind, i removing, 1 wounded. ,, Si4ea .wore equally divided, » Tho^ smbon &uone\brightly throuhout the contest. 1 When^y'ar the'inUfrary appeared. 'the' coin batantßifcliiftecl /their ground. Finally vi at 5; p.tn.,Jafper^jh^ ¥$$, Act b^,d(, % been twice, read^tho- ; troops ohaf ßed upon the crowds, and cleared? the streets' temporarily.' f Tho 'mob repeatedly 1 charged •'upon 'the 'police, and the order in- 1 structingitbelatter to'OJae.buckßfcot instead- of bullets was cancelled. An old man and two-. women', inmates of a houae in Tonway-etreeti' from which .many ,'bKo'b had been fired, ''werb arrested and taken topiison," escorted by a; .hovyhng mob.,|,The Orangemen .admitted',thatin this fight one of their men named McFarlane waß'killed.'aud t'#o others, named. Smitb! and ' Johnson, mortally. < woundud { ' also, that .thjere'vvere^a/.njumbar of minor castialties^on^ their side. They claim,' that ihey killed and, ■wourided many Catholicß; bat the "la'ttter deny thia.'"-Ma.n'irhcru.eea -weVe'^ldcllerl-^ith bullets. - , Scores of priflonerß Jiave been brought taiKil-,. mainham Quol and Dublin to await trial., .The - ldtftil Belfast gaole are full/ ' ", .While' the" men i from l > Quec'n'g Mand were marolimK ,horn» ( th«y*met and tarred and, f©M3ier,ed a Catholic, aijd ',san« a parody on ' "'Gr(.d,S «.'vn Ireland " to the words,*," No Home. Rule for Ireland." . " ' . ; ', '* '■ 'J'he nvihta,^ in chareing the mob on the 15th, b/tyoneted Magistrate Burke, .who was la plain clothes and usbistinK a wounded rioter. Burke wAs take;-, to the'Ho^mtal. Despatches 1 of tbe IBfch saT that since the riots beiwn, i every. ' Catholic workman haasbeen. hounued pff^peen's Island. Prior to the o dis-; orders, hundreds were at work there. v ln many sarge eHtablishmentM, Catholic employees havebeen forced to quit. Nine ptxliorinen; indicted for mur,der. in unnecessarily firing upon citizens of Bulfasi, appjitjd tothe,Cpurco; Queen's Bench i'or permission to give oail,' andtho rec(ueßi waa granted. " " , , -. «, . ,