military Occupation of Belfast.

Auckland Star, Volume XVII, Issue 235, 6 October 1886, Page 3

military Occupation of Belfast.

Scones In the City.

(FROM THE SPECIAL CORRESrONDE-fi OF THE

" TIMES.")

Ireland is tho country of paradoxos. Trade and commerce aro widoly recognised

as active missionaries of concord and civil order, and yet Belfast, tho most enterprising and prosperous of Irish cities, is a proy to contention and riot. Still moro as tounding, professed religion but seems to intensify the strife, and men, in more sectarian difference, are " hating each other " and fighting like savages " for tho lovo of God." Tho more it is looked at the more puzzling tho situation appears,

Protestant and Catholic oven to-day in Belfast can be oasily found working B de by side in mill and workshop, oarning their daily bread from tho same employer. At work all goes well, but whon tho timo arriveß for rest and recreation thoy play at maiming and taking oach other's lives, Tho disturbances which have occurred havo chiofly takon outsido tho business centres, and within the area of tho long rows of plain two-story brick houses occupied by t'.ic working classes, Those are situated to tho west of the town whcr.o it slopes upward toward tho hil's that hem Belfast in on the north side. In tho business parts tho stroots aro wide, nnd tho same may bo said nf many of the principal thoroughfares In tho Smlthtielel Ward whore the riots have occurred. Disturbances of a minor character have taken placo also on the oppoaito or east side of the rivor Lagan, in Ballymacarret. In the centre of the town the stroots are paved with stone, but in the other portions thoy havo macadamised roads. The stone, unfortunately, affords an unfailing supply of missiles for tho riotously disposed ready to hand. As a Belfast "bos'" of forty years said of tho stones, "They aro mighty line for chipping one,*' and chip one thoy would liko a chisel*. What occasioned the riots is often asked, and it is also impossible accurately to assign the immediate provoking cause of any of tho innumerable streets fights that havo taken place. At tho samo time there is a gonsral c:n'o sus of opinion as to tho influences that havo prepared the way for tho disturbances. For onco both Catholics and Protestants aro agreed that the beginning of the strife arose out of tlie heated political feeling engendered by tho recent proposed Irish legislation. A Roman Cath-jlic carman -himself a Homo Rule partisan—fairly described tho state of matters that gave rise to the Belfast riots in thia way : "The poopla were all expecting great things ; when the elections went tho way thoy did everybody was in a buz/.. The day of the first row last Juno was as it might bo the afternoon of the day of judgment ; wo wero all looking for something. Words passed and the people who were stung broke out, anel tho lighting began," The population of Belfast had been prepared like tinder, tho provoked spark was struck, and a blaze was kindled which more than once within tho last throo weeks magisterial authorities hero ever hns narrowly missed breaking forth" into a civil conflagration. To-day Belfast is more like a captured city with an enemy in possession than an ordinary Engli-.h town. Tho Irish constabulary—wlio aro to all intonts and purposes soldiers—British regulars, infantry and cavalry, are quartered at stations in some instances not thirty yards apart throughoutthedisturbed districts. Luckily, the weather has been both mild and dry, and the men, who have had to bivouac on the pavement, and open spaces, have managed to pa.3 the time fairly well. The soldiers have been favourites with both the Catholic and Protestant parties, but the constabulary are by no means so well liked. Indeed, the Protestant party regard tho constabulary, who have been drafted from the country, as their avowed enemies, and a most intense and rancorous feeling is entertained towards them. Without in anyway becoming sponsor for the accusation of the Protestant party against the police, it is as well the public should know what is on all sides openly said. When, previous to the general elections, the country constabulary were orderod into Belfast to assist in preventing any disorder, the Protestant or Orange party assert that these rural men boasted they had been cent to suppress them, and meant to do so. Home Rule was going to be granted, and there would be an end for ever to the old ascendency. Unquestionably foolish bigots on both sides were allowed to indulge in a great deal of threatening and strong language, and once blood was shed the quarrels botween tho poorer Protestants and the constabulary and tho poorer of their Catholic neighbours wero increased daily in virulence and ferocity. In London after tho recent Socialist riots there was a general closing of premises by the shopkeepers ; in Belfast none of that timidity of capital is manifest, for to all appearances in the city business goes on as usual, although most people aro afraid to venture any distance from their own premises. Citizens say that it is positively unsafe, even in daylight, to go about in the disturbed districts of the Palls Sbankhill, or Old Lodge Road.. Hack-drivers will only drive you about in tho districts where their co-religiofiists preponderate. Today a hackman positively refused to convey a wounded man away from the Royal Hospital into a district inhabited by townsmen of an opposite persuasion. Thi3 distrust is unnecessary and exaggerated, for repeated driving to-day through all the worst districts failed to reveal any such dangers lurking in the streets or alleys of Stithfield Ward. In turning Springfield was told that though they knew he was a Catholic, and although thoy had been wantonly assailed by his party and an attempt made to murder them and wreck their houses the day beforo, still he was safe. This was the only circumstance that happened which in any way justified the alarmist fears of the people, who tried to discountenance others from moving freely about. With some degree of pride the Cupar street people — and it was the same with Catholics as well as Protestants-showed all who cared to look tbo points where bullets had struck, or where the mob? had most determinedly striven to wreak their purpose. The plain little two story brick houses in the disturbed districts resemble the rows of better-class workmen's houses in the Mid lands. They are barrack-like in their freedom from ornament. Many of the streets were well-kept, and the houses also appeared tidy and clean. Several of the thoroughfares, such as Millfieldstreet, were of an opposite character,and the dirt and equallor prevailing were more wretched than anything to be found in Soho or the East End of London. The streets themselves bore the most unmistakable evidence of the rule of King Mob. The "pavers," or boulders, had been dugout of the sideways, and they bad been thrown in such numbers that you could not put your foot down without treading on some one of these missiles. Tho opposing moba who used them frequently faced oach other at range 3of not more than twenty-five yards. What with revolver and bullets and "pavers," it muat have beon awful work. The true tally of the dead and wounded in these numerous encountors, it is feared, will never be known, as both sides strive to hido and minimise their losses.

There are no groups to-day of gossiping workmen's wives, but, instead, knots of men and lads hang about, quietly boasting over the incidents of the last few days. They said they were afraid to leave their homes unprotected, and also tbat they did not care to run tho risk of their lives walking through their antagonists' quarters to go to and return from thoir work. In Hanover-street, noar the corner of tho Old Lodge-road, lay the body of ono of the victims. At tho cornor of the street named there iB a public-house, owned by a pereon named McKenna, who haß several housos of the same kind in Belfast. Most of them have fared badly at the hands of the mob. Seven or eight policemen were sheltered in McKenna's upper rooms, the shop being closed. . A. boy or two and then some drunken men began stone-throwing. The police fired, killing a woman who was standing but fifty yards away. Then the stone-throwing became more violent, the mob shouting and yelling defiance at the polico. More shots were fired, and tho man William Nelson fell mortally wounded just opposite McKenna's. I saw his body to day in an upper room. A fine Btalwart frame, with a faco and front like a Norse Viking, he lay, with a smilo on his lips, his shirt and shroud stained with hi. Lite-blood, as was the bed, whilst his dazed widow and seven children gazed too bewildered for grief at the corpse of the family broad-winnor. The case of the woman Mcllwaine referred to was almost as painful. Inafewdayssbehadexpectedtobecome a mother, whon a bullet, cutting a neighbour's cheek, penetrated her Bkull, and she fell back dead. Most of the 3iifferers in the hospital are men, but there

are three women and four boys among the wounded. A magistrate intimated to-day that numerous secret interments wer6 made by both parties, just as was dono after tho ISO. riots, I walked through the hospital. I am glad to be able to write that, except in five cases, thero is evory reason to believe the patients will recover.

• The current opinion wasthatto-day would , pass without any outbreak, but unfortunately that hope has not beon realised. At the dinner hour, botween ono and two p.m., there was a littlo stono throwing near the Shankhill-rond, but tho police very promptly riisporsed the youths and idlers engaged. A painful feature about tho street attacks is tbo recurrence of assaults made by bands of young women, girls, and boys on others of their class who belong to the opposition faction. In many instances women and girls.havo boen sot upon, knocked down, robbed, shamefully beaten, nnd their clothes torn from their backs before the police or soldiers could interfoi-o to save them. The chief police inspector and his four assistants aro all disabled from blows received in the last few days, so tbat tho sub-in"peetors have to take command. Of course thoy do so under the magistrates' orders, of whom thero aro eighteen engaged in going about with tho different military and polico bodies to assist in the preservation of tho public poaco.

Tha disturbance to-day aroso in connection with tho funeral of tho young man Devlin, who was shot on Sunday, and was buried this afternoon in tho Catholic cemotery at Milltown. The cemotory is just outsido of tho city, near the Falls-road. It appears that the funeral, which was followed by about 500 sympathisers, got safely to the cemetery, then somo of tho mourners turned aside to cntor the Btsblas to get a drink of wator. A ecii'lla ensued botweoa them and tho tram-car employes. It resultel in tho Catholics boing ejected, and ono man being twice stabbed in tho body wilh a pitchfork. Stones woro then thrown at the residence of the manager of the tram linos, and an attack was mado on tho stables, the doors of which were promptly barricaded. Shots wore lircel by those inside at thoir assailants and a man nameel Wm. Tonnant, of 50, McDonnell-street, fell, s_.ot through tho lungs. He was takon to tho;hospital,_whoro ho expired during tho evening. A boy, named Thomas O'Connor, was also slightly wounded in tho shoulder. Tho firing happened about 3.30 p.m., and attracted for a time little notice, as it was believed to bo occasioned by a burial party of tho Black Watch, who wero intering a dead comrade —who died a natural doath— at the adjoining cemetery. Tho police on having their attention called dispersed tho mob and arrested ten of the tram-car men, ono of whom, named Whelun, is accused of having shot Tonnant. At half-past five this evening the Island workmen, as usual, marched in a body about 1,000 strong from 'ho shipyard to their homes, up Petorshill. They wero preceded through the more dangerous part by a troop of Dragoons, whilst tlio regulars and police blocked and kept back the denizens of the Catholic quarters. Not the slightest disturbance onsued, and the troopers and soldiers wore loudly cheored by t!.o Protestant party. As a precautionary measure tho polico have all been withdrawn from tho neighbourhood of tho Old Lodge-road, for tho Protestant party threaten to take vengeance if they remain. Thoir places havo been tuken by tho soldiois, with whom the people freely fraternised. Clergymen of all denominations havo boen about the worst districts, trying to persuade their people to koep tho peaco. It is hoped the worst is past. If tho power wore placed In tho hanols of any strong and resoluto official, it is hold, the town would resume its ordinary quiet condition in a few days. As matters still stand tho continuance of order oonnot be really said to be safely assured.

This afternoon a meeting of Roman Catholics was held in St. Mary's Hall, Mr Edward Hughes, J.P., presiding. Mr Joseph Biggar, M.P., was present, anil addressed tho meeting. He said that the really guilty parties in the riots were not tho Shankhill-road party or crowds on that or any other road, but those who incited them ond encouraged them by direct or indirect means. Tho parties who were especially guilty woro tho Mayor of Bolfast and the borough magistrates. The borough magistrates, howover, had given most direct encouragements to tho rioters. Theso gentlemen had more to do with inflaming tho passions of tho people than any other body in to an.