KILLING NO MURDER.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXV, Issue 217, 10 September 1904, Page 13

KILLING NO MURDER.

LANDLORD SHOOTS OX COWARDLY MOB. LONDON. July 20. Seatbwaite, on of the beauty spots of the English Lake District. situated in an out of the way corner of the Duddon Valley, was the scene last Monday of one of those exhibitions of cowardly lawlessness to which unhappily the loww classes of the Old Country are only too prone to give way on the smallest provocation.

Near by Seathwaite, a tarn is being converted iuto a reservoir, for the purpose of giving the big iron manufacturing centre, Barrow-in-Furness. an additional water supply. Several hundred navvies are .at work upou the construction of the dams, and in the wake of these usually law abiding sods of toil, there arrived a strong' contingent of professional oux-o'-works, who find sufficient for the day by sponging en the good uatured navvies for beer and

"baccy,"' and are not particular how they get the necessaries of life.

The local "police force" consists of one man, whose "beat" consists of miles of eocntry lanes and fell tracks, and the protection he affords to dwellers in the valley consists chiefly of removing offensive persons of the tramp variety at intervals, and occasionally escorting local roysterers home from the village pub.

Last Monday quite a crowd of loafers aad tramps, with a leaven of genuine seekers for work, invaded Newlield Ilotel, tho only licensed house for miles round, and kept mine host busy serving out "four ale," whk-h, being interpreted, means beer at fourpence a qnrirt. The beer and the heat induced somnolency in some of the customers, and when the landlord objected to having his bar parlours turned into a free doss house hy sundry unclean persons without any sense of decency, the row be-

Lite one num. the cowardly crow commenced to wreck the place. They smashed the bar fittings and windows of the hotel, helped themselves freely out of bottles and barrels, and when their appetite for liqnor failed them, proceeded to smash up the remainder of the landlord's stock. Then, iuflamed with liqnor. the rioters left the public house, and made a bee ltne for Seathwaitp rhurcli nnrt vicarage, the wiiidows of which they proceeded to smash. When scarce a pane was left unbroken, the rioters tired of the sport, and for a time roamed about the fields. Then once more the drink devil in them woKe up, and making for the hotel again they proceeded to finish the wreckage. The landlord, who had sent for the police, endeavoured to scare the mob away by producing a gun. but doubtless the rioters firmly believed he dared not use the weapon. Dawson. however, had his wife and daughter to protect, and knowing full well what their fato was iikely to l>e if any of the brutish crowd could lay hands on Them, he saluted their mad rush with the contents of both barrels. Down fell three of the foremost toughs, one fatally wounded in the belly, and Hhe other two liberally peppered in various portions of. their anatomy.

The effect of Dawson's discharge was immediate. The mob's blood lust left them ou the instant. Most of them slunk hurriedly off, only a few remaining to look after the injured men, who were promptly taken into the hotel and cared for by the Kawsons. A few minntes later a posse of police arrived post haste, but of the rioters, not one could be found. Cavanagh, the man shot in the belly, died in agony a few hoars later, but the others were only suffering from mild injuries, and were duly locked up. Dawson, of coarse, will be placed on trial for causing Cavanagh's death, but it is quite certain that the jury will view the case as one of justifiable homicide, ana equally certain that the penalty, If any, inflicted on him will be purely nominal. The view generally taken of his action may be gauged by the fact that he is out on bail on his own recognisances.