THE LILLIE BRIDGE DISTURBANCE.

Press, Volume XLIV, Issue 6094, 9 November 1887, Page 6

THE LILLIE BRIDGE DISTURBANCE.

Lillie Bridge Grounds, West Brompton, famous in pedestrian annals, was on Monday night, September 19th, the scene of an extraordinary riot. Thousands of persons had assembled there to witness a 120 yards match between Harry Hutehens, of Putney, andJlarry Gent, of Darlington, who "were to run for a stake of £100 a-side and the championship. The race was to take place at half-past five. ' , " WHAT 'LED TO THE RIOT. Gent had been a strong favourite, as much as 3 to 1 having been laid on him ; but at the last moment the odds quickly dropped until 10 to 1 was laid against the Sheffield champion, followed by offers to wager that the race would not come off at all. Hutehens came out first, and walked round the ground with his trainer and two other men. He was followed shortly afterwards by Gent. The principals and their friends then disappeared, and were supposed to have retired to their dressing rooms. It appears, however, that Gent's people then notified to Hutehens' party that their man was out of sorts, that he had done badly in his trial, and was considered to have no chance. They had therefore derided not to let hini start, as by forfeiting the amount of the stake to Hutehens they would not lose their bets on the result, as they would do if their man should run and be defeated. Hutehens and his friends were extremely wrath at this declaration, and after some words retired. But a formidable difficulty now presented itself. Between 2000 and 3000 persons werg on the ground, and would want their entrance fees returned if the match were declared off. In the first place the return was impossible, seeing that the money had been collected from the pay boxes and taken away for safety; and secondly, a great many more people than had paid were sure to clamour for money. Gent got oul, of the difficulty by walking quietly off, ar*d Hutehens also got clear. A "DUPED" AND DESPERATV MOB. When the psfclic found that they were, as they cons&ered, " duped," some men and ladß commencedVto pull at the palings round the_ track in front of the pavilion. Seeing this, the rougher division in the cheap reserve swarmed over the barrier and quickly broke all the railings down. Next the flag pole in the middle of the enclosure was pulled over, and the telefraph board and chairs were smashed, he mob, warmed to their work, made a determined rush at the pavilion fence, but for the moment were repulsed. A new idea was suggested by a young man, who possessed himself of.the flag from the 'mast and proposed 'burning it. Mate-' ryils were gathered from the broken-down ferice and, the track railings, and these were sooa abhize.' almost all the lighter woodwork had been pulled .down..from::the front of-the buildings despite the valiant efforfcsiaf three or four constables. These for a while held the ■rnfresihment-room and dresstng-room, and >vere then' lelfc. alone while.an organized attack was made' ori" tlieVxange of sheds running the whole length of" the ground on the Seagrave-road side. The rioters, armed .witb pleces'of wood-.from the fence and from* the" frfiWiework : i>f- some of the buildings, battered at the joo'fs of the sheds',', -vi-■'■• - '-;:'...' . ~.'.. "tt'ITH THE eFjFi.YVAOfcS.'- ' The rioters on-the opposite' ground were at the same in wrecking the high,railings adjoining] the railway; A thirS contingent', carried j on a brisk series of assaults on the j pAvilion and £he side, ,'baildings. Sticks,! stones, and other missilesAvefehtirled, and the policemen were azain and again driven back, until at length the rabble gained possession of the refreshment room, and sacked it. Directly afterwards a shout announced that the i room had been fired, and flames appeared. The constables succeeded' in subduing the lire three or four times, but it quickly re-asserted itself. Flames . were also observed at the corner of the' range abutting on the Drill Hall. All this " time the place was lefr practically at the mercy of the mob. <

When the fires had made considerable headway some firemen appeared and tried to get to work, but they were set upon by the rioters, who stoned them in the most cowardly manner. The firemen endeavoured to repulse their assailants by

sporting water on them from the nose, but found the pressure too weak to be very effective. Haft a dozen separate fires were in full blaze when a reinforcement of constables stole in by the members' entrance, adjoining West Brorapton station, and at a signal from the other side advanced to meet a strong body of police, who entered from the Seagrave road. The mob pelted the reinforcement for a minute or so, but i found it prudent to fall back, and the fire-1 men were then able to proceed with the extinction of the fires-an operation which they had not completed, however, before the buildings were partially destroyed. THE SCKSE AFTER THE FRAY. An inspection of the scene after the riot showed that nearly every building m the grounds had been either wholly or partially destroyed by fire or at the hands of the rioters. "In the building containing the dressing-rooms all the private lockers belonging to member? were broken open and ransacked. Padlocks had been wrenched bodily from their fastenings, and everything at all valuable and portable carried off. The mob apparently expected to find the " gate money in the place, and, being disappointed, smashed even the mantelpiece and fireplace in pure wantonness. The riot was entirely unexpected and extraordinarily sudden. Several policemen, including Inspector Moss, were knocked about and badly injured. Mr William Coombes, a signal inspector at Addison road, who was resenting the arrival of intruders on the railway embankment adjoining, got very much excited, and staggering down the bank expired, presumably from heart disease.

STATEMENT BT HUTCHENS. A representative of the Sporting Life has haa an interview with Hutchens on the subject of the Lillie Bridge fiasco. When asked for his explanation of why the race did not take place, Hutchens replied:—" They stood over mc with open knives and bottles In theit- hands, and swore they would murder mc if I attempted to go on the path. It would have been as much as my life was worth to go out." " Was Gent willing' to run T' the interviewer asked. " Yes," Hutchens answered. "I believe he was. They threatened him as much as mc, and said the first man that attempted to leave the room by the front door would soon be a dead-'un. Pointing to the door at the back of the room, they said that was the one I was to go through, and I had better be quick about it." " But how came it," asked the correspondent, " that these men were in the room with you? It is not usual to have a crowd like that in a dressing-room." " Certainly not," replied Hutchens, " and the orders were that none but the trainers and the backers weie to be there, but as soon as a certain division found we were going to dress, they forced their way in. The fact is, it was really all done by two betting men. One of them had backed Gent for a lump, and when he found that he had broken down he put uy a lot of roughs to stop the race."