Standing a Siege.

Cromwell Argus, Volume VI, Issue 308, 6 October 1875, Page 6

Standing a Siege.

Interesting to “block niners.” The Leeds Mercury reports a singular scene which had been witnessed at Bagby-fields, Woodhouse-lane, Leeds, —the entire demolition of a dwelling-house by the local authorities, literally over the head of its owner, Mr Robshaw, who persisted to the last in retaining possession. ; Mr Robshaw, it appears, had built the house in contravention of tho terms of the Local Improvement Act, 1872, and notwithstanding official warning, had persisted in finishing it. He then occupied the house, and the Corporation, finding that he was not likely to give up possession, resolved upon the forcible demolition of the house. Acting up to the idea that an Englishman’s house is his castle, Mr Robshaw locked the doors from tho inside, and barred all the windows to keep out intruders. Undaunted by these precautions, the local authorities sent a staff of workmen, who, mounting a ladder to the roof, lifted the slates and made a hole sufficiently large to let themselves down into the top storey. Having thus gained access, they removed the furniture to the kitchen on the ground floor, and then began the work of pulling down the house. The roof was soon removed, next the upper portion of the front wall, and then the greater portion of the room on the first floor. This stage had been reached on a Saturday night, when the work was suspended until Monday morning. Meantime Mr Robshaw had retreated with his wife arid little boy to their disordered kitchen, where the family spent Sunday, having their food brought to them by friends. On Monday morning the siege was resumed, Mr Robshaw refusing to surrender, A clearance was made of the first floor, where the doors had been unhinged, and the windows removed from their frames. The laborers, with their pickaxes and spades, next made an attack upon the kitchen, where, however, the work was cautiously proceeded with, so as to avoid damaging the furniture or injuring the people inside.. Meanwhile, a large crowd had assembled in the street, and were sometimes rewarded by seeing the contumacious owner as he peered through the half-buried kitchen window amid clouds of dust from the falling bricks, mortar, and lime. As Mr Robshaw still refused to capitulate, and defied anybody to touch him, the front of the kitchen was also pulled down, so that he had no longer any apartment left to himself, but stood at bay among the ruins of his ill-fated home. At this juncture, Mr Morant, the borough engineer and surveyor, came and reasoned with Mr Robshaw, who at length submitted to leave the place with his family, and have their furniture removed. The materials of the demolished building are to be sold by auction, and the costs deducted from the proceeds,—any balance which may be left being payable to Mr Robshaw.