A RIOTOUS CROWD

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 865, 11 July 1910, Page 8

A RIOTOUS CROWD

DISGRACEFUL SCENES IN DUNEDIN. FOUR MEN ARIIESTED. (By Tulcgrapli.—Press Association.) Dunedin, July 10. One of th« most disgraceful scenes witnessed here for a long time took place last evening. About 9.45 o'clock the pnlico Imil occasion to make an arrest, and for fully an hour after that they had their hands full in coping with a moil of disorderly people somo hundreds strong, who took almost complete ciiiuyo ot affairs for the- ii:iiH Using.

At 1.1115 tiiii* liimtionwl abevt, Korgeant .ficclcs ami Constable Sweeney arrested a man named iobn Wilson on a charge - of disorderly conduct while drunk. As tlioy were taking him down to tho cab, Wilson's brother appeared on the scene, and, it is asserted, assaulted Constable Sweeney, striking him on the back of tho head and cheek. This man was immediately arrested by Sergeant Kcclcs. The crowd quicklv gathered, anil it was with tho utm 9. difficulty that the polico got their pvisoners to the station. The road and footpaths worn crowded with an excited mob, who made a violent demonstration against the officers of the law. After much difficulty the two Wilsons wero got into a cab. but when tho driver was ready to start, it wae found that tho hame straps had been undone. But in the course of time the police snfelv lodged both men in the cells.

About half an hour later it was found necessary to mako another arrest, and on this occasion the disgraceful scene was repented. Several stones were thrown during the disturbance, and ono of the cab windows was smashed.

John Wilson will b& chareod with drunkenness, obscene language, and resisting the police; David Wilson with assaulting and resisting the police, and with using obscene language. As a result of the demonstration two other men named Walter Spencs and Charles Graham were also arrested, tho former on a charge of being drunk and disorderly and inciting the crowd to assault Constable Sweeney, and the latter on a charge o'f obstructing tho police and assaulting Constable Fox. Tho trouble is believed to be due to the unpopularity of one of the constabloi.

Alter the arrests had been effected another nonstable, who was mistaken for the one against who;» there is much feeling, went up the "street, and a crowd of fully 200 followed him up High Street, through the Arcade, and down MacLaggan and Rattray Streets, to Princes Street.