CHARGING THE MOB

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVI, Issue 106, 31 October 1913, Page 7

CHARGING THE MOB

SENSATION IN THE SQUARE SEVERAL INJURED. A most serious turn in Affairs was taken last night when the mounted police, special and regular, charged the crowd in Post Office Square. It happened just after 5.30 p.m., when tho numbers of onlookers in the Square had been considerably increased ny people homeward bound from office* and othpr employment. Tho people seemed to fill tho Square, and probably the number * whose interest was merely passive largely exceeded the numbor of active participants in the strike. , Scouts on bicycles came in with the intelligence : " Here they come, the scabs arc coming !" Then the crowd set off down Custom-house-quay. One or two men who' appeared to be wateruidera were heard to call on their fellows to come back; but there was no stopping tho crowd. Soon the police appeared, with a following of men and women, looking for excitement. Tho % mounted men , rode in fours in close' formation, about twenty regulars coming iirst, then some fifteen specials, .with about fifteen more regulars bringing up the rear. To the regular men but little ■attention was paid, but directly tho special got abreast of the crowd the cry was raised of "scab !" HOOTING AND STRONGTHROWING. There were cries of "Pull them off," and hooting. Then came stone-throw-ing. Who was responsible for it all it wonld bp difficult to say, for the crowd was dense and the missiles came from all parts. Certainly some of the strikers joined in the hooting, though there . was a large section of the crowd that displayed no other emotion than that of curiosity. The kind of small fireworks known as "bombs," that explode by concussion, making a loud report, were also freely used, and conveyed the idea that shots were fired ; but they appeai-ed to come mostly from young men and youths of "hoodlum" type. Tho explosions made some of the horses restive, and stones and shouting did not quietenthorn, but the constables rode on quiet* ly, oxcopt that one regular marked a stone-thrower and warned him. Tho constables in riding through the crowd had kept close to the wharf sheds, out of the regular traok. When _ they had passed the main body tho missiles began to fly thicker, but no serious injury, so far as could be Been at the time, .was inflicted. THE CHARGE Past tho square and into Jervois-quay the mounted men rode ; then, tho crowd still following, they wheeled thoir horses, formed across the quay in open order, and, with batons held ready for action, charged at their tormentors. There was not much waiting to resist ; the crowd just scattered and ran, using all speed to gain places of safety. Right through the square the horsoß went at a gallop. Little did the curious) and passive spectators realise tho situation until tho cry went forth t ''They're charging, they're charging!" One or two men avoided the direct rush, and, dashing in, endeavoured to pull tho men from thoir horses, but batonß were used freely by tho police. From somewhere in IJio crowd there was a revolver shot as tho police went past. The bullet struck no one, though it is said to have gone dangerously near to a motor-car driver. ONE MAN PALLS. Three men were said to have boon knocked down, and one was seriously injured. Ho lay on the ground just before the wharf gatOß ? and three who had been in the vicinity said that he rushed into the tniddlo of tho ranks oil

mounted "men, seized the bridle of a special constable, and was struck down .with a baton. His head was bleeding, arid he was- immediately attended to by some foot constables and onlookers. Strikers and others were excitedly declaiming against the charge, but the '« constables and Captain Monro tactfully •prevented any demonstration, and the injured man was removed to E shed. 'Some members of the crowd were heard •to say that he was only an onlooker, fand it was afterwards ascertained that 'his name was W. Everest* and that he Hesided in Lome-street. There were several other reports of igevere injuries, but no definite mformanjion could be obtained at the time. A pn»Q named «T. Kckette was pushed down I jby the crowd under the feet of the' HiOESee, and sustained a seveue injury Hollos collar-bone. Another man named ►Bristol Mranis, described as one of the men of the union, said that the gave no provocation to anyone, but, ends -walking quietly across the Square that anything was happening, iwhen he was surrounded and batoned by ' (tbe mounted men. Ifc was ako> Teported that- a roan named (SAdnams was shot through the neck and (shoulder by one of the mounted men jwhoso baton he attempted to seize. The j say that they carried him, bleed- j idng, to the Pinion office, and there ob ! /tamed medical attention, but the name j of 'the doctor was not given. » j ' One regular constable was unhorsed linlthe charge, but he followed the rest ton. foot, someone having taken charge, of 'bis horse it* the meantime. It was said tthat a special constable also fell, and /[was deprived of his revolver. ANOTHER DEMONSTRATION. Mter the charge the mounfeed men liproceeded along Customhouse-quay, followed by a small section of the crowd. 4 'At ' Whitmore-street there was another (demonstration, and stones were thrown, Jbut the police drew their revolvers and Ah& crowd retreated. 'The excitement after the charge^ was intense, and at least one civilian ' produced ' & revolver, caDing on others io tfc&w Ms example and " Come on." more collected,, reasoned with, the j excited and the revolver was put 'away.