THE BELFAST RIOTS

Grey River Argus, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5556, 26 July 1886, Page 3

THE BELFAST RIOTS

A SATURNALIA OF DISORDER.

The papers are full of accounts of the destructive riots at Belfast, lasting, with more or less violence, from the 26th May till the 11th June. On the Bth a mob of Orangemen wrecked a number of houses of Roman Catholics, aeverely injuring some of the occupants. There was also trouble in the Orange district of Monaghan. On the same day at Lurgan several Militia men wore wounded and houses wrecked. Many persona were shot, some being dangerously wounded. One named Gallaghar was Bhot dead. Almost all the constables were injured by stones or bricks. In Belfast on the 9th the Orangemen resumed active hostilities and wrecked 100 houses in the city, two of which they burned ; and they broke into whisky Btores and drank themselves into a state of desperation. Some of them ran

about the stteetß crying out, "To hell ' with the Pope." The police used buckshot freely, and many of the rioters were severely wounded. At night the mob made an attack on a tavern kept by a Catholic named Duffy, which /Hfctoiy wrecked, after overpowering the polwe. Inthisaffaii the G]njif of PoUce (Caracas wounded. A remarkable feature faring all the days of riolmlftsa|s!ie marajerin;, which the women and girls goaded oii the mm to fight, offering them aprons full of fresh stones ; and, when entreaty failed, using savage threats. The females wer« actively engaged in looting too, and, when Duffy's place, as well as M'Kenna's and M'Closkey's stores, on Fork, wwe wrecked, BCoreß of women and children were employed all the time -the riot was going on in carrying wines and liquors in jugs and buckets. Men, youths, and girls drunk until they fell helpless in the gutters. The girlsacted with greater furyduring the orgies than the men. After sacking various taverns, the rioters fired them. The reporter of one of the daily papers gives it as his opinion that the moo was composed of the very scum of Belfast. " I Baw these fiends," he writes, " hurling rocks at gallant firemen, who were imperilling their lives in the attempt to save dwellings from destruction. 1 saw dozens of ruffians during the night of the 10th sneaking away from the wrecked and burning buildings laden with loot." During the rows on the 9th Gladstone and Parnefi were both burned in effigy, and a dumny labelled "Home Rule" also burned. At one time the situation had become so desperate thatMatheson, the local Orangeleader, publicly declared that unless the authorities did their duty he and thousands of Orangemen would take charge of the town. Matheson was on the point of carrying out his threat when the military appeared. Before this the mob drove a force of 150 police into the barracks and then attacked the building. The police fired killing five persons, one of them a barmaid, who was looking out of a tavern window at the fighting, and another a widow with two children. Several Protestant clergymen tried to disperse the mob, but their efforts were unavailing. The. mob continued firing stooes while they were speaking, and a divine was hit by a rock in the face. At midnigh' on the 10 ? h the mob of Orangemen raided a public house kept by a Catholic named O'Hara, and after sacking it reduced it to ashes. The police were beaten back in this fight and forced to take refuge in the barracks. Scores of rioters were wounded. It is known positively "that six men and two women were killed. 20 rioters who had received bullet wounds were lying in one infirmary. All the officers say they never knew a mob to show such great viciousness, violence, pluck, and determination. Despite their desperation, the rioters i hurled their missiles with regularity and ' precision, as if they had been drilled in ■tone-throwing., Some of the stone-throw- ! ing was qmte^eitraordinary. The better armed rioters carried what are called kidneys," stones about 5$ inches long and 3| inches broad, and weighing on an average Hlb. , There were many boys among the , ,rioters, and they were as desperate and plucky as the men. Fighting with the police continued till 10 o'clock on the lOfh, when two troops of dragoons galloped up to the vicinity of the Boer Hill police position, followed by about 300 infantry. They had been under arms. 11 hours. The. mob then dispersed, and when rallied again they found that the troops had covered all the streets around the barracks. Viewing the impregnability of the police position, the visitors departed in sections, cursing the Pope, denouncing "Home Rule" and singing th« "Orange Lily" and "Rule Britannia" The city was comparatively quiet-on the afternoon of the 10th. The people in the neighborhood where the rioting began say that it was caused by the police under a mistaken impression by molesting and cudgelling some orderly workmen while they were leaving a foundry. According to this story the populace got angry at the police for their cruel and unjustifiable conduct, and attempted to make them desist. Gallagher, who was shot at Lurgan, was » well known local simpleton. Two men, Hart and Ma&bn, were arrested in Belfast, for his 1 murder. The funeral took place on the. 10th. The procession, which was protected by 200 soldiers, was jeered by a mob of Oatholic3. Andrew and Arthur Donnelly, leading Catholic merchants, were arrested in the month of June on a charge of firing from their windows. The mob wanted to lynch them. Several riots occurred in Sligo on the evening of the 13th Jane, and quite a number of Protestants' houses were wrecked, The trouble originated by the residents, who were angry because somebody destroyed the rails surrounding the Archbishop's palace. They gathered in thousands and attacked the houses of J Protestants and hooted and molested , many persons. The windows in every house in which it was known Protestants dwelt were smashed. The County Club House. Constitutional Club, Methodist Manse, the residence of the Congregational minister, and several chapels were attacked and wrecked. The Orangemen made no attempt to retaliate. The Mayor, who is a Nationalist, and several of the magistrates, came in front of the throng and. tuftd-^o appease them, but without k Riot Act was then rend and k ordered to clear the streets, t did ah the point of the Sixteen rioters were arrested.