CROWD FIRED ON.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 12698, 29 October 1904, Page 2 (Supplement)

CROWD FIRED ON.

One navvy has been shot dead and two wounded in a strange affair on Salisbury Plain, the details-of which recall the rough-and-ready methods of a Californian mining camp. A hotel manager and barman* are in custody in connection, with the affair. There is quite a .remarkable resemblance, too, between this disturbance at the village of Tidworth and the melee at Seathwaite, in Lancashire, which took place some time ago. In each case one man was killed and two injured, the victims were navvies, '. there were no police at : hand," and the manager and barman of a hotel were concerned in, the affair. The scene of the later tragedy, the little hamlet of Tidworth, on Salisbury Plain, possesses at present a considerable population jf navvies, owing, to. the fact that new barracks are:' being constructed there. Near the works is the Ram Hotel. This building belongs to the Government, and was let on lease some time ago to a firm' of brewers. It was largely frequented by the rough class of men employed on the barracks, and on several occasions; there have been violent scenes in the vicinity of this and other licensed houses, especially at pay-times and on wet days. Rain-fell heavily on this particular, day, and the Ram Hotel was crowded. A barman ejected a navvy, and had • & fight with him outside. The fight went on until the manager, Arthur Thomas, interfered, and the '. crowd of navvies then became greatly excited. The position, indeed, loked so serious that the manager and the barman, Walter Jukes, ran back into the house, locked -all; the doors, and took refuge upstairs. What immediately followed is not quite clear. . There appears to have been no actual attempt on. the part of the mob .to attack. the hotel, but they remained in front, of the building, and there was a good deal of - shouting, Suddenly several shots, fired in succession, rang out. Perhaps they were fired with the object of merely frightening away the crowd. The effect, however, was disastrous. The first man shot was a navvy named Charles Scaling, who sustained wounds in the legs. Soon after another navvy, be- i lieved to be named Sharp, fell to the ground, ! having received several shot wounds in/the \ region of the heart. He died within three minutes. A third man, Charles Scott, was I I struck in the, neck below the left ear. ; For I a few minutes the crowd seemed stupefied | by what had happened. Then there were '■ ; wild yells of ■" Pull the place down and "Fetch 'em out and terrible threats ad- | dressed to tie' inmates of the hotel. 4 A ! rush was made at the door. At this critical moment there came a dramatic interruption. A loud voice was heard earnestly exhorting the infuriated men not to break the law, and assuring them that -justice would be done. Th speaker was a navvy misi,;oner named Massey. The mob wavered, for Mr. Massey had a great influence with the; navvies. He continued to plead and argue with them, and in a few minutes the crowd, its fury quelled, began to melt away, and the danger was over. It was a notable personal triumph for Mr. Massey, which perhaps no other man could have achieved. But for his timely arrival it is nearly certain that the hotel'would have been demolished, and what' else might have happened can only be conjectured. The first policeman to appear on the scene come from just over the Hampshire border. He was afterwards joined by members of the Wilts Constabulary. • At the inquest on the . man Sharp, the manager of the hotel. Arthur Thomas, and the barman, Walter Jukes, were present in custody. Th two men, Scott and Scaling, who were injured, were well enough, to attend. ' : '

Dr. Williamson, of Ludgershall, who made the post-mortem examination, said lie found nc less than 260 shot marks in deceased'? body, mostly in the chest. ■ . James McHann stated that, following a fight between him and a. barman, a rash was made by some men towards Thomas because of lias iinterfei*ence. Thomas went into the honse, barred the door, and directly afterwards he appeared at. an upstairs window and fired a revolver three times. The barman. Jukes, fired a gun from the shoulder, and the second guns/hot killed Sharp, who was standing in the yard. Cups and stones were then thrown at the windows.

Both Thomas and Jukes gave evidence, the. former stating that he had to stop the taps because he found a good many men had had sufficient liquor. A cup was thrown at him, and, seeing a disturbance in the yard, he shut and barred the doors and blew a police whistle. He saw a man trying to break the door in. .The crowd used violent threats, and he went up and fired his revolver to frighten them. Jukes fired the gun first, without witness knowing it. - ':. v - : '-' :■

The jury found a verdict of" Manslaughter under great, provocation" against Thomas and Jukes,