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174<br />

THE LUDDITE RIOTS.<br />

two troops of cavalry and largebodiesof infantry. John<br />

Schofield was charged with shootingat John Hinchcliffe.<br />

The latterwas a parish clerk and singingmaster, and was<br />

called out of bed on the night of the 22nd of July, 1812,<br />

and taken into the road, where, after a futile attempt to<br />

escape, he was shot in the eye, the use of whichhe entirely<br />

lost. The counsel for the defence included Mr.<br />

Brougham (afterwards the famous LordBrougham), and<br />

the plea set up was an alibi. The prisoner was pronounced<br />

" Not guilty." The 8th ofJanuarywas givento<br />

investigating cases where persons had administered the<br />

Ludditeoath, andthose foundguilty of this weresentenced<br />

to transportationfor seven years.<br />

The next day nine persons were charged with being<br />

concerned in the attack on Mr. Cartwright's mill. Six<br />

were found guilty and three acquitted. Other prisoners<br />

were then tried for minor offences, and those found guilty<br />

sentencedto sevenyears' transportation.<br />

The prisoners condemned to die werefifteen innumber,<br />

and as the dock was too small to hold them, they were<br />

ranged on a form in the sight of the judges. The Clerk<br />

of the Arraigns asked the usual question why the judgment<br />

of death should not be awarded them, and each in<br />

his turn prayed for his life. Baron Thomson and Mr.<br />

Justice Le Blanc assuming their black caps, the former<br />

addressed the condemned, pointing out the enormity of<br />

their crimes, the importance of an example, the little<br />

chance of mercy for them, and their impending death.<br />

One of them swooned early during the address, and the<br />

groans that burst now and againfrom these young men<br />

as it proceeded, were heartrending in the extreme. But<br />

a short time was allowed to elapse between sentence<br />

and execution, and during this period the prisoners<br />

behaved in a very penitentmanner, but did not make any<br />

importantrevelations. At eleven o'clockon the Saturday<br />

morning,the 16th of January,the Under-Sheriffdemanded<br />

the bodiesof the condemned. They were then singing a<br />

hymn which one of them dictated. On arriving at the

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