Historic%20Yorkshire
Historic%20Yorkshire
Historic%20Yorkshire
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194<br />
THE PRESS-GANG IN YORKSHIRE.<br />
Mr. Thompson we learn that on this occasion a young<br />
sailor was impressed whohad onlyjust come ashore after<br />
a voyage up the Baltic. He contrived to release himself<br />
from them, and sought refuge by flight, the press-men<br />
following him. This occurred about six o'clock in the<br />
evening, at the time a large body of excavators were<br />
employed in repairing the basin of one of the docks.<br />
Through this body the sailor passed, presently followed<br />
by the gang. The navvies,however,intercepted the progress<br />
of the harpies,and a regular fight ensued, during<br />
which one of the gang had his head laid open by a blow<br />
from a spade, fiercely levelled at him by one of the<br />
navvies. This was a signal for a generalriot, and being<br />
the hour when the workmen were leaving off toil for the<br />
day, the gatheringsoon became numerous, and arming<br />
themselves with bludgeons, or any other weapons that<br />
offered themselves, the whole body bent their wayto the<br />
rendezvous, determined to liberate the poor souls that<br />
were confined within until they couldbe drafted on board<br />
the tender then lying in the Humber, and with which to<br />
convey them to the respectivewar ships. The impressed<br />
men wereliberated from the house,and it was wreckedby<br />
the mob. One manclimbed the flagstaff and tore down<br />
the ensign, which he waved triumphantlyas he clung to<br />
the top of the staff from which it had been flying. The<br />
Mayor was sent for, and came and made an attempt to<br />
read the Riot Act. But when he mounted the chair to<br />
perform his task he was pulled down by the gold chain<br />
that hung round his neck. The mob continued their work<br />
of destruction. A naval officer next menaced the crowd,<br />
and took a position on a heap of ruined furniture to<br />
read the Act. He drew a brace of pistols from his<br />
pocket, andintimated that if anyone threw a stone at him<br />
he would fire at the individual. He had no sooner said<br />
the words than a well-aimed stone laid him senseless on<br />
the floor. Until a late hour the mobremained mastersof<br />
the ground,but eventuallythey weredispersed.<br />
The head-quarters of the press-gang was the public-