Historic%20Yorkshire

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