William Booth Eyewitness Account

• Place: Manchester
• Role: Officer
• Occupation: Police Constable

Testified at the Less Inquest. Claimed to be injured by missiles thrown even before meeting started, suggesting the affair was not as peaceful as others testified.

Account

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WILLIAM BOOTH called in by Mr. ASHWORTH; sworn by the CORONER.
Mr. HARMER (to the Witness)—You have been in the room, Mr. Booth.
Mr. ASHWORTH—He only just came to me, to speak a few words.

The WITNESS examined by Mr. ASHWORTH;
Q. What are you?
A. I am a constable, attached to the police.
Q. Were you on the ground, near St. Peter's-street, on the 16th of August last?
A. I was.

[Here a paper was put into the hands of the learned Counsel, which purported to be a declaration of a large portion of the inhabitants of Manchester, renouncing any employment given to the learned Counsel to appear in their behalf in consequence of his having declared that he was employed by “the town of Manchester;" and declaring that they would not suffer his fees to be paid out of their poor rates.]

Mr. Ashworth—Now, Sir, here is a paper which has been put into my hands, which I understand is now being carried about the town for the purpose of obtaining signatures to it. I know of nobody, Sir, who represents this town but the boroughreeve and con-stables, and by them I am employed. As to fees, they won't come out of the poor's rates, I dare say. Whether I am paid or not, I would attend to my public duty; but certainly I expect to be paid. A case of this kind, I certainly would never attend gratuitously: but as for the poor's rates, Sir, I am sure my fees will never come out of them. There is plenty of opulence in Manchester, I dare say, by which my fees will be paid, without resorting to the poor's rates. But this paper, Sir, is a part of the foul confederacy that exists in this case. It is like all the rest of the things. God knows! a great number in Manchester wish such papers to be produced, in order that they may see, by the signatures to them, who are, and who are not, interested in the welfare of the town.

The examination of the WITNESS resumed by Mr. ASHWORTH.
Q. Do you say that you were attached to the police of this town, on the 16th of August last?
A. Yes.
Q. And you say you were upon the ground?
A. Yes.
Q. Did you see the Manchester Yeomanry Cavalry up at the hus¬tings?
A. I did not.
Q. Did you see them when they were going up to the hustings?
A. I saw them at the back part of the houses where the Magistrates were.
Q. During the time you were on the ground, and during the time they formed there, did you
observe any thing come towards them?
A. Yes; there was a brick came.
Mr. HARMER—I object to this, Mr. Coroner; because I understood you to lay it down, that any thing which took place not about the hustings, was not evidence.
The CORONER—I think this is evidence.
Mr. HARMER—Very well, Sir; I thought it right to object to it, even on your own principle—that nothing was to be given in evidence which did not occur on the ground.

The examination of the WITNESS resumed by Mr. ASHWORTH.
Q. Were you, or was any body else, hit?
A. Yes; I was hit, just at the back of the houses.
Q. Was that when the Yeomanry were in front of the houses, or when?
A. It was when they were just coming up to make the charge on the ground.
Q. It was, in fact, when they got up to the hustings?
A. No; it was when they were coming up to make the charge.
Mr. HARMER—I object to this, Mr. Coroner, because I understood you laid it down—that nothing which was done anterior to, or subsequent to the wounding of John Lees, was evidence.
The CORONER—This is very different.
Mr. HARMER—I was told, Sir, that I must confine my evidence to the field, and that I was to give evidence of nothing that happened elsewhere. I understand, that what this witness is now alluding to, was behind the houses.—(to the Witness)—Point out, on the plan, where it was.

[Here the witness examined the plan.]
The examination of the WITNESS resumed by Mr. ASHWORTH.
Q. Was it here, in Mount-street?
A. I stood opposite the houses where the Magistrates were. That was before the Yeomanry came up. I was then in the street opposite the door of the house where the Magistrates were.
Q. But where was it that you were hit?
A. When I was going away, and at the back part of the houses, There was a report came from the office, that there was an attack made there, and as I was going down at the back part of the houses, I was knocked down.
Q. Were there any people assembled at the place where you were knocked down?
A. There were.
Q. Many?
A. A great many; and it was hard work to get through them.
Q. Whereabouts was this?
A. At the back part of the houses.
The CORONER—It was at the back part of the houses, was it?
A. I was coming by this corner-(pointing out a spot on the plan.)

The examination of the WITNESS resumed by Mr. ASHWORTH.
Q. The way the Yeomanry came in.
A. I don't know which way they came in.
Q. Was it at the turn of the corner that you were knocked down?
A. There was a sort of a hollow place there, where they are going to build houses, and as I was going through that kind of valley, the expression they made use of, was,—"There's one of them;'' and I was immediately struck with a stick, on the back of the head, and down I went.
Q. Was any thing else thrown while you were down?
A. No. I got up, and went a little way; and I had not got above a hundred yards, when a stone was thrown, and hit me at the back of my head, and brought me again to the ground.
Q. That was very near St. Peter's-field?
A. Yes.
Q. Did any thing else happen?
A. Some gentleman was so kind as to help me up, and I went down to the corner of Redcross-street, leading down to our office.
Q. How far is that from the ground?
A. It is two or three hundred yards from the ground.
The CORONER—Then that is not evidence.
Mr. ASHWORTH—I should submit, Sir, that where there is one continuing attack upon a person, as in this case, though the persecution of the man is carried on to a distance from the ground, still it is part of the same confederacy, and is evidence.
Mr. HARMER—I certainly should agree with the learned Gentle¬man in that law; and which, indeed, I laid down to be law, the other day. But when I attempted to prove that the Manchester Yeomanry had followed particular individuals, and had persecuted them to a considerable distance from the field, I was told, that the act of one, was not to be considered as the act of all; and that I could not give evidence of facts which did not take place in the immediate vicinity of the hustings.
Mr. ASHWORTH—That is not at all applicable to this. There is one particular individual, upon whom an attack is made; and that at¬tack is continued until he gets as far as he has just described. All that attack, being one and the same transaction, is evidence.
Mr. HARMER—l also produced individuals who were attacked by the Yeomanry, in a similar manner.
Mr. ASHWORTH—That was quite different. If you had proved that John Lees, or any other individual, was attacked near the hustings, and that the same persons who attacked him there, followed him, then that might be evidence; but you have not proved that it was the same persons.
Mr. HARMER—I beg you pardon. I proved it was the Manchester Yeomanry. And can this man prove, that the persons who at¬tacked him at this immense distance from the field, had attacked him on the field?
The CORONER—This goes for nothing, but to shew the character of the Meeting.
Mr. HARMER—Well, Sir, and the witnesses, whose testimony you refused to receive, were to prove the character of the attack on the Meeting. I first proved an attack was made, by a certain body of armed persons, who were the Manchester Yeomanry; and then I proved, or at least was prepared to prove, that they followed the people in every direction,, in pursuance of the same object—the violent dispersion of the Meeting.
Mr. ASHWORTH—Now, let me just mention what those cases are, to which the gentleman alludes. If he produced evidence in fact, of an individual being attacked by some persons on the ground, and that that individual, when going off the ground, was pursued and attacked in the streets by the same persons who attacked him on the ground, that would be one and the same thing; and I should not say, that that was not perfectly legal evidence. But the learned Gentleman proves, that some person was cut on, or near, the hustings; by whom, he did not prove. That individual is not at all connected by any evidence with any person who was pursued, or cut, in the streets. That is quite distinct; but here, this is the same individual, which makes the case different, and totally distinct. If any Yeomanry Cavalry man had attacked a person on the field, and had followed him through the streets to the Infirmary gates, I say, that would be a continuation of the same attack, and might be given in evidence. But in no one instance has the gentleman proved any continuation of an attack upon an individual from the field, in this way.
The CORONER—I don't see what this goes to, more than setting forth the disposition of the Meeting. It has nothing to do with the death of John Lees.
Mr. ASHWORTH (to the Witness)—Now, was this attack upon you first with a stick, then when you were struck down with a stone, and afterwards, when you were attacked at the corner of Redcross-street, all a continuation of one, and the same attack?
A. Yes.
Mr. HARMER—I beg again, Sir, to object to this evidence, upon the same principle, on which you ruled against me.
Mr. ASHWORTH—Mr. Coroner, I would not produce this, unless it was strictly evidence. If the attacks upon this man were totally un¬connected together, then it might not be evidence; but here, it is all one. It is continued from the first to the second, and from the second to the third.
Mr. HARMER—Well, we had better get the facts, before we argue upon them.

The examination of the WITNESS resumed by Mr. ASHWORTH.
Q. Well, go on. What happened when you got to the corner of Redcross-street?
A. When I came down near Redcross-street, they were coming tip there, and I had hard work to pass along the street, the place was so full and so crowded. When I came to the corner of Redcross-street, there was a great crowd there, and they made a sort of hiss; and there were two or three men that pointed out me, that knew me. At least I supposed they knew me. I was then knocked down;
Q. What with?
A. With a stick.
Q. Was the stick thrown?
A. I was hit on the back of the head.
Q. Then it was not thrown?
A. No; I was hit with it at the back of the head.
Q. Were you assisted up there, by any body?
A. No.
Q. Were there many people there?
A. Yes, great crowds.
Q. You got up by yourself, then?
A. Yes.
A. Were you hurt?
A. Yes.
Q. Much?
A. I was dizzy with being knocked down but I was not confined at home with it. Of course I was hurt, so that I fell down with the blows each time.
Q. Was this, as far as you observed, before any body of military came upon the ground?
A. Yes, it was.
Q. Did you mention it to any body?
A. Yes; I told it in the office, how I had been used as I came! along, and I have mentioned it several times since;
Q. You have mentioned it several times since, and you mentioned it at the office, then?
A. Yes.

The WITNESS cross-examined by Mr. HARMER;
Q. At what hour was all this?
A. It was about twelve or one o'clock. I was sent away soon after Mr. Hunt came.
Q. Then it was after Mr. Hunt had arrived?
A. Yes.
Q. And after all the country Reformers had got compactly round the hustings?
A. A great many of them were not.
Q. Was their any body of the country Reformers close to the hustings, that were not compact.
A. I met a great many as I went along.
Q. How long had Mr. Hunt been upon the hustings before you went away?
A. I am not sure. Not above two or three minutes. Not more than five minutes. I think not above two minutes, but certainly not five minutes.
Q. You had to pass through great crowds of people?
A. I had.
Q. By yourself?
A. Yes.
Q. How long had you been on the field?
A. I had been there perhaps half an hour.
Q. Had not the Stockport people arrived, before you quitted?
A. I believe they had.
Q. Had not the Royton people arrived?
A. I believe they had.
Q. And the cavalcade with Mr. Hunt?
A. Yes; and in about two minutes I went away.
Q. Who sent you away?
A. Mr. Nadin himself sent me away.
Q. Will you say it was any one of the Reformers, from the country that attacked you in this way?
A. I don't think any one else would use me in that way.
Q. And this attack lasted all the way to Redcross-street?
A. Yes.
Q. The Reformers were in different bodies?
A. In large bodies.
Q. In different bodies?
Mr. ASHWORTH— He said “large bodies," Mr; Harmer.
Mr. HARMER—Very well, Sir. I have not erred; I am not affecting to repeat the answer of the witness, but echoing my own question.

The cross-examination of the WITNESS resumed by Mr. HARMER.
Q. You were three times knocked down?
A. Yes.
Q. And it was with difficulty that you could make your way through them?
A. Yes.
Q. But when you were knocked down, they permitted you to get up again?
A. Some gentleman picked me up, the first time?
Q. But you passed on through them, then, for some distance, with¬out receiving any injuries.
A. I had not gone far before I was knocked down again. Before I got to Mosley-street, I was knocked down again.
Q. Pray, were you under the hands of any surgeon, in consequence of these dreadful injuries?
A. I don't know much of that.
Q. Were you so severely hurt, that you were obliged to go to a doctor?
A. I can't say about that.
Q. Don't you know whether you went to a surgeon?
A. No, I did not.
Mr. ASHWORTH—If the police officers of this town were to go to a surgeon every time they get a scratch, they would be poor police officers.
Mr. HARMER—They send a good many to the surgeons, however, if they do not go themselves.

Cross-examination of the WITNESS resumed by Mr. HARMER.
Q. You stated that you had not been in this room before, except to make a communication to Mr. Ashworth. Were you not in the room after that?
A. I only came in just to turn two or three people out.
Q. Have you not been standing at the door all day?
A. Yes.

The WITNESS re-examined by Mr. ASHWORTH.
Q. But though you have been at the door, don't you mean out¬side the door?
A. Yes; outside the door.

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