e
REPORT. 9
â– â– engaged in it were, to say the least, most culpably reckless of what might have
proved very serious, if not fatal consequences, it is impossible to doubt. A number of the Mr. Hogg, 1089-
bludgeons carried by them, were not only seen in their hands, and described by witnesses
as desperate weapons, but were seized by the constabulary and identified before the
magistrates as belonging to the party. One of these, we should hope about the worst
specimen, was produced to us, and could hardly be characterized otherwise than as a
murderous weapon. It was of about the dimensions of the ordinary police baton; but
triangular instead of round, the angles notched or toothed like a saw. And being made
of oak, a blow on the head from it, aimed with any force, could not fail to inflict a desperate
wound. The men who would attempt to force their way, by means of such deadly
weapons, into a peaceful meeting of their fellow-citizens cannot be too strongly censured,
nor could any punishment, legally inflicted on them, be too severe.
It was sought to throw the entire responsibility of this outrageous proceeding on the Mr. Hempton,
society known as the Apprentice Boys—a well-known organization, the rules of which we
have thought it well to give in the Appendix to our Report; and the presence, amongst the App. 12, p. 205.
rioters, of the governor of that body, together with the alleged fact, that members of it
belonged to the party who made the attack, was stated by some of the witnesses, with
. this obj ect. We could not, on the evidence given before us, attach such a stigma to the
Apprentice Boys, as a body ; while as regards their governor, Mr. Ferguson, the facts
proved go to exonerate him from responsibility for it, and show that he sought to stop the
rioters. It being summer, Mr. Ferguson usually passed the night at Moville, a watering-
place on Lough Foyle, a few miles from the city, to which it was his habit to go
by a steamer that left Londonderry at 5 p.m. He was about doing so on the day in
question; but Mr. Staflford, then the Sub-Inspector in charge of the constabulary in Inspector Stafford,
Londonderry, having received information that disturbance was likely to occur, requested 1648-1653.
him not to go, but to remain in town, and, should the occasion require it, use his
influence with the Apprentice Boys to preserve order. To this Mr. Ferguson assented, Constable Kennedy,
and that he did endeavour, though, as it would seem, with no great success, to deter
his own party from violence was certainly proved.
Mr. Ferguson's own account of the transaction, and his part in it, was as follows :— Mr. Ferguson,
He said that he was in the room whence the rioters proceeded; which, though the siostosiao.
place of meeting of the Apprentice Boys, was crowded at the time by many strangers also;
that they told him they were going to get into the Town Hall; that he tried to dissuade
them, but without efibct; that they then passed out before him, and he had no more to
do with the afPair. He did not, he said, see any bludgeons with them, as they went out; but
they might have had them. He believed he saw two or three light sticks. Amongst
them were "some very prominent members of the Apprentice Boys' Society," but he
thought " at least two-thirds of them were parties unknown to him." We should add
>that he disclaimed all knowledge of the making of the bludgeons, and, indeed, all partici¬
pation in the proceedings, save for the preservation of order.
This very serious disturbance of the peace, on the 20th of July, we may here observe,
does not seem to have originated in any cause of what we might designate a chronic
character; save to the extent that standing religious or party animosities may be so
called. The heat and excitement of a parliamentary election contest, taking place in
circumstances involving more than common elements of local and political feeling, no
doubt evoked much, if not the chief part, of the violence exhibited; and it would be
difiicult to attribute it to any deep-laid scheme of party organization. As we shall have
much to say on the evils resulting from this latter cause, we consider it only just to
make this observation.
The foregoing accoimt of this riot, or disturbance, of the 20th of July, 1868, in itself
■explains " the steps taken by the magistrates or other local authorities towards the pre¬
vention or suppression" of it. Though some electioneering excitement had previously Mr. Stafford, 1608-
prevailed in the city, no unusual inijaortance was attached to it; additional constabulary
had not been brought in, and till the day of the lecture no one seems to have
apprehended any disorder. When the Mayor was then informed that violence was
apprehended, he made arrangements to have such members of both the constabulary
and the local police force as could be spared for such duty, posted in and about the
Diamond, so as to preserve the peace. He himself instead of going to the country, Supra, p. 8.
where he used to sleep, remained in towia, and was present in the neighbourhood of the
hall, when the turbulence began. We may presume that if Mr. O'Neill, happening to
be in the building when the attack on it was made, had not, under the impression that
the Mayor had gone to the country, so promptly ordered -the military to the spot, his
worship would have done so; and that step, which appears to have been quite an
efl'ectual one, was, in fact, the only precaution that anyone in authority could have
taken.
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