1958-09-04 — Page 4

J

Theatre Prices Caused London's Longest Riots

THE CHINA MAIL, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 1958. "

In Court Last Month As The Career Closed Of A Man Whose Very Name Will Always Stand For

CRIME AND PUNISHMENT

EVER since the reign of George 1, British magistrates, JP's, sheriffs and mayors have had the duty of reading the Riot Act. This is a HE wig sat on the pale, damp forehead at an angle that was just the

THE statute passed in 1914 under which an unruly slightest degree short of rakish. The lips were curled upwards in crowd of 12 or more people can be commanded to the direction of a smile. The small bright eye gleamed with something

that was suspiciously like the milk of human kindness. disperse under threat of imprisonment.

The act is intended as a 'de- tement. But ongry mobs have

never been easy to handle. Even

in the days when the ringleaal- ers were hanged, some alarining slot took place in Britain.

rose Most of the troubles over religion er politics. Also re- sentment against In:migrants was the e..use of at least Two big riols. Londoners rose up against the Jews in 1189, and on Evil May Day, 1517, when they rose against all foreigners, 15 Tlalers were lunged and 400 bound up and carried to Westminster. But they cried for therey, and were pardoned by Henry VIII.

Mob "justice" found a new name in America in the middle of the 13th Century, Charles Lynen, a blood-thirsty farmer of Plod mont, Virginia,

hanx used to Tories by the thumbs until they cried out "liberty forever."

And not even to the young man standing in the dock-a young man whose freedom depended upon the next words he spoke-could the judge on the great marched date the Bank of Eng red-leathered throne of justice have looked like a frightening, a cruel, or a repellent

After the Gordon riots, a company of fool guards were

land every evening.

They re- maisted there all night, to chmuro the safely of the Bank, which had been threatened during the riots.

UJI

The mob had forced open all London gols and marched the Bank. But the Governor bad time to prepare his defences, and -

the his staff were stalloned on roof, well armed. Old inkstands Outside were cast into bullets.

soldiers, helped by volunteer corps of civilians. The the mob twice tried to storm Bank, but broke up in disorder before the soldiers' tre. attack had been too late.

were

Д

The

man.

T=

"Why," whispered an Amerl- can woman tourist next to me In the public gallery, "he minds me of Grandmaay,"

At which those of us around her swallowed hard,

His last

the man to whom she was referring

was Lord God- dard as we saw him in the Law Courts la London the other day Presiding for the last time in the Court of the Lord Chief Justice of England.

If there was ever one doubt In the man's favour, that man pen! went free.

we

By

Leonard Mosley

elded, that the jury had been misiireeled.

any since the war-Lord God- turd did not carry this cherish ed principle of his into effect.

Lord Juhin heart no doubt Goddard came to the decision that Benticy deserved to die.

For him there has always been-and always will be, in spite of the relaxing of the law :-only one punishment fit for - murder. and that is a rope around the murderer's neek and all the panoply of a column execution.

It was a younger man, Craig.

committed who

He is probably the last of the The actual English judges who want no

He gave a cool glance at the young man fa the dock, and said: "We need not shed any teurs over this young m

Is cause he has spent three months murder and he was too young port of any philosophy of crime Therefore why which seeks to reform eriminals to be hanged. hang the other boy, who was rather than punish them. already practically In police

of ravagery, and leaves behind marks of tooth and claw. This is the judge who 19-year-old Derek Bentley lo

And the gallows, when a large ele-

Baw this

stern, in geel But he added: "The bard, ment of publie opinion eried out

yet rigidly

hco Recorder's address to the jury is for a more lenient solution to judge demonstrate, for the last so confused that I have diffcuity the probelm of

literate time, how dedicated he is to in following it," this

that axiom of English low-that boy.

So it thay

seem ironic that Justice must not only be done implacable old but must be seen to be done. this harsh and

on should choose to go out into

No tears the wilderness like a lamb.

Belief

E

He had before he sent 16

man who had been to

gaal on a charge of being acces- sory to a stenting.

some

If that were so, he seemed to inly, how could a jury expect to be clear in their minds?

"The sentence is quashed," he announced. And to the main in

antids?

He believes that the law was made to protect the people and

To that Lord Goddard would the property of the land, and that the way to do that is to no doubt reply that he gave Bentley every opportunity that smush o heavy hand down upon the law of the land allowed him, those who try to lajure them.

He put the facts of his situa-

the deck: "You are discharged, comfort

The jury

verdict.

In history

Go away, and don't do it again." found him guilty. A court of

lu a way that small grain in appen upheld their

VES, he was ó great Judge and the mill of that day's Justice What else-execpt to let the he has won his place in his-

me to sum up Lord law take its course? picked up in his lorry seems to

1-ond tory. What that place whether he was a good Judre men who were riding a Goddard's philosophy towards factury of woollen goods; and erine. You must not only catch

ar merely a rigid one-men will * "Proefically" is the key word. then, after taking some of the your crook but you must prove

go on arguing long after he is dead. goods to the house where he him-gally and not just nioral- Bentley was naked by Lord God-

must dard gulity. The balance

whether he considered was living, he told the police.

Jumself under arrest at the time But Lord Goddard suggested that tip in his favour.

£1

was pleasant to There will be those who may of the murder. Bentley all see him being a good judge- he was guilty of receiving the

word made him a demonstrating found that, in the case of Derek "No." That

once more his goods. But he was not

hanged deepest bellef: that justice must guilty of that--but of being an Bentley-the case which entised. accessory. Thot mennt, he de- more public heart-burning than

always be aten to be done,

For the past 12 years Rayner YET Ion't, really. For just Perlups the most extraordin- | Goddard has ruled over Eng- as much as Lord Goddard nry disturbances ever to occur

1la criminal courts like a believes in punishment so has

He believed in justice In London were the O.P. Blots- monarch, in a jungle. During he always

that time, he has never ceased the longest ever staged In Lon-

100. “LYNCH LAW” dun. The old Covent Garden to roar out his hatred of wrong-

Theatre was bumi down in Sep-doing and his unswerving bellef And though he has sometimes tember

criminal 1808 and a luxurious in swift and painful retribution, seemed to give a

For the crooks who came be-

salutary lesson than he fare him there has always been recmed to deserve, I very much only one answer to their doubt if he has ever eat to gol celmes. Punishment. Punish- (or to the hangman) an accused ment which often seemed, to less. annn who was not wholly guilty rigid minds, to err on the side of his crime

As Piedmont was some miles new theatre was built at a cost from the nearest court of law. of £100,000. It was partly own- neighbours thought Lynch was ed by John Kemble, the actor, "judge" To make it may, a ler of boxes Just the man to get as ont pas sentence on offenders was reserved for wealthy people whom they could not bother to only. take to court.

.

CHEER

In the year Lynch was born, This privilege exasperated re- 1736, nob-justice was meted, golar playgoers, and there was OJUL izt Edinburgh to John also an angry outery when the Porteous, he swaggering cap prices of other seats went up. tain of the city guard. Two smugglers names Wilson and Robertson were sentenced โค death and taken to a church to allend their own funeral ser-

On September 18, 1809, the vice. But Rubertson bruke kwse new theatre opened with "Mac- from his guard and Wilson beth" The house was crowded; covered his exape. The public admired Wilson's pluck and were angry when he, was taken to the scuffold.

"God Save the

everyone sang King" of the top of their voices. Then all was quiet until Kem- ble stepped forward to make his pening rddress. Old and young

ke rose to their feel yelling calcalls and chanting "Old prices, old prices." The play started but the words were drowned in the general hubbub. Two magistrates came forward to read the flot

Captain Porteous treated the prisoner onthly, and fearing a resene ordered his men to fire ces the ob Seventeen people were killed or wounded and the captain was charged with mur- der. He was serilenced to die on September 8. but six days be- Art, but left hurriedly In face of fore that a reprieve reached an angry demonstration. Edinburgh from London,

Night after night the rials continued. Trumpels and bugles

ANGRY OUTCRY adeled to the noise. At last Kem-

Certain people In the elty were determined the execution would take place on the apokal- ed day. A daring commando raid was made around midnight on the seventh, aut the guards were Then the rioters overpowered. bursit down the door of the Tolbooth Prison.

ble promised to set up a com-

milée to consider the prices. The audience ruse and cheered.

There

mere

The

1

partner and therefore him.

Nottingham

NOTTINGHAM is a town with its roots deep in

English history. It is linked with Robin Hood. The names of its pubs smack of the Middle Ages, names like "The Trip to Jerusalem." It is the home of a well-known brand of British cigarettes and has the reputation of having the prettiest girls in England.

This weals this

What, most English

Peter Burgoyne's,

NEWS FROM BRITAIN

and out of Parlament. But the state of government will be chary about meeting such demands.

Riots

preservation of animal cells, or to have had tickets tissues and whole organy.

for the hit musical "My Fair Lady."

What are the possibilities of being able to pop entire human_ beings Into Rip Van Winkle re- frigerators and reviving them much much later?

of a famous London newspaper Now, In the Personal Column

I note some enterprising soul offering

barier "M.F.L" tickels to 500 the

10

lockets for suspended

re

genera-

FOT to animation and be In fact, Britain was of towns WDS the setting for facing was the danger of having do to would be to interfere with vived several the least English of twentieth isolated instances of gang hooll the tradition that Common- century phenomena, With gandam mugnifled into a colour wealth citizens. have the right tions from now? suddeniness that shocked the problem.

of free entry into Britain, nation, a race riot erupied in True, in Nottingham, innocent Its streets.

respectable people had been hurt. But, it seemed plain enough that they were the victims of hooliganism.

CORNUCOPIA

Simple WHAT

a life?

It

ta

Sold Dr Purkes: "The biolog- it is not obviously near achieving suspended animation latest American musical "Aun- the Mome," which is to open in of a warm-blooded animal at a

London soon. temperature likely to result in a atable state; but he may do unexpectedly at any moment by some ingenious otroke."

British scientists have been hearing that the means to

What the scientists did not so might be

right round Lego Into was the immense moral corner, Work, which might "un problems such A discovery -expectedly at any moment" lead would raise. Does man. bave the

to the discovery, is already right to chest death? under way,

And to science-fletion writers I offer this thought, free of The British Association, copyright: Just suppose you were which includes the best of Bri- agreed to be frozen inte sus of acceplarice wincing under the finan- ton's scenic is possibility at pied animation and while you were in the grip of ley immor-

This comparatively explanation gol

lost in the

welter of high-flown theorising seems only yester-

of the Not day

that

we

In the St Ann's Well district a gang of West Indians struck at while residents, savagely stubbing and beating. (Elght wounded Englishmen had to be taken to hospital,) Then sud- about the genesis denly the attackers disappear- tingham trouble. ed into a maze of ill-ti side Winning a lot streets.

was the opinion that boubles cial screws of a stern hearing about this possibility at

a conference in Glasgow. Police were rushed into the in Nottingham

and London Chancellor of the Ex- serious paper on the subject was tality some holocaust destroy district in time to prevent local stemnied Irom white-coloured

read to assembled scientists by men taking revenge on the competition for jobs and homes. chequer, Credit was as

Dr AS. Parkes of the Depart- West Indians who live there,

While the problems implicit hard to find as hairs on ment of Experimental Biology Why did i have to happen? in the presence of

of the National Institute cannot a One explanation put forward immigrant labour force

billiard ball, and Medical Research. by the police and by West be overlooked, And it more Indian spokesmen in the town thun hard to believe that these luxury spending tanta- was that the altackers musi have been retaliating

in either Not Truth or he trouble mount to pinching the against In Nottingham or London,

has there Crown Jewels. Anally the earlier beating up of a West Why. for hustance,

Indian by white youths.

was a rear

But the committee found that the new prices were fair, so the lots were resumed when the theatre re-opened. The high alries of the teters were den nounced. One rioler was arrest- ed but discharged by Bow Street One of London's worst distur- niagistrates.

Then the theatre bances was orgonised by Lord offeint who had made the ar- George Gerion in 1780. It start rest was himself dicled and ed is n Bill which relieved Aneri.

ut Roman Catholles of many old thumph in court and a fund was penalties Imposed

them. se up to defend any other riot- Gordan marched to the House ers who might be prosecuted. of Communs with a petition. But his 100,000 followers became Hiotous and went about London for six daya destroying Rainan Cathelle chapels and shops,

Twenty-one rioters were hang- ed and Gordon was arrested for high tesson. But he was found insane and sequited.

apon

After the demonstrations had continued from September 18 to December 16, Kemble pate in and restored the old prices. Not one word of "Mac- beth" had been clearly heard, in spite of the desperate efforts of players.

New

EXPRESS ANNUAL

EXPRESS

1957

BOYE SUPER COLOUR ANNIAL M

from

The Super-colour

Book for Boys Containing Picture-strip stories Adventure stories True-life Features Colour Pages

and

Humour

$10.

SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST LTD. HONGKONG

*- KOWLOON

2 large

been no similar trouble with the

for

Freezing seems to be the

pended animation, Already, ne- cording to Dr Parkes, laboratory work has opened up exciting

power to the problem of sus-

At the same time a party of large Irlah bnmigrant popula- Now quite suddenly this week possibilities of the long-term

youths appeared In a London tion? court charged with breaking Whatever was

we find the banks and the hire behind these purchase companies talling over

up a cafe owned by n. coloured' incidents, the Nottingham riot themselves to press money into couple. And a West Indian gov- may yot have far-reaching our hot little handz. -ernment official in London effcels, For two MPs from the The Midland Bank started alleged Unt in certain districts town-one Socialist, the other the whole thing by announcing of the capital his people were Conservative-have urged inde- a scheme for making "personat being systematically molested pendently that same curb loang" of up to £500 without and humilinted by Fangs of

should be put on unrestricted security and repayable by in- young white toughs,

Immigration from the Common- stalments. No need to get down wealth.

Dn your Itrices in the bank of manager's office and plead that in you need the money to boost the nation's export trade. You can have the money to buy yourself a car, if you feel like

The Immediate popular re- action was that Britain was face to face with a colour problém.

There is a growing body opinion behind them, boln

ROUND-UP

ECONOMY CLASS BOOSTS ATLANTIC

AIR TRAVEL

it,

It would be a triumph of understatement to describe this as a bombshell to Britain's financial world. Other banks hurriedly followed the kid- Innd's feud. Barclays even man- nged to put a noheme into operation three days ahead of the Midland.

MORE than 200.000 passengers flew the North Atlantic on the

The trend was all but Irre- new economy class services during the first three months of operation the International Air. Transport Association announces, statible and companies operal- u large Economy class accounted for 50.0 per cent of all North Atlanticing hire-purchase in

chasised by the 24.0 per cent rise with the sume period of ly affected by the bank's deci- passengers during April, May and June. The boost to air travel way, and who were most direct. reacfed by, drastically 1957 in the number who crossed the Atlantie. Airlines operated sons,

reducing the interest rates 3.622 flights across the Atlantic during this period.

instalment plan purchasers. WALNUT SHELLS

One large furnishing concern far as to cut all in- went to terest to hire purchase custom- ers buying goods during the next four weeks.

PRITISH confectionery firms have found a big market for the broken shells of walnuts which go into enites and sweets. Until now they have usually been thrown away. Then oil well drifters In Venezuela found a new use for them. Crushed walnut shells give added bulk to mud used as a lubricant in deliling wells. They asked for tons of the shells-for moro than could be found, As'h substitute peanut shells and shredded motor car tyres were sent as well/

WHEN BEER "SNEEZES“

to

No. Britain has not gone

rand.

This new freedom is a symp tom of the healthier slate of Britain's finances. And in per- mitting it, the government la

WHAT gives beer a good "head" Why does barley make better banking on the belief that it

malt at the end of winter than at the beginning? What can

will inspire the desire to earn stop beer from "catching cold" and, in fis own way, Pineezing?” more. money and at the same, These are some of the questions which brewing scientists in Bri- time employ currently unused toin and abroad have been investigating. A Brewers Scelety capacity, in "British Industry, official explained,...."Beer is the most complex of all popular

beverages the only one made from a fruit, the hop, as well as a PUT ON ICE?

grain, barjoy.,. When beer 'entchen cold' through being brought suddenly from a merely cool place into a freezing one, it comes near to doing what a human being does in a similar plight.

It

gures Only its 'smeere takes the form of over-foaming, or WOULD you be-pre- pared to go into a

gusting."

YOLL

ed all of mankind except Makes you think, doesn't it? SIC_TRANSIT...

а

ONLY very short

time ago it was a social hallmark to have

AMERICAN

LOVELY GORE

HORROR pays divi-

dends. One film

me

company assures that their latest exercise in the grotesque 90 handsomely shattered box-office records at one

of London's West End cinemas that they are following up with "the shocking story of a sadistic, moronic killer."

And proudly the company's pubileist informs me that plans are ofcol to enter the "class" (sic) horror field by filming the stories of Edgar Allan Poe,

My turn!

LUNAR DARTS

World Copyright by arrangement with the Manchester Chardian