CHRONICLE. 



149 



ness was attended by theLordCham- 

 berlaiu, the First Lord of tlie Trea- 

 sury, the Secretary of State for the 

 Home Department, the Master of 

 the Horse, the Comptroller of the 

 Household, the Treasurer of the 

 Household, the Lord Groom, and 

 Equerries in waiting. 



Huddersfield Dec. 3. — The spi- 

 rit of Luddism which was thought 

 to be extinct, has again appeared 

 and raged with more than usual 

 violence. Last Sundaj' night, about 

 a quarter past nine o'clock, a num- 

 ber of men armed with pistols 

 or short guns, one of them with 

 the lower part of his face covered 

 with a black handkerchief, entered 

 the house of Mr. W. Walker, of 

 New Hall, near Huddersfield, cloth 

 manufacturer ; and after taking 

 from him a gun, a pistol, and pow- 

 der horn, demanded his money, 

 and obtained from him about 15^. 

 in notes, the whole of which they 

 offered to return him except one, 

 if he would give them a guinea in 

 gold ; not being aware of this de- 

 coy, he took out a small purse, 

 ,i,centaining five guineas, which they 

 immediately seized, and took all 

 the gold, without returning the 

 notes. The chief then proceeded 

 to ransack his papers, while others 

 of the party presented their pieces 

 at Mr. Walker, and after cau- 

 tioning the family ; on pain of 

 death, not to quit the house for 

 two hours after, they departed. 



The same gang, on the same 

 night, proceeded to the house of 

 a shopkeeper at Favtown, from 

 whom they took a gun, with 

 silver and notes to the amount 

 of 20/. together with a pair of 

 silver tea-tongs, and two silver tea- 

 spoons ; not content with this booty, 

 they went into the cellar, and seized 



a bottle of rum and some provi- 

 sions. From thence they went 

 to a farmer's house near Fixby ; 

 four men entered, two of them 

 armed with blunderbusses, a third 

 with a gun, and the other with a 

 pistol ; their first demand was for 

 arms, but on being told that the 

 family had neither arms nor mo- 

 ney, they ordered " Enoch, Cap- 

 tain, Serjeant, and Hatchetmen, 

 to enter ; " but on promising to 

 find them some money, they re- 

 turned at the word of command. 

 Here they received 5l. — They 

 next proceeded to the house of 

 Mr. James Brook of Bracken-halK 

 in Fartown, where, after conduct- 

 ing themselves in an outrageous 

 manner, they took his watch, a 

 pound note, and four shillings in 

 silver. From thence they marched 

 to John Wood's, where, after 

 breaking the door and windows, 

 and rummaging the house, they 

 called over the numbers from one to 

 nine, and went away. They then 

 went to the house of Mr. William 

 Radcliffe, at Woodside, where they 

 obtained 11/. lOs. Qd. six guineas 

 in gold, and between two and three 

 pounds in silver, a quantity of tea, 

 sugar, liquors, and plate. Their 

 last visit was to the house of 

 Moses Ball, Gilly Royd, which they 

 plundered of two pounds in silver. 

 7. The fair of Castlemain exhi- 

 bited a scene of riot and outrage. 

 Two parties for some days before 

 were preparing for the conflict, 

 which commenced at an early 

 hour ; but in a short time one 

 clan, by a preconcerted plan, 

 retreated precipitately, while the 

 other rapidly advanced, until they 

 proceeded to some distance on the 

 road to Anna, when the retreating 

 party fled ofl' to the right and left, 



and 



