7^ 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1817. 



[Aug. 



their fellow townsmen quickly con- 

 vinced the malcontents of the im- 

 propriety of their refusal^, and the 

 oath was afterwards quietly ad- 

 ministered. Order and tranquil- 

 lity was therefore completely re- 

 stored even on the ^Sd, and no 

 disturbance has since taken place. 



28. Silesia. — The rioters in Bres- 

 lau, who refused to take the land- 

 wehr oath, founded their oppo- 

 sition on the cantonal rights for- 

 merly enjoyed by the bui-gheVs of 

 Breslau, which are, however, long 

 since repealed by the landwehr 

 oath, and the general laws. On 

 the occasion of refusing the oath, 

 six burghers in particular made 

 use of very indecorous expressions, 

 and several others who were wil- 

 ling to take the oath were \ery 

 severely assaulted. During the 

 night, these six burghers weie ar- 

 rested and conveyed to the Fortress 

 of Neisse. Immediately after, a 

 false report was spread that two 

 of the wives of the prisoners had 

 thro^vn their children into the 

 river, and then leaped in fhem- 

 .■relves. This falsehooil, perhaps 

 designedly circulated, caused the 

 disorders to bieak out. 



'2f). Being market day, seve- 

 ral fju-mers met at an inn, at 

 Shepton jNIallet, in uSomerset- 

 shire, where a conversation took 

 place, in which a man named 

 Croker, of advanced years, and 

 a young man named Hawkins 

 [his presumptive son-in-law] took 

 an active j)art. At length the par- 

 ties became opponents in argu- 

 ment. The old man was obstinate 

 and declamatory ; the young man 

 was contradicting and perverse j 

 and at length their argimient was 

 considered too desijcrate to be ."set- 

 tkd, cNceptby a reference to blows, 



By an eihibition of this nature, 

 the hearers and by-standers were 

 soon gratified ; but from the seri- 

 ous character which the contest 

 assumed, they interceded, and fur- 

 ther bloodshed was prevented. 

 Harmony was again shortly rc- 

 stoi ed ; and the parties proceedetl 

 on their way to Oakhill (where 

 the old man, Croker, resided) 

 about two miles from Shepton 

 Mallet. They had not, however, 

 proceeded far before another pu- 

 gilistic contest was resorted to, 

 which, however, by the interference 

 of some casvial travellers, was soon 

 interrupted ; their difFcrencea were 

 arranged, and they pursued their 

 joxnney. Some bad passion still 

 being the inmate of the young 

 man's breast, he provided himself 

 with an instrument from a conti- 

 guous gate, arid felled Croker to 

 the earth by a violent blow, which 

 was fatal, and left the poor old' 

 man's lil'eless corpse upon the 

 ground, with dne eye completely 

 driven from its socket ! At this 

 time it was about half-past ten 

 o'clock, and the daughter of the 

 old man (Croker) becoming un- 

 easy at the absence of her aged 

 parent, went in search of him : 

 her progi'ess, however, was soon 

 interrupted by her kicking against 

 something which appeared to be 

 hiiman, and upon turning round 

 to satisfy herself upon this point, 

 she discovered that it Was not only 

 human, but alive, and affrighted 

 at the circumsfailce, she ran ra- 

 pidly home, supposing that the 

 person she had seen had placed 

 himself there for no honest pur- 

 pose. On her return home she 

 went to sleep, and dreamt that 

 her father had been assailed by 

 ruffians ; she accordingly again 



uuistcred 



