THE BREAD RIOT. IS 



dash to board the steamer a third time. Again he was 

 thwarted. Seized with a kind of paralysis, he stood motion- 

 less on the gangway until he was forced to retire and return 

 to the other boat. It was very vexatious to witness the 

 Telegraph gracefully skimming the waters like a sea-bird 

 while the miserable craft in which he found himself creaked 

 and groaned behind " like a rusty signboard." 



Landing at Greenock, he took a long walk, but returning 

 to the shore he was surprised to observe a large crowd gazing 

 anxiously across the water in the direction of Helensburgh. 



A loud explosion had been heard, and the news was soon 

 after brought by a tug that an appalling accident had 

 happened. The boiler of the Telegraph had burst ana 

 torn the ill-fated steamer to pieces ! 



About six years later, the popularity of the young philan- 

 thropist preserved him in an equally miraculous manner, 

 when the whole town of Glasgow was suddenly thrown into 

 a paroxysm of wild excitement by the notorious bread riot 

 on 6th March, 1848. The furious mob, delirious with passion, 

 surged through the streets, wrecking every shop on their 

 way. With mad yells they rushed up Crown Street, in which 

 one of Boyle's bread stores was situated, and armed with every 

 conceivable form of weapon broke into the shops, leaving a 

 long trail of ruin behind them. On arriving at the bread 

 stores, however, an extraordinary scene occurred. A few 



