TRINIDAD : THEN AND NOW. 



327 



tive barracks where they remained during Monday 

 night and the whole of Tuesday till Ash Wednesday 

 morning. The minor government official headed a 

 mob on Tuesday to the space of grass between the 

 Court House and Police Barracks and there burnt 

 Captain Baker in effigy, a foolish thing, which, like 

 the curse in the Jackdaw of Rheims, did not make 

 Baker " a penny the worse.' ' 



There was another important event which the 

 public never knew and it was well they did not. The 

 whole of the Police Force at Port-of-Spain, except 

 the officers and a few of the higher non-commissioned 

 officers, laid down their truncheons, took off their 

 uniforms, folded them nicely, laid them on their cots, 

 wrote and signed a paper tendering their resignation, 

 marched downstairs in a body to the Police barrack- 

 yard, handed in their resignation to the Sergeant- 

 Major and boldly declared that they would not serve 

 under such a governor. It took a very considerable 

 amount of persuasion and reasoning from an influen- 

 tial, high-classed non-commissioned officer to induce 

 them to withdraw this resignation and put on their 

 uniforms ; eventually this was done and done quietly. 

 It had, of course, to be reported to the Governor who 

 became frightened when informed of it. He wanted 

 to come to the barracks to address the men, but was 

 advised to let well enough alone, and he wisely took 

 the advice. 



Imagine what would have been the result if this 

 strike — mutiny — call it what you will — had become 

 known to the mob while they were careering through 



