"Mr. Brookes resumed his evidence, and stated that he put his foot upon the sack, upon being called by his servant, and kicked it down two steps, when the subject called out 'I'm alive,' and, forcing half his naked body out of the sack, threw the whole house into alarm. (Here the subject again laughed heartily.) Conceiving that the prisoner's intent was concealment, for the purpose of inducing others to commit felony, witness armed himself with the bar of a shutter, one of his pupils brought a poker, and gave his weapon to another man in the house, whilst he flew upstairs for his pistols, which were unloaded; but the prisoner seemed inclined to resist, and witness said to him, 'Resign, or else I'll shoot you like a bug, and then dissect you in five minutes.' A Constable was sent for, and the subject was taken to the watch-house. He denied any knowledge of how he came there, and said he had been made very drunk.
"After Mr. Brookes had returned from the watch-house to enter the charge against Morgan, he saw Bottomley loitering about the street, and, on scrutinizing his dress, it answered that of the person who had left Morgan there. There was another hackney Coachman with Bottomley.
"Mr. Brookes' testimony was corroborated by Mr. Salmon, one of his pupils, and by Henry Harris his servant. The latter was confronted with Bottomley, and he believed him to be the man who had left Morgan.
"In defence, Morgan said, that he had returned from Teddington, Middlesex, on Sunday, where he had been three days at work; that he had drunk freely on the road to London. He came through Westminster and the Park; and, in Oxford Street, a man picked him up, and made him so drunk, that he entirely lost his senses, and had no recollection until he awoke from his stupor at Mr. Brookes's. He had no wrong intention, and he had lost 5s. and some apparel.
"Mr. Brookes stated, and he was confirmed in it, that the man was not drunk, when at his house, and the manner of his extricating himself from the sack, clearly demonstrated it."
Bottomley, in his defence, denied all knowledge of Morgan, and the Magistrate remanded them; but the Newspaper does not tell the sequel.
Undoubtedly, there was great distress throughout the nation, and there were riots all over the country. On October 18th there was a Corn riot at Sunderland, where, at market, owing to an advance in price, the Mob took away the Corn from the farmers by force, and openly divided the spoil among themselves: but some of the ringleaders were arrested.
There were riots, and somewhat serious ones, too, in the iron districts of Wales, owing to a reduction of wages occurring simultaneously with a rise in provisions, and the Military had to be called out. A riot took place at Calder Ironworks, near Glasgow, and there the Military had to back up the Civil power. A Corn Riot about the same time at Walsall, where the windows of several bakers were smashed, and a New Mill gutted; here, too, the soldiers were called out—and, a little later in the year, food riots at Dundee.
