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Title: The Dock and the Scaffold

Author: Unknown

Release Date: July 20, 2004 [eBook #12961]

Language: English

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THE DOCK AND THE SCAFFOLD

The Manchester Tragedy and the Cruise of the Jacknell

[Illustration: THE "ERIN'S HOPE" SALUTING THE GREEN FLAG.]

"GOD SAVE IRELAND."

"Far dearer the grave or the prison
Illum'd by one patriot's name,
Than the trophies of all who have risen
On liberty's ruins to fame."

MOORE

The 23rd day of November, 1867, witnessed a strange and memorable
scene in the great English city of Manchester. Long ere the grey
winter's morning struggled in through the crisp frosty air--long ere
the first gleam of the coming day dulled the glare of the flaming
gas jets, the streets of the Lancashire capital were all astir with
bustling crowds, and the silence of the night was broken by the
ceaseless footfalls and the voices of hurrying throngs. Through the
long, dim streets, and past the tall rows of silent houses, the full
tide of life eddied and poured in rapid current; stout burghers,
closely muffled and staff in hand; children grown prematurely old,
with the hard marks of vice already branded on their features; young
girls with flaunting ribbons and bold, flushed faces; pale-faced
operatives, and strong men whose brawny limbs told of the Titanic
labours of the foundry; the clerk from his desk; the shopkeeper from
his store; the withered crone, and the careless navvy, swayed and
struggled through the living mass; and with them trooped the legions
of want, and vice, and i