gnorance, that burrow and fester in the foetid
lanes and purlieus of the large British cities: from the dark alleys
where misery and degradation for ever dwell, and from reeking cellars
and nameless haunts, where the twin demons of alcohol and crime rule
supreme; from the gin-palace, and the beer-shop, and the midnight
haunts of the tramp and the burglar, they came in all their
repulsiveness and debasement, with the rags of wretchedness upon
their backs, and the cries of profanity and obscenity upon their
lips. Forward they rushed in a surging flood through many a street
and byway, until where the narrowing thoroughfares open into the space
surrounding the New Bailey Prison, in that suburb of the great city
known as the Borough of Salford, they found their further progress
arrested. Between them and the massive prison walls rose piles of
heavy barricading, and the intervening space was black with a dense
body of men, all of whom faced the gloomy building beyond, and each of
whom carried a special constable's baton in his hand. The long railway
bridge running close by was occupied by a detachment of infantry, and
from the parapet of the frowning walls the muzzle of cannon, trained
on the space below, might be dimly discerned in the darkness. But
the crowd paid little attention to these extraordinary appearances;
their eyes were riveted on the black projection which jutted from the
prison wall, and which, shrouded in dark drapery, loomed with ghastly
significance through the haze. Rising above the scaffold, which
replaced a portion of the prison wall, the outlines of a gibbet were
descried; and from the cross-beam there hung three ropes, terminating
in nooses, just perceptible above the upper edge of the curtain which
extended thence to the ground. The grim excrescence seemed to possess
a horrible fascination for the multitude. Those in position to see it
best stirred not from their post, but faced the fatal cross-tree, the
motionless ropes, the empty platform, with an untiring, insatiable
gaze, that seemed pregnant with some terrible meaning, while the mob
behind them struggled, and pushed, and raved, and fought; and the
haggard hundreds of gaunt, diseased, stricken wretches, that vainly
contested with the stronger types of ruffianism for a place, loaded
the air with their blasphemies and imprecations. The day broke slowly
and doubtfully upon the scene; a dense yellow, murky fog floated round
the spot, wrapping in its opa