several of Mr. Van Amburgh's men, before they had
committed any excesses. The knockers, bell handles and brass plates
from several doors in the neighbourhood were then wrenched off, and
the whole party then made for a well-known gambling house (which has
been tolerated in this town for upwards of twelve months), at No. 4,
Augusta Place, where they were immediately admitted. What took place
there before the row commenced, or what was the occasion of the havoc
and destruction which almost immediately afterwards ensued, I have
not been able to ascertain. However, they had not been there more
than half an hour before there was a scene of the greatest confusion
throughout the whole house, causing alarm and terror, from the noise
which was created, around the entire neighbourhood. The police were
sent for soon after 1 o'clock, previously to which a portion of the
60th Rifles, who were on guard at the Castle, had been despatched to
the scene of action, and whom the police met on their return to the
guard room. Upon the Superintendent, Sergeant and several policemen
entering the house (which they found empty, with the exception of one
of the gamblers, who, it appeared, had secreted himself) they found
scarcely one piece of furniture left whole. The green baize was torn
from the billiard and other tables, the doors of the different rooms
broken down, the windows, with the sashes and frames, broken to
pieces; all the lamps smashed, chairs and tables dislocated, the
fanlight over the front door gone, and the balustrades upon the
stairs torn away. At this time, the whole of the party had gone off;
and, as for the proprietors of the gaming house, they were glad to
effect their escape, across the garden, into a large piece of waste
land, called the Lammas. It was expected that some complaint would
have been lodged before the borough magistrates, to-day, at the Town
Hall; but no application was made to the Bench on the subject during
the hours of business. A large brass plate, which had been wrenched
from a garden gate, was found, this morning, by the police, in the
infantry barracks, where there are sundry knockers and bell handles
awaiting to be identified and returned to their respective owners."
{163}

The following incident is very little known, and is copied from the
_Salopian Journal_ of 3