ing feeling of alarm and
insecurity began to pervade the peaceable and well-disposed portion of
the community. This feeling was further increased by a cold-blooded and
shocking act of murder, committed on a poor old woman who kept a
turnpike, called the Hendy gate, on the confines of Glamorganshire and
Caermarthenshire. A party of rioters came to attack the gate at which
she lived, and one of the number, actuated by some motive which was not
distinctly accounted for, fired at her, and shot her dead. A coroner's
inquest sat upon the body, and all the facts attending the revolting
transaction were fully and clearly stated in evidence; but, such was the
excitement of feeling then prevailing in the neighbourhood, or such the
influence of fear exercised over the minds of the jurymen who
investigated the case, that they actually brought in a verdict: "That the
deceased died from suffusion of blood, which produced suffocation, but
from what cause, is, to the jurors, unknown!"

By the continuance of these outrages, which threatened, 'ere long, to
disorganise society, and render the tenure of life and property, in
Wales, insecure, the Government were, at length, aroused to the necessity
of adopting very vigorous measures for the enforcement and vindication of
the law. A large body of troops was sent down to Wales, and a general
officer, of skill and experience, appointed to the command of the
disturbed districts. A strong body of London police was imported, to
exercise their skill in ferreting out the actors in these lawless
exploits, who had so long succeeded in eluding detection. The districts
most infested by the Rebeccaites were closely occupied by parties of
soldiers, some of whom were quartered, at short intervals, in the
villages and hamlets wherein mischief was suspected to lurk, and in the
neighbourhood of turnpike gates, which had, previously, been the objects
of attack. It was not, however, the policy of the insurgents to place
themselves in open collision with the soldiers; but the clandestine and
shifting mode of warfare which they had adopted with so much success, was
but imperfectly counteracted by the presence of a military force. Under
cover of the night, and with the advantages afforded by a knowledge of
the country, and the sympathy of the population, they could sweep down a
gate, which was but the work of a few minutes, with very little risk of
interruption or discovery. The presence of the police and