Perhaps too much is made of the Lillie Bridge riot.
It was a savage one; but similar scenes are not infrequent in theatres when audiences are disappointed and the money is not re- turned. Two professionals were to run a race in the athletic grounds at Lillie Bridge on Monday ; but one of the men was not fit. The bookmakers discovering this, compelled both men to withdraw ; and the managers of the place seeing that, put the money received at the gate away in safety. The crowd of betting men, sporting men, athletes, and roughs grew im- patient, demanded their money back, and not getting it, wrecked the place. Athletics, whatever their other merits, do not refine, and the mob displayed more than a mob's usual hunger for destruction. The woodwork of the buildings was pulled down, the furniture destroyed, and an effort made to burn up the whole place. The police, who as usual did their duty well, were savagely beaten, and a signal-inspector who was present died suddenly from excitement. The riot was at last quieted by the arrival of an extra body of constables. The police say, we believe, that the crowd was singularly savage ; but there have been much more dangerous riots in the North.
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