The Sinn Feiners on Saturday last extended their campaign of
outrage and murder to England. On Saturday evening small gangs of desperate men broke into a number of ware- houses and timber-yards alongside the Liverpool and Bootle docks, and set them on fire. Seventeen premises were blazing at one time. The fire brigades were unable to deal with all these outbreaks, and several cotton warehouses were destroyed. The damage done is estimated at nearly a million sterling. One gang of three men was interrupted in its work by a young labourer named Ward, who called a policeman. One of the criminals drew a revolver and fired at the constable ; the bullet, missing him, killed Ward. Another of the gang struck at the police- man and then ran away, but was caught by a crowd of dockers and arrested. This man, named Fowler, had been working in the docks for some months. He admitted that he was a Sinn Feiner. The Chief Secretary told the House on Monday that the fires were the result of an organized conspiracy in which members of the Sinn Fein party were engaged.
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