On Wednesday evening last week, as Mr. Joseph Elms and
Mr. Powell were passing down Clowance Street, they observed a soldier of the 98th Regiment coming towards them with his bayonet drawn, and
apparently in a state of excitement : to avoid him they crossed to the other side of the street, where they were pursued by the soldier, who
swore at them and declared he would have blood. On coming up, he made a violent thrust at them with his bayonet ; when Mr. Fowell, ob- serving the intent of the man, pulled Mr. Elms back by the collar, and
the bayonet grazed the front of the latter's hat : such was the force of the blow, that the soldier missing his aim fell on his face : on getting on his legs, and not finding his bayonet, which was forced from his hand by the fall, he ran off at full speed. He has since been apprehended. —Devonport Telegraph. [ The use of arms, by all persons who reside in garrison towns, will soon become necessary as a protection against these drunken ruffians.]
Matthew Quin, a private in the 3d Regiment of Foot soldiers, at Chatham, has been sentenced to transportation for life, for insubordi- nate and threatening conduct to his sergeant, and officers, one of whom he declared that he would shoot.
The following is the military account, taken from the Naval and Military Gazette, of the late affray at Chatham.
" On the evening of Thursday the 21st instant, after the races, an altercation took place at an oyster-stand, which led to a riot between some civilians or sea- men, and a few soldiers of the Eighty-eighth Regiment (tire whole number then on the course not being more than seven or eight), who were overpowered, and four of them wounded and taken into the hospital, one hurt dangerously. The soldiers, on seeing their comrades carried into the barracks bleeding and speech- less, sallied out, but, through the timely exertions of some of the officers of the regiment, and the picquet, they were restrained, collected, and marched back to their barracks, without doing any mischief. " On the following evening, about half-past four o'clock, a party of seamen came up from the town, armed with bludgeons, and preceded by a flag and music, and defied' the soldiers of the Eighty-eighth in front of their barracks. Several of them ran out, and a scuffle ensued ; but. instead of the men being urged on by the Sergeants and Corporals,' the affair was put a stop to almost immediately by the exertions of sonic officers and non• commissioned officers of the regiment. In this affray two seamen were wounded, but not seriously both stabbed by bayonets; and they have since been discharged from the hos- pital. The whole number admitted in the two days into the hospital amounted only to roue. " It is altogether grossly false that the non-commissioned officers encouraged on the men: on the contrary, they exerted themselves effectually to suppress the quarrel. It is equally untrue that similar occurrences have recently taken place with this regiment. " We have taken some trouble to ascertain the real state of the case, and we pare en hesitation in saying, that had the Civil Power done their duty, by in- terfering and preventing the unlawful assemblage of seamen, and parading the streets with the declared purpose of beating the Eighty eighth, and had they been active on the racecourse on the Thursday, these disturbances could not have occurred. The men of the Eighty-eighth, so far from being the agressors, were, on the contrary, ill-treated, insulted, and forced to act in self-defence; and on several occasions they were knocked down and deprived of their side- arms, without any provocation whatever. " We believe there has been a memorial to the officers commanding the gar- rison at Chatham, requesting that the men, when off duty, may not wear their side-arms ; but we will ask the framers of this memorial, whether a very illi- beral spirit has not for some time been manifested by certain civilians towards the soldiers at Chathun ; and whether, under these circumstances, an aeries- cence with such a request would not be a degrading insult to the soldier.'
The safety of his Majesty's subjects is the first consideration, not the feelings of the soldiery ; who in too many parts of the country turn their arms upon their paymasters.]
On Monday night, between eight and nine o'clock, as a gentleman who lives in Everton, near Liverpool, and his servant, were on their way home in a gig, they were stopped by a footpad, who seized bold of the bridle with his left hand, while in his right he held a bludgeon. The servant, who was driving, whipped the horse ; but others of the ruffians then coming up he was violently struck on the head from behind, and fit the same time the horse and gig were overturned into the ditch. The servant was dreadfully beaten and thrown over a hedge; and his master was surrounded by five or six ruffians, who treated him brutally, and took from him his gold watch and seals, seven sovereigns, some silver, and other articles. The horse, on extricating itself from the ditch, ran off; and the servant-man, after coming to his senses, with much difficulty made his way to the Old Roan, where every assistance was afforded, but no trace of the footpads could be found.
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