Manchester Martyrs - Committal Proceedings

Committal Proceedings

On 27 September 1867 committal proceedings were heard in front of a magistrate to establish whether there was a prima facie case against the 28 accused. The team of defence barristers included Chartist leader Ernest Jones, who had spent two years in prison for making seditious speeches, and W. P. Roberts, whose fee was paid by subscribers to a defence fund to represent nine of the men. Jones, representing Condon and O'Brien, clashed with the court almost immediately because the accused were handcuffed, saying "It appears to be discreditable to the administration of justice that men whom the law presumes to be innocent should be brought into Court handcuffed together like a couple of hounds." Jones also objected to the presence of a number of soldiers in the courtroom, and when the magistrate refused to order the prisoners' handcuffs to be removed he "marched dramatically" out of the courtroom saying "Then as a member of the Bar I decline to sit in any Court where the police override the Magistrate ... I cannot disgrace the Bar by proceeding with the defence."

All but two of the accused – Allen and Larkin – claimed that they had witnesses who would testify that they were elsewhere when the police van was attacked. The defence argued that "the rescue was not illegal as the prisoners were wrongly imprisoned", and that there was no intention of "sacrificing human life", as evidenced by only a single fatality despite the presence of so many guns and so many shots being fired. Nevertheless, 26 of the prisoners were sent for trial before a judge and jury at the next assizes; two were released because of "unsatisfactory identification".