The Great Acceptance: The Life Story of F. N. CharringtonThorne, Guy
History
The Great Acceptance: The Life Story of F. N. Charrington
Thorne, Guy
Charrington, Fredk. N. (Frederick Nicholas), 1850-1936; Poor -- England -- London
A door-keeper named Young has
done so. The manager, Mr. Friend, on one particular occasion said to
the mob, 'Halloa, boys, make a row,' but they did not appear to be
very responsive. He has incited the people to attack me on more than
one occasion. He often stood in the entrance hall cursing and swearing
at me, and at times he would address the people from the hall. On one
occasion he said to a man, 'He is a very good advertisement for the
house.' He has used very foul and abusive language towards me. On one
occasion he so lost control of himself that the passers-by stood still
and looked at him in amazement. The wife of the shop-keeper next door
has also used foul language towards me. Mr. Friend's action has caused
great crowds to assemble. I am bound to say I have, as a rule, had
great sympathy from the crowd. Working men would say, 'Go it,
Charrington, and put an end to that den of iniquity.' Mr. Crowder has
assaulted me, and has also incited others to assault me. Mr. Crowder
used to walk beside me pushing me about, and causing a crowd to
assemble. On one occasion he stood on the box-seat of a carriage and
incited a mob against me, and on another he used a most horrible and
foul expression towards me, which I would not like to repeat. On a
Monday night in particular the roughs did rush out of the hall at a
signal from Mr. Crowder, and surrounded me. Crowder then said,
'Police, take him up for obstructing the thoroughfare.' I managed to
get away from the roughs on to the waste ground near the pavement. I
said to the police, 'I am not obstructing the thoroughfare.' Crowder,
however, gave me into custody, and Mr. Friend signed the charge
sheet. I was locked up all night, and the following morning the
magistrate dismissed the charge, observing that an action would lie
against the people who had given me into custody for false
imprisonment. I have been frequently threatened by roughs. From the
waste ground I have addressed people, but not from the pavement. None
of these addresses caused the pavement to be blocked. I have spoken to
a number of girls whom I have known to be prostitutes, urging them to
abandon their course of life. I have never called them by such a name;
I used to call them by their Christian names, because I knew most of
them. I have never called a woman a ---- because she would not take a
tract. I have never said that none but prostitutes went into the hall,
but I said that numbers of them went there. I was here when Mr.
Payne's father gave his evidence. I have said to him, 'You ought to be
ashamed of yourself to bring a young girl to such a place,' or words
to that effect. I meant just the opposite to what Mr. Payne implied,
because I could see that the young girl was respectable. I said
nothing on that occasion that could be construed into an imputation on
the girl's character. I heard Piggott give his evidence. On several
occasions he has threatened me. He seemed to be always at the hall; in
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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