"James Simpson, aged twenty-four, solemnly sworn, deposes: 'That
he has been about fifteen years in spinning mills; that he has
been nearly a year as an overseer in Mr. Kinmond's mill here,
and was dismissed on the 2d of May, for supporting, at a meeting
of the operatives, the Ten Hours Bill; that he was one of the
persons to receive subscriptions, in money, to forward the
business, and was dismissed, not on a regular pay-day, but on a
Thursday evening, by James Malcolm, manager, who told him that
he was dismissed for being a robber to his master in supporting
the Ten Hours Bill; that by the regulations of the mill he was
entitled to a week's notice, and that a week's wages were due to
him at the time, but neither sum has been paid; that he was two
or three times desired by the overseer to strike the boys if he
saw them at any time sitting, and has accordingly struck them
with a strap, but never so severely as to hurt them; that he
is not yet employed.' And the preceding deposition having been
read over to him, he was cautioned to be perfectly sure that it
was true in all particulars, as it would be communicated to the
overseer named by him, and might still be altered if, in any
particular, he wished the change of a word; but he repeated his
assertion, on oath, that it was.
"Ann Kennedy, sixteen years old, solemnly sworn, deposes: 'That
she has been nearly a year a piecer to James McNish, a preceding
witness; that she has had swelled feet for about a year, but she
thinks them rather better; that she has a great deal of pain,
both in her feet and legs, so that she was afraid she would not
be able to go on with the work; that she thought it was owing to
the heat and the long standing on her feet; that it is a very
warm room she is in; that she sometimes looks at the thermometer
and sees it at 82°, or 84, or 86°; that all the people in the
room are very pale, and a good deal of them complaining.'
Deposes, that she cannot write.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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