Page 229 of The Armor of Light

Hornbeam said: ‘Rules are rules!’

‘And men are men,’ said Amos.

Hornbeam was getting angry. ‘We need to teach them a lesson! A few hangings will put an end to Luddism.’

‘If we knowingly hang innocent men, we may stop the vandalism but we will be guilty of murder.’

Hornbeam was red in the face. ‘None of them are innocent!’

Amos sighed. ‘Look, if we treat the hands as our enemies, they will behave like enemies.’

‘You make excuses for criminals.’

‘We’ll be the criminals if we do as the court did in York.’

Fishwick intervened. ‘Gentlemen, allow me. We are not going to make excuses for criminals and we are not going to hang innocent men. We are going to assemble witnesses and make a case again people who are genuinely guilty. Then if we hang them we will do so with God’s blessing.’

Amos said: ‘Amen.’

*

Hornbeam stood in the weaving room of his No. 2 mill, which was still operating. It had not been attacked yet, but it was vulnerable because it used steam looms, which seemed to inflame the Luddites.

Hornbeam had never been in a battle but he imagined it must sound much like a room full of steam looms. All day long the machines clattered and banged so loudly that it was impossible to hold a conversation. Hands who worked the looms for a period of years often ended up deaf.

The main job of the hands was to look for faults in the cloth: stitching, picking-over and picking-under were the main ones. Theymended breaks in threads using the small, flat weaver’s knot, and they had to do it quickly to minimize the loss of product. The other important task was to change each shuttle every few minutes, because the thread ran out so quickly due to the fast pace of the machines. One person could manage two or three looms at a time.

Accidents were frequent – because the hands were careless, in Hornbeam’s opinion. He had seen a man’s loose shirtsleeve get caught in a driving belt that tore the man’s arm off his shoulder.

The flying shuttle was the cause of most accidents. It moved very fast, passing through the shed two or three times a second. It was made of wood but had to have metal ends to protect it from damage as it hit the buffer. If the operator worked the loom too fast, the shuttle would hit the buffer too fast and fly out of the loom at high speed, injuring anyone in the way.

When Phil Doye arrived, Hornbeam left the weaving room and saw the sheriff in an office away from the noise.

‘We must find at least one of the Luddites and prosecute him,’ he said. ‘I’m going to give you half a dozen names of men I think might give us information.’ They were all people who owed Hornbeam money and could not pay, but Doye did not need to know that.

Doye said: ‘Very good, Mr Hornbeam. What sort of information am I seeking?’

‘Obviously the names of Luddites, but we need more than that. Try to find someone who has seen them approaching one of the vandalized mills after dark. They might have been spotted putting their hoods on or off.’

‘Well, I can try,’ said Doye dubiously.

‘Anyone who can help us this way may be offered a discreet reward. They will be putting themselves at risk by informing against violent men, so they need an incentive. We could pay a pound to anyone who gives evidence at the trial. However, these payments must bekept secret, otherwise the hands will insinuate that our witnesses have been bribed and their evidence is therefore untrustworthy.’

‘I see, sir.’

In a more musing tone Hornbeam said: ‘I still suspect Jarge Box.’

‘But he was ringing the bells.’

‘Find out whether anyone saw him walking through town while the bells were sounding.’

‘How could that happen?’

‘He might have been replaced by another man. How would we know?’

‘It’s a skill, sir. You have to learn it.’

‘The replacement could be a former ringer who has now retired. Or a ringer from another town. Speak to people who know the ringers and might have heard something.’