THE PEACE CRUSADE IN OLDHAM - NEWSPAPER LETTERS

OLDHAM CHRONICLE
7th August 1917 (Tuesday)
OTHER MEETINGS ABANDONED

Last evening Mr. Hill stated that the meetings would be abandoned and that he would telegraph to the speakers, Miss Margaret Ashton, of Manchester, and Mr. R.C. Wallhead (candidate for Coventry), not to come.

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TO THE EDITOR OF THE CHRONICLE

Sir, Last night the first of a series of meetings was to have been held to bring before the people of Oldham the possibility of ending the war by negotiation rather than by further fighting. We all know that it must come to this in the end, but the crowd that gathered last night misunderstood the object of the mission and refused to give a hearing to the speakers. The Chief Constable prohibited the meeting, and as the speakers moved away from the meeting place the crowd surged after them led by a number of New Zealand soldiers who had been waiting there some time beforehand. The men made no attempt to speak to the people, but near the town hall steps three men were attacked and one at least might have lost his life if the police had not protected him. The New Zealand men seemed to forget that they are Oldham's guests and as such owe a certain courtesy to the townspeople. They seemed, too, to have lost that sense of fairplay which one expects above all, from soldiers. Will the people of Oldham let such things pass without a protest?
Yours,
E.Q.