The news spread like wildfire and in no time a mob of 2000 locals surrounded the police station where the women, two with young babies, awaited transport to Oxford Gaol.
 

Ugly scenes ensued, tiles were smashed, windows broken, but the strength of the new building proved it’s worth and although incidents occurred until late in the evening, by midnight the crowd had dispersed.
 

In the early hours of the morning the support urgently summoned by Police Superintendent Lakin and the Mayor, finally turned up in the form of constables and a large wagon into which the women were rapidly bundled without even time to adequately clothe the babies against the coldness of the night.