the following day, fremantle went out for a walk along broadway. upon his return to the hotel, he found that shopkeepers were closing their shutters early, and then noticed that several buildings were ablaze. fire engines were present, but the crowd was not permitting them to be used. increasingly alarmed, fremantle saw a black youth pursued by the mob, eventually finding refuge with a company of soldiers, to the disgust of the massed protestors. bewildered, the englishman asked a bystander why the crowds were so vehement in their hatred of blacks. in response, he was told that they were 'the innocent cause of all these troubles'.