 Sixty cavalrymen of the Manchester and Salford Yeomanry , led by Captain Hugh Hornby Birley , a local factory owner , arrived at the house from where the magistrates were watching ; some reports allege that they were drunk . Andrews , the Chief Constable , instructed Birley that he had an arrest warrant which he needed assistance to execute . Birley was asked to take his cavalry to the hustings to allow the speakers to be removed ; it was by then about 1 : 40 pm . 
