 Hunt 's carriage arrived at the meeting shortly after 1 : 00 pm , and he made his way to the hustings . Alongside Hunt on the speakers ' stand were John Knight , a cotton manufacturer and reformer , Joseph Johnson , the organiser of the meeting , John Thacker Saxton , managing editor of the Manchester Observer , the publisher Richard Carlile , and George Swift , reformer and shoemaker . There were also a number of reporters , including John Tyas of The Times , John Smith of the Liverpool Echo and Edward Baines Jr , the son of the editor of the Leeds Mercury . By this time St Peter 's Field , an area of 14 @,@ 000 square yards ( 11 @,@ 700 m2 ) , was packed with tens of thousands of men , women and children . The crowd around the speakers was so dense that " their hats seemed to touch " ; large groups of curious spectators gathered on the outskirts of the crowd . The rest of Manchester was like a ghost town , the streets and shops were empty . 
