1980 St. Pauls riot the "Western Daily Press". 16 of those arrested were prosecuted for riot, but all were either acquitted, had the charges dropped or were discharged after the jury failed to reach a verdict. Copycat riots in Southmead, a predominately white working-class council estate, occurred soon after the St Pauls disturbance. Later commentators suggested that poverty and the sus laws were more important causes of the riots than race. The House of Commons Home Affairs Select Committee held a session in Bristol and Home Secretary William Whitelaw came to the city to hold meetings with the local authorities and representatives of the
St. Pauls, North Carolina children of northern Robeson County. The construction of the Virginia and Carolina Southern Railway through St. Pauls helped establish the community as a leading producer of textiles. Three cotton mills were constructed in the early part of the 20th century. The mills experienced periods of success and failure before coming under control of the Burlington Mills Corporation in 1943. Nearly all the mills closed in the 1990s as the textile industry moved from the American South to Latin America and Southeast Asia. The Gilmore-Patterson Farm and Kenneth McKinnon House are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. St. Pauls