IOO YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (1st - 7th JUNE 1920)
This week's stories include the bigamist of Park Road, the scandal of flooding at Sutton Moss, the policeman criticised for not putting "the snaps" on his prisoner, the man having a fit in Church Street who'd drunk 15 pints and the 16-year-old boy who cut his throat after losing his job.
It wasn't long ago that children were imprisoned or whipped after being caught thieving. Birching did still happen occasionally but the times were becoming more enlightened and a probation officer now worked for St Helens Police Court. On June 2nd five boys were charged with stealing a £10 bag of silver from the counter of the butchering department of the Co-op.
12-year-old Alfred Houltrom of Oxford Street and 13-year-old Arthur Topping of Atherton Street were described as the ringleaders and they'd divided the cash up with the others. All five were put on probation for two years and their parents ordered to pay the court costs.
At a council meeting on the 2nd Councillor Abbott said: "We ought to be ashamed as a Corporation that such a state of things exists". He was referring to the flooding in parts of the town as a result of last week's severe storm. Cllr. Abbott pointed out that the plight of the cottagers at Sutton Moss was always bad but after a storm it was awful and he declared that the present condition of things was nothing short of a scandal.
On the 3rd the St Helens Trades and Labour Council passed a resolution protesting strongly against plans to extend Cowley School. This had been a controversial scheme because of the cost and the fact that the Town Council's grand plans to build new housing estates had yet to begin. The Trades Council – representing local trade unions – wanted all resources to be directed towards house building to lessen the severe overcrowding of homes and house shortages in the town.
The council added that the additional school accommodation at Cowley could be provided by temporary wooden huts or by making use of the Windlehurst mansion that the Corporation now owned. They also called on St Helens Council to start building homes immediately and "thus help to remove the scandalous lack of decent house accommodation".
The St Helens Reporter in its edition of the 4th described how new postal rates would be in operation next week with letters now costing 2d. The equivalent stamp these days is 90 times more expensive.
It seems that handcuffs a century ago were known colloquially as "the snaps". This was revealed in a court case on the 4th in which Thomas Brady was charged with gaming with cards and damaging PC Shepherd's watch. The officer told the Bench that he and PC Doyle had been observing a large group of men gambling on wasteland off Ravenhead Road. Thomas Brady was subsequently arrested and became very violent and in his attempts at escaping broke the officer's watch.
Eventually Brady promised PC Shepherd that he would go quietly with him to the station but ran off at the corner of Bold Street and wasn't taken back into custody for two days. Asked by the Bench why he had not put "the snaps" on his prisoner, PC Shepherd said the man had told him a pitiful story of being wrongfully locked up on several occasions and so he wanted to treat him fairly.
Thomas Brady denied having been gambling and bizarrely claimed to have run off because he did not want to go the Police Station without any money. I wasn't aware that the cop shop had an admission charge! The man was fined 10 shillings and ordered to pay £1 damages for the broken watch.
On the 5th Charles Foster was charged in St Helens Police Court with attempting to take his own life. The 16-year-old boy appeared with his neck bandaged after having used a razor to cut his throat. After the death of his mother, Charles had been living with his elder brother Ted and his wife Florence at their home in Central Street.
Ted told the court that Charles had made a four-inch wound in his throat and left a note saying he had done the act because he'd been sacked from his job. The lad had got work as a haulage hand at Sutton Manor Colliery by giving his age as fifteen. When it was discovered that Charles was actually sixteen, he was dismissed. The lad had told the police: "I did it because I did not like the thoughts of being out of work. I am sorry I have done it."
Ted Foster appealed to the magistrates to take a lenient view of the case, saying he would look after his brother and had already found him work. The Bench agreed to discharge Charles into his brother's care and told the boy what he had done was "very dreadful" and hoped he would do what was right in future.
The sadness of this private family matter was that it was dealt with in open court and described in great detail by the Reporter. Attempting suicide would be illegal until 1961, although it appears that Charles Foster managed to sort himself out. In the 1939 Register he is listed as a coal miner and still living with his brother Ted and Florence but now in Rivington Avenue.
Also in the Police Court on that day was William Bradbury from Fleet Lane who was charged with a breach of the peace and assaulting a policeman. PC Pugh gave evidence of being on plain clothes duty in Church Street (pictured above) along with another officer when they saw a big crowd outside Fothergill's tobacco shop. A man was on the ground apparently suffering a fit and PC Cook was attending to him. The two constables went to give assistance but William Bradbury began interfering and challenging them to fight.
PC Pugh told the Bench that he asked the man several times to go away but he refused and took a swing at him, striking the officer on his right ear. Bradbury was taken into custody and when they got to the Police Station at the Town Hall he became very violent and had to be locked up. In court the young man was wearing a shirt covered in blood but told the Bench that he had nothing to say. Bradbury was bound over to keep the peace for six months and fined £2 for the assault.
Arthur Saunders from Wigan was also in the court. He was the man supposedly having a fit in Church Street but in fact had supped 15 pints and told the police he would have drunk more if he could have got it! When PC Cook tried to help him he kicked him in the eye causing it to "bleed very freely".
Saunders told the crowd in Church Street that he had "been a good lad" and fought for his country. However at the Police Station he admitted having never gone overseas. The man had many prior convictions and had only come out of prison a week earlier. For the assault Saunders was sent back to gaol for 28 days hard labour and fined £1 or 14 days for the drunkenness.
The acts appearing at the Hippodrome Theatre from the 7th included: Saltley and Lady ("The eccentric equilibrist"); Miss Alice Craven ("The Lancashire lass"); Rovilli ("Producing melodious music on the concertinas); Bros. Morris ("Eccentric comedians – that's all"); Nan Terry ("The sparkling comedienne and her peculiar composer in a delightful comedy act"); Bert Neilson ("The clever non-stop dancer") and Jack Edwin ("The mirthful comedian").
If there was one crime that went through the roof during the war it was bigamy. Since the declaration of peace in 1918 the private lives of many ex-soldiers had been unravelling, causing devastation to many women who discovered that their "husbands" had been living a lie. One such woman was Caroline Ashman, who had to face up to the fact that she was still Caroline Lawton, with her marriage ceremony at Prescot Registry Office in May 1919 having been bogus.
On the 7th the 22-year-old's "husband" David Ashman appeared in St Helens Police Court to face a charge of bigamy. The police had visited his home in Park Road to serve a warrant on him for wife desertion. This essentially meant that he would have to agree to pay maintenance to his separated spouse. However with David Ashman at work, it was Caroline who opened the door and told the police that she was his wife. This was a surprise to the officers but Caroline received a far greater shock when they broke the news that there was another Mrs Ashman in Derbyshire.
Interestingly both wives were called Caroline and both appeared in court to give evidence against David Ashman. Caroline Lawton had known Ashman for 18 months prior to their wedding at Prescot and had no idea that her much older husband was already married with two children. The legitimate Mrs Ashman told the court that she and David had married in 1909 and in 1915 her husband had joined the army.
On several occasions he had returned to their home in Derbyshire on leave, the last time being in August 1918. Since that day she had heard nothing from him and had been searching to locate her husband, eventually tracking him down to St Helens. David Ashman told the police: "I was never happy with my wife. I am glad you have found me out. I had been expecting it." He was committed to take his trial at the next Assizes at Liverpool where 7 of the 27 cases would be for bigamy – a lesser proportion than of late.
Next week's stories will include the boy watch repairer from Higher Parr Street who got himself into a pickle, the jealous Stanhope Street lodger, a Sinn Fein rally is held in St Helens and the Gerards Bridge man that fled from the police with handcuffs dangling from his wrist.
It wasn't long ago that children were imprisoned or whipped after being caught thieving. Birching did still happen occasionally but the times were becoming more enlightened and a probation officer now worked for St Helens Police Court. On June 2nd five boys were charged with stealing a £10 bag of silver from the counter of the butchering department of the Co-op.
12-year-old Alfred Houltrom of Oxford Street and 13-year-old Arthur Topping of Atherton Street were described as the ringleaders and they'd divided the cash up with the others. All five were put on probation for two years and their parents ordered to pay the court costs.
On the 3rd the St Helens Trades and Labour Council passed a resolution protesting strongly against plans to extend Cowley School. This had been a controversial scheme because of the cost and the fact that the Town Council's grand plans to build new housing estates had yet to begin. The Trades Council – representing local trade unions – wanted all resources to be directed towards house building to lessen the severe overcrowding of homes and house shortages in the town.
The council added that the additional school accommodation at Cowley could be provided by temporary wooden huts or by making use of the Windlehurst mansion that the Corporation now owned. They also called on St Helens Council to start building homes immediately and "thus help to remove the scandalous lack of decent house accommodation".
The St Helens Reporter in its edition of the 4th described how new postal rates would be in operation next week with letters now costing 2d. The equivalent stamp these days is 90 times more expensive.
It seems that handcuffs a century ago were known colloquially as "the snaps". This was revealed in a court case on the 4th in which Thomas Brady was charged with gaming with cards and damaging PC Shepherd's watch. The officer told the Bench that he and PC Doyle had been observing a large group of men gambling on wasteland off Ravenhead Road. Thomas Brady was subsequently arrested and became very violent and in his attempts at escaping broke the officer's watch.
Eventually Brady promised PC Shepherd that he would go quietly with him to the station but ran off at the corner of Bold Street and wasn't taken back into custody for two days. Asked by the Bench why he had not put "the snaps" on his prisoner, PC Shepherd said the man had told him a pitiful story of being wrongfully locked up on several occasions and so he wanted to treat him fairly.
Thomas Brady denied having been gambling and bizarrely claimed to have run off because he did not want to go the Police Station without any money. I wasn't aware that the cop shop had an admission charge! The man was fined 10 shillings and ordered to pay £1 damages for the broken watch.
On the 5th Charles Foster was charged in St Helens Police Court with attempting to take his own life. The 16-year-old boy appeared with his neck bandaged after having used a razor to cut his throat. After the death of his mother, Charles had been living with his elder brother Ted and his wife Florence at their home in Central Street.
Ted told the court that Charles had made a four-inch wound in his throat and left a note saying he had done the act because he'd been sacked from his job. The lad had got work as a haulage hand at Sutton Manor Colliery by giving his age as fifteen. When it was discovered that Charles was actually sixteen, he was dismissed. The lad had told the police: "I did it because I did not like the thoughts of being out of work. I am sorry I have done it."
Ted Foster appealed to the magistrates to take a lenient view of the case, saying he would look after his brother and had already found him work. The Bench agreed to discharge Charles into his brother's care and told the boy what he had done was "very dreadful" and hoped he would do what was right in future.
The sadness of this private family matter was that it was dealt with in open court and described in great detail by the Reporter. Attempting suicide would be illegal until 1961, although it appears that Charles Foster managed to sort himself out. In the 1939 Register he is listed as a coal miner and still living with his brother Ted and Florence but now in Rivington Avenue.
PC Pugh told the Bench that he asked the man several times to go away but he refused and took a swing at him, striking the officer on his right ear. Bradbury was taken into custody and when they got to the Police Station at the Town Hall he became very violent and had to be locked up. In court the young man was wearing a shirt covered in blood but told the Bench that he had nothing to say. Bradbury was bound over to keep the peace for six months and fined £2 for the assault.
Arthur Saunders from Wigan was also in the court. He was the man supposedly having a fit in Church Street but in fact had supped 15 pints and told the police he would have drunk more if he could have got it! When PC Cook tried to help him he kicked him in the eye causing it to "bleed very freely".
Saunders told the crowd in Church Street that he had "been a good lad" and fought for his country. However at the Police Station he admitted having never gone overseas. The man had many prior convictions and had only come out of prison a week earlier. For the assault Saunders was sent back to gaol for 28 days hard labour and fined £1 or 14 days for the drunkenness.
The acts appearing at the Hippodrome Theatre from the 7th included: Saltley and Lady ("The eccentric equilibrist"); Miss Alice Craven ("The Lancashire lass"); Rovilli ("Producing melodious music on the concertinas); Bros. Morris ("Eccentric comedians – that's all"); Nan Terry ("The sparkling comedienne and her peculiar composer in a delightful comedy act"); Bert Neilson ("The clever non-stop dancer") and Jack Edwin ("The mirthful comedian").
If there was one crime that went through the roof during the war it was bigamy. Since the declaration of peace in 1918 the private lives of many ex-soldiers had been unravelling, causing devastation to many women who discovered that their "husbands" had been living a lie. One such woman was Caroline Ashman, who had to face up to the fact that she was still Caroline Lawton, with her marriage ceremony at Prescot Registry Office in May 1919 having been bogus.
On the 7th the 22-year-old's "husband" David Ashman appeared in St Helens Police Court to face a charge of bigamy. The police had visited his home in Park Road to serve a warrant on him for wife desertion. This essentially meant that he would have to agree to pay maintenance to his separated spouse. However with David Ashman at work, it was Caroline who opened the door and told the police that she was his wife. This was a surprise to the officers but Caroline received a far greater shock when they broke the news that there was another Mrs Ashman in Derbyshire.
Interestingly both wives were called Caroline and both appeared in court to give evidence against David Ashman. Caroline Lawton had known Ashman for 18 months prior to their wedding at Prescot and had no idea that her much older husband was already married with two children. The legitimate Mrs Ashman told the court that she and David had married in 1909 and in 1915 her husband had joined the army.
On several occasions he had returned to their home in Derbyshire on leave, the last time being in August 1918. Since that day she had heard nothing from him and had been searching to locate her husband, eventually tracking him down to St Helens. David Ashman told the police: "I was never happy with my wife. I am glad you have found me out. I had been expecting it." He was committed to take his trial at the next Assizes at Liverpool where 7 of the 27 cases would be for bigamy – a lesser proportion than of late.
Next week's stories will include the boy watch repairer from Higher Parr Street who got himself into a pickle, the jealous Stanhope Street lodger, a Sinn Fein rally is held in St Helens and the Gerards Bridge man that fled from the police with handcuffs dangling from his wrist.
This week's stories include the bigamist of Park Road, the scandal of flooding at Sutton Moss, the policeman criticised for not putting "the snaps" on his prisoner, the man having a fit in Church Street who'd drunk 15 pints and the 16-year-old boy who cut his throat after losing his job.
It wasn't long ago that children were imprisoned or whipped after being caught thieving.
Birching did still happen occasionally but the times were becoming more enlightened and a probation officer now worked for St Helens Police Court.
On June 2nd five boys were charged with stealing a £10 bag of silver from the counter of the butchering department of the Co-op.
12-year-old Alfred Houltrom of Oxford Street and 13-year-old Arthur Topping of Atherton Street were described as the ringleaders and they'd divided the cash up with the others.
All five were put on probation for two years and their parents ordered to pay the court costs.
At a council meeting on the 2nd Councillor Abbott said: "We ought to be ashamed as a Corporation that such a state of things exists".
He was referring to the flooding in parts of the town as a result of last week's severe storm.
Cllr. Abbott pointed out that the plight of the cottagers at Sutton Moss was always bad but after a storm it was awful and he declared that the present condition of things was nothing short of a scandal.
On the 3rd the St Helens Trades and Labour Council passed a resolution protesting strongly against plans to extend Cowley School.
This had been a controversial scheme because of the cost and the fact that the Town Council's grand plans to build new housing estates had yet to begin.
The Trades Council – representing local trade unions – wanted all resources to be directed towards house building to lessen the severe overcrowding of homes and house shortages in the town.
The council added that the additional school accommodation at Cowley could be provided by temporary wooden huts or by making use of the Windlehurst mansion that the Corporation now owned.
They also called on St Helens Council to start building homes immediately and "thus help to remove the scandalous lack of decent house accommodation".
The St Helens Reporter in its edition of the 4th described how new postal rates would be in operation next week with letters now costing 2d.
The equivalent stamp these days is ninety times more expensive.
It seems that handcuffs a century ago were known colloquially as "the snaps".
This was revealed in a court case on the 4th in which Thomas Brady was charged with gaming with cards and damaging PC Shepherd's watch.
The officer told the Bench that he and PC Doyle had been observing a large group of men gambling on wasteland off Ravenhead Road.
Thomas Brady was subsequently arrested and became very violent and in his attempts at escaping broke the officer's watch.
Eventually Brady promised PC Shepherd that he would go quietly with him to the station but ran off at the corner of Bold Street and wasn't taken back into custody for two days.
Asked by the Bench why he had not put "the snaps" on his prisoner, PC Shepherd said the man had told him a pitiful story of being wrongfully locked up on several occasions and so he wanted to treat him fairly.
Thomas Brady denied having been gambling and bizarrely claimed to have run off because he did not want to go the Police Station without any money.
I wasn't aware that the cop shop had an admission charge!
The man was fined 10 shillings and ordered to pay £1 damages for the broken watch.
On the 5th Charles Foster was charged in St Helens Police Court with attempting to take his own life.
The 16-year-old boy appeared with his neck bandaged after having used a razor to cut his throat.
After the death of his mother, Charles had been living with his elder brother Ted and his wife Florence at their home in Central Street.
Ted told the court that Charles had made a four-inch wound in his throat and left a note saying he had done the act because he'd been sacked from his job.
The lad had got work as a haulage hand at Sutton Manor Colliery by giving his age as fifteen.
When it was discovered that Charles was actually sixteen, he was dismissed.
The lad had told the police: "I did it because I did not like the thoughts of being out of work. I am sorry I have done it."
Ted Foster appealed to the magistrates to take a lenient view of the case, saying he would look after his brother and had already found him work.
The Bench agreed to discharge Charles into his brother's care and told the boy what he had done was "very dreadful" and hoped he would do what was right in future.
The sadness of this private family matter was that it was dealt with in open court and described in great detail by the Reporter.
Attempting suicide would be illegal until 1961, although it appears that Charles Foster managed to sort himself out.
In the 1939 Register he is listed as a coal miner and still living with his brother Ted and Florence but now in Rivington Avenue.
Also in the Police Court on that day was William Bradbury from Fleet Lane who was charged with a breach of the peace and assaulting a policeman.
PC Pugh gave evidence of being on plain clothes duty in Church Street (pictured above) along with another officer when they saw a big crowd outside Fothergill's tobacco shop.
A man was on the ground apparently suffering a fit and PC Cook was attending to him.
The two constables went to give assistance but William Bradbury began interfering and challenging them to fight.
PC Pugh told the Bench that he asked the man several times to go away but he refused and took a swing at him, striking the officer on his right ear.
Bradbury was taken into custody and when they got to the Police Station at the Town Hall he became very violent and had to be locked up.
In court the young man was wearing a shirt covered in blood but told the Bench that he had nothing to say.
Bradbury was bound over to keep the peace for six months and fined £2 for the assault.
Arthur Saunders from Wigan was also in the court.
He was the man supposedly having a fit in Church Street but in fact had supped 15 pints and told the police he would have drunk more if he could have got it!
When PC Cook tried to help him he kicked him in the eye causing it to "bleed very freely".
Saunders told the crowd in Church Street that he had "been a good lad" and fought for his country.
However at the Police Station he admitted having never gone overseas.
The man had many prior convictions and had only come out of prison a week earlier.
For the assault Saunders was sent back to gaol for 28 days hard labour and fined £1 or 14 days for the drunkenness.
The acts appearing at the Hippodrome Theatre from the 7th included:
Saltley and Lady ("The eccentric equilibrist"); Miss Alice Craven ("The Lancashire lass"); Rovilli ("Producing melodious music on the concertinas); Bros. Morris ("Eccentric comedians – that's all"); Nan Terry ("The sparkling comedienne and her peculiar composer in a delightful comedy act"); Bert Neilson ("The clever non-stop dancer") and Jack Edwin ("The mirthful comedian").
If there was one crime that went through the roof during the war it was bigamy.
Since the declaration of peace in 1918 the private lives of many ex-soldiers had been unravelling, causing devastation to many women who discovered that their "husbands" had been living a lie.
One such woman was Caroline Ashman, who had to face up to the fact that she was still Caroline Lawton, with her marriage ceremony at Prescot Registry Office in May 1919 having been bogus.
On the 7th the 22-year-old's "husband" David Ashman appeared in St Helens Police Court to face a charge of bigamy.
The police had visited his home in Park Road to serve a warrant on him for wife desertion.
This essentially meant that he would have to agree to pay maintenance to his separated spouse.
However with David Ashman at work, it was Caroline who opened the door and told the police that she was his wife.
This was a surprise to the officers but Caroline received a far greater shock when they broke the news that there was another Mrs Ashman in Derbyshire.
Interestingly both wives were called Caroline and both appeared in court to give evidence against David Ashman.
Caroline Lawton had known Ashman for 18 months prior to their wedding at Prescot and had no idea that her much older husband was already married with two children.
The legitimate Mrs Ashman told the court that she and David had married in 1909 and in 1915 her husband had joined the army.
On several occasions he had returned to their home in Derbyshire on leave, the last time being in August 1918.
Since that day she had heard nothing from him and had been searching to locate her husband, eventually tracking him down to St Helens.
David Ashman told the police: "I was never happy with my wife. I am glad you have found me out. I had been expecting it."
He was committed to take his trial at the next Assizes at Liverpool where 7 of the 27 cases would be for bigamy – a lesser proportion than of late.
Next week's stories will include the boy watch repairer from Higher Parr Street who got himself into a pickle, the jealous Stanhope Street lodger, a Sinn Fein rally is held in St Helens and the Gerards Bridge man that fled from the police with handcuffs dangling from his wrist.
It wasn't long ago that children were imprisoned or whipped after being caught thieving.
Birching did still happen occasionally but the times were becoming more enlightened and a probation officer now worked for St Helens Police Court.
On June 2nd five boys were charged with stealing a £10 bag of silver from the counter of the butchering department of the Co-op.
12-year-old Alfred Houltrom of Oxford Street and 13-year-old Arthur Topping of Atherton Street were described as the ringleaders and they'd divided the cash up with the others.
All five were put on probation for two years and their parents ordered to pay the court costs.
He was referring to the flooding in parts of the town as a result of last week's severe storm.
Cllr. Abbott pointed out that the plight of the cottagers at Sutton Moss was always bad but after a storm it was awful and he declared that the present condition of things was nothing short of a scandal.
On the 3rd the St Helens Trades and Labour Council passed a resolution protesting strongly against plans to extend Cowley School.
This had been a controversial scheme because of the cost and the fact that the Town Council's grand plans to build new housing estates had yet to begin.
The Trades Council – representing local trade unions – wanted all resources to be directed towards house building to lessen the severe overcrowding of homes and house shortages in the town.
The council added that the additional school accommodation at Cowley could be provided by temporary wooden huts or by making use of the Windlehurst mansion that the Corporation now owned.
They also called on St Helens Council to start building homes immediately and "thus help to remove the scandalous lack of decent house accommodation".
The St Helens Reporter in its edition of the 4th described how new postal rates would be in operation next week with letters now costing 2d.
The equivalent stamp these days is ninety times more expensive.
It seems that handcuffs a century ago were known colloquially as "the snaps".
This was revealed in a court case on the 4th in which Thomas Brady was charged with gaming with cards and damaging PC Shepherd's watch.
The officer told the Bench that he and PC Doyle had been observing a large group of men gambling on wasteland off Ravenhead Road.
Thomas Brady was subsequently arrested and became very violent and in his attempts at escaping broke the officer's watch.
Eventually Brady promised PC Shepherd that he would go quietly with him to the station but ran off at the corner of Bold Street and wasn't taken back into custody for two days.
Asked by the Bench why he had not put "the snaps" on his prisoner, PC Shepherd said the man had told him a pitiful story of being wrongfully locked up on several occasions and so he wanted to treat him fairly.
Thomas Brady denied having been gambling and bizarrely claimed to have run off because he did not want to go the Police Station without any money.
I wasn't aware that the cop shop had an admission charge!
The man was fined 10 shillings and ordered to pay £1 damages for the broken watch.
On the 5th Charles Foster was charged in St Helens Police Court with attempting to take his own life.
The 16-year-old boy appeared with his neck bandaged after having used a razor to cut his throat.
After the death of his mother, Charles had been living with his elder brother Ted and his wife Florence at their home in Central Street.
Ted told the court that Charles had made a four-inch wound in his throat and left a note saying he had done the act because he'd been sacked from his job.
The lad had got work as a haulage hand at Sutton Manor Colliery by giving his age as fifteen.
When it was discovered that Charles was actually sixteen, he was dismissed.
The lad had told the police: "I did it because I did not like the thoughts of being out of work. I am sorry I have done it."
Ted Foster appealed to the magistrates to take a lenient view of the case, saying he would look after his brother and had already found him work.
The Bench agreed to discharge Charles into his brother's care and told the boy what he had done was "very dreadful" and hoped he would do what was right in future.
The sadness of this private family matter was that it was dealt with in open court and described in great detail by the Reporter.
Attempting suicide would be illegal until 1961, although it appears that Charles Foster managed to sort himself out.
In the 1939 Register he is listed as a coal miner and still living with his brother Ted and Florence but now in Rivington Avenue.
PC Pugh gave evidence of being on plain clothes duty in Church Street (pictured above) along with another officer when they saw a big crowd outside Fothergill's tobacco shop.
A man was on the ground apparently suffering a fit and PC Cook was attending to him.
The two constables went to give assistance but William Bradbury began interfering and challenging them to fight.
PC Pugh told the Bench that he asked the man several times to go away but he refused and took a swing at him, striking the officer on his right ear.
Bradbury was taken into custody and when they got to the Police Station at the Town Hall he became very violent and had to be locked up.
In court the young man was wearing a shirt covered in blood but told the Bench that he had nothing to say.
Bradbury was bound over to keep the peace for six months and fined £2 for the assault.
Arthur Saunders from Wigan was also in the court.
He was the man supposedly having a fit in Church Street but in fact had supped 15 pints and told the police he would have drunk more if he could have got it!
When PC Cook tried to help him he kicked him in the eye causing it to "bleed very freely".
Saunders told the crowd in Church Street that he had "been a good lad" and fought for his country.
However at the Police Station he admitted having never gone overseas.
The man had many prior convictions and had only come out of prison a week earlier.
For the assault Saunders was sent back to gaol for 28 days hard labour and fined £1 or 14 days for the drunkenness.
The acts appearing at the Hippodrome Theatre from the 7th included:
Saltley and Lady ("The eccentric equilibrist"); Miss Alice Craven ("The Lancashire lass"); Rovilli ("Producing melodious music on the concertinas); Bros. Morris ("Eccentric comedians – that's all"); Nan Terry ("The sparkling comedienne and her peculiar composer in a delightful comedy act"); Bert Neilson ("The clever non-stop dancer") and Jack Edwin ("The mirthful comedian").
If there was one crime that went through the roof during the war it was bigamy.
Since the declaration of peace in 1918 the private lives of many ex-soldiers had been unravelling, causing devastation to many women who discovered that their "husbands" had been living a lie.
One such woman was Caroline Ashman, who had to face up to the fact that she was still Caroline Lawton, with her marriage ceremony at Prescot Registry Office in May 1919 having been bogus.
On the 7th the 22-year-old's "husband" David Ashman appeared in St Helens Police Court to face a charge of bigamy.
The police had visited his home in Park Road to serve a warrant on him for wife desertion.
This essentially meant that he would have to agree to pay maintenance to his separated spouse.
However with David Ashman at work, it was Caroline who opened the door and told the police that she was his wife.
This was a surprise to the officers but Caroline received a far greater shock when they broke the news that there was another Mrs Ashman in Derbyshire.
Interestingly both wives were called Caroline and both appeared in court to give evidence against David Ashman.
Caroline Lawton had known Ashman for 18 months prior to their wedding at Prescot and had no idea that her much older husband was already married with two children.
The legitimate Mrs Ashman told the court that she and David had married in 1909 and in 1915 her husband had joined the army.
On several occasions he had returned to their home in Derbyshire on leave, the last time being in August 1918.
Since that day she had heard nothing from him and had been searching to locate her husband, eventually tracking him down to St Helens.
David Ashman told the police: "I was never happy with my wife. I am glad you have found me out. I had been expecting it."
He was committed to take his trial at the next Assizes at Liverpool where 7 of the 27 cases would be for bigamy – a lesser proportion than of late.
Next week's stories will include the boy watch repairer from Higher Parr Street who got himself into a pickle, the jealous Stanhope Street lodger, a Sinn Fein rally is held in St Helens and the Gerards Bridge man that fled from the police with handcuffs dangling from his wrist.