IOO YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (3rd - 9th MAY 1921)
This week's stories include the well-meaning Sutton lottery that led to large fines being imposed, the industrial scale operation to illegally dig coal out of surface mines, a what's on guide, the strange Prescot lorry prosecution and Pip, Squeak and Wilfred's anniversary celebration.
We begin on the 4th with an advert published in the theatrical paper called 'The Era' that suggested that the Theatre Royal in St Helens had received a cancelled booking. "Wanted. First-Class Twice Nightly Show For May 23rd. Harry E. Johnson", went the brief ad. May 23rd was a Monday and in those days shows normally appeared at the same venue for six days. And so finding a suitable replacement at short notice would not have been easy for the manager of the Corporation Street theatre.
This week Harry Johnson was staging a musical comedy called "The Far East" which featured a forty-strong company. The theatre was much more highbrow than the Hippodrome further down the road and far more likely to showcase plays and opera than music hall turns. The usual mix of variety acts that appeared each week at the Hippodrome were singers, comics and speciality acts.
This week’s potpourri included a bit more comedy than usual with Daisy Wood ("Popular star comedienne and dancer"); Tom Hughes ("Comedian that revels in his seedy attire and never fails to amuse"), Ackroyd and Rose Hardy ("The eminent flautist and the talented harpiste"); George Hay ("Quaint and amusing comedian") and Mooney and Holbein ("The versatile singer / pianist and comedian / acrobat").
The police authorities had for many years prosecuted road users for a dazzling range of offences committed on the highway. These included allowing their ass to stray, driving a cow on the footpath, having no name on their cart, driving a horse without reins, leaving their horse and cart on the street unattended, being asleep in their cart and driving a cart on the wrong side of the road. Now that the motor age was taking off, the drivers of motorised vehicles were being brought to book for similar minor breaches of the law.
On the 5th Aubrey Cammock of Queens Road in Prescot was summoned to court for not having the maximum rate of speed painted on his heavy motor vehicle. And the owner, Benjamin Whitehouse from West Street in Prescot, was summoned for permitting the offence. I wonder why that was considered important as, of course, the speed a vehicle is capable of reaching does not mean it is being driven at that speed? Anyway the pair was fined ten shillings each.
The national coal strike was still a big talking point in the newspapers. On the 6th the Liverpool Echo published a lengthy article describing how the striking miners of St Helens were helping themselves to coal that lay close to the surface of disused pits. This was known as "crop coal" as it outcropped near the surface. People taking it during disputes was not a new practice but the illegal work was now being undertaken on an industrial scale. The Echo reckoned that huge numbers of men were involved in hewing coal from the seams, "which can be found in all directions, from 15ft. to 30ft. below the surface".
The miners were particularly busy in Thatto Heath, Eccleston, Glade Hill (off Island's Brow), Derbyshire Hill and Sutton and had been working night and day. Although there were still some coal stocks on the market for domestic consumers to buy, miners who had had no or little income for a month were keen to get their hands on some free coal. The problem was that some of it was being sold to other towns with the Echo writing "all around the town day by day motor waggons can be seen taking away the coal in great quantities to Liverpool and other places."
This was reported as having disturbed the St Helens strike committee. It was in the miners' own interests if they were to win their dispute for coal stocks to be low – not for them to be digging out and selling more! The authorities had appeared to be tolerating the coal digging, despite its illegality and the danger of an accident. However matters were getting out of hand and on the same day that the Echo article was published, thirty people appeared in St Helens Police Court for taking the coal and each received a small fine.
The trouble with operating a lottery was that if there was a dispute over the prizes, the unhappy punter could report the organisers to the police – as running a lottery was illegal. That's what happened to John Gavin of Edgeworth Street and Martin Falon of Powell Street who last August had started a lottery for the benefit of Michael Dillon. He was a miner who had gone blind but as his condition was unrelated to his job, Dillon was not entitled to any compensation. A printer called Rowland King from Bridge Street in Earlestown was engaged to print 3,000 tickets.
The draw was due to take place in November but was postponed for a while due to the short miners' strike during that month. When the lottery did take place a man called Thompson claimed the first prize of £15. However the organisers refused to accept that he had won, saying a man in Nottingham was the winner, although he had yet to come forward to claim the cash. So Thompson reported the pair to the police and Inspector Bowden discovered that the second prize of £10 was similarly unclaimed. The blind beneficiary had also not received any cash from the lottery – indeed Michael Dillon had not even been told of the draw.
Organiser John Gavin was found to be holding £32 18 shillings – although it appears to have been a case of poor organisation rather than attempted fraud. But it was a serious enough offence to hold a lottery and on the 9th the two Sutton men behind the draw appeared in court and were fined £10 each. The Earlestown printer was also prosecuted and had to pay £2 for his part in the illegal enterprise.
This week's advert for Beecham's Pills (there was a different one in the papers each week – or so it appeared) bore the headline "Health Insurance". That was something everyone could relate to since the National Health Insurance Act of 1920 had beefed up the provisions in the landmark 1911 Act. However Beecham's felt taking their pills was the best insurance against "want of appetite, indigestion, bowel irregularity and sluggish liver".
A regular consumption of their pills to ward off illness meant, of course, more income for the Westfield Street firm – but their ad in the Arbroath Herald on the 6th failed to mention that. Instead they focused on preventing the body's "internal mechanism" from getting "out of gear", adding: "Numberless people have greatly benefited by taking this very reliable Medicine and many enjoy constant good health making periodical use of it. To keep in condition, you will do well to take Beecham's Pills."
On the 9th there was another court case concerning the so-called "crop coal" that was being mined in places close to the surface. Two motor haulage contractors called Richard and Benjamin Hall were charged with receiving stolen coal from a farmer's field in Parr. It was stated by the prosecution that a motor waggon belonging to the brothers had loaded up with coal and then driven off to Liverpool.
Richard Hall had brazenly told PC McHale that they would continue to take the coal in complete defiance of the police. Witnesses gave evidence that the two brothers had bought the coal from the miners who had been illegally working the surface mine in the field. And so had lots of other people including, amazingly, St Helens Corporation's own Gas Department and Walker's Ale of Warrington! The Bench imposed what was described as a nominal penalty of 20 shillings on each of the brothers for taking the coal.
It was the second anniversary of Pip and Squeak on the 9th and Griffin's Picture House in Ormskirk Street (which became the Scala) was celebrating by showing their new silent cartoon – that also featured Wilfred. What on earth am I talking about, you may wonder? Well 'Pip, Squeak and Wilfred' was a cartoon in the Daily Mirror's children's column (pictured above) that had begun in 1919 and was developing a massive following. Pip was a dog, Squeak was a penguin and Wilfred a rabbit with very long ears who had only been introduced a year or so earlier – and so was not celebrating a two-year anniversary since first being drawn. The characters were so popular that the three main service medals awarded to WW1 veterans were nicknamed Pip, Squeak and Wilfred.
And what a fuss was made of the "birthday" of two fictional creatures! The paper wrote: "Pip and Squeak, the Daily Mirror's famous pets, who are celebrating their second birthday to-day, have received some hundreds of letters and telegrams of congratulation from their admirers. Their popularity is universal; equal enthusiasm for the wonderful dog and penguin is shown by all classes of people, from famous prime donne to the poorest boy or girl." And to prove their point they printed birthday messages from many titled people, including Dame Nellie Melba who said:
"May I send birthday greetings to Pip and Squeak, with the hope that they will continue to give such great happiness to all our children? Pamela, my grandchild, sends her love to them." The message from Lady Askwith read: "Long life to the Children's Mirror, which is the joy of my daughter's heart." The paper added that "many quaint presents" had also been received for the imaginary dog and penguin. I find it quite reassuring that people a century ago could be just as daft as we can be today!
Next week's stories will include riotous scenes in Higher Parr Street during the miners strike, the end of the free crop coal in St Helens, female magistrates sit together on the Bench, the man considered to be the pest of Parr and a series of terrorist attacks in Liverpool.
We begin on the 4th with an advert published in the theatrical paper called 'The Era' that suggested that the Theatre Royal in St Helens had received a cancelled booking. "Wanted. First-Class Twice Nightly Show For May 23rd. Harry E. Johnson", went the brief ad. May 23rd was a Monday and in those days shows normally appeared at the same venue for six days. And so finding a suitable replacement at short notice would not have been easy for the manager of the Corporation Street theatre.
This week Harry Johnson was staging a musical comedy called "The Far East" which featured a forty-strong company. The theatre was much more highbrow than the Hippodrome further down the road and far more likely to showcase plays and opera than music hall turns. The usual mix of variety acts that appeared each week at the Hippodrome were singers, comics and speciality acts.
This week’s potpourri included a bit more comedy than usual with Daisy Wood ("Popular star comedienne and dancer"); Tom Hughes ("Comedian that revels in his seedy attire and never fails to amuse"), Ackroyd and Rose Hardy ("The eminent flautist and the talented harpiste"); George Hay ("Quaint and amusing comedian") and Mooney and Holbein ("The versatile singer / pianist and comedian / acrobat").
The police authorities had for many years prosecuted road users for a dazzling range of offences committed on the highway. These included allowing their ass to stray, driving a cow on the footpath, having no name on their cart, driving a horse without reins, leaving their horse and cart on the street unattended, being asleep in their cart and driving a cart on the wrong side of the road. Now that the motor age was taking off, the drivers of motorised vehicles were being brought to book for similar minor breaches of the law.
On the 5th Aubrey Cammock of Queens Road in Prescot was summoned to court for not having the maximum rate of speed painted on his heavy motor vehicle. And the owner, Benjamin Whitehouse from West Street in Prescot, was summoned for permitting the offence. I wonder why that was considered important as, of course, the speed a vehicle is capable of reaching does not mean it is being driven at that speed? Anyway the pair was fined ten shillings each.
The national coal strike was still a big talking point in the newspapers. On the 6th the Liverpool Echo published a lengthy article describing how the striking miners of St Helens were helping themselves to coal that lay close to the surface of disused pits. This was known as "crop coal" as it outcropped near the surface. People taking it during disputes was not a new practice but the illegal work was now being undertaken on an industrial scale. The Echo reckoned that huge numbers of men were involved in hewing coal from the seams, "which can be found in all directions, from 15ft. to 30ft. below the surface".
The miners were particularly busy in Thatto Heath, Eccleston, Glade Hill (off Island's Brow), Derbyshire Hill and Sutton and had been working night and day. Although there were still some coal stocks on the market for domestic consumers to buy, miners who had had no or little income for a month were keen to get their hands on some free coal. The problem was that some of it was being sold to other towns with the Echo writing "all around the town day by day motor waggons can be seen taking away the coal in great quantities to Liverpool and other places."
This was reported as having disturbed the St Helens strike committee. It was in the miners' own interests if they were to win their dispute for coal stocks to be low – not for them to be digging out and selling more! The authorities had appeared to be tolerating the coal digging, despite its illegality and the danger of an accident. However matters were getting out of hand and on the same day that the Echo article was published, thirty people appeared in St Helens Police Court for taking the coal and each received a small fine.
The trouble with operating a lottery was that if there was a dispute over the prizes, the unhappy punter could report the organisers to the police – as running a lottery was illegal. That's what happened to John Gavin of Edgeworth Street and Martin Falon of Powell Street who last August had started a lottery for the benefit of Michael Dillon. He was a miner who had gone blind but as his condition was unrelated to his job, Dillon was not entitled to any compensation. A printer called Rowland King from Bridge Street in Earlestown was engaged to print 3,000 tickets.
The draw was due to take place in November but was postponed for a while due to the short miners' strike during that month. When the lottery did take place a man called Thompson claimed the first prize of £15. However the organisers refused to accept that he had won, saying a man in Nottingham was the winner, although he had yet to come forward to claim the cash. So Thompson reported the pair to the police and Inspector Bowden discovered that the second prize of £10 was similarly unclaimed. The blind beneficiary had also not received any cash from the lottery – indeed Michael Dillon had not even been told of the draw.
Organiser John Gavin was found to be holding £32 18 shillings – although it appears to have been a case of poor organisation rather than attempted fraud. But it was a serious enough offence to hold a lottery and on the 9th the two Sutton men behind the draw appeared in court and were fined £10 each. The Earlestown printer was also prosecuted and had to pay £2 for his part in the illegal enterprise.
This week's advert for Beecham's Pills (there was a different one in the papers each week – or so it appeared) bore the headline "Health Insurance". That was something everyone could relate to since the National Health Insurance Act of 1920 had beefed up the provisions in the landmark 1911 Act. However Beecham's felt taking their pills was the best insurance against "want of appetite, indigestion, bowel irregularity and sluggish liver".
A regular consumption of their pills to ward off illness meant, of course, more income for the Westfield Street firm – but their ad in the Arbroath Herald on the 6th failed to mention that. Instead they focused on preventing the body's "internal mechanism" from getting "out of gear", adding: "Numberless people have greatly benefited by taking this very reliable Medicine and many enjoy constant good health making periodical use of it. To keep in condition, you will do well to take Beecham's Pills."
On the 9th there was another court case concerning the so-called "crop coal" that was being mined in places close to the surface. Two motor haulage contractors called Richard and Benjamin Hall were charged with receiving stolen coal from a farmer's field in Parr. It was stated by the prosecution that a motor waggon belonging to the brothers had loaded up with coal and then driven off to Liverpool.
Richard Hall had brazenly told PC McHale that they would continue to take the coal in complete defiance of the police. Witnesses gave evidence that the two brothers had bought the coal from the miners who had been illegally working the surface mine in the field. And so had lots of other people including, amazingly, St Helens Corporation's own Gas Department and Walker's Ale of Warrington! The Bench imposed what was described as a nominal penalty of 20 shillings on each of the brothers for taking the coal.
And what a fuss was made of the "birthday" of two fictional creatures! The paper wrote: "Pip and Squeak, the Daily Mirror's famous pets, who are celebrating their second birthday to-day, have received some hundreds of letters and telegrams of congratulation from their admirers. Their popularity is universal; equal enthusiasm for the wonderful dog and penguin is shown by all classes of people, from famous prime donne to the poorest boy or girl." And to prove their point they printed birthday messages from many titled people, including Dame Nellie Melba who said:
"May I send birthday greetings to Pip and Squeak, with the hope that they will continue to give such great happiness to all our children? Pamela, my grandchild, sends her love to them." The message from Lady Askwith read: "Long life to the Children's Mirror, which is the joy of my daughter's heart." The paper added that "many quaint presents" had also been received for the imaginary dog and penguin. I find it quite reassuring that people a century ago could be just as daft as we can be today!
Next week's stories will include riotous scenes in Higher Parr Street during the miners strike, the end of the free crop coal in St Helens, female magistrates sit together on the Bench, the man considered to be the pest of Parr and a series of terrorist attacks in Liverpool.
This week's stories include the well-meaning Sutton lottery that led to large fines being imposed, the industrial scale operation to illegally dig coal out of surface mines, the strange Prescot lorry prosecution, a what's on guide and Pip, Squeak and Wilfred's anniversary celebration.
We begin on the 4th with an advert published in the theatrical paper called 'The Era' that suggested that the Theatre Royal in St Helens had received a cancelled booking.
"Wanted. First-Class Twice Nightly Show For May 23rd. Harry E. Johnson", went the brief ad.
May 23rd was a Monday and in those days shows normally appeared at the same venue for six days.
And so finding a suitable replacement at short notice would not have been easy for the manager of the Corporation Street theatre.
This week Harry Johnson was staging a musical comedy called "The Far East" which featured a forty-strong company.
The theatre was much more highbrow than the Hippodrome further down the road and far more likely to showcase plays and opera than music hall turns.
The usual mix of variety acts that appeared each week at the Hippodrome were singers, comics and speciality acts.
This week’s potpourri included a bit more comedy than usual with Daisy Wood ("Popular star comedienne and dancer"); Tom Hughes ("Comedian that revels in his seedy attire and never fails to amuse"), Ackroyd and Rose Hardy ("The eminent flautist and the talented harpiste"); George Hay ("Quaint and amusing comedian") and Mooney and Holbein ("The versatile singer / pianist and comedian / acrobat").
The police authorities had for many years prosecuted road users for a dazzling range of offences committed on the highway.
These included allowing their ass to stray, driving a cow on the footpath, having no name on their cart, driving a horse without reins, leaving their horse and cart on the street unattended, being asleep in their cart and driving a cart on the wrong side of the road.
Now that the motor age was taking off, the drivers of motorised vehicles were being brought to book for similar minor breaches of the law.
On the 5th Aubrey Cammock of Queens Road in Prescot was summoned to court for not having the maximum rate of speed painted on his heavy motor vehicle.
And the owner, Benjamin Whitehouse from West Street in Prescot, was summoned for permitting the offence.
I wonder why that was considered important as, of course, the speed a vehicle is capable of reaching does not mean it is being driven at that speed? Anyway the pair was fined ten shillings each.
The national coal strike was still a big talking point in the newspapers.
On the 6th the Liverpool Echo published a lengthy article describing how the striking miners of St Helens were helping themselves to coal that lay close to the surface of disused pits.
This was known as "crop coal" as it outcropped near the surface. People taking it during disputes was not a new practice but the illegal work was now being undertaken on an industrial scale.
The Echo reckoned that huge numbers of men were involved in hewing coal from the seams, "which can be found in all directions, from 15ft. to 30ft. below the surface".
The miners were particularly busy in Thatto Heath, Eccleston, Glade Hill (off Island's Brow), Derbyshire Hill and Sutton and had been working night and day.
Although there were still some coal stocks on the market for domestic consumers to buy, miners who had had no or little income for a month were keen to get their hands on some free coal.
The problem was that some of it was being sold to other towns with the Echo writing "all around the town day by day motor waggons can be seen taking away the coal in great quantities to Liverpool and other places."
This was reported as having disturbed the St Helens strike committee. It was in the miners' own interests if they were to win their dispute for coal stocks to be low – not for them to be digging out and selling more!
The authorities had appeared to be tolerating the coal digging, despite its illegality and the danger of an accident.
However matters were getting out of hand and on the same day that the Echo article was published, thirty people appeared in St Helens Police Court for taking the coal and each received a small fine.
The trouble with operating a lottery was that if there was a dispute over the prizes, the unhappy punter could report the organisers to the police – as running a lottery was illegal.
That's what happened to John Gavin of Edgeworth Street and Martin Falon of Powell Street who last August had started a lottery for the benefit of Michael Dillon.
He was a miner who had gone blind but as his condition was unrelated to his job, Dillon was not entitled to any compensation.
A printer called Rowland King from Bridge Street in Earlestown was engaged to print 3,000 tickets.
The draw was due to take place in November but was postponed for a while due to the short miners' strike during that month.
When the lottery did take place a man called Thompson claimed the first prize of £15.
However the organisers refused to accept that he had won, saying a man in Nottingham was the winner, although he had yet to come forward to claim the cash.
So Thompson reported the pair to the police and Inspector Bowden discovered that the second prize of £10 was similarly unclaimed.
The blind beneficiary had also not received any cash from the lottery – indeed Michael Dillon had not even been told of the draw.
Organiser John Gavin was found to be holding £32 18 shillings – although it appears to have been a case of poor organisation rather than attempted fraud.
But it was a serious enough offence to hold a lottery and on the 9th the two Sutton men behind the draw appeared in court and were fined £10 each.
The Earlestown printer was also prosecuted and had to pay £2 for his part in the illegal enterprise.
This week's advert for Beecham's Pills (there was a different one in the papers each week – or so it appeared) bore the headline "Health Insurance".
That was something everyone could relate to since the National Health Insurance Act of 1920 had beefed up the provisions in the landmark 1911 Act.
However Beecham's felt taking their pills was the best insurance against "want of appetite, indigestion, bowel irregularity and sluggish liver".
A regular consumption of their pills to ward off illness meant, of course, more income for the Westfield Street firm – but their ad in the Arbroath Herald on the 6th failed to mention that.
Instead they focused on preventing the body's "internal mechanism" from getting "out of gear", adding:
"Numberless people have greatly benefited by taking this very reliable Medicine and many enjoy constant good health making periodical use of it. To keep in condition, you will do well to take Beecham's Pills."
On the 9th there was another court case concerning the so-called "crop coal" that was being mined in places close to the surface.
Two motor haulage contractors called Richard and Benjamin Hall were charged with receiving stolen coal from a farmer's field in Parr.
It was stated by the prosecution that a motor waggon belonging to the brothers had loaded up with coal and then driven off to Liverpool.
Richard Hall had brazenly told PC McHale that they would continue to take the coal in complete defiance of the police.
Witnesses gave evidence that the two brothers had bought the coal from the miners who had been illegally working the surface mine in the field.
And so had lots of other people including, amazingly, St Helens Corporation's own Gas Department and Walker's Ale of Warrington!
The Bench imposed what was described as a nominal penalty of 20 shillings on each of the brothers for taking the coal.
It was the second anniversary of Pip and Squeak on the 9th and Griffin's Picture House in Ormskirk Street (which became the Scala) was celebrating by showing their new silent cartoon – that also featured Wilfred.
What on earth am I talking about, you may wonder? Well 'Pip, Squeak and Wilfred' was a cartoon in the Daily Mirror's children's column (pictured above) that had begun in 1919 and was developing a massive following.
Pip was a dog, Squeak was a penguin and Wilfred a rabbit with very long ears who had only been introduced a year or so earlier – and so was not celebrating a two-year anniversary since first being drawn.
The characters were so popular that the three main service medals awarded to WW1 veterans were nicknamed Pip, Squeak and Wilfred.
And what a fuss was made of the "birthday" of two fictional creatures! The paper wrote:
"Pip and Squeak, the Daily Mirror's famous pets, who are celebrating their second birthday to-day, have received some hundreds of letters and telegrams of congratulation from their admirers.
"Their popularity is universal; equal enthusiasm for the wonderful dog and penguin is shown by all classes of people, from famous prime donne to the poorest boy or girl."
And to prove their point they printed birthday messages from many titled people, including Dame Nellie Melba who said:
"May I send birthday greetings to Pip and Squeak, with the hope that they will continue to give such great happiness to all our children? Pamela, my grandchild, sends her love to them."
The message from Lady Askwith read: "Long life to the Children's Mirror, which is the joy of my daughter's heart."
The paper added that "many quaint presents" had also been received for the imaginary dog and penguin.
I find it quite reassuring that people a century ago could be just as daft as we can be today!
Next week's stories will include riotous scenes in Higher Parr Street during the miners strike, the end of the free crop coal in St Helens, female magistrates sit together on the Bench, the man considered to be the pest of Parr and a series of terrorist attacks in Liverpool.
We begin on the 4th with an advert published in the theatrical paper called 'The Era' that suggested that the Theatre Royal in St Helens had received a cancelled booking.
"Wanted. First-Class Twice Nightly Show For May 23rd. Harry E. Johnson", went the brief ad.
May 23rd was a Monday and in those days shows normally appeared at the same venue for six days.
And so finding a suitable replacement at short notice would not have been easy for the manager of the Corporation Street theatre.
This week Harry Johnson was staging a musical comedy called "The Far East" which featured a forty-strong company.
The theatre was much more highbrow than the Hippodrome further down the road and far more likely to showcase plays and opera than music hall turns.
The usual mix of variety acts that appeared each week at the Hippodrome were singers, comics and speciality acts.
This week’s potpourri included a bit more comedy than usual with Daisy Wood ("Popular star comedienne and dancer"); Tom Hughes ("Comedian that revels in his seedy attire and never fails to amuse"), Ackroyd and Rose Hardy ("The eminent flautist and the talented harpiste"); George Hay ("Quaint and amusing comedian") and Mooney and Holbein ("The versatile singer / pianist and comedian / acrobat").
The police authorities had for many years prosecuted road users for a dazzling range of offences committed on the highway.
These included allowing their ass to stray, driving a cow on the footpath, having no name on their cart, driving a horse without reins, leaving their horse and cart on the street unattended, being asleep in their cart and driving a cart on the wrong side of the road.
Now that the motor age was taking off, the drivers of motorised vehicles were being brought to book for similar minor breaches of the law.
On the 5th Aubrey Cammock of Queens Road in Prescot was summoned to court for not having the maximum rate of speed painted on his heavy motor vehicle.
And the owner, Benjamin Whitehouse from West Street in Prescot, was summoned for permitting the offence.
I wonder why that was considered important as, of course, the speed a vehicle is capable of reaching does not mean it is being driven at that speed? Anyway the pair was fined ten shillings each.
The national coal strike was still a big talking point in the newspapers.
On the 6th the Liverpool Echo published a lengthy article describing how the striking miners of St Helens were helping themselves to coal that lay close to the surface of disused pits.
This was known as "crop coal" as it outcropped near the surface. People taking it during disputes was not a new practice but the illegal work was now being undertaken on an industrial scale.
The Echo reckoned that huge numbers of men were involved in hewing coal from the seams, "which can be found in all directions, from 15ft. to 30ft. below the surface".
The miners were particularly busy in Thatto Heath, Eccleston, Glade Hill (off Island's Brow), Derbyshire Hill and Sutton and had been working night and day.
Although there were still some coal stocks on the market for domestic consumers to buy, miners who had had no or little income for a month were keen to get their hands on some free coal.
The problem was that some of it was being sold to other towns with the Echo writing "all around the town day by day motor waggons can be seen taking away the coal in great quantities to Liverpool and other places."
This was reported as having disturbed the St Helens strike committee. It was in the miners' own interests if they were to win their dispute for coal stocks to be low – not for them to be digging out and selling more!
The authorities had appeared to be tolerating the coal digging, despite its illegality and the danger of an accident.
However matters were getting out of hand and on the same day that the Echo article was published, thirty people appeared in St Helens Police Court for taking the coal and each received a small fine.
The trouble with operating a lottery was that if there was a dispute over the prizes, the unhappy punter could report the organisers to the police – as running a lottery was illegal.
That's what happened to John Gavin of Edgeworth Street and Martin Falon of Powell Street who last August had started a lottery for the benefit of Michael Dillon.
He was a miner who had gone blind but as his condition was unrelated to his job, Dillon was not entitled to any compensation.
A printer called Rowland King from Bridge Street in Earlestown was engaged to print 3,000 tickets.
The draw was due to take place in November but was postponed for a while due to the short miners' strike during that month.
When the lottery did take place a man called Thompson claimed the first prize of £15.
However the organisers refused to accept that he had won, saying a man in Nottingham was the winner, although he had yet to come forward to claim the cash.
So Thompson reported the pair to the police and Inspector Bowden discovered that the second prize of £10 was similarly unclaimed.
The blind beneficiary had also not received any cash from the lottery – indeed Michael Dillon had not even been told of the draw.
Organiser John Gavin was found to be holding £32 18 shillings – although it appears to have been a case of poor organisation rather than attempted fraud.
But it was a serious enough offence to hold a lottery and on the 9th the two Sutton men behind the draw appeared in court and were fined £10 each.
The Earlestown printer was also prosecuted and had to pay £2 for his part in the illegal enterprise.
This week's advert for Beecham's Pills (there was a different one in the papers each week – or so it appeared) bore the headline "Health Insurance".
That was something everyone could relate to since the National Health Insurance Act of 1920 had beefed up the provisions in the landmark 1911 Act.
However Beecham's felt taking their pills was the best insurance against "want of appetite, indigestion, bowel irregularity and sluggish liver".
A regular consumption of their pills to ward off illness meant, of course, more income for the Westfield Street firm – but their ad in the Arbroath Herald on the 6th failed to mention that.
Instead they focused on preventing the body's "internal mechanism" from getting "out of gear", adding:
"Numberless people have greatly benefited by taking this very reliable Medicine and many enjoy constant good health making periodical use of it. To keep in condition, you will do well to take Beecham's Pills."
On the 9th there was another court case concerning the so-called "crop coal" that was being mined in places close to the surface.
Two motor haulage contractors called Richard and Benjamin Hall were charged with receiving stolen coal from a farmer's field in Parr.
It was stated by the prosecution that a motor waggon belonging to the brothers had loaded up with coal and then driven off to Liverpool.
Richard Hall had brazenly told PC McHale that they would continue to take the coal in complete defiance of the police.
Witnesses gave evidence that the two brothers had bought the coal from the miners who had been illegally working the surface mine in the field.
And so had lots of other people including, amazingly, St Helens Corporation's own Gas Department and Walker's Ale of Warrington!
The Bench imposed what was described as a nominal penalty of 20 shillings on each of the brothers for taking the coal.
It was the second anniversary of Pip and Squeak on the 9th and Griffin's Picture House in Ormskirk Street (which became the Scala) was celebrating by showing their new silent cartoon – that also featured Wilfred.
Pip was a dog, Squeak was a penguin and Wilfred a rabbit with very long ears who had only been introduced a year or so earlier – and so was not celebrating a two-year anniversary since first being drawn.
The characters were so popular that the three main service medals awarded to WW1 veterans were nicknamed Pip, Squeak and Wilfred.
And what a fuss was made of the "birthday" of two fictional creatures! The paper wrote:
"Pip and Squeak, the Daily Mirror's famous pets, who are celebrating their second birthday to-day, have received some hundreds of letters and telegrams of congratulation from their admirers.
"Their popularity is universal; equal enthusiasm for the wonderful dog and penguin is shown by all classes of people, from famous prime donne to the poorest boy or girl."
And to prove their point they printed birthday messages from many titled people, including Dame Nellie Melba who said:
"May I send birthday greetings to Pip and Squeak, with the hope that they will continue to give such great happiness to all our children? Pamela, my grandchild, sends her love to them."
The message from Lady Askwith read: "Long life to the Children's Mirror, which is the joy of my daughter's heart."
The paper added that "many quaint presents" had also been received for the imaginary dog and penguin.
I find it quite reassuring that people a century ago could be just as daft as we can be today!
Next week's stories will include riotous scenes in Higher Parr Street during the miners strike, the end of the free crop coal in St Helens, female magistrates sit together on the Bench, the man considered to be the pest of Parr and a series of terrorist attacks in Liverpool.