IOO YEARS AGO THIS WEEK 3 - 9 JUNE 1924
This week's many stories include the young man who was fatally injured in Kiln Lane in St Helens a week after buying his motorbike, the conman in Hamer Street who claimed to be very wealthy, the bad and good news about Saints' finances, the Sutton Road betting house that claimed it was a clothing club, the funeral of the boy killed down Sherdley Colliery and the allegation of immoral behaviour in Parr that led to a mother's window smashing.
We begin with William Rudd who was a minor league conman who went round the country obtaining free lodging by impressing landladies with his fanciful tales. On the 2nd the 25-year-old was sentenced to six months hard labour after committing such offences at St Anne's, including telling one landlady he had £3,000 in the bank and that he had been working in the South African goldfields.
After his sentencing Rudd was brought by the police to St Helens and on the 3rd was charged with obtaining food and lodgings by false pretences. That was after conning 63-year-old Margaret Seddon of Hamer Street. Again Rudd had used the £3,000 savings claim but reckoned this time to have returned from Australia where he had made his fortune. He had even borrowed £1 off Margaret's daughter to supposedly go to Liverpool and change foreign currency.
Such conmen got away with very little – in this case just £1 and a free night's lodging and some food. The thrill of deceit and making themselves out to be important and wealthy folk appeared to be what drove them to commit such crimes. After all Rudd knew the penalties for his minor offences were getting harsher.
After previously being fined, Rudd had last October served three months hard labour after conning a woman in Kent. The St Helens magistrates sent him to prison for three more months hard labour to run concurrently with his previous sentence that he had committed in St Anne's.
There were so many gambling prosecutions in the 1920s that I only report on a few of them in these articles. The offences either took place on the street or in a house, with the latter seen as more serious and resulting in a fine of £10 to £15. As the police spent much time gathering evidence prior to conducting a raid and invariably discovered further incriminating material on those that they arrested, it was rare for defendants not to be convicted.
But on the 3rd Thomas Banks and James and Esther Evans were all cleared of committing the offence. The latter couple lived in apartments within Thomas Banks' home in Sutton Road in St Helens. As a result of complaints being made to the police that betting was taking place inside the property, observation was kept on the premises over three days. During that time a total of 7 men, 34 women and 21 children were seen to enter and leave the premises by the back door.
Inspector Dunn led the raid on the house but when the police questioned James Evans he said he had ceased being involved in gambling, "I gave over some time ago because I got the wind up". However, a few betting slips and what were believed to be paying out papers were found.
A curious aspect of the case was that some of the women who entered the house were seen wearing blue blouses. A solicitor for the defendants asked a constable who was giving evidence in court whether there were many blue blouses in Sutton – or could it have been one woman making multiple visits? PC Parr replied: "Well, there seems to be a craze for them in Sutton".
The solicitor also pointed out that Mr Banks had nine children and he claimed they had been the ones that the police had seen coming and going. When Thomas Banks gave evidence he was asked if he had a boy of eleven years of age and he replied: "Well, I don't know, I have a job to reckon ‘em up."
All the defendants strongly denied being involved with gambling with Esther Evans saying she belonged to a clothing club and the names on the supposed paying out slips that the police had seized were her clients who paid her a shilling a week. At that point the magistrates stopped the case and cleared the defendants of all the charges against them.
Although the cost of buying and running motor cars prevented most folk in St Helens from owning them, motorbikes were a different matter. For those that were in work they could be bought on hire purchase quite inexpensively. And so there was an explosion in motorbike ownership during the early 1920s, particularly among young men.
Driving licences could be obtained from the Town Hall by simply filling in a form without any tests of capability required. Sensible motorists would get some practice in first on, say, waste ground and be properly taught how to use their machine. William Sheldon of Newtown appears to have been the sensible sort. Last month when he bought his new motorbike he was given some lessons in riding and had practiced at quiet spots.
Just how much time was spent getting fully used to his machine I cannot say, but it does not appear to have been enough. Within a week or so of acquiring his bike the 19-year-old from Exeter Street, who worked for Pilkingtons, fell off it in Kiln Lane and was badly injured. In hospital his mother, Margaret, asked her son what had occurred and he said he had been riding down the lane when he must have touched something that made the machine go faster instead of slower.
Initially William progressed favourably in hospital, but, as so often happened, the shock to his body was too great and he died a week after admission. The youth's inquest took place on the 4th at St Helens Town Hall and it was reported that his mother Margaret Sheldon was overcome with grief while giving her evidence.
St Helens councillors still could not decide where the new Cowley Boys Secondary School should be located. It was intended that the building would front Hard Lane near to the cemetery but some felt the site should be nearer the bulk of the people. On the 4th at the monthly St Helens Town Council meeting a long discussion on the matter took place, which resulted in a motion to change the proposed location being defeated by 22 votes to 11.
The annual meeting of St Helens Rugby Football Club also took place on the 4th and, as expected, its finances were revealed to be in a right old mess. During last season Saints had lost £1,133, which when added to their existing deficit comprised a total debt of £2,077. That was mainly blamed on receipts for first team matches being down nearly £2,000, despite the Knowsley Road club winning more league games than in the previous year.
However, Councillor Frank McCormick had recently established the Saints "SOS Fund" in which at its core supporters were being asked to lend the club the sum of £1 each and the councillor was able to report that so far £535 had been raised.
A couple of weeks ago I mentioned the death of Walter Gurney from Waterdale Crescent. The 15-year-old had fractured his skull after being struck by the haulage rope down Sherdley Colliery. Rarely do we hear of the effect that such deaths had on communities but the St Helens Reporter on the 6th published this account of the lad's funeral:
"…a great crowd gathered to pay a last tribute to one who was held in much esteem by all who knew him. The roads and lanes leading to St. Nicholas' Church, Sutton, were packed with people, and on arrival at church the same thing prevailed, it being difficult to make a way through the great crowds that had assembled. Leading the funeral procession was the Sherdley branch of miners, represented by a very large muster of their members."
Family rows that ended up in court were quite common but the one that concerned the Frost family this week was of longstanding and stemmed from a marital break-up that had occurred fifteen years before. Margaret Frost was charged with damaging a window in Orrell Street in Parr that was valued at three shillings and which was the property of her mother-in-law, Martha Frost. She had broken the glass by chucking a half-brick at it.
In her defence Margaret told her mother-in-law in the courtroom: "It is over five years since I troubled your house before. I have only seen you once since I broke two of your windows before." The cause of the window smashing was that Margaret's 17-year-old daughter was living with her father in Martha Frost's house and he, according to Margaret, had a woman staying there too.
"I do not care if he has thousands of women", declared Margaret, "but he should not act immorally in the presence of the child. If I have lost my character, and I have, I have a mother's feelings for my child." At that point her estranged husband stood up but was stopped from speaking by the Bench. But no one could stop Margaret! She stared at her separated spouse and said:
"You have nothing to do with it, and you should be ashamed to be sitting there. After this, I shall wipe my hands of the child, and if anything happens to her I shall not be to blame, for I have tried to help her." The Bench bound Margaret over to keep the peace for six months in the sum of £2, which would be returned to her if she behaved herself and did not smash any more windows. The magistrates also advised her to keep away from her mother-in law's house in future.
And finally, the St Helens Recs Sports took place in Ruskin Drive on the 7th with the prices of admission being 9d or a shilling.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the St Helens Recs star's rescue in Queen's Park, the tram scratching at suicide corner, how a wet Whit weekend was marked in St Helens, the Windle Smithies motorbike crash and the Duchess of Atholl comes to town.
We begin with William Rudd who was a minor league conman who went round the country obtaining free lodging by impressing landladies with his fanciful tales. On the 2nd the 25-year-old was sentenced to six months hard labour after committing such offences at St Anne's, including telling one landlady he had £3,000 in the bank and that he had been working in the South African goldfields.
After his sentencing Rudd was brought by the police to St Helens and on the 3rd was charged with obtaining food and lodgings by false pretences. That was after conning 63-year-old Margaret Seddon of Hamer Street. Again Rudd had used the £3,000 savings claim but reckoned this time to have returned from Australia where he had made his fortune. He had even borrowed £1 off Margaret's daughter to supposedly go to Liverpool and change foreign currency.
Such conmen got away with very little – in this case just £1 and a free night's lodging and some food. The thrill of deceit and making themselves out to be important and wealthy folk appeared to be what drove them to commit such crimes. After all Rudd knew the penalties for his minor offences were getting harsher.
After previously being fined, Rudd had last October served three months hard labour after conning a woman in Kent. The St Helens magistrates sent him to prison for three more months hard labour to run concurrently with his previous sentence that he had committed in St Anne's.
There were so many gambling prosecutions in the 1920s that I only report on a few of them in these articles. The offences either took place on the street or in a house, with the latter seen as more serious and resulting in a fine of £10 to £15. As the police spent much time gathering evidence prior to conducting a raid and invariably discovered further incriminating material on those that they arrested, it was rare for defendants not to be convicted.
But on the 3rd Thomas Banks and James and Esther Evans were all cleared of committing the offence. The latter couple lived in apartments within Thomas Banks' home in Sutton Road in St Helens. As a result of complaints being made to the police that betting was taking place inside the property, observation was kept on the premises over three days. During that time a total of 7 men, 34 women and 21 children were seen to enter and leave the premises by the back door.
Inspector Dunn led the raid on the house but when the police questioned James Evans he said he had ceased being involved in gambling, "I gave over some time ago because I got the wind up". However, a few betting slips and what were believed to be paying out papers were found.
A curious aspect of the case was that some of the women who entered the house were seen wearing blue blouses. A solicitor for the defendants asked a constable who was giving evidence in court whether there were many blue blouses in Sutton – or could it have been one woman making multiple visits? PC Parr replied: "Well, there seems to be a craze for them in Sutton".
The solicitor also pointed out that Mr Banks had nine children and he claimed they had been the ones that the police had seen coming and going. When Thomas Banks gave evidence he was asked if he had a boy of eleven years of age and he replied: "Well, I don't know, I have a job to reckon ‘em up."
All the defendants strongly denied being involved with gambling with Esther Evans saying she belonged to a clothing club and the names on the supposed paying out slips that the police had seized were her clients who paid her a shilling a week. At that point the magistrates stopped the case and cleared the defendants of all the charges against them.
Driving licences could be obtained from the Town Hall by simply filling in a form without any tests of capability required. Sensible motorists would get some practice in first on, say, waste ground and be properly taught how to use their machine. William Sheldon of Newtown appears to have been the sensible sort. Last month when he bought his new motorbike he was given some lessons in riding and had practiced at quiet spots.
Just how much time was spent getting fully used to his machine I cannot say, but it does not appear to have been enough. Within a week or so of acquiring his bike the 19-year-old from Exeter Street, who worked for Pilkingtons, fell off it in Kiln Lane and was badly injured. In hospital his mother, Margaret, asked her son what had occurred and he said he had been riding down the lane when he must have touched something that made the machine go faster instead of slower.
Initially William progressed favourably in hospital, but, as so often happened, the shock to his body was too great and he died a week after admission. The youth's inquest took place on the 4th at St Helens Town Hall and it was reported that his mother Margaret Sheldon was overcome with grief while giving her evidence.
St Helens councillors still could not decide where the new Cowley Boys Secondary School should be located. It was intended that the building would front Hard Lane near to the cemetery but some felt the site should be nearer the bulk of the people. On the 4th at the monthly St Helens Town Council meeting a long discussion on the matter took place, which resulted in a motion to change the proposed location being defeated by 22 votes to 11.
The annual meeting of St Helens Rugby Football Club also took place on the 4th and, as expected, its finances were revealed to be in a right old mess. During last season Saints had lost £1,133, which when added to their existing deficit comprised a total debt of £2,077. That was mainly blamed on receipts for first team matches being down nearly £2,000, despite the Knowsley Road club winning more league games than in the previous year.
However, Councillor Frank McCormick had recently established the Saints "SOS Fund" in which at its core supporters were being asked to lend the club the sum of £1 each and the councillor was able to report that so far £535 had been raised.
"…a great crowd gathered to pay a last tribute to one who was held in much esteem by all who knew him. The roads and lanes leading to St. Nicholas' Church, Sutton, were packed with people, and on arrival at church the same thing prevailed, it being difficult to make a way through the great crowds that had assembled. Leading the funeral procession was the Sherdley branch of miners, represented by a very large muster of their members."
Family rows that ended up in court were quite common but the one that concerned the Frost family this week was of longstanding and stemmed from a marital break-up that had occurred fifteen years before. Margaret Frost was charged with damaging a window in Orrell Street in Parr that was valued at three shillings and which was the property of her mother-in-law, Martha Frost. She had broken the glass by chucking a half-brick at it.
In her defence Margaret told her mother-in-law in the courtroom: "It is over five years since I troubled your house before. I have only seen you once since I broke two of your windows before." The cause of the window smashing was that Margaret's 17-year-old daughter was living with her father in Martha Frost's house and he, according to Margaret, had a woman staying there too.
"I do not care if he has thousands of women", declared Margaret, "but he should not act immorally in the presence of the child. If I have lost my character, and I have, I have a mother's feelings for my child." At that point her estranged husband stood up but was stopped from speaking by the Bench. But no one could stop Margaret! She stared at her separated spouse and said:
"You have nothing to do with it, and you should be ashamed to be sitting there. After this, I shall wipe my hands of the child, and if anything happens to her I shall not be to blame, for I have tried to help her." The Bench bound Margaret over to keep the peace for six months in the sum of £2, which would be returned to her if she behaved herself and did not smash any more windows. The magistrates also advised her to keep away from her mother-in law's house in future.
And finally, the St Helens Recs Sports took place in Ruskin Drive on the 7th with the prices of admission being 9d or a shilling.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the St Helens Recs star's rescue in Queen's Park, the tram scratching at suicide corner, how a wet Whit weekend was marked in St Helens, the Windle Smithies motorbike crash and the Duchess of Atholl comes to town.
This week's many stories include the young man who was fatally injured in Kiln Lane a week after buying his motorbike, the conman in Hamer Street who claimed to be very wealthy, the bad and good news about Saints' finances, the Sutton Road betting house that claimed it was a clothing club, the funeral of the boy killed down Sherdley Colliery and the allegation of immoral behaviour in Parr that led to a mother's window smashing.
We begin with William Rudd who was a minor league conman who went round the country obtaining free lodging by impressing landladies with his fanciful tales.
On the 2nd the 25-year-old was sentenced to six months hard labour after committing such offences at St Anne's, including telling one landlady he had £3,000 in the bank and that he had been working in the South African goldfields.
After his sentencing Rudd was brought by the police to St Helens and on the 3rd was charged with obtaining food and lodgings by false pretences.
That was after conning 63-year-old Margaret Seddon of Hamer Street. Again Rudd had used the £3,000 savings claim but reckoned this time to have returned from Australia where he had made his fortune.
He had even borrowed £1 off Margaret's daughter to supposedly go to Liverpool and change foreign currency.
Such conmen got away with very little – in this case just £1 and a free night's lodging and some food.
The thrill of deceit and making themselves out to be important and wealthy folk appeared to be what drove them to commit such crimes.
After all Rudd knew the penalties for his minor offences were getting harsher. After previously being fined, Rudd had last October served three months hard labour after conning a woman in Kent.
The St Helens magistrates sent him to prison for three more months hard labour to run concurrently with his previous sentence that he had committed in St Anne's.
There were so many gambling prosecutions in the 1920s that I only report on a few of them in these articles.
The offences either took place on the street or in a house, with the latter seen as more serious and resulting in a fine of £10 to £15.
As the police spent much time gathering evidence prior to conducting a raid and invariably discovered further incriminating material on those that they arrested, it was rare for defendants not to be convicted.
But on the 3rd Thomas Banks and James and Esther Evans were all cleared of committing the offence.
The latter couple lived in apartments within Thomas Banks' home in Sutton Road in St Helens.
As a result of complaints being made to the police that betting was taking place inside the property, observation was kept on the premises over three days.
During that time a total of 7 men, 34 women and 21 children were seen to enter and leave the premises by the back door.
Inspector Dunn led the raid on the house but when the police questioned James Evans he said he had ceased being involved in gambling, "I gave over some time ago because I got the wind up".
However, a few betting slips and what were believed to be paying out papers were found.
A curious aspect of the case was that some of the women who entered the house were seen wearing blue blouses.
A solicitor for the defendants asked a constable who was giving evidence in court whether there were many blue blouses in Sutton – or could it have been one woman making multiple visits?
PC Parr replied: "Well, there seems to be a craze for them in Sutton".
The solicitor also pointed out that Mr Banks had nine children and he claimed they had been the ones that the police had seen coming and going.
When Thomas Banks gave evidence he was asked if he had a boy of eleven years of age and he replied: "Well, I don't know, I have a job to reckon ‘em up."
All the defendants strongly denied being involved with gambling with Esther Evans saying she belonged to a clothing club and the names on the supposed paying out slips that the police had seized were her clients who paid her a shilling a week.
At that point the magistrates stopped the case and cleared the defendants of all the charges against them.
Although the cost of buying and running motor cars prevented most folk in St Helens from owning them, motorbikes were a different matter.
For those that were in work they could be bought on hire purchase quite inexpensively.
And so there was an explosion in motorbike ownership during the early 1920s, particularly among young men.
Driving licences could be obtained from the Town Hall by simply filling in a form without any tests of capability required.
Sensible motorists would get some practice in first on, say, waste ground and be properly taught how to use their machine.
William Sheldon of Newtown appears to have been the sensible sort. Last month when he bought his new motorbike he was given some lessons in riding and had practiced at quiet spots.
Just how much time was spent getting fully used to his machine I cannot say, but it does not appear to have been enough.
Within a week or so of acquiring his bike the 19-year-old from Exeter Street, who worked for Pilkingtons, fell off it in Kiln Lane and was badly injured.
In hospital his mother, Margaret, asked her son what had occurred and he said he had been riding down the lane when he must have touched something that made the machine go faster instead of slower.
Initially William progressed favourably in hospital, but, as so often happened, the shock to his body was too great and he died a week after admission.
The youth's inquest took place on the 4th at St Helens Town Hall and it was reported that his mother Margaret Sheldon was overcome with grief while giving her evidence.
St Helens councillors still could not decide where the new Cowley Boys Secondary School should be located.
It was intended that the building would front Hard Lane near to the cemetery but some felt the site should be nearer the bulk of the people.
On the 4th at the monthly St Helens Town Council meeting a long discussion on the matter took place, which resulted in a motion to change the proposed location being defeated by 22 votes to 11.
The annual meeting of St Helens Rugby Football Club also took place on the 4th and, as expected, its finances were revealed to be in a right old mess.
During last season Saints had lost £1,133, which when added to their existing deficit comprised a total debt of £2,077.
That was mainly blamed on receipts for first team matches being down nearly £2,000, despite the Knowsley Road club winning more league games than in the previous year.
However, Councillor Frank McCormick had recently established the Saints "SOS Fund" in which at its core supporters were being asked to lend the club the sum of £1 each and the councillor was able to report that so far £535 had been raised.
A couple of weeks ago I mentioned the death of Walter Gurney from Waterdale Crescent.
The 15-year-old had fractured his skull after being struck by the haulage rope down Sherdley Colliery.
Rarely do we hear of the effect that such deaths had on communities but the St Helens Reporter on the 6th published this account of the lad's funeral:
"…a great crowd gathered to pay a last tribute to one who was held in much esteem by all who knew him.
"The roads and lanes leading to St. Nicholas' Church, Sutton, were packed with people, and on arrival at church the same thing prevailed, it being difficult to make a way through the great crowds that had assembled.
"Leading the funeral procession was the Sherdley branch of miners, represented by a very large muster of their members."
Family rows that ended up in court were quite common but the one that concerned the Frost family this week was of longstanding and stemmed from a marital break-up that had occurred fifteen years before.
Margaret Frost was charged with damaging a window in Orrell Street in Parr that was valued at three shillings and which was the property of her mother-in-law, Martha Frost. She had broken the glass by chucking a half-brick at it.
In her defence Margaret told her mother-in-law in the courtroom: "It is over five years since I troubled your house before. I have only seen you once since I broke two of your windows before."
The cause of the window smashing was that Margaret's 17-year-old daughter was living with her father in Martha Frost's house and he, according to Margaret, had a woman staying there too.
"I do not care if he has thousands of women", declared Margaret, "but he should not act immorally in the presence of the child. If I have lost my character, and I have, I have a mother's feelings for my child."
At that point her estranged husband stood up but was stopped from speaking by the Bench. But no one could stop Margaret! She stared at her separated spouse and said:
"You have nothing to do with it, and you should be ashamed to be sitting there. After this, I shall wipe my hands of the child, and if anything happens to her I shall not be to blame, for I have tried to help her."
The Bench bound Margaret over to keep the peace for six months in the sum of £2, which would be returned to her if she behaved herself and did not smash any more windows.
The magistrates also advised her to keep away from her mother-in law's house in future.
And finally, the St Helens Recs Sports took place in Ruskin Drive on the 7th with the prices of admission being 9d or a shilling.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the St Helens Recs star's rescue in Queen's Park, the tram scratching at suicide corner, how a wet Whit weekend was marked in St Helens, the Windle Smithies motorbike crash and the Duchess of Atholl comes to town.
We begin with William Rudd who was a minor league conman who went round the country obtaining free lodging by impressing landladies with his fanciful tales.
On the 2nd the 25-year-old was sentenced to six months hard labour after committing such offences at St Anne's, including telling one landlady he had £3,000 in the bank and that he had been working in the South African goldfields.
After his sentencing Rudd was brought by the police to St Helens and on the 3rd was charged with obtaining food and lodgings by false pretences.
That was after conning 63-year-old Margaret Seddon of Hamer Street. Again Rudd had used the £3,000 savings claim but reckoned this time to have returned from Australia where he had made his fortune.
He had even borrowed £1 off Margaret's daughter to supposedly go to Liverpool and change foreign currency.
Such conmen got away with very little – in this case just £1 and a free night's lodging and some food.
The thrill of deceit and making themselves out to be important and wealthy folk appeared to be what drove them to commit such crimes.
After all Rudd knew the penalties for his minor offences were getting harsher. After previously being fined, Rudd had last October served three months hard labour after conning a woman in Kent.
The St Helens magistrates sent him to prison for three more months hard labour to run concurrently with his previous sentence that he had committed in St Anne's.
There were so many gambling prosecutions in the 1920s that I only report on a few of them in these articles.
The offences either took place on the street or in a house, with the latter seen as more serious and resulting in a fine of £10 to £15.
As the police spent much time gathering evidence prior to conducting a raid and invariably discovered further incriminating material on those that they arrested, it was rare for defendants not to be convicted.
But on the 3rd Thomas Banks and James and Esther Evans were all cleared of committing the offence.
The latter couple lived in apartments within Thomas Banks' home in Sutton Road in St Helens.
As a result of complaints being made to the police that betting was taking place inside the property, observation was kept on the premises over three days.
During that time a total of 7 men, 34 women and 21 children were seen to enter and leave the premises by the back door.
Inspector Dunn led the raid on the house but when the police questioned James Evans he said he had ceased being involved in gambling, "I gave over some time ago because I got the wind up".
However, a few betting slips and what were believed to be paying out papers were found.
A curious aspect of the case was that some of the women who entered the house were seen wearing blue blouses.
A solicitor for the defendants asked a constable who was giving evidence in court whether there were many blue blouses in Sutton – or could it have been one woman making multiple visits?
PC Parr replied: "Well, there seems to be a craze for them in Sutton".
The solicitor also pointed out that Mr Banks had nine children and he claimed they had been the ones that the police had seen coming and going.
When Thomas Banks gave evidence he was asked if he had a boy of eleven years of age and he replied: "Well, I don't know, I have a job to reckon ‘em up."
All the defendants strongly denied being involved with gambling with Esther Evans saying she belonged to a clothing club and the names on the supposed paying out slips that the police had seized were her clients who paid her a shilling a week.
At that point the magistrates stopped the case and cleared the defendants of all the charges against them.
For those that were in work they could be bought on hire purchase quite inexpensively.
And so there was an explosion in motorbike ownership during the early 1920s, particularly among young men.
Driving licences could be obtained from the Town Hall by simply filling in a form without any tests of capability required.
Sensible motorists would get some practice in first on, say, waste ground and be properly taught how to use their machine.
William Sheldon of Newtown appears to have been the sensible sort. Last month when he bought his new motorbike he was given some lessons in riding and had practiced at quiet spots.
Just how much time was spent getting fully used to his machine I cannot say, but it does not appear to have been enough.
Within a week or so of acquiring his bike the 19-year-old from Exeter Street, who worked for Pilkingtons, fell off it in Kiln Lane and was badly injured.
In hospital his mother, Margaret, asked her son what had occurred and he said he had been riding down the lane when he must have touched something that made the machine go faster instead of slower.
Initially William progressed favourably in hospital, but, as so often happened, the shock to his body was too great and he died a week after admission.
The youth's inquest took place on the 4th at St Helens Town Hall and it was reported that his mother Margaret Sheldon was overcome with grief while giving her evidence.
St Helens councillors still could not decide where the new Cowley Boys Secondary School should be located.
It was intended that the building would front Hard Lane near to the cemetery but some felt the site should be nearer the bulk of the people.
On the 4th at the monthly St Helens Town Council meeting a long discussion on the matter took place, which resulted in a motion to change the proposed location being defeated by 22 votes to 11.
The annual meeting of St Helens Rugby Football Club also took place on the 4th and, as expected, its finances were revealed to be in a right old mess.
During last season Saints had lost £1,133, which when added to their existing deficit comprised a total debt of £2,077.
That was mainly blamed on receipts for first team matches being down nearly £2,000, despite the Knowsley Road club winning more league games than in the previous year.
However, Councillor Frank McCormick had recently established the Saints "SOS Fund" in which at its core supporters were being asked to lend the club the sum of £1 each and the councillor was able to report that so far £535 had been raised.
The 15-year-old had fractured his skull after being struck by the haulage rope down Sherdley Colliery.
Rarely do we hear of the effect that such deaths had on communities but the St Helens Reporter on the 6th published this account of the lad's funeral:
"…a great crowd gathered to pay a last tribute to one who was held in much esteem by all who knew him.
"The roads and lanes leading to St. Nicholas' Church, Sutton, were packed with people, and on arrival at church the same thing prevailed, it being difficult to make a way through the great crowds that had assembled.
"Leading the funeral procession was the Sherdley branch of miners, represented by a very large muster of their members."
Family rows that ended up in court were quite common but the one that concerned the Frost family this week was of longstanding and stemmed from a marital break-up that had occurred fifteen years before.
Margaret Frost was charged with damaging a window in Orrell Street in Parr that was valued at three shillings and which was the property of her mother-in-law, Martha Frost. She had broken the glass by chucking a half-brick at it.
In her defence Margaret told her mother-in-law in the courtroom: "It is over five years since I troubled your house before. I have only seen you once since I broke two of your windows before."
The cause of the window smashing was that Margaret's 17-year-old daughter was living with her father in Martha Frost's house and he, according to Margaret, had a woman staying there too.
"I do not care if he has thousands of women", declared Margaret, "but he should not act immorally in the presence of the child. If I have lost my character, and I have, I have a mother's feelings for my child."
At that point her estranged husband stood up but was stopped from speaking by the Bench. But no one could stop Margaret! She stared at her separated spouse and said:
"You have nothing to do with it, and you should be ashamed to be sitting there. After this, I shall wipe my hands of the child, and if anything happens to her I shall not be to blame, for I have tried to help her."
The Bench bound Margaret over to keep the peace for six months in the sum of £2, which would be returned to her if she behaved herself and did not smash any more windows.
The magistrates also advised her to keep away from her mother-in law's house in future.
And finally, the St Helens Recs Sports took place in Ruskin Drive on the 7th with the prices of admission being 9d or a shilling.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the St Helens Recs star's rescue in Queen's Park, the tram scratching at suicide corner, how a wet Whit weekend was marked in St Helens, the Windle Smithies motorbike crash and the Duchess of Atholl comes to town.