IOO YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (4th - 10th APRIL 1922)
This week's many stories include the man who threatened to kill his ex-girlfriend in Church Street, the cruel thefts of a courting conman, the illegal betting in Queen's Park, the tragic death of a violinist down Bold Colliery, the overcrowded Sutton Nash Infants School and St Helens councillors congratulate themselves on running the second most efficient tramways operation in the country.
We begin with a couple of street betting cases in St Helens Police Court – a crime that the Reporter regularly called "an evil". When Gertrude Bond was arrested in Standish Street in St Helens on charges of frequenting for purposes of betting, she told the police: "I have been expecting this. My father makes me do it." The 18-year-old from College Street had ten betting slips on her person and was carrying £1 7 shillings in cash.
Miss Bond's solicitor made no attempt to refute the charge, other than explain the circumstances to the magistrates: "The father was ill that day and the girl being out of work simply went to the place to accommodate people who like to put a shilling on a horse. She is a very respectable girl," he said. The Chairman told Gertrude that the Bench were taking a very lenient view of her case and were sorry to see her in the dock, as they fined her £3.
In a separate case John Atherton appeared in court on the 5th charged with bookmaking in Queen's Recreation Ground – as Queen's Park was then known. He pleaded guilty but played down his activities, saying he had simply taken a few bets to oblige his chums and had given the betting slips to a man whose name he did not know.
However, Superintendent Dunn told the court that Atherton was working for a well-known St Helens' bookie. "The bookmaker", he said, "put men like the defendant into the limelight but kept in the background themselves, and thus avoided substantial penalties." However, the bookies normally covered the fines of their operatives and, in Atherton’s case, he had £10 to find.
Many people make threats to kill that they are never likely to carry out – but I expect few would confirm their intentions to the police. But Albert Heyes of Barton Street (which used to be near Boundary Road) certainly did. On the 5th the labourer (aged about 22) faced a charge of threatening Annie Maguire of Hardy Street in St Helens. The couple had been going out together. However, a month earlier Albert had shown up at Annie's home in a drunken condition, which led to her saying she no longer wanted to see him.
Last week upon coming across his former girlfriend in Church Street, Albert had asked Annie to change her mind and walk out with him again. Upon hearing her refusal, he then said: "If I can't have you nobody else will. I will take your life". Two days later he put an open razor to her throat saying: "See, this is ready for you." Annie complained to the police and so Sgt Connors went to warn the man. But instead of playing down what had happened, Albert said: "I intend to carry out that threat." That led to his arrest and in court he was ordered to find sureties totalling £20 to guarantee his good behaviour or go to prison for 28 days.
The council's Education Committee met on the 5th and heard that Sutton National C of E Infants School in Ellamsbridge Road was so greatly overcrowded that parents were being forced to send their children to Robins Lane School instead. Cllr. Hamblett said it was a pity that the youngsters had to walk so far but matters would be even worse if it had not been for St Anne's RC School accepting a few Protestant children.
There was, he admitted, a "very urgent need" for more accommodation in the Sutton district and before long a new school would have to be built. In the meantime the heads of Sutton National and Robins Lane were considering swapping scholars, so that pupils went to the school closest to where they lived.
I wrote recently how after many years of big rates rises in St Helens, the council's Finance Committee had decided to recommend freezing the rates for the next financial year at 17 shillings in the pound. However, an hour before the monthly Town Council meeting was going to be held on the 5th, the committee held another vote and by a majority of one reversed their decision. Instead they would now be recommending that the full council increase the rates by 1s 6d to meet a large increase in the expenditure earmarked for Poor Law payments. The Reporter headlined their account of the story "The Great Rates Reversal".
"Catch your bird first" is an expression that has not survived the passing of time. "Don’t count your eggs until they are hatched" is the similar, nicer equivalent that does not suggest cruelty. The Mayor of St Helens, Cllr. Richard Ellison, used the former saying at the council meeting after Cllr. Rudd had stated that the tramways were expected to make a profit of £5,000 this year.
St Helens Corporation had taken over the running of the trams from a private operator in 1919 and Cllr. Rudd, the chairman of the Transport Committee, felt his members should be congratulated for their efforts, saying: "I think the council should know that the Tramways Committee have been able to work the affairs of the tramways in a very gratifying manner."
Of course, it was the drivers, conductors and their managers who had run the trams efficiently – not the councillors and aldermen. But they were the ones who always took the credit, with no tribute to those serving at the sharp end. Cllr. Rudd added that with the exception of one other town, St Helens now had the most efficient tramways operation in the country. However, his measure compared costs to revenue – and not whether the trams kept to time.
On the 7th William Whalley of Carnegie Street in Sutton was killed down Bold Colliery when an underground roof fall took place. The 21-year-old was a member of a musical family and a prominent violinist himself. Tragically, William had been planning to soon leave the mine and become a music teacher. The Leicester Evening Mail described the subsequent inquest hearing, writing:
"A pathetic story was related yesterday at an inquest on a young miner, William Whalley (21), of Sutton, St. Helens, who was buried beneath 60 tons of coal and earth at Bold Colliery. He was a brilliant young musician and an Associate of the National College of Music, having composed and published music for the violin and piano. He had gathered together a number of pupils, and was about to leave the mine permanently to follow the musical profession. Whalley was buried before his father's eyes, and the coroner, recording a verdict of “Accidental death,” expressed sympathy with the parents."
These days the term "demonstration" involving a march or gathering usually refers, of course, to protests against something. However, in the past the word was mainly used when a group came together in support of something – often some worthy organisation or society. So on the 8th a demonstration was held at the Volunteer Hall in St Helens to promote the aims of the British Legion. The organisation had only been founded in 1921 when four military organisations merged – and they were keen to expand their membership. The main speaker at the event was Major-General Sir Frederick Barton Maurice, who, according to Wikipedia, bore the nickname "putty nose" – although I expect the men in his command called him that at their peril!
On the 10th William Hurley of Warwick Street (off Dunriding Lane) appeared in St Helens Police Court charged with obtaining a gold signet ring by false pretences. A young woman called Lilian Mallinson from Patricroft had met Hurley in the street after coming to St Helens to see her sister. They began courting and Hurley was subsequently introduced to Lilian's family as her future husband – not knowing that he was already wed. He began borrowing sums of money from Lilian and obtained possession of her ring by telling her lies. Eventually she made a complaint to the police and the man was sent to prison for a month with hard labour.
During the flu pandemic at the end of WW1, publican Ted Cawley believed that drinking port could stop folk from getting influenza. Ted's adverts in the Reporter said: "To avoid the 'flu and never rue, Ted Cawley's port wine is the goods for you". His ad also had a Kitchener-like finger pointed at the reader to emphasise the point. Ted was then mine host at the Wellington Hotel in Market Square in St Helens (pictured above) but on the 10th was given permission to transfer to the Green Dragon in Sutton Manor. Cawley would also found a newsagent's in Fingerpost and some readers may recall his grandson Keith Orrell who ran the business from 1947 to 1970.
And finally, the artists appearing at the Hippodrome Music Hall in St Helens from the 10th included: The Cardles ("A capital comedy duo, who appear in three miniatures as bride and groom, the stoker and Cockney lovers"); Alice Craven (“The Lancashire lass"); Bros. Lloyd ("Musical entertainers including the champion boy whistler"); Greenall, Rudd & Knowles ("Three clever local boys in novelty songs"); Gene Gordon ("The comedy magician") and Two Cures ("The original Coster kids – atoms of amazing ability").
Next week's stories will include the cruel North Road mother who beat her child with a poker, St Helens Police criticise unhealthy cinema queues, the busted bobby who claimed he was still in the force and the hostile man on the Haydock tram who used filthy language.
We begin with a couple of street betting cases in St Helens Police Court – a crime that the Reporter regularly called "an evil". When Gertrude Bond was arrested in Standish Street in St Helens on charges of frequenting for purposes of betting, she told the police: "I have been expecting this. My father makes me do it." The 18-year-old from College Street had ten betting slips on her person and was carrying £1 7 shillings in cash.
Miss Bond's solicitor made no attempt to refute the charge, other than explain the circumstances to the magistrates: "The father was ill that day and the girl being out of work simply went to the place to accommodate people who like to put a shilling on a horse. She is a very respectable girl," he said. The Chairman told Gertrude that the Bench were taking a very lenient view of her case and were sorry to see her in the dock, as they fined her £3.
In a separate case John Atherton appeared in court on the 5th charged with bookmaking in Queen's Recreation Ground – as Queen's Park was then known. He pleaded guilty but played down his activities, saying he had simply taken a few bets to oblige his chums and had given the betting slips to a man whose name he did not know.
However, Superintendent Dunn told the court that Atherton was working for a well-known St Helens' bookie. "The bookmaker", he said, "put men like the defendant into the limelight but kept in the background themselves, and thus avoided substantial penalties." However, the bookies normally covered the fines of their operatives and, in Atherton’s case, he had £10 to find.
Many people make threats to kill that they are never likely to carry out – but I expect few would confirm their intentions to the police. But Albert Heyes of Barton Street (which used to be near Boundary Road) certainly did. On the 5th the labourer (aged about 22) faced a charge of threatening Annie Maguire of Hardy Street in St Helens. The couple had been going out together. However, a month earlier Albert had shown up at Annie's home in a drunken condition, which led to her saying she no longer wanted to see him.
Last week upon coming across his former girlfriend in Church Street, Albert had asked Annie to change her mind and walk out with him again. Upon hearing her refusal, he then said: "If I can't have you nobody else will. I will take your life". Two days later he put an open razor to her throat saying: "See, this is ready for you." Annie complained to the police and so Sgt Connors went to warn the man. But instead of playing down what had happened, Albert said: "I intend to carry out that threat." That led to his arrest and in court he was ordered to find sureties totalling £20 to guarantee his good behaviour or go to prison for 28 days.
The council's Education Committee met on the 5th and heard that Sutton National C of E Infants School in Ellamsbridge Road was so greatly overcrowded that parents were being forced to send their children to Robins Lane School instead. Cllr. Hamblett said it was a pity that the youngsters had to walk so far but matters would be even worse if it had not been for St Anne's RC School accepting a few Protestant children.
There was, he admitted, a "very urgent need" for more accommodation in the Sutton district and before long a new school would have to be built. In the meantime the heads of Sutton National and Robins Lane were considering swapping scholars, so that pupils went to the school closest to where they lived.
I wrote recently how after many years of big rates rises in St Helens, the council's Finance Committee had decided to recommend freezing the rates for the next financial year at 17 shillings in the pound. However, an hour before the monthly Town Council meeting was going to be held on the 5th, the committee held another vote and by a majority of one reversed their decision. Instead they would now be recommending that the full council increase the rates by 1s 6d to meet a large increase in the expenditure earmarked for Poor Law payments. The Reporter headlined their account of the story "The Great Rates Reversal".
"Catch your bird first" is an expression that has not survived the passing of time. "Don’t count your eggs until they are hatched" is the similar, nicer equivalent that does not suggest cruelty. The Mayor of St Helens, Cllr. Richard Ellison, used the former saying at the council meeting after Cllr. Rudd had stated that the tramways were expected to make a profit of £5,000 this year.
Of course, it was the drivers, conductors and their managers who had run the trams efficiently – not the councillors and aldermen. But they were the ones who always took the credit, with no tribute to those serving at the sharp end. Cllr. Rudd added that with the exception of one other town, St Helens now had the most efficient tramways operation in the country. However, his measure compared costs to revenue – and not whether the trams kept to time.
On the 7th William Whalley of Carnegie Street in Sutton was killed down Bold Colliery when an underground roof fall took place. The 21-year-old was a member of a musical family and a prominent violinist himself. Tragically, William had been planning to soon leave the mine and become a music teacher. The Leicester Evening Mail described the subsequent inquest hearing, writing:
"A pathetic story was related yesterday at an inquest on a young miner, William Whalley (21), of Sutton, St. Helens, who was buried beneath 60 tons of coal and earth at Bold Colliery. He was a brilliant young musician and an Associate of the National College of Music, having composed and published music for the violin and piano. He had gathered together a number of pupils, and was about to leave the mine permanently to follow the musical profession. Whalley was buried before his father's eyes, and the coroner, recording a verdict of “Accidental death,” expressed sympathy with the parents."
These days the term "demonstration" involving a march or gathering usually refers, of course, to protests against something. However, in the past the word was mainly used when a group came together in support of something – often some worthy organisation or society. So on the 8th a demonstration was held at the Volunteer Hall in St Helens to promote the aims of the British Legion. The organisation had only been founded in 1921 when four military organisations merged – and they were keen to expand their membership. The main speaker at the event was Major-General Sir Frederick Barton Maurice, who, according to Wikipedia, bore the nickname "putty nose" – although I expect the men in his command called him that at their peril!
On the 10th William Hurley of Warwick Street (off Dunriding Lane) appeared in St Helens Police Court charged with obtaining a gold signet ring by false pretences. A young woman called Lilian Mallinson from Patricroft had met Hurley in the street after coming to St Helens to see her sister. They began courting and Hurley was subsequently introduced to Lilian's family as her future husband – not knowing that he was already wed. He began borrowing sums of money from Lilian and obtained possession of her ring by telling her lies. Eventually she made a complaint to the police and the man was sent to prison for a month with hard labour.
And finally, the artists appearing at the Hippodrome Music Hall in St Helens from the 10th included: The Cardles ("A capital comedy duo, who appear in three miniatures as bride and groom, the stoker and Cockney lovers"); Alice Craven (“The Lancashire lass"); Bros. Lloyd ("Musical entertainers including the champion boy whistler"); Greenall, Rudd & Knowles ("Three clever local boys in novelty songs"); Gene Gordon ("The comedy magician") and Two Cures ("The original Coster kids – atoms of amazing ability").
Next week's stories will include the cruel North Road mother who beat her child with a poker, St Helens Police criticise unhealthy cinema queues, the busted bobby who claimed he was still in the force and the hostile man on the Haydock tram who used filthy language.
This week's many stories include the man who threatened to kill his ex-girlfriend in Church Street, the cruel thefts of a courting conman, the illegal betting in Queen's Park, the tragic death of a violinist down Bold Colliery, the overcrowded Sutton Nash Infants School and St Helens councillors congratulate themselves on running the second most efficient tramways operation in the country.
We begin with a couple of street betting cases in St Helens Police Court – a crime that the Reporter regularly called "an evil".
When Gertrude Bond was arrested in Standish Street in St Helens on charges of frequenting for purposes of betting, she told the police: "I have been expecting this. My father makes me do it."
The 18-year-old from College Street had ten betting slips on her person and was carrying £1 7 shillings in cash.
Miss Bond's solicitor made no attempt to refute the charge, other than explain the circumstances to the magistrates:
"The father was ill that day and the girl being out of work simply went to the place to accommodate people who like to put a shilling on a horse. She is a very respectable girl," he said.
The Chairman told Gertrude that the Bench were taking a very lenient view of her case and were sorry to see her in the dock, as they fined her £3.
In a separate case John Atherton appeared in court on the 5th charged with bookmaking in Queen's Recreation Ground – as Queen's Park was then known.
He pleaded guilty but played down his activities, saying he had simply taken a few bets to oblige his chums and had given the betting slips to a man whose name he did not know.
However, Superintendent Dunn told the court that Atherton was working for a well-known St Helens' bookie.
"The bookmaker", he said, "put men like the defendant into the limelight but kept in the background themselves, and thus avoided substantial penalties."
However, the bookies normally covered the fines of their operatives and, in Atherton’s case, he had £10 to find.
Many people make threats to kill that they are never likely to carry out – but I expect few would confirm their intentions to the police.
But Albert Heyes of Barton Street (which used to be near Boundary Road) certainly did.
On the 5th the labourer (aged about 22) faced a charge of threatening Annie Maguire of Hardy Street in St Helens.
The couple had been going out together. However, a month earlier Albert had shown up at Annie's home in a drunken condition, which led to her saying she no longer wanted to see him.
Last week upon coming across his former girlfriend in Church Street, Albert had asked Annie to change her mind and walk out with him again.
Upon hearing her refusal, he then said: "If I can't have you nobody else will. I will take your life".
Two days later he put an open razor to her throat saying: "See, this is ready for you."
Annie complained to the police and so Sgt Connors went to warn the man. But instead of playing down what had happened, Albert said: "I intend to carry out that threat."
That led to his arrest and in court he was ordered to find sureties totalling £20 to guarantee his good behaviour or go to prison for 28 days.
The council's Education Committee met on the 5th and heard that Sutton National C of E Infants School in Ellamsbridge Road was so greatly overcrowded that parents were being forced to send their children to Robins Lane School instead.
Cllr. Hamblett said it was a pity that the youngsters had to walk so far but matters would be even worse if it had not been for St Anne's RC School accepting a few Protestant children.
There was, he admitted, a "very urgent need" for more accommodation in the Sutton district and before long a new school would have to be built.
In the meantime the heads of Sutton National and Robins Lane were considering swapping scholars, so that pupils went to the school closest to where they lived.
I wrote recently how after many years of big rates rises in St Helens, the council's Finance Committee had decided to recommend freezing the rates for the next financial year at 17 shillings in the pound.
However, an hour before the monthly Town Council meeting was going to be held on the 5th, the committee held another vote and by a majority of one reversed their decision.
Instead they would now be recommending that the full council increase the rates by 1s 6d to meet a large increase in the expenditure earmarked for Poor Law payments.
The Reporter headlined their account of the story "The Great Rates Reversal".
"Catch your bird first" is an expression that has not survived the passing of time. "Don’t count your eggs until they are hatched" is the similar, nicer equivalent that does not suggest cruelty.
The Mayor of St Helens, Cllr. Richard Ellison, used the former saying at the council meeting after Cllr. Rudd had stated that the tramways were expected to make a profit of £5,000 this year.
St Helens Corporation had taken over the running of the trams from a private operator in 1919 and Cllr. Rudd, the chairman of the Transport Committee, felt his members should be congratulated for their efforts, saying:
"I think the council should know that the Tramways Committee have been able to work the affairs of the tramways in a very gratifying manner."
Of course, it was the drivers, conductors and their managers who had run the trams efficiently – not the councillors and aldermen.
But they were the ones who always took the credit, with no tribute to those serving at the sharp end.
Cllr. Rudd added that with the exception of one other town, St Helens now had the most efficient tramways operation in the country.
However, his measure compared costs to revenue – and not whether the trams kept to time.
On the 7th William Whalley of Carnegie Street in Sutton was killed down Bold Colliery when an underground roof fall took place.
The 21-year-old was a member of a musical family and a prominent violinist himself.
Tragically, William had been planning to soon leave the mine and become a music teacher.
The Leicester Evening Mail described the subsequent inquest hearing, writing:
"A pathetic story was related yesterday at an inquest on a young miner, William Whalley (21), of Sutton, St. Helens, who was buried beneath 60 tons of coal and earth at Bold Colliery.
"He was a brilliant young musician and an Associate of the National College of Music, having composed and published music for the violin and piano.
"He had gathered together a number of pupils, and was about to leave the mine permanently to follow the musical profession.
"Whalley was buried before his father's eyes, and the coroner, recording a verdict of “Accidental death,” expressed sympathy with the parents."
These days the term "demonstration" involving a march or gathering usually refers, of course, to protests against something.
However, in the past the word was mainly used when a group came together in support of something – often some worthy organisation or society.
So on the 8th a demonstration was held at the Volunteer Hall in St Helens to promote the aims of the British Legion.
The organisation had only been founded in 1921 when four military organisations merged – and they were keen to expand their membership.
The main speaker at the event was Major-General Sir Frederick Barton Maurice, who, according to Wikipedia, bore the nickname "putty nose" – although I expect the men in his command called him that at their peril!
On the 10th William Hurley of Warwick Street (off Dunriding Lane) appeared in St Helens Police Court charged with obtaining a gold signet ring by false pretences.
A young woman called Lilian Mallinson from Patricroft had met Hurley in the street after coming to St Helens to see her sister.
They began courting and Hurley was subsequently introduced to Lilian's family as her future husband – not knowing that he was already wed.
He began borrowing sums of money from Lilian and obtained possession of her ring by telling her lies.
Eventually she made a complaint to the police and the man was sent to prison for a month with hard labour.
During the flu pandemic at the end of WW1, publican Ted Cawley believed that drinking port could stop folk from getting influenza. Ted's adverts in the Reporter said:
"To avoid the 'flu and never rue, Ted Cawley's port wine is the goods for you". His ad also had a Kitchener-like finger pointed at the reader to emphasise the point.
Ted was then mine host at the Wellington Hotel in Market Square in St Helens (pictured above) but on the 10th was given permission to transfer to the Green Dragon in Sutton Manor.
Cawley would also found a newsagent's in Fingerpost and some readers may recall his grandson Keith Orrell who ran the business from 1947 to 1970.
And finally, the artists appearing at the Hippodrome Music Hall in St Helens from the 10th included:
The Cardles ("A capital comedy duo, who appear in three miniatures as bride and groom, the stoker and Cockney lovers"); Alice Craven (“The Lancashire lass"); Bros. Lloyd ("Musical entertainers including the champion boy whistler"); Greenall, Rudd & Knowles ("Three clever local boys in novelty songs"); Gene Gordon ("The comedy magician") and Two Cures ("The original Coster kids – atoms of amazing ability").
Next week's stories will include the cruel North Road mother who beat her child with a poker, St Helens Police criticise unhealthy cinema queues, the busted bobby who claimed he was still in the force and the hostile man on the Haydock tram who used filthy language.
We begin with a couple of street betting cases in St Helens Police Court – a crime that the Reporter regularly called "an evil".
When Gertrude Bond was arrested in Standish Street in St Helens on charges of frequenting for purposes of betting, she told the police: "I have been expecting this. My father makes me do it."
The 18-year-old from College Street had ten betting slips on her person and was carrying £1 7 shillings in cash.
Miss Bond's solicitor made no attempt to refute the charge, other than explain the circumstances to the magistrates:
"The father was ill that day and the girl being out of work simply went to the place to accommodate people who like to put a shilling on a horse. She is a very respectable girl," he said.
The Chairman told Gertrude that the Bench were taking a very lenient view of her case and were sorry to see her in the dock, as they fined her £3.
In a separate case John Atherton appeared in court on the 5th charged with bookmaking in Queen's Recreation Ground – as Queen's Park was then known.
He pleaded guilty but played down his activities, saying he had simply taken a few bets to oblige his chums and had given the betting slips to a man whose name he did not know.
However, Superintendent Dunn told the court that Atherton was working for a well-known St Helens' bookie.
"The bookmaker", he said, "put men like the defendant into the limelight but kept in the background themselves, and thus avoided substantial penalties."
However, the bookies normally covered the fines of their operatives and, in Atherton’s case, he had £10 to find.
Many people make threats to kill that they are never likely to carry out – but I expect few would confirm their intentions to the police.
But Albert Heyes of Barton Street (which used to be near Boundary Road) certainly did.
On the 5th the labourer (aged about 22) faced a charge of threatening Annie Maguire of Hardy Street in St Helens.
The couple had been going out together. However, a month earlier Albert had shown up at Annie's home in a drunken condition, which led to her saying she no longer wanted to see him.
Last week upon coming across his former girlfriend in Church Street, Albert had asked Annie to change her mind and walk out with him again.
Upon hearing her refusal, he then said: "If I can't have you nobody else will. I will take your life".
Two days later he put an open razor to her throat saying: "See, this is ready for you."
Annie complained to the police and so Sgt Connors went to warn the man. But instead of playing down what had happened, Albert said: "I intend to carry out that threat."
That led to his arrest and in court he was ordered to find sureties totalling £20 to guarantee his good behaviour or go to prison for 28 days.
The council's Education Committee met on the 5th and heard that Sutton National C of E Infants School in Ellamsbridge Road was so greatly overcrowded that parents were being forced to send their children to Robins Lane School instead.
Cllr. Hamblett said it was a pity that the youngsters had to walk so far but matters would be even worse if it had not been for St Anne's RC School accepting a few Protestant children.
There was, he admitted, a "very urgent need" for more accommodation in the Sutton district and before long a new school would have to be built.
In the meantime the heads of Sutton National and Robins Lane were considering swapping scholars, so that pupils went to the school closest to where they lived.
I wrote recently how after many years of big rates rises in St Helens, the council's Finance Committee had decided to recommend freezing the rates for the next financial year at 17 shillings in the pound.
However, an hour before the monthly Town Council meeting was going to be held on the 5th, the committee held another vote and by a majority of one reversed their decision.
Instead they would now be recommending that the full council increase the rates by 1s 6d to meet a large increase in the expenditure earmarked for Poor Law payments.
The Reporter headlined their account of the story "The Great Rates Reversal".
"Catch your bird first" is an expression that has not survived the passing of time. "Don’t count your eggs until they are hatched" is the similar, nicer equivalent that does not suggest cruelty.
The Mayor of St Helens, Cllr. Richard Ellison, used the former saying at the council meeting after Cllr. Rudd had stated that the tramways were expected to make a profit of £5,000 this year.
"I think the council should know that the Tramways Committee have been able to work the affairs of the tramways in a very gratifying manner."
Of course, it was the drivers, conductors and their managers who had run the trams efficiently – not the councillors and aldermen.
But they were the ones who always took the credit, with no tribute to those serving at the sharp end.
Cllr. Rudd added that with the exception of one other town, St Helens now had the most efficient tramways operation in the country.
However, his measure compared costs to revenue – and not whether the trams kept to time.
On the 7th William Whalley of Carnegie Street in Sutton was killed down Bold Colliery when an underground roof fall took place.
The 21-year-old was a member of a musical family and a prominent violinist himself.
Tragically, William had been planning to soon leave the mine and become a music teacher.
The Leicester Evening Mail described the subsequent inquest hearing, writing:
"A pathetic story was related yesterday at an inquest on a young miner, William Whalley (21), of Sutton, St. Helens, who was buried beneath 60 tons of coal and earth at Bold Colliery.
"He was a brilliant young musician and an Associate of the National College of Music, having composed and published music for the violin and piano.
"He had gathered together a number of pupils, and was about to leave the mine permanently to follow the musical profession.
"Whalley was buried before his father's eyes, and the coroner, recording a verdict of “Accidental death,” expressed sympathy with the parents."
These days the term "demonstration" involving a march or gathering usually refers, of course, to protests against something.
However, in the past the word was mainly used when a group came together in support of something – often some worthy organisation or society.
So on the 8th a demonstration was held at the Volunteer Hall in St Helens to promote the aims of the British Legion.
The organisation had only been founded in 1921 when four military organisations merged – and they were keen to expand their membership.
The main speaker at the event was Major-General Sir Frederick Barton Maurice, who, according to Wikipedia, bore the nickname "putty nose" – although I expect the men in his command called him that at their peril!
On the 10th William Hurley of Warwick Street (off Dunriding Lane) appeared in St Helens Police Court charged with obtaining a gold signet ring by false pretences.
A young woman called Lilian Mallinson from Patricroft had met Hurley in the street after coming to St Helens to see her sister.
They began courting and Hurley was subsequently introduced to Lilian's family as her future husband – not knowing that he was already wed.
He began borrowing sums of money from Lilian and obtained possession of her ring by telling her lies.
Eventually she made a complaint to the police and the man was sent to prison for a month with hard labour.
"To avoid the 'flu and never rue, Ted Cawley's port wine is the goods for you". His ad also had a Kitchener-like finger pointed at the reader to emphasise the point.
Ted was then mine host at the Wellington Hotel in Market Square in St Helens (pictured above) but on the 10th was given permission to transfer to the Green Dragon in Sutton Manor.
Cawley would also found a newsagent's in Fingerpost and some readers may recall his grandson Keith Orrell who ran the business from 1947 to 1970.
And finally, the artists appearing at the Hippodrome Music Hall in St Helens from the 10th included:
The Cardles ("A capital comedy duo, who appear in three miniatures as bride and groom, the stoker and Cockney lovers"); Alice Craven (“The Lancashire lass"); Bros. Lloyd ("Musical entertainers including the champion boy whistler"); Greenall, Rudd & Knowles ("Three clever local boys in novelty songs"); Gene Gordon ("The comedy magician") and Two Cures ("The original Coster kids – atoms of amazing ability").
Next week's stories will include the cruel North Road mother who beat her child with a poker, St Helens Police criticise unhealthy cinema queues, the busted bobby who claimed he was still in the force and the hostile man on the Haydock tram who used filthy language.