IOO YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (4 - 10 SEPTEMBER 1923)
This week's many stories include the man in Salisbury Street that claimed to be a detective so he could molest a woman, the wife who stabbed her violent husband returns to court, the dispute between an aunt and her niece over the pawning of rings, the athletic Sutton bobby that chased down a gambler and an insistence that the Thatto Heath ghost was real.
We begin on the 4th when Emma Corns of Edward Street in St Helens returned to court after spending two weeks in prison on remand. Originally the 40-year-old with six children had faced a charge of wounding her husband by stabbing him in the neck with a bread knife. Although George Corns had spent twelve days in hospital, the wound had not proved as severe as was feared and so the charge against his wife had been reduced to one of assault.
Mrs Corns explained to the court how she had been quarrelling with her husband and he had hit her on the nose. She said George had frequently been very cruel to her and she insisted she'd only picked up the knife to defend herself. The magistrates said that considering the woman was in a delicate state of health, they had decided to simply give her a caution and bound her over for six months.
Elizabeth Northey of Newton Road in Parr was also in St Helens Police Court where she pleaded guilty to loitering in the street for the purpose of betting and was fined £10. The police informed the Bench that women taking bets on the street was becoming quite prevalent.
On the 5th Francis Farnon appeared in the court on a charge of burglary. Det. Inspector Percy Steer told the Bench that the man had broken into a house in Parr Street (pictured above) and stolen £10. To that the defendant exclaimed: "That is wrong; the amount of money I stole is wrong." Farnon was remanded for a week.
On the 6th the Mayoress of St Helens held what was described as a carnival and whist drive at the Town Hall in aid of her stall at the forthcoming YMCA bazaar. Fancy dress at the "happy and sociable" event was optional.
On the 7th the magistrates in the Police Court heard of a dispute between an aunt and her niece over rings redeemed at a pawnshop. The case involves Margaret Rigby of Vincent Street who had summoned her aunt Elizabeth Ramsdale of Park Road who she accused of stealing three of her rings worth £3. In August 1922 Mrs Rigby had asked her aunt to pawn the rings for her. Mrs Ramsdale pledged them at Hunter's shop and gave her niece the 9 shillings that she received, along with the pawn ticket.
A year later in August 1923 Mrs Rigby went to the shop to take back her jewellery and was told that Mrs Ramsdale had redeemed them during the previous October after claiming she'd lost the ticket. It was alleged that the aunt had then taken the redeemed rings to another pawnshop, where she received 3s 6d more. Mrs Rigby, the niece, insisted she had given her aunt every opportunity to return the rings to her – but she had failed to do so.
However, Mrs Ramsdale, the aunt, was not taking the accusations lying down. The Liverpool Echo wrote: "Defendant denied this, and concluded a long harangue with the declaration, “And God is on my side.”" The woman also insisted that her niece had often got her to pledge things, saying: "She has as many pawn tickets as will paper her house." The aunt was ordered to pay 18s 6d and return the three rings to her niece.
The Reporter on the 7th described an unusual case in St Helens Police Court this week in which a man had claimed to be a police officer in order to get a woman to comply with his "indecent requests". The incident had taken place on the previous Saturday night just after 10pm. The unnamed Earlestown woman had been on a visit to St Helens and had asked a group of men to point her in the right direction home. Joseph Gorry of Liverpool Street offered to take her to the bottom of the road and they went together into Salisbury Street.
There the 36-year-old claimed to be a detective and said he would lock the woman up if she did not do what he asked. Gorry tried to kiss the woman but she struggled to get away. The man said if she continued to resist him he would blow his whistle and get two more policemen to come and lock her up. Well, two bobbies did arrive on the scene but it was Joseph Gorry that got put into a cell. Det. Cust and PC Reynolds just happened to be in the area visiting some houses and seeing what was taking place scrambled over a gateway and found the man with his arms wrapped round the woman.
In court Det. Cust said she had been in a "state of terror" and had thoroughly believed that the defendant was a police officer. To that Joseph Gorry provoked laughter in the courtroom by saying: "I look like one; don't I?" He also gave a strenuous denial of the charge, claiming that he would not have done anything to the woman because he had sisters of his own. But the single man had a previous conviction to his name and the Chairman of the Bench told Gorry that the charge against him was a very serious one, and he would be fined £10 or if in default of payment would serve two months in prison.
You had to be fit to be in the police force in the 1920s, as a lot of running was involved. The Reporter also described a court case in which Francis Burrows of Cecil Street in Sutton was charged with gaming with coins. PC Holland told the Bench how he had twice chased the 17-year-old youth down. The officer said on the previous Sunday he had been on observation duty and seen six youths gambling on the street.
As soon as they saw him approaching them they all took to their heels but the constable managed to catch Burrows. He gave the officer a wrong address and while the constable was taking it down, Burrows bolted for a second time but was again caught. The boy's mother appeared in the courtroom to plead for her son and he was fined 7s 6d.
Last month newspapers throughout the country had covered the story of the ghost that had supposedly manifested itself in a Thatto Heath house. The Daily Mirror's headline to its piece on the goings-on in Parliament Street had been: "The Spinning Jug – Theory of Dead Brother Trying to Get Message Through". But as well as a flying water jug, boxes had flown open and mysterious sounds had been heard. It appears that the St Helens Newspaper had been very sceptical of the origin of these events and on the 7th of this week this letter was published in the Reporter:
"I was very surprised and annoyed to notice the way in which my statement of the happenings at my house were commented on in a certain St. Helens paper. As my statement was confirmed by the 12 people who were in the room at the time of the manifestations I have described, I think I am entitled to be spared such nasty suggestions. I can only say that I have nothing to add to or take from the statement which was published in the “St. Helens Reporter.” That was the true story of everything as it took place.
"Several of the people who were in the room are very insulted about the way their experiences have been scoffed at in a St. Helens paper, and many people in Elephant-lane object to the cheap fun which has been poked at the locality. I don’t mind so much, but I know I have spoken the truth and nothing but the truth. I should also like to say that the lodger, who, it was hinted, might have been the ghost, has been with us 14 years, and it was quite impossible for him to have done the things we saw. He is very annoyed about it." – ELIZABETH ROBERTS
For a week from the 10th the Hippodrome Theatre in Corporation Street abandoned its usual variety fare to screen the latest Charlie Chaplin movie called 'The Pilgrim'. They billed the silent film as an "enormous attraction" and "his latest and greatest comedy".
And the Savoy Picture House – which last month had changed its name from the Bridge Street Picturedrome – was showing 'The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse'. The Reporter extolled the virtues of bringing the Spanish novel to the Savoy as: "Breathless in its action, stunning in the nakedness of its realism, superbly acted and with all its many discordant horrors faithfully reproduced."
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the child that died after falling into a pan of boiling water, miners are told to think of themselves first before placing themselves in danger and the young thief who thought he should have been flogged.
We begin on the 4th when Emma Corns of Edward Street in St Helens returned to court after spending two weeks in prison on remand. Originally the 40-year-old with six children had faced a charge of wounding her husband by stabbing him in the neck with a bread knife. Although George Corns had spent twelve days in hospital, the wound had not proved as severe as was feared and so the charge against his wife had been reduced to one of assault.
Mrs Corns explained to the court how she had been quarrelling with her husband and he had hit her on the nose. She said George had frequently been very cruel to her and she insisted she'd only picked up the knife to defend herself. The magistrates said that considering the woman was in a delicate state of health, they had decided to simply give her a caution and bound her over for six months.
Elizabeth Northey of Newton Road in Parr was also in St Helens Police Court where she pleaded guilty to loitering in the street for the purpose of betting and was fined £10. The police informed the Bench that women taking bets on the street was becoming quite prevalent.
On the 6th the Mayoress of St Helens held what was described as a carnival and whist drive at the Town Hall in aid of her stall at the forthcoming YMCA bazaar. Fancy dress at the "happy and sociable" event was optional.
On the 7th the magistrates in the Police Court heard of a dispute between an aunt and her niece over rings redeemed at a pawnshop. The case involves Margaret Rigby of Vincent Street who had summoned her aunt Elizabeth Ramsdale of Park Road who she accused of stealing three of her rings worth £3. In August 1922 Mrs Rigby had asked her aunt to pawn the rings for her. Mrs Ramsdale pledged them at Hunter's shop and gave her niece the 9 shillings that she received, along with the pawn ticket.
A year later in August 1923 Mrs Rigby went to the shop to take back her jewellery and was told that Mrs Ramsdale had redeemed them during the previous October after claiming she'd lost the ticket. It was alleged that the aunt had then taken the redeemed rings to another pawnshop, where she received 3s 6d more. Mrs Rigby, the niece, insisted she had given her aunt every opportunity to return the rings to her – but she had failed to do so.
However, Mrs Ramsdale, the aunt, was not taking the accusations lying down. The Liverpool Echo wrote: "Defendant denied this, and concluded a long harangue with the declaration, “And God is on my side.”" The woman also insisted that her niece had often got her to pledge things, saying: "She has as many pawn tickets as will paper her house." The aunt was ordered to pay 18s 6d and return the three rings to her niece.
The Reporter on the 7th described an unusual case in St Helens Police Court this week in which a man had claimed to be a police officer in order to get a woman to comply with his "indecent requests". The incident had taken place on the previous Saturday night just after 10pm. The unnamed Earlestown woman had been on a visit to St Helens and had asked a group of men to point her in the right direction home. Joseph Gorry of Liverpool Street offered to take her to the bottom of the road and they went together into Salisbury Street.
There the 36-year-old claimed to be a detective and said he would lock the woman up if she did not do what he asked. Gorry tried to kiss the woman but she struggled to get away. The man said if she continued to resist him he would blow his whistle and get two more policemen to come and lock her up. Well, two bobbies did arrive on the scene but it was Joseph Gorry that got put into a cell. Det. Cust and PC Reynolds just happened to be in the area visiting some houses and seeing what was taking place scrambled over a gateway and found the man with his arms wrapped round the woman.
In court Det. Cust said she had been in a "state of terror" and had thoroughly believed that the defendant was a police officer. To that Joseph Gorry provoked laughter in the courtroom by saying: "I look like one; don't I?" He also gave a strenuous denial of the charge, claiming that he would not have done anything to the woman because he had sisters of his own. But the single man had a previous conviction to his name and the Chairman of the Bench told Gorry that the charge against him was a very serious one, and he would be fined £10 or if in default of payment would serve two months in prison.
You had to be fit to be in the police force in the 1920s, as a lot of running was involved. The Reporter also described a court case in which Francis Burrows of Cecil Street in Sutton was charged with gaming with coins. PC Holland told the Bench how he had twice chased the 17-year-old youth down. The officer said on the previous Sunday he had been on observation duty and seen six youths gambling on the street.
As soon as they saw him approaching them they all took to their heels but the constable managed to catch Burrows. He gave the officer a wrong address and while the constable was taking it down, Burrows bolted for a second time but was again caught. The boy's mother appeared in the courtroom to plead for her son and he was fined 7s 6d.
Last month newspapers throughout the country had covered the story of the ghost that had supposedly manifested itself in a Thatto Heath house. The Daily Mirror's headline to its piece on the goings-on in Parliament Street had been: "The Spinning Jug – Theory of Dead Brother Trying to Get Message Through". But as well as a flying water jug, boxes had flown open and mysterious sounds had been heard. It appears that the St Helens Newspaper had been very sceptical of the origin of these events and on the 7th of this week this letter was published in the Reporter:
"I was very surprised and annoyed to notice the way in which my statement of the happenings at my house were commented on in a certain St. Helens paper. As my statement was confirmed by the 12 people who were in the room at the time of the manifestations I have described, I think I am entitled to be spared such nasty suggestions. I can only say that I have nothing to add to or take from the statement which was published in the “St. Helens Reporter.” That was the true story of everything as it took place.
"Several of the people who were in the room are very insulted about the way their experiences have been scoffed at in a St. Helens paper, and many people in Elephant-lane object to the cheap fun which has been poked at the locality. I don’t mind so much, but I know I have spoken the truth and nothing but the truth. I should also like to say that the lodger, who, it was hinted, might have been the ghost, has been with us 14 years, and it was quite impossible for him to have done the things we saw. He is very annoyed about it." – ELIZABETH ROBERTS
For a week from the 10th the Hippodrome Theatre in Corporation Street abandoned its usual variety fare to screen the latest Charlie Chaplin movie called 'The Pilgrim'. They billed the silent film as an "enormous attraction" and "his latest and greatest comedy".
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the child that died after falling into a pan of boiling water, miners are told to think of themselves first before placing themselves in danger and the young thief who thought he should have been flogged.
This week's many stories include the man in Salisbury Street that claimed to be a detective so he could molest a woman, the wife who stabbed her violent husband returns to court, the dispute between an aunt and her niece over the pawning of rings, the athletic Sutton bobby that chased down a gambler and an insistence that the Thatto Heath ghost was real.
We begin on the 4th when Emma Corns of Edward Street in St Helens returned to court after spending two weeks in prison on remand.
Originally the 40-year-old with six children had faced a charge of wounding her husband by stabbing him in the neck with a bread knife.
Although George Corns had spent twelve days in hospital, the wound had not proved as severe as was feared and so the charge against his wife had been reduced to one of assault.
Mrs Corns explained to the court how she had been quarrelling with her husband and he had hit her on the nose. She said George had frequently been very cruel to her and she insisted she'd only picked up the knife to defend herself.
The magistrates said that considering the woman was in a delicate state of health, they had decided to simply give her a caution and bound her over for six months.
Elizabeth Northey of Newton Road in Parr was also in St Helens Police Court where she pleaded guilty to loitering in the street for the purpose of betting and was fined £10.
The police informed the Bench that women taking bets on the street was becoming quite prevalent.
On the 5th Francis Farnon appeared in the court on a charge of burglary.
Det. Inspector Percy Steer told the Bench that the man had broken into a house in Parr Street (pictured above) and stolen £10.
To that the defendant exclaimed: "That is wrong; the amount of money I stole is wrong." Farnon was remanded for a week.
On the 6th the Mayoress of St Helens held what was described as a carnival and whist drive at the Town Hall in aid of her stall at the forthcoming YMCA bazaar. Fancy dress at the "happy and sociable" event was optional.
On the 7th the magistrates in the Police Court heard of a dispute between an aunt and her niece over rings redeemed at a pawnshop.
The case involves Margaret Rigby of Vincent Street who had summoned her aunt Elizabeth Ramsdale of Park Road who she accused of stealing three of her rings worth £3.
In August 1922 Mrs Rigby had asked her aunt to pawn the rings for her. Mrs Ramsdale pledged them at Hunter's shop and gave her niece the 9 shillings that she received, along with the pawn ticket.
A year later in August 1923 Mrs Rigby went to the shop to take back her jewellery and was told that Mrs Ramsdale had redeemed them during the previous October after claiming she'd lost the ticket.
It was alleged that the aunt had then taken the redeemed rings to another pawnshop, where she received 3s 6d more.
Mrs Rigby, the niece, insisted she had given her aunt every opportunity to return the rings to her – but she had failed to do so. However, Mrs Ramsdale, the aunt, was not taking the accusations lying down. The Liverpool Echo wrote:
"Defendant denied this, and concluded a long harangue with the declaration, “And God is on my side.”"
The woman also insisted that her niece had often got her to pledge things, saying: "She has as many pawn tickets as will paper her house."
The aunt was ordered to pay 18s 6d and return the three rings to her niece.
The Reporter on the 7th described an unusual case in St Helens Police Court this week in which a man had claimed to be a police officer in order to get a woman to comply with his "indecent requests".
The incident had taken place on the previous Saturday night just after 10pm. The unnamed Earlestown woman had been on a visit to St Helens and had asked a group of men to point her in the right direction home.
Joseph Gorry of Liverpool Street offered to take her to the bottom of the road and they went together into Salisbury Street.
There the 36-year-old claimed to be a detective and said he would lock the woman up if she did not do what he asked. Gorry tried to kiss the woman but she struggled to get away.
The man said if she continued to resist him he would blow his whistle and get two more policemen to come and lock her up.
Well, two bobbies did arrive on the scene but it was Joseph Gorry that got put into a cell.
Det. Cust and PC Reynolds just happened to be in the area visiting some houses and seeing what was taking place scrambled over a gateway and found the man with his arms wrapped round the woman.
In court Det. Cust said she had been in a "state of terror" and had thoroughly believed that the defendant was a police officer.
To that Joseph Gorry provoked laughter in the courtroom by saying: "I look like one; don't I?"
He also gave a strenuous denial of the charge, claiming that he would not have done anything to the woman because he had sisters of his own.
But the single man had a previous conviction to his name and the Chairman of the Bench told Gorry that the charge against him was a very serious one, and he would be fined £10 or if in default of payment would serve two months in prison.
You had to be fit to be in the police force in the 1920s, as a lot of running was involved.
The Reporter also described a court case in which Francis Burrows of Cecil Street in Sutton was charged with gaming with coins.
PC Holland told the Bench how he had twice chased the 17-year-old youth down.
The officer said on the previous Sunday he had been on observation duty and seen six youths gambling on the street.
As soon as they saw him approaching them they all took to their heels but the constable managed to catch Burrows.
He gave the officer a wrong address and while the constable was taking it down, Burrows bolted for a second time but was again caught.
The boy's mother appeared in the courtroom to plead for her son and he was fined 7s 6d.
Last month newspapers throughout the country had covered the story of the ghost that had supposedly manifested itself in a Thatto Heath house.
The Daily Mirror's headline to its piece on the goings-on in Parliament Street had been: "The Spinning Jug – Theory of Dead Brother Trying to Get Message Through".
But as well as a flying water jug, boxes had flown open and mysterious sounds had been heard.
It appears that the St Helens Newspaper had been very sceptical of the origin of these events and on the 7th of this week this letter was published in the Reporter:
"I was very surprised and annoyed to notice the way in which my statement of the happenings at my house were commented on in a certain St. Helens paper.
"As my statement was confirmed by the 12 people who were in the room at the time of the manifestations I have described, I think I am entitled to be spared such nasty suggestions.
"I can only say that I have nothing to add to or take from the statement which was published in the “St. Helens Reporter.” That was the true story of everything as it took place.
"Several of the people who were in the room are very insulted about the way their experiences have been scoffed at in a St. Helens paper, and many people in Elephant-lane object to the cheap fun which has been poked at the locality. I don’t mind so much, but I know I have spoken the truth and nothing but the truth.
"I should also like to say that the lodger, who, it was hinted, might have been the ghost, has been with us 14 years, and it was quite impossible for him to have done the things we saw. He is very annoyed about it." – ELIZABETH ROBERTS
For a week from the 10th the Hippodrome Theatre in Corporation Street abandoned its usual variety fare to screen the latest Charlie Chaplin movie called 'The Pilgrim'.
They billed the silent film as an "enormous attraction" and "his latest and greatest comedy".
And the Savoy Picture House – which last month had changed its name from the Bridge Street Picturedrome – was showing 'The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse'.
The Reporter extolled the virtues of bringing the Spanish novel to the Savoy as: "Breathless in its action, stunning in the nakedness of its realism, superbly acted and with all its many discordant horrors faithfully reproduced."
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the child that died after falling into a pan of boiling water, miners are told to think of themselves first before placing themselves in danger and the young thief who thought he should have been flogged.
We begin on the 4th when Emma Corns of Edward Street in St Helens returned to court after spending two weeks in prison on remand.
Originally the 40-year-old with six children had faced a charge of wounding her husband by stabbing him in the neck with a bread knife.
Although George Corns had spent twelve days in hospital, the wound had not proved as severe as was feared and so the charge against his wife had been reduced to one of assault.
Mrs Corns explained to the court how she had been quarrelling with her husband and he had hit her on the nose. She said George had frequently been very cruel to her and she insisted she'd only picked up the knife to defend herself.
The magistrates said that considering the woman was in a delicate state of health, they had decided to simply give her a caution and bound her over for six months.
Elizabeth Northey of Newton Road in Parr was also in St Helens Police Court where she pleaded guilty to loitering in the street for the purpose of betting and was fined £10.
The police informed the Bench that women taking bets on the street was becoming quite prevalent.
On the 5th Francis Farnon appeared in the court on a charge of burglary.
To that the defendant exclaimed: "That is wrong; the amount of money I stole is wrong." Farnon was remanded for a week.
On the 6th the Mayoress of St Helens held what was described as a carnival and whist drive at the Town Hall in aid of her stall at the forthcoming YMCA bazaar. Fancy dress at the "happy and sociable" event was optional.
On the 7th the magistrates in the Police Court heard of a dispute between an aunt and her niece over rings redeemed at a pawnshop.
The case involves Margaret Rigby of Vincent Street who had summoned her aunt Elizabeth Ramsdale of Park Road who she accused of stealing three of her rings worth £3.
In August 1922 Mrs Rigby had asked her aunt to pawn the rings for her. Mrs Ramsdale pledged them at Hunter's shop and gave her niece the 9 shillings that she received, along with the pawn ticket.
A year later in August 1923 Mrs Rigby went to the shop to take back her jewellery and was told that Mrs Ramsdale had redeemed them during the previous October after claiming she'd lost the ticket.
It was alleged that the aunt had then taken the redeemed rings to another pawnshop, where she received 3s 6d more.
Mrs Rigby, the niece, insisted she had given her aunt every opportunity to return the rings to her – but she had failed to do so. However, Mrs Ramsdale, the aunt, was not taking the accusations lying down. The Liverpool Echo wrote:
"Defendant denied this, and concluded a long harangue with the declaration, “And God is on my side.”"
The woman also insisted that her niece had often got her to pledge things, saying: "She has as many pawn tickets as will paper her house."
The aunt was ordered to pay 18s 6d and return the three rings to her niece.
The Reporter on the 7th described an unusual case in St Helens Police Court this week in which a man had claimed to be a police officer in order to get a woman to comply with his "indecent requests".
The incident had taken place on the previous Saturday night just after 10pm. The unnamed Earlestown woman had been on a visit to St Helens and had asked a group of men to point her in the right direction home.
Joseph Gorry of Liverpool Street offered to take her to the bottom of the road and they went together into Salisbury Street.
There the 36-year-old claimed to be a detective and said he would lock the woman up if she did not do what he asked. Gorry tried to kiss the woman but she struggled to get away.
The man said if she continued to resist him he would blow his whistle and get two more policemen to come and lock her up.
Well, two bobbies did arrive on the scene but it was Joseph Gorry that got put into a cell.
Det. Cust and PC Reynolds just happened to be in the area visiting some houses and seeing what was taking place scrambled over a gateway and found the man with his arms wrapped round the woman.
In court Det. Cust said she had been in a "state of terror" and had thoroughly believed that the defendant was a police officer.
To that Joseph Gorry provoked laughter in the courtroom by saying: "I look like one; don't I?"
He also gave a strenuous denial of the charge, claiming that he would not have done anything to the woman because he had sisters of his own.
But the single man had a previous conviction to his name and the Chairman of the Bench told Gorry that the charge against him was a very serious one, and he would be fined £10 or if in default of payment would serve two months in prison.
You had to be fit to be in the police force in the 1920s, as a lot of running was involved.
The Reporter also described a court case in which Francis Burrows of Cecil Street in Sutton was charged with gaming with coins.
PC Holland told the Bench how he had twice chased the 17-year-old youth down.
The officer said on the previous Sunday he had been on observation duty and seen six youths gambling on the street.
As soon as they saw him approaching them they all took to their heels but the constable managed to catch Burrows.
He gave the officer a wrong address and while the constable was taking it down, Burrows bolted for a second time but was again caught.
The boy's mother appeared in the courtroom to plead for her son and he was fined 7s 6d.
Last month newspapers throughout the country had covered the story of the ghost that had supposedly manifested itself in a Thatto Heath house.
The Daily Mirror's headline to its piece on the goings-on in Parliament Street had been: "The Spinning Jug – Theory of Dead Brother Trying to Get Message Through".
But as well as a flying water jug, boxes had flown open and mysterious sounds had been heard.
It appears that the St Helens Newspaper had been very sceptical of the origin of these events and on the 7th of this week this letter was published in the Reporter:
"I was very surprised and annoyed to notice the way in which my statement of the happenings at my house were commented on in a certain St. Helens paper.
"As my statement was confirmed by the 12 people who were in the room at the time of the manifestations I have described, I think I am entitled to be spared such nasty suggestions.
"I can only say that I have nothing to add to or take from the statement which was published in the “St. Helens Reporter.” That was the true story of everything as it took place.
"Several of the people who were in the room are very insulted about the way their experiences have been scoffed at in a St. Helens paper, and many people in Elephant-lane object to the cheap fun which has been poked at the locality. I don’t mind so much, but I know I have spoken the truth and nothing but the truth.
"I should also like to say that the lodger, who, it was hinted, might have been the ghost, has been with us 14 years, and it was quite impossible for him to have done the things we saw. He is very annoyed about it." – ELIZABETH ROBERTS
For a week from the 10th the Hippodrome Theatre in Corporation Street abandoned its usual variety fare to screen the latest Charlie Chaplin movie called 'The Pilgrim'.
They billed the silent film as an "enormous attraction" and "his latest and greatest comedy".
The Reporter extolled the virtues of bringing the Spanish novel to the Savoy as: "Breathless in its action, stunning in the nakedness of its realism, superbly acted and with all its many discordant horrors faithfully reproduced."
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the child that died after falling into a pan of boiling water, miners are told to think of themselves first before placing themselves in danger and the young thief who thought he should have been flogged.