IOO YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (5th - 11th DECEMBER 1922)
This week's stories include the horse that was ridden in Parr with a fractured pelvis, the female schoolteachers forced to resign upon getting hitched, the man who accused a policeman of pecking him in the neck in Water Street, there's more light for some dark St Helens streets, the unemployed St Helens miners faced with eviction and the vicious Church Street attack by a man who thought he was killing the devil.
We begin at the council's Gas Committee meeting on the 6th where it was revealed that their members had been out and about during previous evenings searching for dark streets in St Helens – and found plenty. So it was decided that 100 additional lamps would be lit in various parts of the town.
However, that appeared to be only addressing part of the problem as each committee member immediately called for extra light for his own ward. It was claimed that it was so dark at the top end of Shaw Street by the bridge leading to Pocket Nook Street that women had been molested. But there was currently an austerity drive in place and the committee chairman said they only had sufficient cash to light 100 more lamps.
The need to save money had also led to the Corporation's Education Department bringing back an old policy. Female teachers in the town used to be expected to resign upon getting married – but the shortage of male teachers in the war had led to that rule being scrapped. Earlier in 1922 as part of the need to make drastic economies the St Helens Education Committee had decided that a number of schoolteachers must lose their jobs.
Although the decision as to who would be sacked was being left to the managers of each school, married women were first in the firing line. The Reporter at the time wrote: "It may be taken for granted that, in order to prevent hardship, a married woman teacher without responsibilities would be among the first to be dispensed with." They were referring to those who were not widows or did not have a disabled husband. And so a woman teacher with four kids of her own would not be considered to have any responsibilities as long as her husband was in work.
At the Education Committee meeting held on the 6th this week it was revealed that two female teachers that were soon to marry had informed the committee of their forthcoming change in status. Cllr. Hamblett explained to the meeting what their response had been: "The committee had decided in accordance with their policy in regard to married teachers, that it would be as well to let those teachers know and give instructions that on their marriage their engagements [as teachers] would be terminated."
The committee had not yet decided whether the vacancies would be filled and if so who by. However, Cllr. Hamblett informed the meeting that it was possible that married woman teachers with responsibilities and in financial hardship would be considered.
Despite the increase in motorised traffic on the streets of St Helens, many small-time traders still used horses. And the stingy insisted on full value for money for their animals and still rode them when they were old and lame. The Reporter on the 8th described a court case in which Joseph Jones from Dallam was charged with cruelly ill-treating a horse in St Helens. PC Phillips gave evidence that he had seen Jones and his nag in Parr Stocks Road and had followed them to Traverse Street. The constable said the horse appeared to be in great pain and could only stand on three legs, dragging one of its hind legs behind it.
A vet found the animal to be suffering from a fractured pelvis and had it destroyed. Jones admitted having ridden his horse from Warrington into St Helens and claimed that it had only gone lame on the journey. However, an RSPCA inspector considered its injury to have been of long-standing due to wasting of the muscles near the horses' hip and a vet said he thought it had been "absolutely cruel to force the horse to walk". Jones was ordered to pay a fine of 40 shillings and 20 shillings costs.
This week the Reporter wrote: "So serious is the unemployment in many of the towns of England, including St. Helens, that efforts are to be made to press upon the Government the urgent need for immediate relief." The paper also described how William Roche had appeared in the Police Court in St Helens after a man's face had been "battered beyond recognition".
The incident had taken place on the corner of Salisbury Street and Church Street, with the victim being Thomas Norris who had lost a considerable amount of blood in the unprovoked attack. The 37-year-old defendant of no fixed abode claimed to have been prompted by an angel to kill the devil so that he would go to heaven. A witness called William Hill said he saw Roche accuse Thomas Norris of being Satan before viciously assaulting him.
Hill blew a police whistle that he kept on his person but before the police could arrive on the scene, two men had hauled Roche off his victim. Hill insisted that Norris had done nothing to the defendant. The word schizophrenia had been coined in 1908 but the condition – if that was what Roche genuinely was suffering from – was still little understood. Roche was committed to the next Quarter Sessions for trial.
The Reporter also described the unveiling of another war memorial – this time inside the Sutton Road Methodist Church. There was a large congregation and the paper said it had been a "very impressive ceremony".
In the House of Commons this week James Sexton, the MP for St Helens, asked the Minister of Labour if he were aware that tenants of working-class dwellings in St Helens were being threatened with eviction for arrears incurred during the recent miners strike. That was in spite of the fact that they were paying their current rent out of their unemployment benefit.
The minister was asked: "If in view of the shortage of houses and the poverty of these people, any steps could be taken by him to prevent this." The reply was that the Government could not interfere, although the courts did have discretion over whether to grant eviction orders when rent was being paid.
The council's Higher Education Committee had some good news for Cowley Boys School this week (pictured above). They were buying the lads a wireless set in order that they could tune in to the new BBC station in Manchester that had recently gone on air. However, there was no suggestion that the girls' school would be getting a radio. Cowley boys tended to have better facilities than their female counterparts as they were being prepared for a career – whereas the girls were largely being prepared for marriage.
For the last few years trams had not been run on Christmas Day in St Helens in order to give the staff a day off. Nobody seems to have minded but this week the Corporation's Tramways Committee announced that they were bringing back the Christmas Day service.
On the 9th Michael Matthews of Waterloo Street appeared in St Helens Police Court to deny a charge of committing a breach of the peace – and to criticise PC Dillon for the way he had spoken to him. The officer's version of events was that at 10:30pm on the previous night, Matthews was in Water Street with three other men shouting and "using disgraceful language". He asked the man to go home but he refused and instead walked further up the street to resume his shouting.
Michael Matthews recollected events rather differently. He said after seeing some friends at the corner of the street, he had simply asked them for a cigarette as the shops were closed and he had run out. He lit the cigarette and was simply having a friendly argument with them about military service when the policeman approached him bellowing "Get out of it!"
His manner, Matthews said, was in a way that a Christian would not speak to a dog and he asked PC Dillon why he should be ordered away in such a manner and instead of explaining, the constable gave him a "peck in the neck". What with was not reported but I doubt it had been a kiss! The defendant had not brought his friends to court as witnesses and so it was his word against the officer and consequently Michael Matthews was bound over for 12 months.
And finally, these were the acts performing at the Hippodrome Music Hall in Corporation Street from the 11th: Christopher & Columbus ("Smart acrobats and comedians"); Scott Argyle ("A fine comedian"); Basil King ("The ventriloquial monarch"); The Germaines ("Sensational whirlwind dancers"); Mirrie Leslie & Baby Watson ("Those two cute kids") and Eric Yorke & Simon Wery ("The popular tenor and the eminent pianist").
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next week's stories will include the Town Hall meeting over mental defectives, the upgrade to Boundary Road baths, the sheep stealing at Crank and Cholerton's announce that broadcasting has commenced.
We begin at the council's Gas Committee meeting on the 6th where it was revealed that their members had been out and about during previous evenings searching for dark streets in St Helens – and found plenty. So it was decided that 100 additional lamps would be lit in various parts of the town.
However, that appeared to be only addressing part of the problem as each committee member immediately called for extra light for his own ward. It was claimed that it was so dark at the top end of Shaw Street by the bridge leading to Pocket Nook Street that women had been molested. But there was currently an austerity drive in place and the committee chairman said they only had sufficient cash to light 100 more lamps.
The need to save money had also led to the Corporation's Education Department bringing back an old policy. Female teachers in the town used to be expected to resign upon getting married – but the shortage of male teachers in the war had led to that rule being scrapped. Earlier in 1922 as part of the need to make drastic economies the St Helens Education Committee had decided that a number of schoolteachers must lose their jobs.
Although the decision as to who would be sacked was being left to the managers of each school, married women were first in the firing line. The Reporter at the time wrote: "It may be taken for granted that, in order to prevent hardship, a married woman teacher without responsibilities would be among the first to be dispensed with." They were referring to those who were not widows or did not have a disabled husband. And so a woman teacher with four kids of her own would not be considered to have any responsibilities as long as her husband was in work.
At the Education Committee meeting held on the 6th this week it was revealed that two female teachers that were soon to marry had informed the committee of their forthcoming change in status. Cllr. Hamblett explained to the meeting what their response had been: "The committee had decided in accordance with their policy in regard to married teachers, that it would be as well to let those teachers know and give instructions that on their marriage their engagements [as teachers] would be terminated."
The committee had not yet decided whether the vacancies would be filled and if so who by. However, Cllr. Hamblett informed the meeting that it was possible that married woman teachers with responsibilities and in financial hardship would be considered.
Despite the increase in motorised traffic on the streets of St Helens, many small-time traders still used horses. And the stingy insisted on full value for money for their animals and still rode them when they were old and lame. The Reporter on the 8th described a court case in which Joseph Jones from Dallam was charged with cruelly ill-treating a horse in St Helens. PC Phillips gave evidence that he had seen Jones and his nag in Parr Stocks Road and had followed them to Traverse Street. The constable said the horse appeared to be in great pain and could only stand on three legs, dragging one of its hind legs behind it.
A vet found the animal to be suffering from a fractured pelvis and had it destroyed. Jones admitted having ridden his horse from Warrington into St Helens and claimed that it had only gone lame on the journey. However, an RSPCA inspector considered its injury to have been of long-standing due to wasting of the muscles near the horses' hip and a vet said he thought it had been "absolutely cruel to force the horse to walk". Jones was ordered to pay a fine of 40 shillings and 20 shillings costs.
This week the Reporter wrote: "So serious is the unemployment in many of the towns of England, including St. Helens, that efforts are to be made to press upon the Government the urgent need for immediate relief." The paper also described how William Roche had appeared in the Police Court in St Helens after a man's face had been "battered beyond recognition".
The incident had taken place on the corner of Salisbury Street and Church Street, with the victim being Thomas Norris who had lost a considerable amount of blood in the unprovoked attack. The 37-year-old defendant of no fixed abode claimed to have been prompted by an angel to kill the devil so that he would go to heaven. A witness called William Hill said he saw Roche accuse Thomas Norris of being Satan before viciously assaulting him.
Hill blew a police whistle that he kept on his person but before the police could arrive on the scene, two men had hauled Roche off his victim. Hill insisted that Norris had done nothing to the defendant. The word schizophrenia had been coined in 1908 but the condition – if that was what Roche genuinely was suffering from – was still little understood. Roche was committed to the next Quarter Sessions for trial.
The Reporter also described the unveiling of another war memorial – this time inside the Sutton Road Methodist Church. There was a large congregation and the paper said it had been a "very impressive ceremony".
In the House of Commons this week James Sexton, the MP for St Helens, asked the Minister of Labour if he were aware that tenants of working-class dwellings in St Helens were being threatened with eviction for arrears incurred during the recent miners strike. That was in spite of the fact that they were paying their current rent out of their unemployment benefit.
The minister was asked: "If in view of the shortage of houses and the poverty of these people, any steps could be taken by him to prevent this." The reply was that the Government could not interfere, although the courts did have discretion over whether to grant eviction orders when rent was being paid.
For the last few years trams had not been run on Christmas Day in St Helens in order to give the staff a day off. Nobody seems to have minded but this week the Corporation's Tramways Committee announced that they were bringing back the Christmas Day service.
On the 9th Michael Matthews of Waterloo Street appeared in St Helens Police Court to deny a charge of committing a breach of the peace – and to criticise PC Dillon for the way he had spoken to him. The officer's version of events was that at 10:30pm on the previous night, Matthews was in Water Street with three other men shouting and "using disgraceful language". He asked the man to go home but he refused and instead walked further up the street to resume his shouting.
Michael Matthews recollected events rather differently. He said after seeing some friends at the corner of the street, he had simply asked them for a cigarette as the shops were closed and he had run out. He lit the cigarette and was simply having a friendly argument with them about military service when the policeman approached him bellowing "Get out of it!"
His manner, Matthews said, was in a way that a Christian would not speak to a dog and he asked PC Dillon why he should be ordered away in such a manner and instead of explaining, the constable gave him a "peck in the neck". What with was not reported but I doubt it had been a kiss! The defendant had not brought his friends to court as witnesses and so it was his word against the officer and consequently Michael Matthews was bound over for 12 months.
And finally, these were the acts performing at the Hippodrome Music Hall in Corporation Street from the 11th: Christopher & Columbus ("Smart acrobats and comedians"); Scott Argyle ("A fine comedian"); Basil King ("The ventriloquial monarch"); The Germaines ("Sensational whirlwind dancers"); Mirrie Leslie & Baby Watson ("Those two cute kids") and Eric Yorke & Simon Wery ("The popular tenor and the eminent pianist").
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next week's stories will include the Town Hall meeting over mental defectives, the upgrade to Boundary Road baths, the sheep stealing at Crank and Cholerton's announce that broadcasting has commenced.
This week's stories include the horse that was ridden in Parr with a fractured pelvis, the female schoolteachers forced to resign upon getting hitched, the man who accused a policeman of pecking him in the neck in Water Street, there's more light for some dark St Helens streets, the unemployed St Helens miners faced with eviction and the vicious Church Street attack by a man who thought he was killing the devil.
We begin at the council's Gas Committee meeting on the 6th where it was revealed that their members had been out and about during previous evenings searching for dark streets in St Helens – and found plenty.
So it was decided that 100 additional lamps would be lit in various parts of the town. However, that appeared to be only addressing part of the problem as each committee member immediately called for extra light for his own ward.
It was claimed that it was so dark at the top end of Shaw Street by the bridge leading to Pocket Nook Street that women had been molested.
But there was currently an austerity drive in place and the committee chairman said they only had sufficient cash to light 100 more lamps.
The need to save money had also led to the Corporation's Education Department bringing back an old policy.
Female teachers in the town used to be expected to resign upon getting married – but the shortage of male teachers in the war had led to that rule being scrapped.
Earlier in 1922 as part of the need to make drastic economies the St Helens Education Committee had decided that a number of schoolteachers must lose their jobs.
Although the decision as to who would be sacked was being left to the managers of each school, married women were first in the firing line. The Reporter at the time wrote:
"It may be taken for granted that, in order to prevent hardship, a married woman teacher without responsibilities would be among the first to be dispensed with."
They were referring to those who were not widows or did not have a disabled husband.
And so a woman teacher with four kids of her own would not be considered to have any responsibilities as long as her husband was in work.
At the Education Committee meeting held on the 6th this week it was revealed that two female teachers that were soon to marry had informed the committee of their forthcoming change in status.
Cllr. Hamblett explained to the meeting what their response had been:
"The committee had decided in accordance with their policy in regard to married teachers, that it would be as well to let those teachers know and give instructions that on their marriage their engagements [as teachers] would be terminated."
The committee had not yet decided whether the vacancies would be filled and if so who by.
However, Cllr. Hamblett informed the meeting that it was possible that married woman teachers with responsibilities and in financial hardship would be considered.
Despite the increase in motorised traffic on the streets of St Helens, many small-time traders still used horses.
And the stingy insisted on full value for money for their animals and still rode them when they were old and lame.
The Reporter on the 8th described a court case in which Joseph Jones from Dallam was charged with cruelly ill-treating a horse in St Helens.
PC Phillips gave evidence that he had seen Jones and his nag in Parr Stocks Road and had followed them to Traverse Street.
The constable said the horse appeared to be in great pain and could only stand on three legs, dragging one of its hind legs behind it.
A vet found the animal to be suffering from a fractured pelvis and had it destroyed. Jones admitted having ridden his horse from Warrington into St Helens and claimed that it had only gone lame on the journey.
However, an RSPCA inspector considered its injury to have been of long-standing due to wasting of the muscles near the horses' hip and a vet said he thought it had been "absolutely cruel to force the horse to walk".
Jones was ordered to pay a fine of 40 shillings and 20 shillings costs.
This week the Reporter wrote: "So serious is the unemployment in many of the towns of England, including St. Helens, that efforts are to be made to press upon the Government the urgent need for immediate relief."
The paper also described how William Roche had appeared in the Police Court in St Helens after a man's face had been "battered beyond recognition".
The incident had taken place on the corner of Salisbury Street and Church Street, with the victim being Thomas Norris who had lost a considerable amount of blood in the unprovoked attack.
The 37-year-old defendant of no fixed abode claimed to have been prompted by an angel to kill the devil so that he would go to heaven.
A witness called William Hill said he saw Roche accuse Thomas Norris of being Satan before viciously assaulting him.
Hill blew a police whistle that he kept on his person but before the police could arrive on the scene, two men had hauled Roche off his victim. Hill insisted that Norris had done nothing to the defendant.
The word schizophrenia had been coined in 1908 but the condition – if that was what Roche genuinely was suffering from – was still little understood. Roche was committed to the next Quarter Sessions for trial.
The Reporter also described the unveiling of another war memorial – this time inside the Sutton Road Methodist Church. There was a large congregation and the paper said it had been a "very impressive ceremony".
In the House of Commons this week James Sexton, the MP for St Helens, asked the Minister of Labour if he were aware that tenants of working-class dwellings in St Helens were being threatened with eviction for arrears incurred during the recent miners strike.
That was in spite of the fact that they were paying their current rent out of their unemployment benefit.
The minister was asked: "If in view of the shortage of houses and the poverty of these people, any steps could be taken by him to prevent this."
The reply was that the Government could not interfere, although the courts did have discretion over whether to grant eviction orders when rent was being paid.
The council's Higher Education Committee had some good news for Cowley Boys School this week (pictured above).
They were buying the lads a wireless set in order that they could tune in to the new BBC station in Manchester that had recently gone on air.
However, there was no suggestion that the girls' school would be getting a radio.
Cowley boys tended to have better facilities than their female counterparts as they were being prepared for a career – whereas the girls were largely being prepared for marriage.
For the last few years trams had not been run on Christmas Day in St Helens in order to give the staff a day off.
Nobody seems to have minded but this week the Corporation's Tramways Committee announced that they were bringing back the Christmas Day service.
On the 9th Michael Matthews of Waterloo Street appeared in St Helens Police Court to deny a charge of committing a breach of the peace – and to criticise PC Dillon for the way he had spoken to him.
The officer's version of events was that at 10:30pm on the previous night, Matthews was in Water Street with three other men shouting and "using disgraceful language".
He asked the man to go home but he refused and instead walked further up the street to resume his shouting.
Michael Matthews recollected events rather differently. He said after seeing some friends at the corner of the street, he had simply asked them for a cigarette as the shops were closed and he had run out.
He lit the cigarette and was simply having a friendly argument with them about military service when the policeman approached him bellowing "Get out of it!"
His manner, Matthews said, was in a way that a Christian would not speak to a dog and he asked PC Dillon why he should be ordered away in such a manner and instead of explaining, the constable gave him a "peck in the neck". What with was not reported – but I doubt it had been a kiss!
The defendant had not brought his friends to court as witnesses and so it was his word against the officer and consequently Michael Matthews was bound over for 12 months.
And finally, these were the acts performing at the Hippodrome Music Hall in Corporation Street from the 11th:
Christopher & Columbus ("Smart acrobats and comedians"); Scott Argyle ("A fine comedian"); Basil King ("The ventriloquial monarch"); The Germaines ("Sensational whirlwind dancers"); Mirrie Leslie & Baby Watson ("Those two cute kids") and Eric Yorke & Simon Wery ("The popular tenor and the eminent pianist").
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next week's stories will include the Town Hall meeting over mental defectives, the upgrade to Boundary Road baths, the sheep stealing at Crank and Cholerton's announce that broadcasting has commenced.
We begin at the council's Gas Committee meeting on the 6th where it was revealed that their members had been out and about during previous evenings searching for dark streets in St Helens – and found plenty.
So it was decided that 100 additional lamps would be lit in various parts of the town. However, that appeared to be only addressing part of the problem as each committee member immediately called for extra light for his own ward.
It was claimed that it was so dark at the top end of Shaw Street by the bridge leading to Pocket Nook Street that women had been molested.
But there was currently an austerity drive in place and the committee chairman said they only had sufficient cash to light 100 more lamps.
The need to save money had also led to the Corporation's Education Department bringing back an old policy.
Female teachers in the town used to be expected to resign upon getting married – but the shortage of male teachers in the war had led to that rule being scrapped.
Earlier in 1922 as part of the need to make drastic economies the St Helens Education Committee had decided that a number of schoolteachers must lose their jobs.
Although the decision as to who would be sacked was being left to the managers of each school, married women were first in the firing line. The Reporter at the time wrote:
"It may be taken for granted that, in order to prevent hardship, a married woman teacher without responsibilities would be among the first to be dispensed with."
They were referring to those who were not widows or did not have a disabled husband.
And so a woman teacher with four kids of her own would not be considered to have any responsibilities as long as her husband was in work.
At the Education Committee meeting held on the 6th this week it was revealed that two female teachers that were soon to marry had informed the committee of their forthcoming change in status.
Cllr. Hamblett explained to the meeting what their response had been:
"The committee had decided in accordance with their policy in regard to married teachers, that it would be as well to let those teachers know and give instructions that on their marriage their engagements [as teachers] would be terminated."
The committee had not yet decided whether the vacancies would be filled and if so who by.
However, Cllr. Hamblett informed the meeting that it was possible that married woman teachers with responsibilities and in financial hardship would be considered.
Despite the increase in motorised traffic on the streets of St Helens, many small-time traders still used horses.
And the stingy insisted on full value for money for their animals and still rode them when they were old and lame.
The Reporter on the 8th described a court case in which Joseph Jones from Dallam was charged with cruelly ill-treating a horse in St Helens.
PC Phillips gave evidence that he had seen Jones and his nag in Parr Stocks Road and had followed them to Traverse Street.
The constable said the horse appeared to be in great pain and could only stand on three legs, dragging one of its hind legs behind it.
A vet found the animal to be suffering from a fractured pelvis and had it destroyed. Jones admitted having ridden his horse from Warrington into St Helens and claimed that it had only gone lame on the journey.
However, an RSPCA inspector considered its injury to have been of long-standing due to wasting of the muscles near the horses' hip and a vet said he thought it had been "absolutely cruel to force the horse to walk".
Jones was ordered to pay a fine of 40 shillings and 20 shillings costs.
This week the Reporter wrote: "So serious is the unemployment in many of the towns of England, including St. Helens, that efforts are to be made to press upon the Government the urgent need for immediate relief."
The paper also described how William Roche had appeared in the Police Court in St Helens after a man's face had been "battered beyond recognition".
The incident had taken place on the corner of Salisbury Street and Church Street, with the victim being Thomas Norris who had lost a considerable amount of blood in the unprovoked attack.
The 37-year-old defendant of no fixed abode claimed to have been prompted by an angel to kill the devil so that he would go to heaven.
A witness called William Hill said he saw Roche accuse Thomas Norris of being Satan before viciously assaulting him.
Hill blew a police whistle that he kept on his person but before the police could arrive on the scene, two men had hauled Roche off his victim. Hill insisted that Norris had done nothing to the defendant.
The word schizophrenia had been coined in 1908 but the condition – if that was what Roche genuinely was suffering from – was still little understood. Roche was committed to the next Quarter Sessions for trial.
The Reporter also described the unveiling of another war memorial – this time inside the Sutton Road Methodist Church. There was a large congregation and the paper said it had been a "very impressive ceremony".
In the House of Commons this week James Sexton, the MP for St Helens, asked the Minister of Labour if he were aware that tenants of working-class dwellings in St Helens were being threatened with eviction for arrears incurred during the recent miners strike.
That was in spite of the fact that they were paying their current rent out of their unemployment benefit.
The minister was asked: "If in view of the shortage of houses and the poverty of these people, any steps could be taken by him to prevent this."
The reply was that the Government could not interfere, although the courts did have discretion over whether to grant eviction orders when rent was being paid.
They were buying the lads a wireless set in order that they could tune in to the new BBC station in Manchester that had recently gone on air.
However, there was no suggestion that the girls' school would be getting a radio.
Cowley boys tended to have better facilities than their female counterparts as they were being prepared for a career – whereas the girls were largely being prepared for marriage.
For the last few years trams had not been run on Christmas Day in St Helens in order to give the staff a day off.
Nobody seems to have minded but this week the Corporation's Tramways Committee announced that they were bringing back the Christmas Day service.
On the 9th Michael Matthews of Waterloo Street appeared in St Helens Police Court to deny a charge of committing a breach of the peace – and to criticise PC Dillon for the way he had spoken to him.
The officer's version of events was that at 10:30pm on the previous night, Matthews was in Water Street with three other men shouting and "using disgraceful language".
He asked the man to go home but he refused and instead walked further up the street to resume his shouting.
Michael Matthews recollected events rather differently. He said after seeing some friends at the corner of the street, he had simply asked them for a cigarette as the shops were closed and he had run out.
He lit the cigarette and was simply having a friendly argument with them about military service when the policeman approached him bellowing "Get out of it!"
His manner, Matthews said, was in a way that a Christian would not speak to a dog and he asked PC Dillon why he should be ordered away in such a manner and instead of explaining, the constable gave him a "peck in the neck". What with was not reported – but I doubt it had been a kiss!
The defendant had not brought his friends to court as witnesses and so it was his word against the officer and consequently Michael Matthews was bound over for 12 months.
And finally, these were the acts performing at the Hippodrome Music Hall in Corporation Street from the 11th:
Christopher & Columbus ("Smart acrobats and comedians"); Scott Argyle ("A fine comedian"); Basil King ("The ventriloquial monarch"); The Germaines ("Sensational whirlwind dancers"); Mirrie Leslie & Baby Watson ("Those two cute kids") and Eric Yorke & Simon Wery ("The popular tenor and the eminent pianist").
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next week's stories will include the Town Hall meeting over mental defectives, the upgrade to Boundary Road baths, the sheep stealing at Crank and Cholerton's announce that broadcasting has commenced.