IOO YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (11th - 17th OCTOBER 1921)
This week's stories include the dastardly attack by Communists on the St Helens' MP, the motorbike road racing in Eccleston, an update on the abandoned Rainford baby and the tragedy of a desperate out of work miner who accidentally drowned in the St Helens Canal.
We begin on the 11th in the St Helens County Sessions when John Stone from Heckmondwike, near Leeds, pleaded guilty to breaking into a gamekeeper's hut at Rainford and stealing a mackintosh. Superintendent Garvey told the court that the 15-year-old had run away from home in August and when he broke into the hut he had been accompanied by another lad. The pair then tramped to Kendal and parted. During his two months on the run the boy had been responsible for quite a crime wave of breaking and entering at numerous places.
His father was in court and said that John had previously been a good boy and he was willing to take him back. The St Helens magistrates decided to bind Stone over under sureties to guarantee his good behaviour, which his father would have to pay. However, the boy would have to face the music in all the other places that he had committed crimes and his father would probably have a lot more cash to stump up before his boy could come home.
I've previously discussed how many young men who were in work were obtaining motorbikes on hire purchase and causing the authorities great concern. This week a magistrate in Wallasey said: "Motorcyclists are running up and down the streets to the danger of the public, and they are a menace to the district. I hope the police will bring all these cases to the court, for nobody is safe in the public streets."
The police clampdown on speeding motorbikes was certainly well underway in St Helens. Also summoned to the County Sessions on the 11th were Thomas Lamb of Alfred Street and Albert Stringer of Warwick Street. Both men were accused of riding motor bicycles in a manner dangerous to the public in Eccleston.
Superintendent Garvey said both defendants were employed at the Prescot Wireworks and during their dinner hour and at teatime people living in Eccleston were "put into danger by these men rushing and racing along the roads". He said the police were determined to stop this "track racing" and two officers had been sent to the place to deal with it. Both men were given stiff warnings by the magistrates and fined £10 each.
The tragic circumstances that led to the drowning in the St Helens Canal of William Mulvanny were revealed at the man's inquest on the 11th. PC Walter Hall gave evidence that at 3:45pm on the previous Friday he had been observing the siding at the Sherdley glass bottle works of UGB when he saw a young man place some coal into a bag. The man then ran away but the constable said he returned thirty-five minutes later to collect his bag and so he arrested him for theft.
The offender would turn out to be William Mulvanny from Baker Street in Parr but he told the officer he was William Griffiths of Peasley Cross Lane. The constable and his prisoner then began the long walk along the canal bank to the police station at the Town Hall. Suddenly, the 28-year-old dropped the bag of coal and dived fully dressed into the cold water. The officer told the coroner that Mulvanny rose to the surface four or five yards from the bank and then commenced to swim to the other side.
After a short distance he turned on his back and commenced to float until he reached a bend in the canal where he shouted something that the constable could not make out. Mulvanny then sank and as PC Hall could not swim, he went in search of someone who could. A young man called James Varley immediately went into the water but was unable to find any sign of the drowned man. The police dragged the canal without success but some friends of Mulvanny were able to recover his body two days later. The coroner said he thought the deceased had been attempting to evade arrest rather than take his own life and revealed what had driven the desperate man to steal the coal in the first place.
William had been an out of work haulage hand at Sutton Manor Colliery with a wife and four children. Nine weeks earlier the authorities had discovered that he had been illegally claiming both unemployment benefit and what was called "relief". Once entitlement to benefit expired, family men (but not single men) could claim the subsistence allowance known as parish relief that the Prescot Guardians administered under the Poor Law. William's family's punishment for him claiming both benefits at the same time was to have them both stopped.
His widow told the inquest how she had been forced to sell off most of their furniture in order to survive. All they had left was a single bed that all six members of the family had slept in and a table. "I have had to do the best I can for the children," she said. Detective Constable Latus told the hearing that since the tragedy the police had arranged for Mrs Mulvanny to receive relief.
The coroner, Samuel Brighouse, said he was very sorry indeed for Mrs Mulvanny's loss in such sad circumstances. "One half of the world do not know how the other half live", he commented. The coroner kept a poor box for deserving cases and he gave Mrs Mulvanny £5, cautioning her not to spend the money foolishly on an expensive funeral but for the benefit of herself and the children.
On the 12th there was an update in the case of the abandoned baby that two Rainford miners had discovered last week in Mossborough Road. The "well-dressed and bonny infant" was about three months old and the police said they were trying to locate a motorcycle and sidecar containing a passenger that a witness had seen at the spot not long before the child was found. A photograph of the child was published in the papers, which was an unusual event.
On the 13th William Cunliffe of Haydock Road in Haydock was sent to prison for 14 days for obtaining relief by making a false statement. It was another case of desperation as the man was only receiving payments under the Poor Law of 25 shillings a week to support a wife and ten children. He had informed the local relieving officer that a daughter was earning 9 shillings a week but failed to declare that he was also receiving £2 2s 6d a week compensation as the result of an accident. Cunliffe told the court that he had done it "to provide something for my children."
I recently mentioned how the St Helens Labour MP James Sexton was very unpopular in some quarters. That was because he favoured a moderate course when there were so many extremist voices wanting him to espouse their cause. The Communists in particular loathed him and on the 15th Sexton addressed a meeting on the wasteland in Bridge Street in St Helens (where the New Savoy cinema would later be built). The local Labour party had called the gathering of 3,000 in order to discuss the devastating unemployment situation in the town.
As the "Borough Member" (as the St Helens Reporter always called him) was leaving the meeting, a large stone was thrown through the window of Sexton's car. Glass showered over both him and his sister but neither was hurt. The Reporter thought the stone had been aimed at Sexton's head and labelled the assault a "dastardly attack" and "deplorable incident". Later Sexton played down the episode and reports of uproar at the meeting, saying: "The gathering was an excellent one. There was a small element of opposition from a few Communists, but I spoke for an hour, and on the whole I never had a finer meeting."
However, the (Manchester) Guardian wrote that Sexton's friendship with Lord Derby had come under scrutiny inside the hall: "Throughout the meeting there was a noisy element on the outskirts of the crowd, and the chairman had repeatedly to appeal to the interrupters to give the speakers a hearing. Mr. Sexton had no sooner got on his feet than someone shouted out, “Where did you leave Lord Derby?” and again a little later came the cry, “What about Lord Derby?” “If the nobility you speak about had no better manners than yourself,” replied Mr. Sexton, “I would not wish to meet either you or them any time, but they can give you points in decency by listening to what a man has to say.”"
In the Reporter, Sexton was quoted as stating that the missile had been thrown at his sister: "Personally I would not have minded the attack if I had been by myself, but to deliberately attack a defenceless woman by throwing bricks at her is discreditable and cannot help any cause. Labour leaders as a rule do not expect bouquets; in fact, my experience has been more bricks than bouquets. But if bricks and stones are the only stock arguments of the Communists, which they appear to be, then their cause is lost before it is begun."
Next week's stories will include the unruly scenes in St Helens Town Hall as Communists and anti-Communists clash, the alcoholic woman saturated in spirits, the wife and niece-beating Westfield Street tobacconist, Charlie Chaplin's 'The Kid' comes to St Helens, Rainford's first public market and Lord Derby unveils Rainhill's war memorial.
We begin on the 11th in the St Helens County Sessions when John Stone from Heckmondwike, near Leeds, pleaded guilty to breaking into a gamekeeper's hut at Rainford and stealing a mackintosh. Superintendent Garvey told the court that the 15-year-old had run away from home in August and when he broke into the hut he had been accompanied by another lad. The pair then tramped to Kendal and parted. During his two months on the run the boy had been responsible for quite a crime wave of breaking and entering at numerous places.
His father was in court and said that John had previously been a good boy and he was willing to take him back. The St Helens magistrates decided to bind Stone over under sureties to guarantee his good behaviour, which his father would have to pay. However, the boy would have to face the music in all the other places that he had committed crimes and his father would probably have a lot more cash to stump up before his boy could come home.
I've previously discussed how many young men who were in work were obtaining motorbikes on hire purchase and causing the authorities great concern. This week a magistrate in Wallasey said: "Motorcyclists are running up and down the streets to the danger of the public, and they are a menace to the district. I hope the police will bring all these cases to the court, for nobody is safe in the public streets."
The police clampdown on speeding motorbikes was certainly well underway in St Helens. Also summoned to the County Sessions on the 11th were Thomas Lamb of Alfred Street and Albert Stringer of Warwick Street. Both men were accused of riding motor bicycles in a manner dangerous to the public in Eccleston.
Superintendent Garvey said both defendants were employed at the Prescot Wireworks and during their dinner hour and at teatime people living in Eccleston were "put into danger by these men rushing and racing along the roads". He said the police were determined to stop this "track racing" and two officers had been sent to the place to deal with it. Both men were given stiff warnings by the magistrates and fined £10 each.
The tragic circumstances that led to the drowning in the St Helens Canal of William Mulvanny were revealed at the man's inquest on the 11th. PC Walter Hall gave evidence that at 3:45pm on the previous Friday he had been observing the siding at the Sherdley glass bottle works of UGB when he saw a young man place some coal into a bag. The man then ran away but the constable said he returned thirty-five minutes later to collect his bag and so he arrested him for theft.
The offender would turn out to be William Mulvanny from Baker Street in Parr but he told the officer he was William Griffiths of Peasley Cross Lane. The constable and his prisoner then began the long walk along the canal bank to the police station at the Town Hall. Suddenly, the 28-year-old dropped the bag of coal and dived fully dressed into the cold water. The officer told the coroner that Mulvanny rose to the surface four or five yards from the bank and then commenced to swim to the other side.
After a short distance he turned on his back and commenced to float until he reached a bend in the canal where he shouted something that the constable could not make out. Mulvanny then sank and as PC Hall could not swim, he went in search of someone who could. A young man called James Varley immediately went into the water but was unable to find any sign of the drowned man. The police dragged the canal without success but some friends of Mulvanny were able to recover his body two days later. The coroner said he thought the deceased had been attempting to evade arrest rather than take his own life and revealed what had driven the desperate man to steal the coal in the first place.
William had been an out of work haulage hand at Sutton Manor Colliery with a wife and four children. Nine weeks earlier the authorities had discovered that he had been illegally claiming both unemployment benefit and what was called "relief". Once entitlement to benefit expired, family men (but not single men) could claim the subsistence allowance known as parish relief that the Prescot Guardians administered under the Poor Law. William's family's punishment for him claiming both benefits at the same time was to have them both stopped.
His widow told the inquest how she had been forced to sell off most of their furniture in order to survive. All they had left was a single bed that all six members of the family had slept in and a table. "I have had to do the best I can for the children," she said. Detective Constable Latus told the hearing that since the tragedy the police had arranged for Mrs Mulvanny to receive relief.
The coroner, Samuel Brighouse, said he was very sorry indeed for Mrs Mulvanny's loss in such sad circumstances. "One half of the world do not know how the other half live", he commented. The coroner kept a poor box for deserving cases and he gave Mrs Mulvanny £5, cautioning her not to spend the money foolishly on an expensive funeral but for the benefit of herself and the children.
On the 12th there was an update in the case of the abandoned baby that two Rainford miners had discovered last week in Mossborough Road. The "well-dressed and bonny infant" was about three months old and the police said they were trying to locate a motorcycle and sidecar containing a passenger that a witness had seen at the spot not long before the child was found. A photograph of the child was published in the papers, which was an unusual event.
On the 13th William Cunliffe of Haydock Road in Haydock was sent to prison for 14 days for obtaining relief by making a false statement. It was another case of desperation as the man was only receiving payments under the Poor Law of 25 shillings a week to support a wife and ten children. He had informed the local relieving officer that a daughter was earning 9 shillings a week but failed to declare that he was also receiving £2 2s 6d a week compensation as the result of an accident. Cunliffe told the court that he had done it "to provide something for my children."
Sir James Sexton MP and Sir Samuel Brighouse, coroner for South-west Lancashire
Sir James Sexton MP and Sir Samuel Brighouse
As the "Borough Member" (as the St Helens Reporter always called him) was leaving the meeting, a large stone was thrown through the window of Sexton's car. Glass showered over both him and his sister but neither was hurt. The Reporter thought the stone had been aimed at Sexton's head and labelled the assault a "dastardly attack" and "deplorable incident". Later Sexton played down the episode and reports of uproar at the meeting, saying: "The gathering was an excellent one. There was a small element of opposition from a few Communists, but I spoke for an hour, and on the whole I never had a finer meeting."
However, the (Manchester) Guardian wrote that Sexton's friendship with Lord Derby had come under scrutiny inside the hall: "Throughout the meeting there was a noisy element on the outskirts of the crowd, and the chairman had repeatedly to appeal to the interrupters to give the speakers a hearing. Mr. Sexton had no sooner got on his feet than someone shouted out, “Where did you leave Lord Derby?” and again a little later came the cry, “What about Lord Derby?” “If the nobility you speak about had no better manners than yourself,” replied Mr. Sexton, “I would not wish to meet either you or them any time, but they can give you points in decency by listening to what a man has to say.”"
In the Reporter, Sexton was quoted as stating that the missile had been thrown at his sister: "Personally I would not have minded the attack if I had been by myself, but to deliberately attack a defenceless woman by throwing bricks at her is discreditable and cannot help any cause. Labour leaders as a rule do not expect bouquets; in fact, my experience has been more bricks than bouquets. But if bricks and stones are the only stock arguments of the Communists, which they appear to be, then their cause is lost before it is begun."
Next week's stories will include the unruly scenes in St Helens Town Hall as Communists and anti-Communists clash, the alcoholic woman saturated in spirits, the wife and niece-beating Westfield Street tobacconist, Charlie Chaplin's 'The Kid' comes to St Helens, Rainford's first public market and Lord Derby unveils Rainhill's war memorial.
This week's stories include the dastardly attack by Communists on the St Helens' MP, the motorbike road racing in Eccleston, an update on the abandoned Rainford baby and the tragedy of a desperate out of work miner who accidentally drowned in the St Helens Canal.
We begin on the 11th in the St Helens County Sessions when John Stone from Heckmondwike, near Leeds, pleaded guilty to breaking into a gamekeeper's hut at Rainford and stealing a mackintosh.
Superintendent Garvey told the court that the 15-year-old had run away from home in August and when he broke into the hut he had been accompanied by another lad. The pair then tramped to Kendal and parted.
During his two months on the run the boy had been responsible for quite a crime wave of breaking and entering at numerous places.
His father was in court and said that John had previously been a good boy and he was willing to take him back.
The St Helens magistrates decided to bind Stone over under sureties to guarantee his good behaviour, which his father would have to pay.
However, the boy would have to face the music in all the other places that he had committed crimes and his father would probably have a lot more cash to stump up before his boy could come home.
I've previously discussed how many young men who were in work were obtaining motorbikes on hire purchase and causing the authorities great concern. This week a magistrate in Wallasey said:
"Motorcyclists are running up and down the streets to the danger of the public, and they are a menace to the district. I hope the police will bring all these cases to the court, for nobody is safe in the public streets."
The police clampdown on speeding motorbikes was certainly well underway in St Helens.
Also summoned to the County Sessions on the 11th were Thomas Lamb of Alfred Street and Albert Stringer of Warwick Street.
Both men were accused of riding motor bicycles in a manner dangerous to the public in Eccleston.
Superintendent Garvey said both defendants were employed at the Prescot Wireworks and during their dinner hour and at teatime people living in Eccleston were "put into danger by these men rushing and racing along the roads".
He said the police were determined to stop this "track racing" and two officers had been sent to the place to deal with it.
Both men were given stiff warnings by the magistrates and fined £10 each.
The tragic circumstances that led to the drowning in the St Helens Canal of William Mulvanny were revealed at the man's inquest on the 11th.
PC Walter Hall gave evidence that at 3:45pm on the previous Friday he had been observing the siding at the Sherdley glass bottle works of UGB when he saw a young man place some coal into a bag.
The man then ran away but the constable said he returned thirty-five minutes later to collect his bag and so he arrested him for theft.
The offender would turn out to be William Mulvanny from Baker Street in Parr but he told the officer he was William Griffiths of Peasley Cross Lane.
The constable and his prisoner then began the long walk along the canal bank to the police station at the Town Hall.
Suddenly, the 28-year-old dropped the bag of coal and dived fully dressed into the cold water.
The officer told the coroner that Mulvanny rose to the surface four or five yards from the bank and then commenced to swim to the other side.
After a short distance he turned on his back and commenced to float until he reached a bend in the canal where he shouted something that the constable could not make out.
Mulvanny then sank and as PC Hall could not swim, he went in search of someone who could.
A young man called James Varley immediately went into the water but was unable to find any sign of the drowned man.
The police dragged the canal without success but some friends of Mulvanny were able to recover his body two days later.
The coroner said he thought the deceased had been attempting to evade arrest rather than take his own life and revealed what had driven the desperate man to steal the coal in the first place.
William had been an out of work haulage hand at Sutton Manor Colliery with a wife and four children.
Nine weeks earlier the authorities had discovered that he had been illegally claiming both unemployment benefit and what was called "relief".
Once entitlement to benefit expired, family men (but not single men) could claim the subsistence allowance known as parish relief that the Prescot Guardians administered under the Poor Law.
William's family's punishment for him claiming both benefits at the same time was to have them both stopped.
His widow told the inquest how she had been forced to sell off most of their furniture in order to survive.
All they had left was a single bed that all six members of the family had slept in and a table.
"I have had to do the best I can for the children," she said.
Detective Constable Latus told the hearing that since the tragedy the police had arranged for Mrs Mulvanny to receive relief.
The coroner, Samuel Brighouse, said he was very sorry indeed for Mrs Mulvanny's loss in such sad circumstances.
"One half of the world do not know how the other half live", he commented.
The coroner kept a poor box for deserving cases and he gave Mrs Mulvanny £5, cautioning her not to spend the money foolishly on an expensive funeral but for the benefit of herself and the children.
On the 12th there was an update in the case of the abandoned baby that two Rainford miners had discovered last week in Mossborough Road.
The "well-dressed and bonny infant" was about three months old and the police said they were trying to locate a motorcycle and sidecar containing a passenger that a witness had seen at the spot not long before the child was found.
A photograph of the child was published in the papers, which was an unusual event.
On the 13th William Cunliffe of Haydock Road in Haydock was sent to prison for 14 days for obtaining relief by making a false statement.
It was another case of desperation as the man was only receiving payments under the Poor Law of 25 shillings a week to support a wife and ten children.
He had informed the local relieving officer that a daughter was earning 9 shillings a week but failed to declare that he was also receiving £2 2s 6d a week compensation as the result of an accident.
Cunliffe told the court that he had done it "to provide something for my children."
I recently mentioned how the St Helens Labour MP James Sexton was very unpopular in some quarters.
That was because he favoured a moderate course when there were so many extremist voices wanting him to espouse their cause.
The Communists in particular loathed him and on the 15th Sexton addressed a meeting on the wasteland in Bridge Street in St Helens (where the New Savoy cinema would later be built).
The local Labour party had called the gathering of 3,000 in order to discuss the devastating unemployment situation in the town.
As the "Borough Member" (as the St Helens Reporter always called him) was leaving the meeting, a large stone was thrown through the window of Sexton's car.
Glass showered over both him and his sister but neither was hurt. The Reporter thought the stone had been aimed at Sexton's head and labelled the assault a "dastardly attack" and "deplorable incident".
Later Sexton played down the episode and reports of uproar at the meeting, saying:
"The gathering was an excellent one. There was a small element of opposition from a few Communists, but I spoke for an hour, and on the whole I never had a finer meeting."
However, the (Manchester) Guardian wrote that Sexton's friendship with Lord Derby had come under scrutiny inside the hall:
"Throughout the meeting there was a noisy element on the outskirts of the crowd, and the chairman had repeatedly to appeal to the interrupters to give the speakers a hearing.
"Mr. Sexton had no sooner got on his feet than someone shouted out, “Where did you leave Lord Derby?” and again a little later came the cry, “What about Lord Derby?”
"“If the nobility you speak about had no better manners than yourself,” replied Mr. Sexton, “I would not wish to meet either you or them any time, but they can give you points in decency by listening to what a man has to say.”"
In the Reporter, Sexton was quoted as stating that the missile had been thrown at his sister:
"Personally I would not have minded the attack if I had been by myself, but to deliberately attack a defenceless woman by throwing bricks at her is discreditable and cannot help any cause.
"Labour leaders as a rule do not expect bouquets; in fact, my experience has been more bricks than bouquets. But if bricks and stones are the only stock arguments of the Communists, which they appear to be, then their cause is lost before it is begun."
Next week's stories will include the unruly scenes in St Helens Town Hall as Communists and anti-Communists clash, the alcoholic woman saturated in spirits, the wife and niece-beating Westfield Street tobacconist, Charlie Chaplin's 'The Kid' comes to St Helens, Rainford's first public market and Lord Derby unveils Rainhill's war memorial.
We begin on the 11th in the St Helens County Sessions when John Stone from Heckmondwike, near Leeds, pleaded guilty to breaking into a gamekeeper's hut at Rainford and stealing a mackintosh.
Superintendent Garvey told the court that the 15-year-old had run away from home in August and when he broke into the hut he had been accompanied by another lad. The pair then tramped to Kendal and parted.
During his two months on the run the boy had been responsible for quite a crime wave of breaking and entering at numerous places.
His father was in court and said that John had previously been a good boy and he was willing to take him back.
The St Helens magistrates decided to bind Stone over under sureties to guarantee his good behaviour, which his father would have to pay.
However, the boy would have to face the music in all the other places that he had committed crimes and his father would probably have a lot more cash to stump up before his boy could come home.
I've previously discussed how many young men who were in work were obtaining motorbikes on hire purchase and causing the authorities great concern. This week a magistrate in Wallasey said:
"Motorcyclists are running up and down the streets to the danger of the public, and they are a menace to the district. I hope the police will bring all these cases to the court, for nobody is safe in the public streets."
The police clampdown on speeding motorbikes was certainly well underway in St Helens.
Also summoned to the County Sessions on the 11th were Thomas Lamb of Alfred Street and Albert Stringer of Warwick Street.
Both men were accused of riding motor bicycles in a manner dangerous to the public in Eccleston.
Superintendent Garvey said both defendants were employed at the Prescot Wireworks and during their dinner hour and at teatime people living in Eccleston were "put into danger by these men rushing and racing along the roads".
He said the police were determined to stop this "track racing" and two officers had been sent to the place to deal with it.
Both men were given stiff warnings by the magistrates and fined £10 each.
The tragic circumstances that led to the drowning in the St Helens Canal of William Mulvanny were revealed at the man's inquest on the 11th.
PC Walter Hall gave evidence that at 3:45pm on the previous Friday he had been observing the siding at the Sherdley glass bottle works of UGB when he saw a young man place some coal into a bag.
The man then ran away but the constable said he returned thirty-five minutes later to collect his bag and so he arrested him for theft.
The offender would turn out to be William Mulvanny from Baker Street in Parr but he told the officer he was William Griffiths of Peasley Cross Lane.
The constable and his prisoner then began the long walk along the canal bank to the police station at the Town Hall.
Suddenly, the 28-year-old dropped the bag of coal and dived fully dressed into the cold water.
The officer told the coroner that Mulvanny rose to the surface four or five yards from the bank and then commenced to swim to the other side.
After a short distance he turned on his back and commenced to float until he reached a bend in the canal where he shouted something that the constable could not make out.
Mulvanny then sank and as PC Hall could not swim, he went in search of someone who could.
A young man called James Varley immediately went into the water but was unable to find any sign of the drowned man.
The police dragged the canal without success but some friends of Mulvanny were able to recover his body two days later.
The coroner said he thought the deceased had been attempting to evade arrest rather than take his own life and revealed what had driven the desperate man to steal the coal in the first place.
William had been an out of work haulage hand at Sutton Manor Colliery with a wife and four children.
Nine weeks earlier the authorities had discovered that he had been illegally claiming both unemployment benefit and what was called "relief".
Once entitlement to benefit expired, family men (but not single men) could claim the subsistence allowance known as parish relief that the Prescot Guardians administered under the Poor Law.
William's family's punishment for him claiming both benefits at the same time was to have them both stopped.
His widow told the inquest how she had been forced to sell off most of their furniture in order to survive.
All they had left was a single bed that all six members of the family had slept in and a table.
"I have had to do the best I can for the children," she said.
Detective Constable Latus told the hearing that since the tragedy the police had arranged for Mrs Mulvanny to receive relief.
The coroner, Samuel Brighouse, said he was very sorry indeed for Mrs Mulvanny's loss in such sad circumstances.
"One half of the world do not know how the other half live", he commented.
The coroner kept a poor box for deserving cases and he gave Mrs Mulvanny £5, cautioning her not to spend the money foolishly on an expensive funeral but for the benefit of herself and the children.
On the 12th there was an update in the case of the abandoned baby that two Rainford miners had discovered last week in Mossborough Road.
The "well-dressed and bonny infant" was about three months old and the police said they were trying to locate a motorcycle and sidecar containing a passenger that a witness had seen at the spot not long before the child was found.
A photograph of the child was published in the papers, which was an unusual event.
On the 13th William Cunliffe of Haydock Road in Haydock was sent to prison for 14 days for obtaining relief by making a false statement.
It was another case of desperation as the man was only receiving payments under the Poor Law of 25 shillings a week to support a wife and ten children.
He had informed the local relieving officer that a daughter was earning 9 shillings a week but failed to declare that he was also receiving £2 2s 6d a week compensation as the result of an accident.
Cunliffe told the court that he had done it "to provide something for my children."
Sir James Sexton & Sir Samuel Brighouse
That was because he favoured a moderate course when there were so many extremist voices wanting him to espouse their cause.
The Communists in particular loathed him and on the 15th Sexton addressed a meeting on the wasteland in Bridge Street in St Helens (where the New Savoy cinema would later be built).
The local Labour party had called the gathering of 3,000 in order to discuss the devastating unemployment situation in the town.
As the "Borough Member" (as the St Helens Reporter always called him) was leaving the meeting, a large stone was thrown through the window of Sexton's car.
Glass showered over both him and his sister but neither was hurt. The Reporter thought the stone had been aimed at Sexton's head and labelled the assault a "dastardly attack" and "deplorable incident".
Later Sexton played down the episode and reports of uproar at the meeting, saying:
"The gathering was an excellent one. There was a small element of opposition from a few Communists, but I spoke for an hour, and on the whole I never had a finer meeting."
However, the (Manchester) Guardian wrote that Sexton's friendship with Lord Derby had come under scrutiny inside the hall:
"Throughout the meeting there was a noisy element on the outskirts of the crowd, and the chairman had repeatedly to appeal to the interrupters to give the speakers a hearing.
"Mr. Sexton had no sooner got on his feet than someone shouted out, “Where did you leave Lord Derby?” and again a little later came the cry, “What about Lord Derby?”
"“If the nobility you speak about had no better manners than yourself,” replied Mr. Sexton, “I would not wish to meet either you or them any time, but they can give you points in decency by listening to what a man has to say.”"
In the Reporter, Sexton was quoted as stating that the missile had been thrown at his sister:
"Personally I would not have minded the attack if I had been by myself, but to deliberately attack a defenceless woman by throwing bricks at her is discreditable and cannot help any cause.
"Labour leaders as a rule do not expect bouquets; in fact, my experience has been more bricks than bouquets. But if bricks and stones are the only stock arguments of the Communists, which they appear to be, then their cause is lost before it is begun."
Next week's stories will include the unruly scenes in St Helens Town Hall as Communists and anti-Communists clash, the alcoholic woman saturated in spirits, the wife and niece-beating Westfield Street tobacconist, Charlie Chaplin's 'The Kid' comes to St Helens, Rainford's first public market and Lord Derby unveils Rainhill's war memorial.