IOO YEARS AGO THIS WEEK 12 - 18 AUGUST 1924
This week's many stories include the new-born baby found in the canal, the runaway trailer in Bridge Street that smashed into a baby's pram, the Clock Face Colliery bandsman who pawned his cornet, the comic account of a Parr coal stealer's thwarted arrest and the silly neighbourly squabble in Bramwell Street in Parr.
We begin on the 12th when the inquest into the death of a new-born baby was held at St Helens Town Hall. A schoolboy called William Fairclough explained how he had been walking along the towpath of the canal in Pocket Nook when he saw the child's body floating in the water and immediately ran to inform Det Con Maddocks of his grisly find.
The body had been wrapped up in a skirt and covered by a newspaper dated July 5th. A police surgeon gave evidence that the body had probably been in the water between ten days and two weeks and added there had been nothing to show if the child had had what was known as a "separate existence" from the mother. That mattered because disposing of a stillborn baby in the canal was still a crime – but far less serious than if the child had died through neglect or been killed.
It would be an important distinction in any prosecution of the child's mother. But that was totally academic, as it was extremely unlikely that what had probably been a very young single woman ignorant of the ways of the world would ever be traced. And DC Maddocks told the coroner that the police had made thorough enquiries but had not been able to locate the mother.
Ten more magistrates for the St Helens Bench were announced this week taking the total to 48. They were the first additions since July 1920 when women were initially appointed to the Bench. Then three females were added to the magisterial list but out of the new batch only one was a woman. And so out of the 48 magistrates, 44 of them were men. And curiously these included bosses at both of the town's newspapers!
Alfred Dromgoole of Regent Road was one of the owners of the St Helens Newspaper and William Gentry of Rainford Road was the editor of the Reporter. And there was also an MP on the new Bench, as Joe Tinker of Wolseley Road in St Helens was MP for Leigh. The new woman magistrate, by the way, was Mary McFarlane of Standish Street.
I have reported on several occasions prosecutions for what was known as stealing by finding. When Harold Taylor appeared in court this week his case might be summed up as "stealing by not returning". That was because he had for 12 months been a member of the Clock Face Colliery Band (pictured above) but after losing his job at the mine had failed to return his cornet. In fact Taylor from Blinkhorn Street in Sutton had gone one step further by taking his instrument to a pawnshop. The cornet had been valued at 14 guineas and loaned to him on the understanding that he must return it if he left the band. In court Taylor was fined £5.
There were regular foot and mouth scares and this week it was announced that due to a case of the disease being diagnosed not far away from St Helens, the movement of cattle from the town could only be undertaken by licence.
On the 14th what was described as the annual picnic of the St Helens, Widnes and District Licensed Victuallers Association took place with Blackpool this year's venue. I wonder if they went on a pub crawl?
There were many heavy vehicles on the roads of St Helens and although their bodies were not as long as today, their length was often extended through the use of trailers. Samuel Brighouse, who conducted most inquests in St Helens, had in 1921 criticised the extensive use of trailers highlighting them as a safety risk, saying: "Drivers are boxed up in front of the motor-lorry, and when a trailer is attached anything can happen, and no one on the lorry knows anything about it."
In this week's St Helens Reporter published on the 15th, the paper described how a child had had a narrow escape from a runaway trailer. The incident had occurred in Bridge Street about 5 o’clock one afternoon when a heavy motor was proceeding down the street. After first smashing the lower part of a tram standard, the trailer had run onto the pavement and crushed a baby's "perambulator" against a wall.
A passer-by had recognised the danger and had dragged the mother of little Kenneth Tebbutt into a shop doorway. But the pram that the 16-month-old child was sat in could not be got out of the way of the trailer in time and it took a direct hit and was "smashed up". The Reporter wrote:
"To the surprise of the people who went to the rescue, the child was found alive amid the ruins of the perambulator, but its left arm was seriously injured. It was at once taken to the Providence Hospital, where it was found necessary to put a number of stitches in the baby's arm, but the child was in a critical condition. Mrs. Tebbutt had a very narrow escape."
The phrase "Back To School" was yet to be used in August clothing and shoes adverts in the Reporter. Tyrer's then in Liverpool Road in St Helens and Eccleston Street in Prescot preferred to headline their ad in this week's paper "The Schoolboy Rush", writing:
"Is your boy prepared for his return to school? If not, W. T. Tyrer & Sons are. Lines we have in stock for the “School Boy” rush: Boys' Suits, All-wool 17/9; Boys' Suits, Strong Tweeds 15/10; Strong School Knickers from 3/3."
The Reporter published a letter that claimed that an unnamed former soldier who was blind in one eye and only had one arm was being denied work in St Helens by trade unions. Exactly why was not stated but the author of the letter wrote:
"I write on behalf of a soldier who is both blind and maimed, who is being persecuted and victimised by trade union members. …Thousands of families in our town lost their bread-winners [during WW1]. Others got them back, blind, broken, and maimed, and no sensible man or woman would rob them of the right to work and live."
George Walkden of Littlers Court in St Helens appeared in court this week charged with obstructing the police. The case was in connection with attempted coal stealing from Ashtons Green Colliery in Parr (pictured above) and the Reporter painted this comical picture of what had occurred:
"A woman was watching some coal (and helping herself to it) at a waste heap belonging to Messrs. Bromilow, Foster and Co. P.C. Drysdale, in plain-clothes, was watching the woman. Geo. Walkden was watching the policeman. Watching Walkden were the people in the street. Just as the constable was about to walk the woman off, Walkden walked behind him, gave a wild whistle, and waved his arms wildly to the woman, who executed a strategic retreat, leaving a sack of coal behind.
"The policeman walked up to Walkden, and told him he would be reported. Walkden gave a demonstration to the magistrates of his whistle, which was no louder than a consumptive canary's. The magistrates refused to believe him. Walkden added that the constable must have had good eyesight, as he watched him from behind a house, and therefore he could not see through it. Sequel, a fine of 20s."
The silly rows between neighbours were continuing to end up in court with summonses and counter-summons being issued by both warring parties. On the 15th Mary Birch appeared in St Helens Police Court after Catherine Harrison had accused her next-door neighbour from Bramwell Street in Parr of breaching the peace. Unusually, Mrs Birch pleaded guilty but she brought her own cross-summons against Mrs Harrison.
The latter's solicitor told the court that his client was employed at Forsters Glass Works in Pocket Nook during the day and did her housework at night. On one evening when Mrs Harrison was coming home from work, Mrs Birch was standing at her front door and she began shouting at her. Later that evening the woman was alleged to have used threatening and obscene language towards Mrs Harrison and then afterwards she created another disturbance.
However, what Mrs Harrison and her solicitor had failed to mention was that she had started the rumpus on that day by passing comment on the funeral of Mrs Birch's mother. That was what had enraged her next-door neighbour so much. And so the magistrates did what they often did in such circumstances, declare the whole thing a score draw and bind both parties over to keep the peace for six months.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the workshop for the blind in St Helens, the double wedding that ended with an accident, typhus breaks out in St Helens and the actress prosecuted for leaving her car engine running outside St Helens post office.
We begin on the 12th when the inquest into the death of a new-born baby was held at St Helens Town Hall. A schoolboy called William Fairclough explained how he had been walking along the towpath of the canal in Pocket Nook when he saw the child's body floating in the water and immediately ran to inform Det Con Maddocks of his grisly find.
The body had been wrapped up in a skirt and covered by a newspaper dated July 5th. A police surgeon gave evidence that the body had probably been in the water between ten days and two weeks and added there had been nothing to show if the child had had what was known as a "separate existence" from the mother. That mattered because disposing of a stillborn baby in the canal was still a crime – but far less serious than if the child had died through neglect or been killed.
It would be an important distinction in any prosecution of the child's mother. But that was totally academic, as it was extremely unlikely that what had probably been a very young single woman ignorant of the ways of the world would ever be traced. And DC Maddocks told the coroner that the police had made thorough enquiries but had not been able to locate the mother.
Ten more magistrates for the St Helens Bench were announced this week taking the total to 48. They were the first additions since July 1920 when women were initially appointed to the Bench. Then three females were added to the magisterial list but out of the new batch only one was a woman. And so out of the 48 magistrates, 44 of them were men. And curiously these included bosses at both of the town's newspapers!
Alfred Dromgoole of Regent Road was one of the owners of the St Helens Newspaper and William Gentry of Rainford Road was the editor of the Reporter. And there was also an MP on the new Bench, as Joe Tinker of Wolseley Road in St Helens was MP for Leigh. The new woman magistrate, by the way, was Mary McFarlane of Standish Street.
There were regular foot and mouth scares and this week it was announced that due to a case of the disease being diagnosed not far away from St Helens, the movement of cattle from the town could only be undertaken by licence.
On the 14th what was described as the annual picnic of the St Helens, Widnes and District Licensed Victuallers Association took place with Blackpool this year's venue. I wonder if they went on a pub crawl?
There were many heavy vehicles on the roads of St Helens and although their bodies were not as long as today, their length was often extended through the use of trailers. Samuel Brighouse, who conducted most inquests in St Helens, had in 1921 criticised the extensive use of trailers highlighting them as a safety risk, saying: "Drivers are boxed up in front of the motor-lorry, and when a trailer is attached anything can happen, and no one on the lorry knows anything about it."
In this week's St Helens Reporter published on the 15th, the paper described how a child had had a narrow escape from a runaway trailer. The incident had occurred in Bridge Street about 5 o’clock one afternoon when a heavy motor was proceeding down the street. After first smashing the lower part of a tram standard, the trailer had run onto the pavement and crushed a baby's "perambulator" against a wall.
A passer-by had recognised the danger and had dragged the mother of little Kenneth Tebbutt into a shop doorway. But the pram that the 16-month-old child was sat in could not be got out of the way of the trailer in time and it took a direct hit and was "smashed up". The Reporter wrote:
"To the surprise of the people who went to the rescue, the child was found alive amid the ruins of the perambulator, but its left arm was seriously injured. It was at once taken to the Providence Hospital, where it was found necessary to put a number of stitches in the baby's arm, but the child was in a critical condition. Mrs. Tebbutt had a very narrow escape."
The phrase "Back To School" was yet to be used in August clothing and shoes adverts in the Reporter. Tyrer's then in Liverpool Road in St Helens and Eccleston Street in Prescot preferred to headline their ad in this week's paper "The Schoolboy Rush", writing:
"Is your boy prepared for his return to school? If not, W. T. Tyrer & Sons are. Lines we have in stock for the “School Boy” rush: Boys' Suits, All-wool 17/9; Boys' Suits, Strong Tweeds 15/10; Strong School Knickers from 3/3."
The Reporter published a letter that claimed that an unnamed former soldier who was blind in one eye and only had one arm was being denied work in St Helens by trade unions. Exactly why was not stated but the author of the letter wrote:
"I write on behalf of a soldier who is both blind and maimed, who is being persecuted and victimised by trade union members. …Thousands of families in our town lost their bread-winners [during WW1]. Others got them back, blind, broken, and maimed, and no sensible man or woman would rob them of the right to work and live."
"A woman was watching some coal (and helping herself to it) at a waste heap belonging to Messrs. Bromilow, Foster and Co. P.C. Drysdale, in plain-clothes, was watching the woman. Geo. Walkden was watching the policeman. Watching Walkden were the people in the street. Just as the constable was about to walk the woman off, Walkden walked behind him, gave a wild whistle, and waved his arms wildly to the woman, who executed a strategic retreat, leaving a sack of coal behind.
"The policeman walked up to Walkden, and told him he would be reported. Walkden gave a demonstration to the magistrates of his whistle, which was no louder than a consumptive canary's. The magistrates refused to believe him. Walkden added that the constable must have had good eyesight, as he watched him from behind a house, and therefore he could not see through it. Sequel, a fine of 20s."
The silly rows between neighbours were continuing to end up in court with summonses and counter-summons being issued by both warring parties. On the 15th Mary Birch appeared in St Helens Police Court after Catherine Harrison had accused her next-door neighbour from Bramwell Street in Parr of breaching the peace. Unusually, Mrs Birch pleaded guilty but she brought her own cross-summons against Mrs Harrison.
The latter's solicitor told the court that his client was employed at Forsters Glass Works in Pocket Nook during the day and did her housework at night. On one evening when Mrs Harrison was coming home from work, Mrs Birch was standing at her front door and she began shouting at her. Later that evening the woman was alleged to have used threatening and obscene language towards Mrs Harrison and then afterwards she created another disturbance.
However, what Mrs Harrison and her solicitor had failed to mention was that she had started the rumpus on that day by passing comment on the funeral of Mrs Birch's mother. That was what had enraged her next-door neighbour so much. And so the magistrates did what they often did in such circumstances, declare the whole thing a score draw and bind both parties over to keep the peace for six months.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the workshop for the blind in St Helens, the double wedding that ended with an accident, typhus breaks out in St Helens and the actress prosecuted for leaving her car engine running outside St Helens post office.
This week's many stories include the new-born baby found in the canal, the runaway trailer in Bridge Street that smashed into a baby's pram, the Clock Face Colliery bandsman who pawned his cornet, the comic account of a Parr coal stealer's thwarted arrest and the silly neighbourly squabble in Bramwell Street in Parr.
We begin on the 12th when the inquest into the death of a new-born baby was held at St Helens Town Hall.
A schoolboy called William Fairclough explained how he had been walking along the towpath of the canal in Pocket Nook when he saw the child's body floating in the water and immediately ran to inform Det Con Maddocks of his grisly find.
The body had been wrapped up in a skirt and covered by a newspaper dated July 5th.
A police surgeon gave evidence that the body had probably been in the water between ten days and two weeks and added there had been nothing to show if the child had had what was known as a "separate existence" from the mother.
That mattered because disposing of a stillborn baby in the canal was still a crime – but far less serious than if the child had died through neglect or been killed.
It would be an important distinction in any prosecution of the child's mother. But that was totally academic, as it was extremely unlikely that what had probably been a very young single woman ignorant of the ways of the world would ever be traced.
And DC Maddocks told the coroner that the police had made thorough enquiries but had not been able to locate the mother.
Ten more magistrates for the St Helens Bench were announced this week taking the total to 48.
They were the first additions since July 1920 when women were initially appointed to the Bench.
Then three females were added to the magisterial list but out of the new batch only one was a woman. And so out of the 48 magistrates, 44 of them were men.
And curiously these included bosses at both of the town's newspapers!
Alfred Dromgoole of Regent Road was one of the owners of the St Helens Newspaper and William Gentry of Rainford Road was the editor of the Reporter.
And there was also an MP on the new Bench, as Joe Tinker of Wolseley Road in St Helens was MP for Leigh.
The new woman magistrate, by the way, was Mary McFarlane of Standish Street.
I have reported on several occasions prosecutions for what was known as stealing by finding.
When Harold Taylor appeared in court this week his case might be summed up as "stealing by not returning".
That was because he had for 12 months been a member of the Clock Face Colliery Band (pictured above) but after losing his job at the mine had failed to return his cornet.
In fact Taylor from Blinkhorn Street in Sutton had gone one step further by taking his instrument to a pawnshop.
The cornet had been valued at 14 guineas and loaned to him on the understanding that he must return it if he left the band. In court Taylor was fined £5.
There were regular foot and mouth scares and this week it was announced that due to a case of the disease being diagnosed not far away from St Helens, the movement of cattle from the town could only be undertaken by licence.
On the 14th what was described as the annual picnic of the St Helens, Widnes and District Licensed Victuallers Association took place with Blackpool this year's venue. I wonder if they went on a pub crawl?
There were many heavy vehicles on the roads of St Helens and although their bodies were not as long as today, their length was often extended through the use of trailers.
Samuel Brighouse, who conducted most inquests in St Helens, had in 1921 criticised the extensive use of trailers highlighting them as a safety risk, saying:
"Drivers are boxed up in front of the motor-lorry, and when a trailer is attached anything can happen, and no one on the lorry knows anything about it."
In this week's St Helens Reporter published on the 15th, the paper described how a child had had a narrow escape from a runaway trailer.
The incident had occurred in Bridge Street about 5 o’clock one afternoon when a heavy motor was proceeding down the street.
After first smashing the lower part of a tram standard, the trailer had run onto the pavement and crushed a baby's "perambulator" against a wall.
A passer-by had recognised the danger and had dragged the mother of little Kenneth Tebbutt into a shop doorway.
But the pram that the 16-month-old child was sat in could not be got out of the way of the trailer in time and it took a direct hit and was "smashed up". The Reporter wrote:
"To the surprise of the people who went to the rescue, the child was found alive amid the ruins of the perambulator, but its left arm was seriously injured.
"It was at once taken to the Providence Hospital, where it was found necessary to put a number of stitches in the baby's arm, but the child was in a critical condition. Mrs. Tebbutt had a very narrow escape."
The phrase "Back To School" was yet to be used in August clothing and shoes adverts in the Reporter.
Tyrer's then in Liverpool Road in St Helens and Eccleston Street in Prescot preferred to headline their ad in this week's paper "The Schoolboy Rush", writing:
"Is your boy prepared for his return to school? If not, W. T. Tyrer & Sons are. Lines we have in stock for the “School Boy” rush:
Boys' Suits, All-wool 17/9
Boys' Suits, Strong Tweeds 15/10
Strong School Knickers from 3/3."
The Reporter published a letter that claimed that an unnamed former soldier who was blind in one eye and only had one arm was being denied work in St Helens by trade unions.
Exactly why was not stated but the author of the letter wrote:
"I write on behalf of a soldier who is both blind and maimed, who is being persecuted and victimised by trade union members.
"…Thousands of families in our town lost their bread-winners [during WW1]. Others got them back, blind, broken, and maimed, and no sensible man or woman would rob them of the right to work and live."
George Walkden of Littlers Court in St Helens appeared in court this week charged with obstructing the police.
The case was in connection with attempted coal stealing from Ashtons Green Colliery in Parr (shown above) and the Reporter painted this comical picture of what had occurred:
"A woman was watching some coal (and helping herself to it) at a waste heap belonging to Messrs. Bromilow, Foster and Co. P.C. Drysdale, in plain-clothes, was watching the woman.
"Geo. Walkden was watching the policeman. Watching Walkden were the people in the street.
"Just as the constable was about to walk the woman off, Walkden walked behind him, gave a wild whistle, and waved his arms wildly to the woman, who executed a strategic retreat, leaving a sack of coal behind.
"The policeman walked up to Walkden, and told him he would be reported. Walkden gave a demonstration to the magistrates of his whistle, which was no louder than a consumptive canary's.
"The magistrates refused to believe him. Walkden added that the constable must have had good eyesight, as he watched him from behind a house, and therefore he could not see through it. Sequel, a fine of 20s."
The silly rows between neighbours were continuing to end up in court with summonses and counter-summons being issued by both warring parties.
On the 15th Mary Birch appeared in St Helens Police Court after Catherine Harrison had accused her next-door neighbour from Bramwell Street in Parr of breaching the peace.
Unusually, Mrs Birch pleaded guilty but she brought her own cross-summons against Mrs Harrison.
The latter's solicitor told the court that his client was employed at Forsters Glass Works in Pocket Nook during the day and did her housework at night.
On one evening when Mrs Harrison was coming home from work, Mrs Birch was standing at her front door and she began shouting at her.
Later that evening the woman was alleged to have used threatening and obscene language towards Mrs Harrison and then afterwards she created another disturbance.
However, what Mrs Harrison and her solicitor had failed to mention was that she had started the rumpus on that day by passing comment on the funeral of Mrs Birch's mother.
That was what had enraged her next-door neighbour so much.
And so the magistrates did what they often did in such circumstances, declare the whole thing a score draw and bind both parties over to keep the peace for six months.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the workshop for the blind in St Helens, the double wedding that ended with an accident, typhus breaks out in St Helens and the actress prosecuted for leaving her car engine running outside St Helens post office.
We begin on the 12th when the inquest into the death of a new-born baby was held at St Helens Town Hall.
A schoolboy called William Fairclough explained how he had been walking along the towpath of the canal in Pocket Nook when he saw the child's body floating in the water and immediately ran to inform Det Con Maddocks of his grisly find.
The body had been wrapped up in a skirt and covered by a newspaper dated July 5th.
A police surgeon gave evidence that the body had probably been in the water between ten days and two weeks and added there had been nothing to show if the child had had what was known as a "separate existence" from the mother.
That mattered because disposing of a stillborn baby in the canal was still a crime – but far less serious than if the child had died through neglect or been killed.
It would be an important distinction in any prosecution of the child's mother. But that was totally academic, as it was extremely unlikely that what had probably been a very young single woman ignorant of the ways of the world would ever be traced.
And DC Maddocks told the coroner that the police had made thorough enquiries but had not been able to locate the mother.
Ten more magistrates for the St Helens Bench were announced this week taking the total to 48.
They were the first additions since July 1920 when women were initially appointed to the Bench.
Then three females were added to the magisterial list but out of the new batch only one was a woman. And so out of the 48 magistrates, 44 of them were men.
And curiously these included bosses at both of the town's newspapers!
Alfred Dromgoole of Regent Road was one of the owners of the St Helens Newspaper and William Gentry of Rainford Road was the editor of the Reporter.
And there was also an MP on the new Bench, as Joe Tinker of Wolseley Road in St Helens was MP for Leigh.
The new woman magistrate, by the way, was Mary McFarlane of Standish Street.
I have reported on several occasions prosecutions for what was known as stealing by finding.
When Harold Taylor appeared in court this week his case might be summed up as "stealing by not returning".
In fact Taylor from Blinkhorn Street in Sutton had gone one step further by taking his instrument to a pawnshop.
The cornet had been valued at 14 guineas and loaned to him on the understanding that he must return it if he left the band. In court Taylor was fined £5.
There were regular foot and mouth scares and this week it was announced that due to a case of the disease being diagnosed not far away from St Helens, the movement of cattle from the town could only be undertaken by licence.
On the 14th what was described as the annual picnic of the St Helens, Widnes and District Licensed Victuallers Association took place with Blackpool this year's venue. I wonder if they went on a pub crawl?
There were many heavy vehicles on the roads of St Helens and although their bodies were not as long as today, their length was often extended through the use of trailers.
Samuel Brighouse, who conducted most inquests in St Helens, had in 1921 criticised the extensive use of trailers highlighting them as a safety risk, saying:
"Drivers are boxed up in front of the motor-lorry, and when a trailer is attached anything can happen, and no one on the lorry knows anything about it."
In this week's St Helens Reporter published on the 15th, the paper described how a child had had a narrow escape from a runaway trailer.
The incident had occurred in Bridge Street about 5 o’clock one afternoon when a heavy motor was proceeding down the street.
After first smashing the lower part of a tram standard, the trailer had run onto the pavement and crushed a baby's "perambulator" against a wall.
A passer-by had recognised the danger and had dragged the mother of little Kenneth Tebbutt into a shop doorway.
But the pram that the 16-month-old child was sat in could not be got out of the way of the trailer in time and it took a direct hit and was "smashed up". The Reporter wrote:
"To the surprise of the people who went to the rescue, the child was found alive amid the ruins of the perambulator, but its left arm was seriously injured.
"It was at once taken to the Providence Hospital, where it was found necessary to put a number of stitches in the baby's arm, but the child was in a critical condition. Mrs. Tebbutt had a very narrow escape."
The phrase "Back To School" was yet to be used in August clothing and shoes adverts in the Reporter.
Tyrer's then in Liverpool Road in St Helens and Eccleston Street in Prescot preferred to headline their ad in this week's paper "The Schoolboy Rush", writing:
"Is your boy prepared for his return to school? If not, W. T. Tyrer & Sons are. Lines we have in stock for the “School Boy” rush:
Boys' Suits, All-wool 17/9
Boys' Suits, Strong Tweeds 15/10
Strong School Knickers from 3/3."
The Reporter published a letter that claimed that an unnamed former soldier who was blind in one eye and only had one arm was being denied work in St Helens by trade unions.
Exactly why was not stated but the author of the letter wrote:
"I write on behalf of a soldier who is both blind and maimed, who is being persecuted and victimised by trade union members.
"…Thousands of families in our town lost their bread-winners [during WW1]. Others got them back, blind, broken, and maimed, and no sensible man or woman would rob them of the right to work and live."
George Walkden of Littlers Court in St Helens appeared in court this week charged with obstructing the police.
"A woman was watching some coal (and helping herself to it) at a waste heap belonging to Messrs. Bromilow, Foster and Co. P.C. Drysdale, in plain-clothes, was watching the woman.
"Geo. Walkden was watching the policeman. Watching Walkden were the people in the street.
"Just as the constable was about to walk the woman off, Walkden walked behind him, gave a wild whistle, and waved his arms wildly to the woman, who executed a strategic retreat, leaving a sack of coal behind.
"The policeman walked up to Walkden, and told him he would be reported. Walkden gave a demonstration to the magistrates of his whistle, which was no louder than a consumptive canary's.
"The magistrates refused to believe him. Walkden added that the constable must have had good eyesight, as he watched him from behind a house, and therefore he could not see through it. Sequel, a fine of 20s."
The silly rows between neighbours were continuing to end up in court with summonses and counter-summons being issued by both warring parties.
On the 15th Mary Birch appeared in St Helens Police Court after Catherine Harrison had accused her next-door neighbour from Bramwell Street in Parr of breaching the peace.
Unusually, Mrs Birch pleaded guilty but she brought her own cross-summons against Mrs Harrison.
The latter's solicitor told the court that his client was employed at Forsters Glass Works in Pocket Nook during the day and did her housework at night.
On one evening when Mrs Harrison was coming home from work, Mrs Birch was standing at her front door and she began shouting at her.
Later that evening the woman was alleged to have used threatening and obscene language towards Mrs Harrison and then afterwards she created another disturbance.
However, what Mrs Harrison and her solicitor had failed to mention was that she had started the rumpus on that day by passing comment on the funeral of Mrs Birch's mother.
That was what had enraged her next-door neighbour so much.
And so the magistrates did what they often did in such circumstances, declare the whole thing a score draw and bind both parties over to keep the peace for six months.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the workshop for the blind in St Helens, the double wedding that ended with an accident, typhus breaks out in St Helens and the actress prosecuted for leaving her car engine running outside St Helens post office.