IOO YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (13th - 19th JANUARY 1920)
This week's stories include the Bolshevik barbarians in St Helens, the football nuisance in Nutgrove Road, the office cleaner who was crushed to death in a Parr colliery and the Thatto Heath woman who said she would not send her son to school to pick manure.
We begin on the 13th when the St Helens War Memorial Committee met to consider ideas for a public commemoration of those that had died in the war. No decision was taken but a Memorial Hall was the most popular suggestion made. However, as we all know, the committee would eventually plump for a war memorial in Victoria Square, which would be unveiled in 1926.
A public meeting was held in the Co-operative Hall in Baldwin Street (pictured above) on the 13th to hear from two Russian labour leaders. They said they had been imprisoned by the Tsar's government and sentenced to death by the Bolsheviks but had managed to flee the country. An advertisement for the event stated that the Russian expats would relate their "thrilling experiences of the horrors of Bolshevism". However the St Helens Reporter described how the men had been barracked by a small group of "malcontents", who had behaved like "barbarians".
The newspaper claimed that the protestors that had attempted to break up the meeting were Bolshevik supporters. The Reporter described their behaviour as having been "unworthy of an Englishman" and concluded its lengthy critique by saying: "Let them come out into the open and show themselves as Bolshevists. Then we shall know where they are; but it does appear that there is some such organisation in St. Helens, hiding its light under a bushel, and it is high time peace-loving citizens opened their eyes to the danger of it."
On the 15th Ellen Blundell from Carnarvon Street in Thatto Heath was summoned to St Helens Police Court for not sending her son to school. The 51-year-old told the magistrates that she objected to her boy having to pick manure off the streets. The attendance officer explained to the Bench that a man kept a horse near the unnamed school and four boys were given the task of collecting some of its droppings. This was used as manure in their garden class, although Mrs Blundell's son had never been one of the lads involved.
However the real reason that the woman had removed her son from his classes was that he had turned fourteen last November. Fourteen was the leaving age but the attendance officer explained that under a new order pupils were expected to remain at their desks until the end of term and not quit halfway through. However the magistrates were unimpressed and decided to dismiss the case.
Four young boys appeared in the Police Court on the 16th charged with stealing from two shops. They were James Friar (10) of Pennington Square (off Elephant Lane), Percy Bromilow (8) and Norman Bromilow (12) of Roughley Street and John Hughes of Elephant Lane. The lads admitted stealing cigarettes and mineral water from Sam Woodward's tobacconists in Lugsmore Lane and cash out of the till of Hannah Mitchell's shop in Nutgrove Road.
Superintendent Dunn described James Friar as a bad lad who refused to go to school. Not long ago the boys would have been imprisoned for their thefts and although the birch was still an option, it was now used more sparingly. The Bench preferred to employ their probation officer (a.k.a. home missionary), thinking that supervision was a better option. So they put the boys on probation for two years. However the lads were warned they would be severely dealt with if they reoffended and their parents had to refund the stolen money and pay the costs of the hearing.
For 12 months the police had been prosecuting youths blocking the pavement during the Sunday evening parading of teenagers in Church Street. This long-standing custom also took place in Duke Street and outside the so-called "Long Wall" on the perimeter of Sherdley Park in Sutton. However it was the Church Street "obstructionists" that found themselves in court and on the 16th it was the turn of William Nolan and Henry Lewis to face the music.
PC Alsopp told the court that he had watched the pair standing with others outside the Post Office and walking up and down the street. The lads were aged about sixteen and were observed pushing into people, pulling girls' hair and catching hold of their clothing. Three girls were also pushed into a doorway. Quite often the defendants in such cases claimed mistaken identity in the busy street and that was William and Henry's defence. However they were still fined 5 shillings each.
The St Helens Chief Constable's annual report was released this week, which listed an enormous amount of statistics. Form filling is clearly not a modern phenomenon! The number of police officers currently stood at 188, supported by 76 special constables, which were created as a service in St Helens in March 1917. During 1919 the police made 3,168 unannounced visits to the 128 fully licensed pubs and 48 beerhouses in the borough.
As well as catching crooks the force also captured 163 lost animals. Of these 140 were either sold or put down and the rest returned to their owner. The night shift police would check householders and shop owners' doors and windows while tramping the streets and during 1919 they found 681 to be insecure. The Chief Constable was also in charge of the fire brigade, which was called out eighteen times last year, the same as in 1918. The low number is partly explained by many large works having their own means of putting out fires and with few public telephones, hoaxes were rare.
On the 16th Edward Roughley was fatally injured as a result of a fall of stone at Bold Colliery (pictured above), which had pinned him to the ground and fractured his spine. The 22-year-old would die five weeks later in hospital. Edward had served in the St Helens "Pals" from 1915 to February 1919 only receiving a slight arm wound in France. It took a return to mining at Bold, just six months before the accident, to see him off.
In the Reporter on the 16th there was a large advert from County Carriers of Queen's Garage in Boundary Road. They said their fleet of "Chars-a-Banc" was being overhauled and renovated for the coming season: "We are now booking trips to any part. Distance no object. Book now, and don't be disappointed." County Carriers' managing director had been a chap called W. Marshall and he had quit to found his own firm. So Marshall Garages of Hardshaw Street also had a large advert in which they announced the purchase of "eight new luxurious 29-seater motor Chars-a-Banc". They wrote "any distance" and "any size of party", although presumably not more than twenty-nine people.
These days Hull is not much more than 2 hours away from St Helens on the M62 and Saints players might well arrive the day before a match. Things were very different a century ago and the Reporter commented how the Knowsley Road club had a tiring journey ahead of their game against Hull Kingston Rovers on the 17th. The paper added they would do well if they managed to share the points. In fact Saints did better than that and won the game 5 - 17.
Also on the 17th Ellen Heyes from Herbert Street in Sutton was crushed to death at Ashtons Green Colliery, which until it closed in 1931 was situated between Fleet Lane and Derbyshire Hill Road. One would have thought that being an office cleaner would be a safe job at a mine. However one of the 37-year-old's duties was to fill a bucket with coal. As the coal cart was empty, Ellen went to the sidings to get some and was standing between two waggons filling her bucket when one of the waggons started to move. It was 7:15am and very dark. Ellen and her colleague Annie Shufflebotham didn't notice the movement until it was too late and Ellen became trapped between the buffers.
Last week 'Little Bo Peep' had been the panto performed at the Hippodrome. From the 19th the Corporation Street theatre switched to 'Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp'. Meanwhile the Picturedrome in Bridge Street began screening 'Tarzan of the Apes', which they described as the "wonder film of the age!"
And finally Harold Naylor appeared in the Police Court on the 19th charged with playing football in Nutgrove Road where he lived. The 18-year-old colliery haulage hand had been playing with a group of men and boys but was the only one that PC Gale was able to catch. The constable told the court that the football in Nutgrove Road was a "complete nuisance" and during the past six weeks no less than six windows had been broken. Harold was fined ten shillings.
Next week's stories will include the Thatto Heath gambling house, the Liverpool Road saucepan assault, the problems of getting tarmac for St Helens' roads, the strange death of a Haydock pit man and the Parr chauffeur that got smacked in the face by a rugby ball while driving a car.
We begin on the 13th when the St Helens War Memorial Committee met to consider ideas for a public commemoration of those that had died in the war. No decision was taken but a Memorial Hall was the most popular suggestion made. However, as we all know, the committee would eventually plump for a war memorial in Victoria Square, which would be unveiled in 1926.
The newspaper claimed that the protestors that had attempted to break up the meeting were Bolshevik supporters. The Reporter described their behaviour as having been "unworthy of an Englishman" and concluded its lengthy critique by saying: "Let them come out into the open and show themselves as Bolshevists. Then we shall know where they are; but it does appear that there is some such organisation in St. Helens, hiding its light under a bushel, and it is high time peace-loving citizens opened their eyes to the danger of it."
On the 15th Ellen Blundell from Carnarvon Street in Thatto Heath was summoned to St Helens Police Court for not sending her son to school. The 51-year-old told the magistrates that she objected to her boy having to pick manure off the streets. The attendance officer explained to the Bench that a man kept a horse near the unnamed school and four boys were given the task of collecting some of its droppings. This was used as manure in their garden class, although Mrs Blundell's son had never been one of the lads involved.
However the real reason that the woman had removed her son from his classes was that he had turned fourteen last November. Fourteen was the leaving age but the attendance officer explained that under a new order pupils were expected to remain at their desks until the end of term and not quit halfway through. However the magistrates were unimpressed and decided to dismiss the case.
Four young boys appeared in the Police Court on the 16th charged with stealing from two shops. They were James Friar (10) of Pennington Square (off Elephant Lane), Percy Bromilow (8) and Norman Bromilow (12) of Roughley Street and John Hughes of Elephant Lane. The lads admitted stealing cigarettes and mineral water from Sam Woodward's tobacconists in Lugsmore Lane and cash out of the till of Hannah Mitchell's shop in Nutgrove Road.
Superintendent Dunn described James Friar as a bad lad who refused to go to school. Not long ago the boys would have been imprisoned for their thefts and although the birch was still an option, it was now used more sparingly. The Bench preferred to employ their probation officer (a.k.a. home missionary), thinking that supervision was a better option. So they put the boys on probation for two years. However the lads were warned they would be severely dealt with if they reoffended and their parents had to refund the stolen money and pay the costs of the hearing.
For 12 months the police had been prosecuting youths blocking the pavement during the Sunday evening parading of teenagers in Church Street. This long-standing custom also took place in Duke Street and outside the so-called "Long Wall" on the perimeter of Sherdley Park in Sutton. However it was the Church Street "obstructionists" that found themselves in court and on the 16th it was the turn of William Nolan and Henry Lewis to face the music.
PC Alsopp told the court that he had watched the pair standing with others outside the Post Office and walking up and down the street. The lads were aged about sixteen and were observed pushing into people, pulling girls' hair and catching hold of their clothing. Three girls were also pushed into a doorway. Quite often the defendants in such cases claimed mistaken identity in the busy street and that was William and Henry's defence. However they were still fined 5 shillings each.
Left: St Helens Chief Constable Arthur Robert Ellerington; Right: HIs funeral procession on March 2nd 1939
Chief Constable Arthur Ellerington and hIs funeral procession in 1939
Chief Constable Arthur Ellerington
As well as catching crooks the force also captured 163 lost animals. Of these 140 were either sold or put down and the rest returned to their owner. The night shift police would check householders and shop owners' doors and windows while tramping the streets and during 1919 they found 681 to be insecure. The Chief Constable was also in charge of the fire brigade, which was called out eighteen times last year, the same as in 1918. The low number is partly explained by many large works having their own means of putting out fires and with few public telephones, hoaxes were rare.
In the Reporter on the 16th there was a large advert from County Carriers of Queen's Garage in Boundary Road. They said their fleet of "Chars-a-Banc" was being overhauled and renovated for the coming season: "We are now booking trips to any part. Distance no object. Book now, and don't be disappointed." County Carriers' managing director had been a chap called W. Marshall and he had quit to found his own firm. So Marshall Garages of Hardshaw Street also had a large advert in which they announced the purchase of "eight new luxurious 29-seater motor Chars-a-Banc". They wrote "any distance" and "any size of party", although presumably not more than twenty-nine people.
These days Hull is not much more than 2 hours away from St Helens on the M62 and Saints players might well arrive the day before a match. Things were very different a century ago and the Reporter commented how the Knowsley Road club had a tiring journey ahead of their game against Hull Kingston Rovers on the 17th. The paper added they would do well if they managed to share the points. In fact Saints did better than that and won the game 5 - 17.
Also on the 17th Ellen Heyes from Herbert Street in Sutton was crushed to death at Ashtons Green Colliery, which until it closed in 1931 was situated between Fleet Lane and Derbyshire Hill Road. One would have thought that being an office cleaner would be a safe job at a mine. However one of the 37-year-old's duties was to fill a bucket with coal. As the coal cart was empty, Ellen went to the sidings to get some and was standing between two waggons filling her bucket when one of the waggons started to move. It was 7:15am and very dark. Ellen and her colleague Annie Shufflebotham didn't notice the movement until it was too late and Ellen became trapped between the buffers.
Last week 'Little Bo Peep' had been the panto performed at the Hippodrome. From the 19th the Corporation Street theatre switched to 'Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp'. Meanwhile the Picturedrome in Bridge Street began screening 'Tarzan of the Apes', which they described as the "wonder film of the age!"
And finally Harold Naylor appeared in the Police Court on the 19th charged with playing football in Nutgrove Road where he lived. The 18-year-old colliery haulage hand had been playing with a group of men and boys but was the only one that PC Gale was able to catch. The constable told the court that the football in Nutgrove Road was a "complete nuisance" and during the past six weeks no less than six windows had been broken. Harold was fined ten shillings.
Next week's stories will include the Thatto Heath gambling house, the Liverpool Road saucepan assault, the problems of getting tarmac for St Helens' roads, the strange death of a Haydock pit man and the Parr chauffeur that got smacked in the face by a rugby ball while driving a car.
This week's stories include the Bolshevik barbarians in St Helens, the football nuisance in Nutgrove Road, the office cleaner who was crushed to death in a Parr colliery and the Thatto Heath woman who said she would not send her son to school to pick manure.
We begin on the 13th when the St Helens War Memorial Committee met to consider ideas for a public commemoration of those that had died in the war. No decision was taken but a Memorial Hall was the most popular suggestion made.
However, as we all know, the committee would eventually plump for a war memorial in Victoria Square, which would be unveiled in 1926.
A public meeting was held in the Co-operative Hall in Baldwin Street (pictured above) on the 13th to hear from two Russian labour leaders.
They said they had been imprisoned by the Tsar's government and sentenced to death by the Bolsheviks but had managed to flee the country.
An advertisement for the event stated that the Russian expats would relate their "thrilling experiences of the horrors of Bolshevism".
However the St Helens Reporter described how the men had been barracked by a small group of "malcontents", who had behaved like "barbarians".
The newspaper claimed that the protestors that had attempted to break up the meeting were Bolshevik supporters.
The Reporter described their behaviour as having been "unworthy of an Englishman" and concluded its lengthy critique by saying:
"Let them come out into the open and show themselves as Bolshevists. Then we shall know where they are; but it does appear that there is some such organisation in St. Helens, hiding its light under a bushel, and it is high time peace-loving citizens opened their eyes to the danger of it."
On the 15th Ellen Blundell from Carnarvon Street in Thatto Heath was summoned to St Helens Police Court for not sending her son to school.
The 51-year-old told the magistrates that she objected to her boy having to pick manure off the streets.
The attendance officer explained to the Bench that a man kept a horse near the unnamed school and four boys were given the task of collecting some of its droppings.
This was used as manure in their garden class, although Mrs Blundell's son had never been one of the lads involved.
However the real reason that the woman had removed her son from his classes was that he had turned fourteen last November.
Fourteen was the leaving age but the attendance officer explained that under a new order pupils were expected to remain at their desks until the end of term and not quit halfway through.
However the magistrates were unimpressed and decided to dismiss the case.
Four young boys appeared in the Police Court on the 16th charged with stealing from two shops.
They were James Friar (10) of Pennington Square (off Elephant Lane), Percy Bromilow (8) and Norman Bromilow (12) of Roughley Street and John Hughes of Elephant Lane.
The lads admitted stealing cigarettes and mineral water from Sam Woodward's tobacconists in Lugsmore Lane and cash out of the till of Hannah Mitchell's shop in Nutgrove Road.
Superintendent Dunn described James Friar as a bad lad who refused to go to school.
Not long ago the boys would have been imprisoned for their thefts and although the birch was still an option, it was now used more sparingly.
The Bench preferred to employ their probation officer (a.k.a. home missionary), thinking that supervision was a better option. So they put the boys on probation for two years.
However the lads were warned they would be severely dealt with if they reoffended and their parents had to refund the stolen money and pay the costs of the hearing.
For 12 months the police had been prosecuting youths blocking the pavement during the Sunday evening parading of teenagers in Church Street.
This long-standing custom also took place in Duke Street and outside the so-called "Long Wall" on the perimeter of Sherdley Park in Sutton.
However it was the Church Street "obstructionists" that found themselves in court and on the 16th it was the turn of William Nolan and Henry Lewis to face the music.
PC Alsopp told the court that he had watched the pair standing with others outside the Post Office and walking up and down the street.
The lads were aged about sixteen and were observed pushing into people, pulling girls' hair and catching hold of their clothing. Three girls were also pushed into a doorway.
Quite often the defendants in such cases claimed mistaken identity in the busy street and that was William and Henry's defence. However they were still fined 5 shillings each.
The St Helens Chief Constable's annual report was released this week, which listed an enormous amount of statistics. Form filling is clearly not a modern phenomenon!
The number of police officers currently stood at 188, supported by 76 special constables, which were created as a service in St Helens in March 1917.
During 1919 the police made 3,168 unannounced visits to the 128 fully licensed pubs and 48 beerhouses in the borough.
As well as catching crooks the force also captured 163 lost animals. Of these 140 were either sold or put down and the rest returned to their owner.
The night shift police would check householders and shop owners' doors and windows while tramping the streets and during 1919 they found 681 to be insecure.
The Chief Constable was also in charge of the fire brigade, which was called out eighteen times last year, the same as in 1918.
The low number is partly explained by many large works having their own means of putting out fires and with few public telephones, hoaxes were rare.
On the 16th Edward Roughley was fatally injured as a result of a fall of stone at Bold Colliery (pictured above), which had pinned him to the ground and fractured his spine.
The 22-year-old would die five weeks later in hospital. Edward had served in the St Helens "Pals" from 1915 to February 1919 only receiving a slight arm wound in France.
It took a return to mining at Bold, just six months before the accident, to see him off.
In the Reporter on the 16th there was a large advert from County Carriers of Queen's Garage in Boundary Road.
They said their fleet of "Chars-a-Banc" was being overhauled and renovated for the coming season:
"We are now booking trips to any part. Distance no object. Book now, and don't be disappointed."
County Carriers' managing director had been a chap called W. Marshall and he had quit to found his own firm.
So Marshall Garages of Hardshaw Street also had a large advert in which they announced the purchase of "eight new luxurious 29-seater motor Chars-a-Banc".
They wrote "any distance" and "any size of party", although presumably not more than twenty-nine people.
These days Hull is not much more than 2 hours away from St Helens on the M62 and Saints players might well arrive the day before a match.
Things were very different a century ago and the Reporter commented how the Knowsley Road club had a tiring journey ahead of their game against Hull Kingston Rovers on the 17th.
The paper added they would do well if they managed to share the points. In fact Saints did better than that and won the game 5 - 17.
Also on the 17th Ellen Heyes from Herbert Street in Sutton was crushed to death at Ashtons Green Colliery, which until it closed in 1931 was situated between Fleet Lane and Derbyshire Hill Road.
One would have thought that being an office cleaner would be a safe job at a mine. However one of the 37-year-old's duties was to fill a bucket with coal.
As the coal cart was empty, Ellen went to the sidings to get some and was standing between two wagons filling her bucket when one of the wagons started to move.
It was 7:15am and very dark. Ellen and her colleague Annie Shufflebotham didn't notice the movement until it was too late and Ellen became trapped between the buffers.
Last week 'Little Bo Peep' had been the panto performed at the Hippodrome. From the 19th the Corporation Street theatre switched to 'Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp'.
Meanwhile the Picturedrome in Bridge Street began screening 'Tarzan of the Apes', which they described as the "wonder film of the age!"
And finally Harold Naylor appeared in the Police Court on the 19th charged with playing football in Nutgrove Road where he lived.
The 18-year-old colliery haulage hand had been playing with a group of men and boys but was the only one that PC Gale was able to catch.
The constable told the court that the football in Nutgrove Road was a "complete nuisance" and during the past six weeks no less than six windows had been broken. Harold was fined ten shillings.
Next week's stories will include the Thatto Heath gambling house, the Liverpool Road saucepan assault, the problems of getting tarmac for St Helens' roads, the strange death of a Haydock pit man and the Parr chauffeur that got smacked in the face by a rugby ball while driving a car.
We begin on the 13th when the St Helens War Memorial Committee met to consider ideas for a public commemoration of those that had died in the war. No decision was taken but a Memorial Hall was the most popular suggestion made.
However, as we all know, the committee would eventually plump for a war memorial in Victoria Square, which would be unveiled in 1926.
They said they had been imprisoned by the Tsar's government and sentenced to death by the Bolsheviks but had managed to flee the country.
An advertisement for the event stated that the Russian expats would relate their "thrilling experiences of the horrors of Bolshevism".
However the St Helens Reporter described how the men had been barracked by a small group of "malcontents", who had behaved like "barbarians".
The newspaper claimed that the protestors that had attempted to break up the meeting were Bolshevik supporters.
The Reporter described their behaviour as having been "unworthy of an Englishman" and concluded its lengthy critique by saying:
"Let them come out into the open and show themselves as Bolshevists. Then we shall know where they are; but it does appear that there is some such organisation in St. Helens, hiding its light under a bushel, and it is high time peace-loving citizens opened their eyes to the danger of it."
On the 15th Ellen Blundell from Carnarvon Street in Thatto Heath was summoned to St Helens Police Court for not sending her son to school.
The 51-year-old told the magistrates that she objected to her boy having to pick manure off the streets.
The attendance officer explained to the Bench that a man kept a horse near the unnamed school and four boys were given the task of collecting some of its droppings.
This was used as manure in their garden class, although Mrs Blundell's son had never been one of the lads involved.
However the real reason that the woman had removed her son from his classes was that he had turned fourteen last November.
Fourteen was the leaving age but the attendance officer explained that under a new order pupils were expected to remain at their desks until the end of term and not quit halfway through.
However the magistrates were unimpressed and decided to dismiss the case.
Four young boys appeared in the Police Court on the 16th charged with stealing from two shops.
They were James Friar (10) of Pennington Square (off Elephant Lane), Percy Bromilow (8) and Norman Bromilow (12) of Roughley Street and John Hughes of Elephant Lane.
The lads admitted stealing cigarettes and mineral water from Sam Woodward's tobacconists in Lugsmore Lane and cash out of the till of Hannah Mitchell's shop in Nutgrove Road.
Superintendent Dunn described James Friar as a bad lad who refused to go to school.
Not long ago the boys would have been imprisoned for their thefts and although the birch was still an option, it was now used more sparingly.
The Bench preferred to employ their probation officer (a.k.a. home missionary), thinking that supervision was a better option. So they put the boys on probation for two years.
However the lads were warned they would be severely dealt with if they reoffended and their parents had to refund the stolen money and pay the costs of the hearing.
For 12 months the police had been prosecuting youths blocking the pavement during the Sunday evening parading of teenagers in Church Street.
This long-standing custom also took place in Duke Street and outside the so-called "Long Wall" on the perimeter of Sherdley Park in Sutton.
However it was the Church Street "obstructionists" that found themselves in court and on the 16th it was the turn of William Nolan and Henry Lewis to face the music.
PC Alsopp told the court that he had watched the pair standing with others outside the Post Office and walking up and down the street.
The lads were aged about sixteen and were observed pushing into people, pulling girls' hair and catching hold of their clothing. Three girls were also pushed into a doorway.
Quite often the defendants in such cases claimed mistaken identity in the busy street and that was William and Henry's defence. However they were still fined 5 shillings each.
Left: St Helens Chief Constable Arthur Robert Ellerington; Right: HIs funeral procession on March 2nd 1939
Chief Constable Arthur Ellerington and hIs funeral procession in 1939
Chief Constable Arthur Ellerington
The number of police officers currently stood at 188, supported by 76 special constables, which were created as a service in St Helens in March 1917.
During 1919 the police made 3,168 unannounced visits to the 128 fully licensed pubs and 48 beerhouses in the borough.
As well as catching crooks the force also captured 163 lost animals. Of these 140 were either sold or put down and the rest returned to their owner.
The night shift police would check householders and shop owners' doors and windows while tramping the streets and during 1919 they found 681 to be insecure.
The Chief Constable was also in charge of the fire brigade, which was called out eighteen times last year, the same as in 1918.
The low number is partly explained by many large works having their own means of putting out fires and with few public telephones, hoaxes were rare.
The 22-year-old would die five weeks later in hospital. Edward had served in the St Helens "Pals" from 1915 to February 1919 only receiving a slight arm wound in France.
It took a return to mining at Bold, just six months before the accident, to see him off.
In the Reporter on the 16th there was a large advert from County Carriers of Queen's Garage in Boundary Road.
They said their fleet of "Chars-a-Banc" was being overhauled and renovated for the coming season:
"We are now booking trips to any part. Distance no object. Book now, and don't be disappointed."
County Carriers' managing director had been a chap called W. Marshall and he had quit to found his own firm.
So Marshall Garages of Hardshaw Street also had a large advert in which they announced the purchase of "eight new luxurious 29-seater motor Chars-a-Banc".
They wrote "any distance" and "any size of party", although presumably not more than twenty-nine people.
These days Hull is not much more than 2 hours away from St Helens on the M62 and Saints players might well arrive the day before a match.
Things were very different a century ago and the Reporter commented how the Knowsley Road club had a tiring journey ahead of their game against Hull Kingston Rovers on the 17th.
The paper added they would do well if they managed to share the points. In fact Saints did better than that and won the game 5 - 17.
Also on the 17th Ellen Heyes from Herbert Street in Sutton was crushed to death at Ashtons Green Colliery, which until it closed in 1931 was situated between Fleet Lane and Derbyshire Hill Road.
One would have thought that being an office cleaner would be a safe job at a mine. However one of the 37-year-old's duties was to fill a bucket with coal.
As the coal cart was empty, Ellen went to the sidings to get some and was standing between two wagons filling her bucket when one of the wagons started to move.
It was 7:15am and very dark. Ellen and her colleague Annie Shufflebotham didn't notice the movement until it was too late and Ellen became trapped between the buffers.
Last week 'Little Bo Peep' had been the panto performed at the Hippodrome. From the 19th the Corporation Street theatre switched to 'Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp'.
Meanwhile the Picturedrome in Bridge Street began screening 'Tarzan of the Apes', which they described as the "wonder film of the age!"
And finally Harold Naylor appeared in the Police Court on the 19th charged with playing football in Nutgrove Road where he lived.
The 18-year-old colliery haulage hand had been playing with a group of men and boys but was the only one that PC Gale was able to catch.
The constable told the court that the football in Nutgrove Road was a "complete nuisance" and during the past six weeks no less than six windows had been broken. Harold was fined ten shillings.
Next week's stories will include the Thatto Heath gambling house, the Liverpool Road saucepan assault, the problems of getting tarmac for St Helens' roads, the strange death of a Haydock pit man and the Parr chauffeur that got smacked in the face by a rugby ball while driving a car.