IOO YEARS AGO THIS WEEK 13 - 19 MAY 1924
This week's many stories include Lady Baden Powell's visit to St Helens, the two parishioners that came to blows outside Sacred Heart church, Samson the strongest man in the world comes to town, the motorcycle and sidecar crash in Rainford, the stone-throwing lads of Hard Lane and the lazy husband who was asked in court if his back would not bend!
We begin on the 13th when the Liverpool Echo reported that the work of tramway reconstruction and widening of the roads between St Helens and Prescot was nearing completion. The double-track tramlines were now in use as far as Croppers Hill, enabling a ten-minute tram service to be run.
You don't see many motorbikes with sidecars on the roads these days. But in the 1920s they were very popular, partly because the authorities disapproved of pillion riding. Even St Helens police's first patrol vehicle was a motorbike and sidecar combination. Edward Hankinson from Liverpool Road in St Helens was summoned to the County Police Court on the 13th accused of driving his motorcycle and sidecar in a manner dangerous to the public. In fact he and fellow motorcyclist William Jackson from Greenfield Road had crashed into each other.
Before the Rainford bypass was built travelling from St Helens to Southport meant journeying up a narrow, inclined road towards the Bottle and Glass pub, with a notoriously dangerous corner. On Easter Sunday Edward Hankinson had been returning home from Southport with his sister Mary sat in his sidecar. As they went round the corner they crashed into William Jackson who was coming from the opposite direction and the latter was thrown off his machine into the road.
Of course, both sides gave completely different estimates of the speeds they were going when the accident occurred. Jackson complained that Hankinson had been travelling at 25 to 30 miles an hour. But the latter's sister, who was sitting in the sidecar, said they were only motoring at about 7 miles an hour.
Mary Duffy also said that Jackson had been travelling at a "very swift" speed. But he countered that it had only been 10 mph. Jackson had two witnesses to corroborate his statement, which included a claim that the sidecar wheel had been nine inches off the ground at the time of the impact. The Bench decided that the case had been proved and Hankinson was fined £1.
On the 15th John Thomason appeared in St Helens Police Court charged with attempting to break into a shop at the Carr Mill pleasure ground. On the previous evening a constable had discovered four men inside the hut but he had only managed to catch Thomason. The young man from Merton Bank Road was remanded in custody for further enquiries to be made, no doubt to try and discover the identity of Thomason's partners in crime.
A three-day bazaar was held in Rainford Village Hall from the 15th organised by Rainford Parish Church. Its purpose was to raise the necessary funds to decorate the church; clean its organ; repair the roof of Bushey Lane School and pay for new offices for Crank School.
Boys smashing gas lamps was a very common practice in St Helens and with police officers never too far away walking their beat it was a risky business. On the 15th four unidentified lads appeared in the town's Juvenile Court charged with breaking gas lamp covers in Hard Lane.
It was stated in court that extensive damage was being caused by stone-throwing youngsters and over a recent three-week period it had cost the Corporation over £20 to undertake repairs. The lads were fined between 5 and 10 shillings each with the Chairman of the Bench saying they were getting old enough to know better.
At St Helens Police Court on the 16th a curious story was told of two women coming to blows after attending Mass at Sacred Heart Church (pictured above). Elizabeth Crilly of Glover Street told the magistrates that upon leaving the Borough Road church, Lucy Traner of Eldon Street had: "…shook me like a dog would shake a rat, and left me unconscious on the ground." The cause of the row had been Mrs Crilly's 19-year-old son who was lodging with Mrs Traner.
Words had been spoken upon the pair leaving the church. Mrs Traner was said to have swung Mrs Crilly round by her shawl and throat and then hit her in the face until she fell to the ground and had then kicked her. But Lucy Traner's solicitor argued that there had been great provocation and the magistrates decided to dismiss the case.
Uncle Ben in the St Helens Reporter's column known as the "Children's Reporter" had recently held a competition to vote for the most popular boy's name and in its edition on the 16th it was the turn of the girls. His club members had been given six names to choose from and they had to pick their favourites, with Margaret easily the winner. In second place was Betty, followed by Nellie, Ethel, Norah and Rose.
On the 17th the eighth annual Sutton Eisteddfod took place. The event was organised by the Welsh Presbyterian church of Peckers Hill Road and took place in the Methodist schoolroom in Sutton Road. There was a good attendance and during the evening the building was described as packed, with visitors attending from Earlestown, Garston and Bootle. The Reporter commented: "The enthusiasm displayed and the interest taken was good to see."
On the same day the Chief Guide, Lady Olave Baden-Powell, attended a rally of Girl Guides at City Road in St Helens with about 1,000 girls in attendance. She congratulated them on being a "happy lot" and said they had not only to try and look nice but also to learn all the various duties involved in the training of efficient guides. The programme of events included dancing competitions, fire drill, ambulance work, signalling, rope splicing, physical drill and camp pitching.
On the 19th three Bolton youths were remanded at St Helens Police Court for further inquiries to be made after breaking into Everson's café in Westfield Street and stealing cigarettes and cash. Three years ago Albert Everson had been fined ten shillings and costs in St Helens Police Court for "exposing loaves of bread for sale which did not weigh the even pound". The bread sampled was underweight, in other words. Mr Everson explained that he had allowed 1lb 2oz of dough for each loaf, but it was impossible to say that after baking the bread that it would result in an exact pound.
The ultimate penalty for not making maintenance payments to your wife was prison. The courts ordered such payments as part of separation orders but it was quite common for some men to accrue considerable arrears. Then when they were hauled back before the magistrates all sorts of excuses were made. Some of these were genuine because of the unemployment situation – but many were not.
The magistrates would not stand for continually being messed about, as was shown in the case of Thomas Fazakerley. The man from Ramford Street appeared in St Helens Police Court on the 19th for arrears on a maintenance order that amounted to over £16. Fazakerley said he was a watchman at some property in Sutton but only received 10 shillings a week wages and so was incapable of making any payments to his wife. That went down badly with the Bench, who pointed out that he could get over £1 in dole payments from the Labour Exchange. His wife Rebecca Fazakerley then said:
"He has never worked since I knew him. I married him in 1915, and he has never paid as much as a penny for a tea spoon. He would create all sorts of bother in the night and on one occasion tried to choke me. I had to call in P.C. Shepherd and in consequence of the knocking about I received at his hands, I had a heavy doctor's bill to meet."
Fazakerley denied ill-treating his wife and claimed that she herself earned 30 shillings a week. He also said he had a bad back and head and could only undertake light work. To that remark the Chairman of the Bench asked "What about this back? Won't it bend? Is it one of those?" Mrs Fazakerley then said: "The children are nearly starving. We have had to sell the cups and saucers in the house to get a meal."
The magistrates knew that if the man was sent to prison he could not pay any maintenance at all to his wife. And although Fazakerley was sentenced to 28 days hard labour, the sentence was suspended for a month to see what attempt he would make during that period to pay off his debts to his long-suffering wife.
And finally, for six evenings from the 19th, Samson the strong man was at the Hippodrome Theatre. This is how he was billed in the Reporter:
"Samson, The Strongest Man on Earth. He can bend bars of iron with his hands, break chains with his fingers, hammer nails through a board of wood 2¼ inches thick using the bare palm of his hand as a hammer. He lays with exposed back, on a bed of nails, a huge stone weighing 6 cwt. is placed on his chest and two men strike the stone, with sledge hammers, as hard as they can. He holds two cart horses, each pulling in opposite directions. Europe's man of iron. Must be seen to be believed."
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the burglar found under a Kiln Lane bed, two lino conmen are brought to book, the rescued kitten that had been trapped down an old shaft and the wooden huts that served as shops in Carr Mill.
We begin on the 13th when the Liverpool Echo reported that the work of tramway reconstruction and widening of the roads between St Helens and Prescot was nearing completion. The double-track tramlines were now in use as far as Croppers Hill, enabling a ten-minute tram service to be run.
You don't see many motorbikes with sidecars on the roads these days. But in the 1920s they were very popular, partly because the authorities disapproved of pillion riding. Even St Helens police's first patrol vehicle was a motorbike and sidecar combination. Edward Hankinson from Liverpool Road in St Helens was summoned to the County Police Court on the 13th accused of driving his motorcycle and sidecar in a manner dangerous to the public. In fact he and fellow motorcyclist William Jackson from Greenfield Road had crashed into each other.
Before the Rainford bypass was built travelling from St Helens to Southport meant journeying up a narrow, inclined road towards the Bottle and Glass pub, with a notoriously dangerous corner. On Easter Sunday Edward Hankinson had been returning home from Southport with his sister Mary sat in his sidecar. As they went round the corner they crashed into William Jackson who was coming from the opposite direction and the latter was thrown off his machine into the road.
Of course, both sides gave completely different estimates of the speeds they were going when the accident occurred. Jackson complained that Hankinson had been travelling at 25 to 30 miles an hour. But the latter's sister, who was sitting in the sidecar, said they were only motoring at about 7 miles an hour.
Mary Duffy also said that Jackson had been travelling at a "very swift" speed. But he countered that it had only been 10 mph. Jackson had two witnesses to corroborate his statement, which included a claim that the sidecar wheel had been nine inches off the ground at the time of the impact. The Bench decided that the case had been proved and Hankinson was fined £1.
On the 15th John Thomason appeared in St Helens Police Court charged with attempting to break into a shop at the Carr Mill pleasure ground. On the previous evening a constable had discovered four men inside the hut but he had only managed to catch Thomason. The young man from Merton Bank Road was remanded in custody for further enquiries to be made, no doubt to try and discover the identity of Thomason's partners in crime.
A three-day bazaar was held in Rainford Village Hall from the 15th organised by Rainford Parish Church. Its purpose was to raise the necessary funds to decorate the church; clean its organ; repair the roof of Bushey Lane School and pay for new offices for Crank School.
Boys smashing gas lamps was a very common practice in St Helens and with police officers never too far away walking their beat it was a risky business. On the 15th four unidentified lads appeared in the town's Juvenile Court charged with breaking gas lamp covers in Hard Lane.
It was stated in court that extensive damage was being caused by stone-throwing youngsters and over a recent three-week period it had cost the Corporation over £20 to undertake repairs. The lads were fined between 5 and 10 shillings each with the Chairman of the Bench saying they were getting old enough to know better.
Words had been spoken upon the pair leaving the church. Mrs Traner was said to have swung Mrs Crilly round by her shawl and throat and then hit her in the face until she fell to the ground and had then kicked her. But Lucy Traner's solicitor argued that there had been great provocation and the magistrates decided to dismiss the case.
Uncle Ben in the St Helens Reporter's column known as the "Children's Reporter" had recently held a competition to vote for the most popular boy's name and in its edition on the 16th it was the turn of the girls. His club members had been given six names to choose from and they had to pick their favourites, with Margaret easily the winner. In second place was Betty, followed by Nellie, Ethel, Norah and Rose.
On the 17th the eighth annual Sutton Eisteddfod took place. The event was organised by the Welsh Presbyterian church of Peckers Hill Road and took place in the Methodist schoolroom in Sutton Road. There was a good attendance and during the evening the building was described as packed, with visitors attending from Earlestown, Garston and Bootle. The Reporter commented: "The enthusiasm displayed and the interest taken was good to see."
On the same day the Chief Guide, Lady Olave Baden-Powell, attended a rally of Girl Guides at City Road in St Helens with about 1,000 girls in attendance. She congratulated them on being a "happy lot" and said they had not only to try and look nice but also to learn all the various duties involved in the training of efficient guides. The programme of events included dancing competitions, fire drill, ambulance work, signalling, rope splicing, physical drill and camp pitching.
On the 19th three Bolton youths were remanded at St Helens Police Court for further inquiries to be made after breaking into Everson's café in Westfield Street and stealing cigarettes and cash. Three years ago Albert Everson had been fined ten shillings and costs in St Helens Police Court for "exposing loaves of bread for sale which did not weigh the even pound". The bread sampled was underweight, in other words. Mr Everson explained that he had allowed 1lb 2oz of dough for each loaf, but it was impossible to say that after baking the bread that it would result in an exact pound.
The ultimate penalty for not making maintenance payments to your wife was prison. The courts ordered such payments as part of separation orders but it was quite common for some men to accrue considerable arrears. Then when they were hauled back before the magistrates all sorts of excuses were made. Some of these were genuine because of the unemployment situation – but many were not.
The magistrates would not stand for continually being messed about, as was shown in the case of Thomas Fazakerley. The man from Ramford Street appeared in St Helens Police Court on the 19th for arrears on a maintenance order that amounted to over £16. Fazakerley said he was a watchman at some property in Sutton but only received 10 shillings a week wages and so was incapable of making any payments to his wife. That went down badly with the Bench, who pointed out that he could get over £1 in dole payments from the Labour Exchange. His wife Rebecca Fazakerley then said:
"He has never worked since I knew him. I married him in 1915, and he has never paid as much as a penny for a tea spoon. He would create all sorts of bother in the night and on one occasion tried to choke me. I had to call in P.C. Shepherd and in consequence of the knocking about I received at his hands, I had a heavy doctor's bill to meet."
Fazakerley denied ill-treating his wife and claimed that she herself earned 30 shillings a week. He also said he had a bad back and head and could only undertake light work. To that remark the Chairman of the Bench asked "What about this back? Won't it bend? Is it one of those?" Mrs Fazakerley then said: "The children are nearly starving. We have had to sell the cups and saucers in the house to get a meal."
The magistrates knew that if the man was sent to prison he could not pay any maintenance at all to his wife. And although Fazakerley was sentenced to 28 days hard labour, the sentence was suspended for a month to see what attempt he would make during that period to pay off his debts to his long-suffering wife.
And finally, for six evenings from the 19th, Samson the strong man was at the Hippodrome Theatre. This is how he was billed in the Reporter:
"Samson, The Strongest Man on Earth. He can bend bars of iron with his hands, break chains with his fingers, hammer nails through a board of wood 2¼ inches thick using the bare palm of his hand as a hammer. He lays with exposed back, on a bed of nails, a huge stone weighing 6 cwt. is placed on his chest and two men strike the stone, with sledge hammers, as hard as they can. He holds two cart horses, each pulling in opposite directions. Europe's man of iron. Must be seen to be believed."
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the burglar found under a Kiln Lane bed, two lino conmen are brought to book, the rescued kitten that had been trapped down an old shaft and the wooden huts that served as shops in Carr Mill.
This week's many stories include Lady Baden Powell's visit to St Helens, the two parishioners that came to blows outside Sacred Heart church, Samson the strongest man in the world comes to town, the motorcycle and sidecar crash in Rainford, the stone-throwing lads of Hard Lane and the lazy husband who was asked in court if his back would not bend!
We begin on the 13th when the Liverpool Echo reported that the work of tramway reconstruction and widening of the roads between St Helens and Prescot was nearing completion.
The double-track tramlines were now in use as far as Croppers Hill, enabling a ten-minute tram service to be run.
You don't see many motorbikes with sidecars on the roads these days. But in the 1920s they were very popular, partly because the authorities disapproved of pillion riding.
Even St Helens police's first patrol vehicle was a motorbike and sidecar combination.
Edward Hankinson from Liverpool Road in St Helens was summoned to the County Police Court on the 13th accused of driving his motorcycle and sidecar in a manner dangerous to the public.
In fact he and fellow motorcyclist William Jackson from Greenfield Road had crashed into each other.
Before the Rainford bypass was built travelling from St Helens to Southport meant journeying up a narrow, inclined road towards the Bottle and Glass pub, with a notoriously dangerous corner.
On Easter Sunday Edward Hankinson had been returning home from Southport with his sister Mary sat in his sidecar.
As they went round the corner they crashed into William Jackson who was coming from the opposite direction and the latter was thrown off his machine into the road.
Of course, both sides gave completely different estimates of the speeds they were going when the accident occurred.
Jackson complained that Hankinson had been travelling at 25 to 30 miles an hour. But the latter's sister, who was sitting in the sidecar, said they were only motoring at about 7 miles an hour.
Mary Duffy also said that Jackson had been travelling at a "very swift" speed. But he countered that it had only been 10 mph.
Jackson had two witnesses to corroborate his statement, which included a claim that the sidecar wheel had been nine inches off the ground at the time of the impact.
The Bench decided that the case had been proved and Hankinson was fined £1.
On the 15th John Thomason appeared in St Helens Police Court charged with attempting to break into a shop at the Carr Mill pleasure ground.
On the previous evening a constable had discovered four men inside the hut but he had only managed to catch Thomason.
The young man from Merton Bank Road was remanded in custody for further enquiries to be made, no doubt to try and discover the identity of Thomason's partners in crime.
A three-day bazaar was held in Rainford Village Hall from the 15th organised by Rainford Parish Church.
Its purpose was to raise the necessary funds to decorate the church; clean its organ; repair the roof of Bushey Lane School and pay for new offices for Crank School.
Boys smashing gas lamps was a very common practice in St Helens and with police officers never too far away walking their beat it was a risky business.
On the 15th four unidentified lads appeared in the town's Juvenile Court charged with breaking gas lamp covers in Hard Lane.
It was stated in court that extensive damage was being caused by stone-throwing youngsters and over a recent three-week period it had cost the Corporation over £20 to undertake repairs.
The lads were fined between 5 and 10 shillings each with the Chairman of the Bench saying they were getting old enough to know better.
At St Helens Police Court on the 16th a curious story was told of two women coming to blows after attending Mass at Sacred Heart Church.
Elizabeth Crilly of Glover Street told the magistrates that upon leaving the Borough Road church, Lucy Traner of Eldon Street had: "…shook me like a dog would shake a rat, and left me unconscious on the ground."
The cause of the row had been Mrs Crilly's 19-year-old son who was lodging with Mrs Traner.
Words had been spoken upon the pair leaving the church. Mrs Traner was said to have swung Mrs Crilly round by her shawl and throat and then hit her in the face until she fell to the ground and had then kicked her.
But Lucy Traner's solicitor argued that there had been great provocation and the magistrates decided to dismiss the case.
Uncle Ben in the St Helens Reporter's column known as the "Children's Reporter" had recently held a competition to vote for the most popular boy's name and in its edition on the 16th it was the turn of the girls.
His club members had been given six names to choose from and they had to pick their favourites, with Margaret easily the winner. In second place was Betty, followed by Nellie, Ethel, Norah and Rose.
On the 17th the eighth annual Sutton Eisteddfod took place. The event was organised by the Welsh Presbyterian church of Peckers Hill Road and took place in the Methodist schoolroom in Sutton Road.
There was a good attendance and during the evening the building was described as packed, with visitors attending from Earlestown, Garston and Bootle.
The Reporter commented: "The enthusiasm displayed and the interest taken was good to see."
On the same day the Chief Guide, Lady Olave Baden-Powell (pictured above), attended a rally of Girl Guides at City Road in St Helens with about 1,000 girls in attendance.
She congratulated them on being a "happy lot" and said they had not only to try and look nice but also to learn all the various duties involved in the training of efficient guides.
The programme of events included dancing competitions, fire drill, ambulance work, signalling, rope splicing, physical drill and camp pitching.
On the 19th three Bolton youths were remanded at St Helens Police Court for further inquiries to be made after breaking into Everson's café in Westfield Street and stealing cigarettes and cash.
Three years ago Albert Everson had been fined ten shillings and costs in St Helens Police Court for "exposing loaves of bread for sale which did not weigh the even pound".
Mr Everson explained that he had allowed 1lb 2oz of dough for each loaf, but it was impossible to say that after baking the bread that it would result in an exact pound.
The ultimate penalty for not making maintenance payments to your wife was prison.
The courts ordered such payments as part of separation orders but it was quite common for some men to accrue considerable arrears.
Then when they were hauled back before the magistrates all sorts of excuses were made.
Some of these were genuine because of the unemployment situation – but many were not.
The magistrates would not stand for continually being messed about, as was shown in the case of Thomas Fazakerley.
The man from Ramford Street appeared in St Helens Police Court on the 19th for arrears on a maintenance order that amounted to over £16.
Fazakerley said he was a watchman at some property in Sutton but only received 10 shillings a week wages and so was incapable of making any payments to his wife.
That went down badly with the Bench, who pointed out that he could get over £1 in dole payments from the Labour Exchange. His wife Rebecca Fazakerley then said:
"He has never worked since I knew him. I married him in 1915, and he has never paid as much as a penny for a tea spoon. He would create all sorts of bother in the night and on one occasion tried to choke me.
"I had to call in P.C. Shepherd and in consequence of the knocking about I received at his hands, I had a heavy doctor's bill to meet."
Fazakerley denied ill-treating his wife and claimed that she herself earned 30 shillings a week.
He also said he had a bad back and head and could only undertake light work.
To that remark the Chairman of the Bench asked "What about this back? Won't it bend? Is it one of those?"
Mrs Fazakerley then said: "The children are nearly starving. We have had to sell the cups and saucers in the house to get a meal."
The magistrates knew that if the man was sent to prison he could not pay any maintenance at all to his wife.
And although Fazakerley was sentenced to 28 days hard labour, the sentence was suspended for a month to see what attempt he would make during that period to pay off his debts to his long-suffering wife.
And finally, for six evenings from the 19th, Samson the strong man was at the Hippodrome Theatre. This is how he was billed in the Reporter:
"Samson, The Strongest Man on Earth. He can bend bars of iron with his hands, break chains with his fingers, hammer nails through a board of wood 2¼ inches thick using the bare palm of his hand as a hammer.
"He lays with exposed back, on a bed of nails, a huge stone weighing 6 cwt. is placed on his chest and two men strike the stone, with sledge hammers, as hard as they can.
"He holds two cart horses, each pulling in opposite directions. Europe's man of iron. Must be seen to be believed."
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the burglar found under a Kiln Lane bed, two lino conmen are brought to book, the rescued kitten that had been trapped down an old shaft and the wooden huts that served as shops in Carr Mill.
We begin on the 13th when the Liverpool Echo reported that the work of tramway reconstruction and widening of the roads between St Helens and Prescot was nearing completion.
The double-track tramlines were now in use as far as Croppers Hill, enabling a ten-minute tram service to be run.
You don't see many motorbikes with sidecars on the roads these days. But in the 1920s they were very popular, partly because the authorities disapproved of pillion riding.
Even St Helens police's first patrol vehicle was a motorbike and sidecar combination.
Edward Hankinson from Liverpool Road in St Helens was summoned to the County Police Court on the 13th accused of driving his motorcycle and sidecar in a manner dangerous to the public.
In fact he and fellow motorcyclist William Jackson from Greenfield Road had crashed into each other.
Before the Rainford bypass was built travelling from St Helens to Southport meant journeying up a narrow, inclined road towards the Bottle and Glass pub, with a notoriously dangerous corner.
On Easter Sunday Edward Hankinson had been returning home from Southport with his sister Mary sat in his sidecar.
As they went round the corner they crashed into William Jackson who was coming from the opposite direction and the latter was thrown off his machine into the road.
Of course, both sides gave completely different estimates of the speeds they were going when the accident occurred.
Jackson complained that Hankinson had been travelling at 25 to 30 miles an hour. But the latter's sister, who was sitting in the sidecar, said they were only motoring at about 7 miles an hour.
Mary Duffy also said that Jackson had been travelling at a "very swift" speed. But he countered that it had only been 10 mph.
Jackson had two witnesses to corroborate his statement, which included a claim that the sidecar wheel had been nine inches off the ground at the time of the impact.
The Bench decided that the case had been proved and Hankinson was fined £1.
On the 15th John Thomason appeared in St Helens Police Court charged with attempting to break into a shop at the Carr Mill pleasure ground.
On the previous evening a constable had discovered four men inside the hut but he had only managed to catch Thomason.
The young man from Merton Bank Road was remanded in custody for further enquiries to be made, no doubt to try and discover the identity of Thomason's partners in crime.
A three-day bazaar was held in Rainford Village Hall from the 15th organised by Rainford Parish Church.
Its purpose was to raise the necessary funds to decorate the church; clean its organ; repair the roof of Bushey Lane School and pay for new offices for Crank School.
Boys smashing gas lamps was a very common practice in St Helens and with police officers never too far away walking their beat it was a risky business.
On the 15th four unidentified lads appeared in the town's Juvenile Court charged with breaking gas lamp covers in Hard Lane.
It was stated in court that extensive damage was being caused by stone-throwing youngsters and over a recent three-week period it had cost the Corporation over £20 to undertake repairs.
The lads were fined between 5 and 10 shillings each with the Chairman of the Bench saying they were getting old enough to know better.
Elizabeth Crilly of Glover Street told the magistrates that upon leaving the Borough Road church, Lucy Traner of Eldon Street had: "…shook me like a dog would shake a rat, and left me unconscious on the ground."
The cause of the row had been Mrs Crilly's 19-year-old son who was lodging with Mrs Traner.
Words had been spoken upon the pair leaving the church. Mrs Traner was said to have swung Mrs Crilly round by her shawl and throat and then hit her in the face until she fell to the ground and had then kicked her.
But Lucy Traner's solicitor argued that there had been great provocation and the magistrates decided to dismiss the case.
Uncle Ben in the St Helens Reporter's column known as the "Children's Reporter" had recently held a competition to vote for the most popular boy's name and in its edition on the 16th it was the turn of the girls.
His club members had been given six names to choose from and they had to pick their favourites, with Margaret easily the winner. In second place was Betty, followed by Nellie, Ethel, Norah and Rose.
On the 17th the eighth annual Sutton Eisteddfod took place. The event was organised by the Welsh Presbyterian church of Peckers Hill Road and took place in the Methodist schoolroom in Sutton Road.
There was a good attendance and during the evening the building was described as packed, with visitors attending from Earlestown, Garston and Bootle.
The Reporter commented: "The enthusiasm displayed and the interest taken was good to see."
She congratulated them on being a "happy lot" and said they had not only to try and look nice but also to learn all the various duties involved in the training of efficient guides.
The programme of events included dancing competitions, fire drill, ambulance work, signalling, rope splicing, physical drill and camp pitching.
On the 19th three Bolton youths were remanded at St Helens Police Court for further inquiries to be made after breaking into Everson's café in Westfield Street and stealing cigarettes and cash.
Three years ago Albert Everson had been fined ten shillings and costs in St Helens Police Court for "exposing loaves of bread for sale which did not weigh the even pound".
Mr Everson explained that he had allowed 1lb 2oz of dough for each loaf, but it was impossible to say that after baking the bread that it would result in an exact pound.
The ultimate penalty for not making maintenance payments to your wife was prison.
The courts ordered such payments as part of separation orders but it was quite common for some men to accrue considerable arrears.
Then when they were hauled back before the magistrates all sorts of excuses were made.
Some of these were genuine because of the unemployment situation – but many were not.
The magistrates would not stand for continually being messed about, as was shown in the case of Thomas Fazakerley.
The man from Ramford Street appeared in St Helens Police Court on the 19th for arrears on a maintenance order that amounted to over £16.
Fazakerley said he was a watchman at some property in Sutton but only received 10 shillings a week wages and so was incapable of making any payments to his wife.
That went down badly with the Bench, who pointed out that he could get over £1 in dole payments from the Labour Exchange. His wife Rebecca Fazakerley then said:
"He has never worked since I knew him. I married him in 1915, and he has never paid as much as a penny for a tea spoon. He would create all sorts of bother in the night and on one occasion tried to choke me.
"I had to call in P.C. Shepherd and in consequence of the knocking about I received at his hands, I had a heavy doctor's bill to meet."
Fazakerley denied ill-treating his wife and claimed that she herself earned 30 shillings a week.
He also said he had a bad back and head and could only undertake light work.
To that remark the Chairman of the Bench asked "What about this back? Won't it bend? Is it one of those?"
Mrs Fazakerley then said: "The children are nearly starving. We have had to sell the cups and saucers in the house to get a meal."
The magistrates knew that if the man was sent to prison he could not pay any maintenance at all to his wife.
And although Fazakerley was sentenced to 28 days hard labour, the sentence was suspended for a month to see what attempt he would make during that period to pay off his debts to his long-suffering wife.
And finally, for six evenings from the 19th, Samson the strong man was at the Hippodrome Theatre. This is how he was billed in the Reporter:
"Samson, The Strongest Man on Earth. He can bend bars of iron with his hands, break chains with his fingers, hammer nails through a board of wood 2¼ inches thick using the bare palm of his hand as a hammer.
"He lays with exposed back, on a bed of nails, a huge stone weighing 6 cwt. is placed on his chest and two men strike the stone, with sledge hammers, as hard as they can.
"He holds two cart horses, each pulling in opposite directions. Europe's man of iron. Must be seen to be believed."
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the burglar found under a Kiln Lane bed, two lino conmen are brought to book, the rescued kitten that had been trapped down an old shaft and the wooden huts that served as shops in Carr Mill.