IOO YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (21 - 27 AUGUST 1923)
This week's many stories include the bizarre behaviour of a Thatto Heath ghost, the abused wife that stabbed her husband with a knife, the unwanted dog thrown down an old Whiston mineshaft, the magistrate that told the brother of a young thief to give him some stick and the contortionist's horse that went walkies in George Street in the middle of the night.
It was dangerous for a woman to defend herself against a violent spouse. If she applied for a separation order in court, her husband could use the defensive act to argue that his wife was the violent one in their marriage – or that she gave as good as she got in what were simply marital squabbles. And the abused wife could even end up in the dock facing a serious criminal charge.
On the 21st Emma Corns of Edward Street in St Helens appeared in the Police Court to face a charge of stabbing her husband George with a bread knife. The 40-year-old had been arrested shortly after midnight after her husband had received a wound in his neck that cut through a vein. Emma explained to the court how she had been struck on the nose and then her husband had grabbed her throat.
In order to defend herself she said she had grabbed hold of the first thing to hand, which happened to be a knife and she'd hit him with it. Mrs Corns added that she had not known whether she'd injured him or not but Supt. Dunn told the court that the man was in a serious condition. It seemed highly unlikely that Emma would flee if given bail or pose any danger to her husband in hospital. But bail was not allowed and the woman was remanded in custody.
On the 22nd in the Prescot Police Court, a father and son were accused of cruelly throwing a dog down an old mineshaft in Whiston – and police were praised for their "plucky" conduct in rescuing the abandoned animal. William Taylor and his son Richard had both been working at Lea Green Colliery and were living in lodgings in Brook Street in Whiston. It appears to have been a common practice for unlicensed dogs to be destroyed when their owners faced questions about their animal's legal status.
That was on the basis that you couldn't be prosecuted for not having a licence for a dog that you didn't have. And so after complaints had been made that the Taylors' dog had been chasing chickens, the father and son had, it seems, expected the police to come calling. And as they didn't have a licence for their pet, the father tried to dispose of the evidence by throwing their dog down the mineshaft. That was after first checking that it contained water in order that the animal would drown.
However, the dog stayed dry as it landed on a plank that lay across the shaft about fifty feet below the surface and from there it moved onto a ledge. The poor dog's yelping attracted the attention of a passer-by, who informed the police, and PC Barber used a rope to lower himself down and make a difficult rescue. The dog's collar bore the name of its owner who was fined £10 with his son told to pay £5 and they both received a good telling off from the Bench. The good news was that a home had now been found for the unwanted animal.
An unusual tragic accident to a two-year-old child occurred on the 23rd. Alice Pickering of Phythian Street in St Helens had gone out into her family's backyard to play. A few minutes later her mother found her daughter pinned down by a bicycle that had fallen on top of her. It seemed Alice had been playing with the machine and had accidentally pulled it over. The bike had fallen on her neck pinning the girl down and causing the child to be suffocated.
There were different types of people living in caravans in St Helens in the 1920s. Some were regarded as gipsies and others used their vehicles as temporary accommodation due to the housing crisis. Then there were the entertainers using horse-drawn caravans to get about the country. Fifty years later Harry Corbett and Sooty would come to St Helens by caravan and park it at night outside the Wheatsheaf in Rainford. Their caravan then was, of course, a motor van and Harry did not have to worry about any horses straying.
But when acrobat, contortionist and fire-eater Stephen Corcoran was performing in St Helens this week, his horse decided to go for a gallop in the middle of the night. Inspector Anders and a constable stopped it in George Street at 4:20am and a few minutes later its owner appeared on the scene without shoes, coat or vest to claim the runaway horse as his property. He said his name was Harry Williams and was told that he would be reported for allowing his animal to stray.
However, shortly afterwards the inspector saw the man leaving the town in his caravan in the direction of Haydock. Inside it were two children and a woman that the man claimed to be his sister but she was, in fact, his wife. The inspector told the subsequent court hearing on the 23rd that the place "stank and was absolutely devoid of comfort". There was no change of clothing for any of the passengers and two dogs were also inside.
Only one animal was licensed and the horse was in a very bad way, having been condemned by the town's veterinary surgeon as unfit to be worked. The court heard that the man received an army pension of £2 a week after receiving a bayonet wound through the shoulder and a bullet wound in the head during the war. Stephen Corcoran (aka Harry Williams) was fined 10 shillings and warned to be more careful in future. The NSPCC were also said to be taking up the matter as to the condition of his children.
During the 1920s and 1930s the bike shed at Clock Face Colliery (shown above) was packed with several hundred machines, as most workers either walked or biked to the mine. There was no security as such and so the bikes were easy to steal – and they were especially inviting for those that did not fancy a long walk home. On the 24th two youths named Thomas Dillon of Liverpool Street and Thomas Lawrenson of Fleet Lane in Parr were charged with stealing a machine belonging to Charles Roberts and later dumping it in a pool of water. They were fined £2 each and bound over for 12 months and almost certainly lost their jobs at the colliery.
However, it was revealed that Dillon’s father had died a few months ago leaving his older brother to bring the 15-year-old up. "I should give him some stick", advised the Chairman of the Bench to the brother. "It is perhaps not good advice from the Bench, but it is one of the things one would be very much tempted to do with a lad like this." To that the elder Dillon replied: "I tried once, but he said he would bring a policeman to me." The Chairman's response was: "You must take him in hand and see what you can do with him. He is your brother, and you must try to make a man of him."
Under the headline of "The Spinning Jug – Theory of Dead Brother Trying to Get Message Through", the Daily Mirror published this article on the 25th:
"Curious incidents are reported from a house in Parliament-street, Thatto Heath, near St. Helens (Lancashire), occupied by an elderly couple, Mr. and Mrs. Roberts, and several lodgers. “We had just gone to bed on Sunday night,” Mrs. Roberts said yesterday, “when we heard a continuous noise like a reel of cotton rolling about the floor. Then there came knockings. On Tuesday I asked six neighbours to go to the room we had occupied on Sunday night. Everybody in the room saw the boxes fly open and fall to the floor. Then a water jug began to spin round and round.”
"Mrs. Roberts called in a well-known local “medium,” who declared that she saw a man in spirit form walk through the kitchen. She described the man, and Mrs. Roberts recognised the description as that of her brother who was killed in an explosion eleven years ago. There was nothing to fear, the “medium” assured Mrs. Roberts, as the brother was simply trying to get a message to her. A little girl who had been staying with Mrs. Roberts found in the bedroom a note bearing in a big unformed handwriting the following words: “Take care of yourself.”"
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's many stories will include the theft of a live turkey from the Griffin Inn in Bold, the King Street poker row, the Thatto Heath scandal that led to a woman leaving home and a call for more regulation of irresponsible motorists.
It was dangerous for a woman to defend herself against a violent spouse. If she applied for a separation order in court, her husband could use the defensive act to argue that his wife was the violent one in their marriage – or that she gave as good as she got in what were simply marital squabbles. And the abused wife could even end up in the dock facing a serious criminal charge.
On the 21st Emma Corns of Edward Street in St Helens appeared in the Police Court to face a charge of stabbing her husband George with a bread knife. The 40-year-old had been arrested shortly after midnight after her husband had received a wound in his neck that cut through a vein. Emma explained to the court how she had been struck on the nose and then her husband had grabbed her throat.
In order to defend herself she said she had grabbed hold of the first thing to hand, which happened to be a knife and she'd hit him with it. Mrs Corns added that she had not known whether she'd injured him or not but Supt. Dunn told the court that the man was in a serious condition. It seemed highly unlikely that Emma would flee if given bail or pose any danger to her husband in hospital. But bail was not allowed and the woman was remanded in custody.
On the 22nd in the Prescot Police Court, a father and son were accused of cruelly throwing a dog down an old mineshaft in Whiston – and police were praised for their "plucky" conduct in rescuing the abandoned animal. William Taylor and his son Richard had both been working at Lea Green Colliery and were living in lodgings in Brook Street in Whiston. It appears to have been a common practice for unlicensed dogs to be destroyed when their owners faced questions about their animal's legal status.
That was on the basis that you couldn't be prosecuted for not having a licence for a dog that you didn't have. And so after complaints had been made that the Taylors' dog had been chasing chickens, the father and son had, it seems, expected the police to come calling. And as they didn't have a licence for their pet, the father tried to dispose of the evidence by throwing their dog down the mineshaft. That was after first checking that it contained water in order that the animal would drown.
However, the dog stayed dry as it landed on a plank that lay across the shaft about fifty feet below the surface and from there it moved onto a ledge. The poor dog's yelping attracted the attention of a passer-by, who informed the police, and PC Barber used a rope to lower himself down and make a difficult rescue. The dog's collar bore the name of its owner who was fined £10 with his son told to pay £5 and they both received a good telling off from the Bench. The good news was that a home had now been found for the unwanted animal.
An unusual tragic accident to a two-year-old child occurred on the 23rd. Alice Pickering of Phythian Street in St Helens had gone out into her family's backyard to play. A few minutes later her mother found her daughter pinned down by a bicycle that had fallen on top of her. It seemed Alice had been playing with the machine and had accidentally pulled it over. The bike had fallen on her neck pinning the girl down and causing the child to be suffocated.
There were different types of people living in caravans in St Helens in the 1920s. Some were regarded as gipsies and others used their vehicles as temporary accommodation due to the housing crisis. Then there were the entertainers using horse-drawn caravans to get about the country. Fifty years later Harry Corbett and Sooty would come to St Helens by caravan and park it at night outside the Wheatsheaf in Rainford. Their caravan then was, of course, a motor van and Harry did not have to worry about any horses straying.
But when acrobat, contortionist and fire-eater Stephen Corcoran was performing in St Helens this week, his horse decided to go for a gallop in the middle of the night. Inspector Anders and a constable stopped it in George Street at 4:20am and a few minutes later its owner appeared on the scene without shoes, coat or vest to claim the runaway horse as his property. He said his name was Harry Williams and was told that he would be reported for allowing his animal to stray.
However, shortly afterwards the inspector saw the man leaving the town in his caravan in the direction of Haydock. Inside it were two children and a woman that the man claimed to be his sister but she was, in fact, his wife. The inspector told the subsequent court hearing on the 23rd that the place "stank and was absolutely devoid of comfort". There was no change of clothing for any of the passengers and two dogs were also inside.
Only one animal was licensed and the horse was in a very bad way, having been condemned by the town's veterinary surgeon as unfit to be worked. The court heard that the man received an army pension of £2 a week after receiving a bayonet wound through the shoulder and a bullet wound in the head during the war. Stephen Corcoran (aka Harry Williams) was fined 10 shillings and warned to be more careful in future. The NSPCC were also said to be taking up the matter as to the condition of his children.
However, it was revealed that Dillon’s father had died a few months ago leaving his older brother to bring the 15-year-old up. "I should give him some stick", advised the Chairman of the Bench to the brother. "It is perhaps not good advice from the Bench, but it is one of the things one would be very much tempted to do with a lad like this." To that the elder Dillon replied: "I tried once, but he said he would bring a policeman to me." The Chairman's response was: "You must take him in hand and see what you can do with him. He is your brother, and you must try to make a man of him."
Under the headline of "The Spinning Jug – Theory of Dead Brother Trying to Get Message Through", the Daily Mirror published this article on the 25th:
"Curious incidents are reported from a house in Parliament-street, Thatto Heath, near St. Helens (Lancashire), occupied by an elderly couple, Mr. and Mrs. Roberts, and several lodgers. “We had just gone to bed on Sunday night,” Mrs. Roberts said yesterday, “when we heard a continuous noise like a reel of cotton rolling about the floor. Then there came knockings. On Tuesday I asked six neighbours to go to the room we had occupied on Sunday night. Everybody in the room saw the boxes fly open and fall to the floor. Then a water jug began to spin round and round.”
"Mrs. Roberts called in a well-known local “medium,” who declared that she saw a man in spirit form walk through the kitchen. She described the man, and Mrs. Roberts recognised the description as that of her brother who was killed in an explosion eleven years ago. There was nothing to fear, the “medium” assured Mrs. Roberts, as the brother was simply trying to get a message to her. A little girl who had been staying with Mrs. Roberts found in the bedroom a note bearing in a big unformed handwriting the following words: “Take care of yourself.”"
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's many stories will include the theft of a live turkey from the Griffin Inn in Bold, the King Street poker row, the Thatto Heath scandal that led to a woman leaving home and a call for more regulation of irresponsible motorists.
This week's many stories include the bizarre behaviour of a Thatto Heath ghost, the abused wife that stabbed her husband with a knife, the unwanted dog thrown down an old Whiston mineshaft, the magistrate that told the brother of a young thief to give him some stick and the contortionist's horse that went walkies in George Street in the middle of the night.
It was dangerous for a woman to defend herself against a violent spouse.
If she applied for a separation order in court, her husband could use the defensive act to argue that his wife was the violent one in their marriage – or that she gave as good as she got in what were simply marital squabbles.
And the abused wife could even end up in the dock facing a serious criminal charge.
On the 21st Emma Corns of Edward Street in St Helens appeared in the Police Court to face a charge of stabbing her husband George with a bread knife.
The 40-year-old had been arrested shortly after midnight after her husband had received a wound in his neck that cut through a vein.
Emma explained to the court how she had been struck on the nose and then her husband had grabbed her throat.
In order to defend herself she said she had grabbed hold of the first thing to hand, which happened to be a knife and she'd hit him with it.
Mrs Corns added that she had not known whether she'd injured him or not but Supt. Dunn told the court that the man was in a serious condition.
It seemed highly unlikely that Emma would flee if given bail or pose any danger to her husband in hospital. But bail was not allowed and the woman was remanded in custody.
On the 22nd in the Prescot Police Court, a father and son were accused of cruelly throwing a dog down an old mineshaft in Whiston – and police were praised for their "plucky" conduct in rescuing the abandoned animal.
William Taylor and his son Richard had both been working at Lea Green Colliery and were living in lodgings in Brook Street in Whiston.
It appears to have been a common practice for unlicensed dogs to be destroyed when their owners faced questions about their animal's legal status.
That was on the basis that you couldn't be prosecuted for not having a licence for a dog that you didn't have.
And so after complaints had been made that the Taylors' dog had been chasing chickens, the father and son had, it seems, expected the police to come calling.
And as they didn't have a licence for their pet, the father tried to dispose of the evidence by throwing their dog down the mineshaft.
That was after first checking that it contained water in order that the animal would drown.
However, the dog stayed dry as it landed on a plank that lay across the shaft about fifty feet below the surface and from there it moved onto a ledge.
The poor dog's yelping attracted the attention of a passer-by, who informed the police, and PC Barber used a rope to lower himself down and make a difficult rescue.
The dog's collar bore the name of its owner who was fined £10 with his son told to pay £5 and they both received a good telling off from the Bench.
The good news was that a home had now been found for the unwanted animal.
An unusual tragic accident to a two-year-old child occurred on the 23rd. Alice Pickering of Phythian Street in St Helens had gone out into her family's backyard to play.
A few minutes later her mother found her daughter pinned down by a bicycle that had fallen on top of her.
It seemed Alice had been playing with the machine and had accidentally pulled it over. The bike had fallen on her neck pinning the girl down and causing the child to be suffocated.
There were different types of people living in caravans in St Helens in the 1920s. Some were regarded as gipsies and others used their vehicles as temporary accommodation due to the housing crisis.
Then there were the entertainers using horse-drawn caravans to get about the country.
Fifty years later Harry Corbett and Sooty would come to St Helens by caravan and park it at night outside the Wheatsheaf in Rainford.
Their caravan then was, of course, a motor van and Harry did not have to worry about any horses straying.
But when acrobat, contortionist and fire-eater Stephen Corcoran was performing in St Helens this week, his horse decided to go for a gallop in the middle of the night.
Inspector Anders and a constable stopped it in George Street at 4:20am and a few minutes later its owner appeared on the scene without shoes, coat or vest to claim the runaway horse as his property.
He said his name was Harry Williams and was told that he would be reported for allowing his animal to stray.
However, shortly afterwards the inspector saw the man leaving the town in his caravan in the direction of Haydock.
Inside it were two children and a woman that the man claimed to be his sister but she was, in fact, his wife.
The inspector told the subsequent court hearing on the 23rd that the place "stank and was absolutely devoid of comfort".
There was no change of clothing for any of the passengers and two dogs were also inside.
Only one animal was licensed and the horse was in a very bad way, having been condemned by the town's veterinary surgeon as unfit to be worked.
The court heard that the man received an army pension of £2 a week after receiving a bayonet wound through the shoulder and a bullet wound in the head during the war.
Stephen Corcoran (aka Harry Williams) was fined 10 shillings and warned to be more careful in future. The NSPCC were also said to be taking up the matter as to the condition of his children.
During the 1920s and 1930s the bike shed at Clock Face Colliery (shown above) was packed with several hundred machines, as most workers either walked or biked to the mine.
There was no security as such and so the bikes were easy to steal – and they were especially inviting for those that did not fancy a long walk home.
On the 24th two youths named Thomas Dillon of Liverpool Street and Thomas Lawrenson of Fleet Lane in Parr were charged with stealing a machine belonging to Charles Roberts and later dumping it in a pool of water.
They were fined £2 each and bound over for 12 months and almost certainly lost their jobs at the colliery.
However, it was revealed that Dillon’s father had died a few months ago leaving his older brother to bring the 15-year-old up.
"I should give him some stick", advised the Chairman of the Bench to the brother. "It is perhaps not good advice from the Bench, but it is one of the things one would be very much tempted to do with a lad like this."
To that the elder Dillon replied: "I tried once, but he said he would bring a policeman to me." The Chairman's response was:
"You must take him in hand and see what you can do with him. He is your brother, and you must try to make a man of him."
Under the headline of "The Spinning Jug – Theory of Dead Brother Trying to Get Message Through", the Daily Mirror published this article on the 25th:
"Curious incidents are reported from a house in Parliament-street, Thatto Heath, near St. Helens (Lancashire), occupied by an elderly couple, Mr. and Mrs. Roberts, and several lodgers.
"“We had just gone to bed on Sunday night,” Mrs. Roberts said yesterday, “when we heard a continuous noise like a reel of cotton rolling about the floor. Then there came knockings.
"“On Tuesday I asked six neighbours to go to the room we had occupied on Sunday night. Everybody in the room saw the boxes fly open and fall to the floor. Then a water jug began to spin round and round.”
"Mrs. Roberts called in a well-known local “medium,” who declared that she saw a man in spirit form walk through the kitchen.
"She described the man, and Mrs. Roberts recognised the description as that of her brother who was killed in an explosion eleven years ago.
"There was nothing to fear, the “medium” assured Mrs. Roberts, as the brother was simply trying to get a message to her.
"A little girl who had been staying with Mrs. Roberts found in the bedroom a note bearing in a big unformed handwriting the following words: “Take care of yourself.”"
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's many stories will include the theft of a live turkey from the Griffin Inn in Bold, the King Street poker row, the Thatto Heath scandal that led to a woman leaving home and a call for more regulation of irresponsible motorists.
It was dangerous for a woman to defend herself against a violent spouse.
If she applied for a separation order in court, her husband could use the defensive act to argue that his wife was the violent one in their marriage – or that she gave as good as she got in what were simply marital squabbles.
And the abused wife could even end up in the dock facing a serious criminal charge.
On the 21st Emma Corns of Edward Street in St Helens appeared in the Police Court to face a charge of stabbing her husband George with a bread knife.
The 40-year-old had been arrested shortly after midnight after her husband had received a wound in his neck that cut through a vein.
Emma explained to the court how she had been struck on the nose and then her husband had grabbed her throat.
In order to defend herself she said she had grabbed hold of the first thing to hand, which happened to be a knife and she'd hit him with it.
Mrs Corns added that she had not known whether she'd injured him or not but Supt. Dunn told the court that the man was in a serious condition.
It seemed highly unlikely that Emma would flee if given bail or pose any danger to her husband in hospital. But bail was not allowed and the woman was remanded in custody.
On the 22nd in the Prescot Police Court, a father and son were accused of cruelly throwing a dog down an old mineshaft in Whiston – and police were praised for their "plucky" conduct in rescuing the abandoned animal.
William Taylor and his son Richard had both been working at Lea Green Colliery and were living in lodgings in Brook Street in Whiston.
It appears to have been a common practice for unlicensed dogs to be destroyed when their owners faced questions about their animal's legal status.
That was on the basis that you couldn't be prosecuted for not having a licence for a dog that you didn't have.
And so after complaints had been made that the Taylors' dog had been chasing chickens, the father and son had, it seems, expected the police to come calling.
And as they didn't have a licence for their pet, the father tried to dispose of the evidence by throwing their dog down the mineshaft.
That was after first checking that it contained water in order that the animal would drown.
However, the dog stayed dry as it landed on a plank that lay across the shaft about fifty feet below the surface and from there it moved onto a ledge.
The poor dog's yelping attracted the attention of a passer-by, who informed the police, and PC Barber used a rope to lower himself down and make a difficult rescue.
The dog's collar bore the name of its owner who was fined £10 with his son told to pay £5 and they both received a good telling off from the Bench.
The good news was that a home had now been found for the unwanted animal.
An unusual tragic accident to a two-year-old child occurred on the 23rd. Alice Pickering of Phythian Street in St Helens had gone out into her family's backyard to play.
A few minutes later her mother found her daughter pinned down by a bicycle that had fallen on top of her.
It seemed Alice had been playing with the machine and had accidentally pulled it over. The bike had fallen on her neck pinning the girl down and causing the child to be suffocated.
There were different types of people living in caravans in St Helens in the 1920s. Some were regarded as gipsies and others used their vehicles as temporary accommodation due to the housing crisis.
Then there were the entertainers using horse-drawn caravans to get about the country.
Fifty years later Harry Corbett and Sooty would come to St Helens by caravan and park it at night outside the Wheatsheaf in Rainford.
Their caravan then was, of course, a motor van and Harry did not have to worry about any horses straying.
But when acrobat, contortionist and fire-eater Stephen Corcoran was performing in St Helens this week, his horse decided to go for a gallop in the middle of the night.
Inspector Anders and a constable stopped it in George Street at 4:20am and a few minutes later its owner appeared on the scene without shoes, coat or vest to claim the runaway horse as his property.
He said his name was Harry Williams and was told that he would be reported for allowing his animal to stray.
However, shortly afterwards the inspector saw the man leaving the town in his caravan in the direction of Haydock.
Inside it were two children and a woman that the man claimed to be his sister but she was, in fact, his wife.
The inspector told the subsequent court hearing on the 23rd that the place "stank and was absolutely devoid of comfort".
There was no change of clothing for any of the passengers and two dogs were also inside.
Only one animal was licensed and the horse was in a very bad way, having been condemned by the town's veterinary surgeon as unfit to be worked.
The court heard that the man received an army pension of £2 a week after receiving a bayonet wound through the shoulder and a bullet wound in the head during the war.
Stephen Corcoran (aka Harry Williams) was fined 10 shillings and warned to be more careful in future. The NSPCC were also said to be taking up the matter as to the condition of his children.
There was no security as such and so the bikes were easy to steal – and they were especially inviting for those that did not fancy a long walk home.
On the 24th two youths named Thomas Dillon of Liverpool Street and Thomas Lawrenson of Fleet Lane in Parr were charged with stealing a machine belonging to Charles Roberts and later dumping it in a pool of water.
They were fined £2 each and bound over for 12 months and almost certainly lost their jobs at the colliery.
However, it was revealed that Dillon’s father had died a few months ago leaving his older brother to bring the 15-year-old up.
"I should give him some stick", advised the Chairman of the Bench to the brother. "It is perhaps not good advice from the Bench, but it is one of the things one would be very much tempted to do with a lad like this."
To that the elder Dillon replied: "I tried once, but he said he would bring a policeman to me." The Chairman's response was:
"You must take him in hand and see what you can do with him. He is your brother, and you must try to make a man of him."
Under the headline of "The Spinning Jug – Theory of Dead Brother Trying to Get Message Through", the Daily Mirror published this article on the 25th:
"Curious incidents are reported from a house in Parliament-street, Thatto Heath, near St. Helens (Lancashire), occupied by an elderly couple, Mr. and Mrs. Roberts, and several lodgers.
"“We had just gone to bed on Sunday night,” Mrs. Roberts said yesterday, “when we heard a continuous noise like a reel of cotton rolling about the floor. Then there came knockings.
"“On Tuesday I asked six neighbours to go to the room we had occupied on Sunday night. Everybody in the room saw the boxes fly open and fall to the floor. Then a water jug began to spin round and round.”
"Mrs. Roberts called in a well-known local “medium,” who declared that she saw a man in spirit form walk through the kitchen.
"She described the man, and Mrs. Roberts recognised the description as that of her brother who was killed in an explosion eleven years ago.
"There was nothing to fear, the “medium” assured Mrs. Roberts, as the brother was simply trying to get a message to her.
"A little girl who had been staying with Mrs. Roberts found in the bedroom a note bearing in a big unformed handwriting the following words: “Take care of yourself.”"
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's many stories will include the theft of a live turkey from the Griffin Inn in Bold, the King Street poker row, the Thatto Heath scandal that led to a woman leaving home and a call for more regulation of irresponsible motorists.