This week's stories include the runaway horse in Bridge Street, a knife attack in Glover Street, the Clog and Stocking Fund for barefoot children, the filthy state of the privies and ashpits in Bold, the excitable woman in Higher Parr Street and how complacency in Clock Face Colliery had taken a man's life. We begin on the 21st when Thomas Atherton from Mill Lane in Sutton died in St Helens Hospital, four days after suffering an accident down Clock Face Colliery (pictured above in the 1920s). The daywageman and a man called Patrick O’Brien had been sawing a wooden prop to put under a stone in the pit roof to prevent it from collapsing. Rather foolishly the pair had been sawing the prop while standing directly under the stone, which suddenly fell down onto Atherton.

At the man's inquest at the Town Hall, the coroner Samuel Brighouse was highly critical of O’Brien after he said they hadn't expected the stone to fall. "Familiarity breeds contempt", remarked the coroner, adding that he'd often heard such a complacent attitude given in evidence at colliery inquests.

There was another incident of a runaway horse in St Helens on the 21st. The animal belonged to Critchley's fish dealers and was pulling a trap in Exchange Street when it suddenly took fright and bolted into Bridge Street. Runaways could prove dangerous to life and property and a well-known grocer called Frank Lennon bravely ran out into the road and tried to divert the horse into Milk Street. However the excited animal reared up and knocked him to the ground. Mr Lennon received medical attention for an injury to his head but was reported as having made a good recovery.

Many shops in St Helens used to stay open until late at night but with coal and gas supplies still below normal, the wartime law that banned retailers from opening after 8pm still applied. In the Police Court on the 24th bootmaker John Watkinson from Lugsmore Lane was charged with keeping his shop open after hours.

The Chief Constable told the Bench that after receiving complaints, the police had kept watch on the man's premises to see if the law was being broken. At 8:27pm one evening a constable observed a young woman knock at the shop door. John Watkinson's wife then came out of a side door and took her into their repair shop. After seven minutes the woman came out and was questioned by the officer and she explained that she had been to the shop to collect her boots that had been repaired.

The constable spoke to John Watkinson who said he did not think he was doing wrong in closing his shop at 8pm and then dealing with customers from the private door of his workshop. In fact the boot man was correct (although he probably didn't know why) as the clerk to the court explained. He told the Bench that the order banning shops from opening after 8 o’clock only applied to sales and not to repairs and so the case was dismissed.

Seemingly a bit confused by the dismissal John Watkinson asked the Bench: "Shall I be right to do anything of this sort?". The Chairman replied: "It was not an offence, and if you do it again it will still not be an offence" and the Chief Constable added: "You can go on until midnight if you wish".

Mary Hogan was also in the Police Court on the 24th charged with a breach of the peace. PC Cain stated that at 11pm on October 18th he had been on duty in Park Road with PC Turner when they heard shouting coming from the direction of Higher Parr Street. They found Mary Hogan in the middle of the street excitably waving her arms about and shouting at a house: "Send the _________ monkey out" (expletive deleted by the Reporter).

Mary was referring to her brother and a 100-strong crowd had gathered and were enjoying the show. The police said the woman refused to go home and continued waving her arms about and so had to be arrested. Mary from Waine Street pleaded not guilty and called her brother as a defence witness who denied that his sister had been excited and had been waving her arms about. A pointless exercise as the police evidence was always going to win the day and Mary was bound over to keep the peace. In the St Helens Reporter on the 24th, Arthur Ellerington, the Chief Constable of St Helens, reminded readers of the need for donations to his Clog and Stocking Fund now that winter had arrived. Since the scheme had been launched in 1912, about 6,000 barefooted youngsters in St Helens had been helped through the issue of 16,789 articles of clothing. This comprised 5,000 pairs of clogs and 5,000 stockings, as well as jackets, vests, shirts, skirts and underwear. The Chief Constable wrote that the war had created extra pressure on the fund:

"The toll of the war has contributed in no small measure to the numbers now seeking assistance; and it is up to St. Helens people to see that no local child, orphaned in the Great War, is allowed to go insufficiently clothed through lack of funds to carry on this scheme which renders material assistance to all deserving cases."

Another article in the Reporter described how a man called Edward Berry had applied for assistance from the police for his boy and they had rigged him out with clogs and stockings. An hour later the elderly man from New Cross Street was arrested after going round Church Street pubs begging with his cap in hand. When arrested he had 73 pennies, 13 halfpennies, two farthings and a few shillings in silver. Not a fortune but it was enough to earn him 14 days in prison.

The Reporter also described a recent meeting of Whiston Rural District Council in which the filthy state of the privies and ashpits in Bold and Clock Face were discussed. Dr Mercer – the council's Medical Officer of Health – had inspected the rudimentary toilet system that was being used in parts of Bold.

The doctor told the meeting that the main problem was that the privies and ashpits were full to overflowing and the tenants did not always realise that it was their job to empty them. The ashpits were the dumps that contained human waste and were mixed with ashes to reduce the smell and keep pests away.

Not everyone had their own ashpit. The four houses in Bold known as Ellisons Cottages had to share two ashpits between them. A discussion took place as to whether the council should take responsibility for emptying them. However the committee decided that the Inspector of Nuisances should prepare a report on the matter and provide the Council with an estimate of the cost of conversion to water closets.

A Profiteering Act had recently been passed which encouraged the creation of local committees to investigate complaints of overcharging by shops and other suppliers. The Reporter also stated that three ladies had just been appointed to Rainford Urban District Council's Profiteering Committee, although so far no complaints had been received.

The next Mayor of St Helens was going to be Councillor Joseph Turner who represented the ward of West Sutton. However his first task was to retain his council seat in the November local elections, although it was possible to be the mayor and not be either a councillor or an alderman. Councillor Turner was appealing for votes in the St Helens Reporter where he said his first duty would be to ensure "generous treatment is given to the wives and dependents of the brave men who have fallen in the war".

The old Peasley Cross boy – as he described himself – also commented on the housing shortage in St Helens, saying: "Instead of castles in the air, it is time we had some cottages on the land". Other priorities for his administration would be road repairs, more gas and lighting, a more constant water supply and efficient system of trams and motor buses.

Meanwhile Sam Royle (the owner of Royle's grocers) was asking to be re-elected as representative for East Sutton. The Councillor described how the council had improved the wages of Corporation workers to compensate for wartime inflation and had reduced their pre-war working hours of 56 to 48.

In St Helens Police Court on the 25th, a 38-year-old house painter called Edward Lawson was charged with stabbing his brother-in-law John Thompson. The victim claimed he returned to his home in Glover Street at 10pm on the 17th and found his wife under the influence of drink. They had a row and she went upstairs leaving their child of five lying on the sofa. Thompson claimed that he followed her to their bedroom to get a blanket for his child but found his wife lying on the bed with a bread knife in her hand.

He said she threatened him with the knife and so he knocked it out of her hand. Thompson then said he went downstairs and Elizabeth followed him with the knife but he managed to take it off her. John Thompson's brother-in-law, Edward Lawson, lived with the couple and he supposedly came down the stairs saying: "I am not going to have all this bother".

A fist-fight occurred and according to Thompson his brother-in-law pulled out a knife from his pocket and stabbed him through his jaw. However as Thompson was relating his version of events in court, Lawson shouted out "You have been telling nothing but lies". Thompson's wife also had a somewhat different take on what had happened. However after a lengthy hearing the magistrates were able to commit the prisoner for trial at the next Quarter Sessions.

No doubt they were glad to let a judge and jury sort out the mess! In the days before the police had forensic evidence it was hard to know who was telling the truth. For example there were lots of bloodstains, including some on a knife belonging to Edward Lawson. But the painter claimed it was his own blood and there was no forensic evidence to prove or disprove his claim.

Next week's stories will include the curious case of the tooled up ex-soldier at the Hippodrome, the cruelty of boys in a Bold farmyard, the "worn-out" Corporation employees that were wanted to work in the toilets, a suicide in the canal and a boost for Labour in the first council elections for six years.