IOO YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (23rd - 29th MAY 1922)
This week's stories include the runaway lorry on Crank Hill, the egg stealing from Eccleston Hall Sanatorium, the damned and hellish conditions in St Helens coal mines, the old soldier's fight in a Bold farmer's field, the comeuppance of ex-copper Samuel Cain and the benefit fraudster caught trying it on.
We begin with a hearing in the St Helens County Police Court on the 23rd in which a Bold farmer claimed an old soldier had attacked him with a stick – in the manner of making a bayonet charge. Alexander Critchley of Kepps Farm, off Clock Face Road, told the court that James Lawrence and others had veered off a public right of way and, along with their dogs, had trespassed into his potato field. One of the party was Lawrence's son, who'd picked up a dividing stick that the farmer used to keep his horses' heads apart while seed drilling.
A row ensued and Critchley claimed he had been struck with the stick in a military fashion – as if it was a bayonet. At one point the farmer asked Lawrence who the dog in his field belonged to and received the reply "Ask the dog", although the animal wisely kept its counsel! James Lawrence from Bell Lane had served in both the Boer and world war but was now a miner. He brought his own counter summons, claiming the farmer had assaulted his son. But the jury dismissed it and awarded the farmer Alexander Critchley £1 damages.
These days the theft of birds' eggs is largely limited to a small number of adult collectors – but it used to be a popular activity with lads. So much so that the St Helens Reporter wrote this week: "Boys and bird-nesting are almost synonymous terms but it is not often their nesting instinct runs to such big eggs as those of the swan."
They were referring to a case in St Helens Police Court in the 23rd in which five lads were each fined seven shillings for stealing a swan's egg from the grounds of Eccleston Hall Sanatorium (pictured above). The boys were aged between 11 and 14 and accused of driving a swan off a nest under some bushes and then taking her eggs – which were ruined when recovered. The Liverpool Echo in their account said: "The parents were cautioned to keep their boys in better order."
The ex-PC Samuel Cain was back in the news on the 23rd. Only last month I reported how the former St Helens policeman had been fined £5 after obtaining money from a widow by false pretences. The woman had alleged that Cain had claimed to be still in the force and investigating a case of desertion. Cain – from Brookfield Street in Earlestown – had previously been fined 40 shillings in St Helens Police Court for impersonating a policeman and earlier this week had been fined for being drunk. Now he was accused of obtaining £2 from Councillor Webster of Wigan by false pretences.
Cain had told him that his mother was in a distressed state and practically starving. He promised to repay the borrowed cash but failed to do so. Belatedly, Cllr. Webster checked out Cain's claim and found it to be bogus and so reported the matter to the police. In court the ex-copper gave his occupation as a painter and decorator and applied for time to repay the money. Cain was given time by the magistrates – but not to repay the loan. Instead he had to serve a month in prison.
I've previously written this about the increase in benefit fraud in St Helens: "I do wonder how many of these cases were caused by confusion over entitlement – as opposed to deliberately attempting to cheat the system – with such benefits still being fairly new." However, I think Patrick Mullen had definitely been trying it on when he made a false statement to the Employment Exchange in Church Street (pictured above). Certainly the magistrates in St Helens Police Court thought so, as on the 26th they sentenced him to a month in prison in the second division.
Mullen was a married man with two children but was separated from his wife and kids, which he failed to write on the form. Evidence was provided to the court that he had contributed nothing towards his family's maintenance since last October despite claiming for them. Mullen's defence was that he had filled in the form without thinking in a reckless moment. Second division prisoners were granted certain privileges. These included being allowed to wear clothes of a different colour to the standard prison issue and being able to receive more frequent visits and letters than other prisoners.
The St Helens Reporter on the 26th was full of praise for an unknown youth whose actions had prevented a potential calamity on Crank Hill. A motor lorry – or "lurry" as such vehicles were often spelt – carrying timber to an address in Rainford had seemingly been misdirected. Outside Rainford Hall on Crank Hill – the residence of Guy Pilkington – the driver stopped to obtain further directions to his destination.
However, he failed to properly apply his brakes and, in his absence, the vehicle began moving downhill and rapidly gathered speed. The youth accompanying the driver in the cab attempted to put on the lorry's brakes but found he didn't have sufficient strength to operate them. A train was passing and so the level crossing across Crank Road had shut. The runaway vehicle was heading straight for the closed gates and potential calamity, as the Reporter explained:
"To have steered the swiftly-moving motor-lorry into the gates would have spelt a terrible disaster, which might easily have resulted in wrecking the train. Exerting all his strength in an effort to avoid a collision, and choosing the only means of escape, the gallant youth steered the heavy vehicle into the thick hedge, which skirts the road, and after ploughing onwards for a few yards, the lurry came to a stop."
The new activity of wireless listening was starting to take hold. The BBC was still some months away from being launched and so there was not much yet to hear. However, the early adopters of the new technology were not known as "listeners" but "listeners-in". The term was used in the St Helens Reporter this week when they described the "vogue of listening in" which they said was spreading throughout the country.
The article was promoting courses in wireless telegraphy and telephony, which were being delivered in Manchester and were said to benefit those seeking a career in the subject, as well as amateurs. The Universal School of Telegraphy in Oxford Street claimed to possess "the very latest inventions in every branch of the telegraph profession", and two of the most modern Marconi installations.
It was a long established custom for May Day to be celebrated in St Helens by a display of horses and carts. However, the parade had now switched to a day at the end of the month – seemingly because May Day had developed socialist associations. This year's horse show took place on the 27th with many prizes available for those entering the different categories.
The adage "finder's keepers, losers weepers" did not apply a century ago, especially if you were seen picking some lost item up and placing it in your pocket. On the 27th Hugh Hill appeared in the Police Court charged with stealing a ten shillings note. The miner from Nutgrove Road had found the money lying on the upper deck of a tram but instead of handing it to the conductor, put the note in his pocket and got off at Elephant Lane. The money had been tendered as a fare and the conductor, John Mousdale, had placed it in his pocket. When he realised the ten bob note had slipped out, he began a search and was told that Hill had picked it up and kept it. He was fined 20 shillings for the theft.
Last year's 3-month-long coal strike had left a bitter taste in the mouths of St Helens miners. They had voted to reject the deal that pitmen nationwide had accepted in which the government agreed to subsidise their wages for three months. The mine-owners for their part guaranteed that the men's pay would be at least 20% more than what it had been in 1914. However, the cost of living had more than doubled since then and so the miners would still be receiving a substantial pay cut.
This week a mass meeting of St Helens miners was held at Thatto Heath Picturedrome (or Empire as it became) in which the men expressed their frustrations at undertaking a dangerous job for low pay. Union leader Thomas Greenall claimed that mining was the "biggest sweated industry in Great Britain". The president of the Lancashire and Cheshire Miners' Federation called on the men to declare that they would: "…work no longer under such damned and hellish conditions as we are now enduring. The Government and the community of Great Britain never deceived themselves more in their lives if they were thinking the miners were quiet. There was unrest amongst the men everywhere."
Next week's stories will include the armed midnight raids on explosive stores in St Helens by Irish extremists, the Parr dirty boots assault, the stone throwing boys at Rainhill Asylum and a terrible death down Ashtons Green Colliery.
We begin with a hearing in the St Helens County Police Court on the 23rd in which a Bold farmer claimed an old soldier had attacked him with a stick – in the manner of making a bayonet charge. Alexander Critchley of Kepps Farm, off Clock Face Road, told the court that James Lawrence and others had veered off a public right of way and, along with their dogs, had trespassed into his potato field. One of the party was Lawrence's son, who'd picked up a dividing stick that the farmer used to keep his horses' heads apart while seed drilling.
A row ensued and Critchley claimed he had been struck with the stick in a military fashion – as if it was a bayonet. At one point the farmer asked Lawrence who the dog in his field belonged to and received the reply "Ask the dog", although the animal wisely kept its counsel! James Lawrence from Bell Lane had served in both the Boer and world war but was now a miner. He brought his own counter summons, claiming the farmer had assaulted his son. But the jury dismissed it and awarded the farmer Alexander Critchley £1 damages.
These days the theft of birds' eggs is largely limited to a small number of adult collectors – but it used to be a popular activity with lads. So much so that the St Helens Reporter wrote this week: "Boys and bird-nesting are almost synonymous terms but it is not often their nesting instinct runs to such big eggs as those of the swan."
The ex-PC Samuel Cain was back in the news on the 23rd. Only last month I reported how the former St Helens policeman had been fined £5 after obtaining money from a widow by false pretences. The woman had alleged that Cain had claimed to be still in the force and investigating a case of desertion. Cain – from Brookfield Street in Earlestown – had previously been fined 40 shillings in St Helens Police Court for impersonating a policeman and earlier this week had been fined for being drunk. Now he was accused of obtaining £2 from Councillor Webster of Wigan by false pretences.
Cain had told him that his mother was in a distressed state and practically starving. He promised to repay the borrowed cash but failed to do so. Belatedly, Cllr. Webster checked out Cain's claim and found it to be bogus and so reported the matter to the police. In court the ex-copper gave his occupation as a painter and decorator and applied for time to repay the money. Cain was given time by the magistrates – but not to repay the loan. Instead he had to serve a month in prison.
Mullen was a married man with two children but was separated from his wife and kids, which he failed to write on the form. Evidence was provided to the court that he had contributed nothing towards his family's maintenance since last October despite claiming for them. Mullen's defence was that he had filled in the form without thinking in a reckless moment. Second division prisoners were granted certain privileges. These included being allowed to wear clothes of a different colour to the standard prison issue and being able to receive more frequent visits and letters than other prisoners.
The St Helens Reporter on the 26th was full of praise for an unknown youth whose actions had prevented a potential calamity on Crank Hill. A motor lorry – or "lurry" as such vehicles were often spelt – carrying timber to an address in Rainford had seemingly been misdirected. Outside Rainford Hall on Crank Hill – the residence of Guy Pilkington – the driver stopped to obtain further directions to his destination.
However, he failed to properly apply his brakes and, in his absence, the vehicle began moving downhill and rapidly gathered speed. The youth accompanying the driver in the cab attempted to put on the lorry's brakes but found he didn't have sufficient strength to operate them. A train was passing and so the level crossing across Crank Road had shut. The runaway vehicle was heading straight for the closed gates and potential calamity, as the Reporter explained:
"To have steered the swiftly-moving motor-lorry into the gates would have spelt a terrible disaster, which might easily have resulted in wrecking the train. Exerting all his strength in an effort to avoid a collision, and choosing the only means of escape, the gallant youth steered the heavy vehicle into the thick hedge, which skirts the road, and after ploughing onwards for a few yards, the lurry came to a stop."
The new activity of wireless listening was starting to take hold. The BBC was still some months away from being launched and so there was not much yet to hear. However, the early adopters of the new technology were not known as "listeners" but "listeners-in". The term was used in the St Helens Reporter this week when they described the "vogue of listening in" which they said was spreading throughout the country.
The article was promoting courses in wireless telegraphy and telephony, which were being delivered in Manchester and were said to benefit those seeking a career in the subject, as well as amateurs. The Universal School of Telegraphy in Oxford Street claimed to possess "the very latest inventions in every branch of the telegraph profession", and two of the most modern Marconi installations.
It was a long established custom for May Day to be celebrated in St Helens by a display of horses and carts. However, the parade had now switched to a day at the end of the month – seemingly because May Day had developed socialist associations. This year's horse show took place on the 27th with many prizes available for those entering the different categories.
The adage "finder's keepers, losers weepers" did not apply a century ago, especially if you were seen picking some lost item up and placing it in your pocket. On the 27th Hugh Hill appeared in the Police Court charged with stealing a ten shillings note. The miner from Nutgrove Road had found the money lying on the upper deck of a tram but instead of handing it to the conductor, put the note in his pocket and got off at Elephant Lane. The money had been tendered as a fare and the conductor, John Mousdale, had placed it in his pocket. When he realised the ten bob note had slipped out, he began a search and was told that Hill had picked it up and kept it. He was fined 20 shillings for the theft.
Last year's 3-month-long coal strike had left a bitter taste in the mouths of St Helens miners. They had voted to reject the deal that pitmen nationwide had accepted in which the government agreed to subsidise their wages for three months. The mine-owners for their part guaranteed that the men's pay would be at least 20% more than what it had been in 1914. However, the cost of living had more than doubled since then and so the miners would still be receiving a substantial pay cut.
This week a mass meeting of St Helens miners was held at Thatto Heath Picturedrome (or Empire as it became) in which the men expressed their frustrations at undertaking a dangerous job for low pay. Union leader Thomas Greenall claimed that mining was the "biggest sweated industry in Great Britain". The president of the Lancashire and Cheshire Miners' Federation called on the men to declare that they would: "…work no longer under such damned and hellish conditions as we are now enduring. The Government and the community of Great Britain never deceived themselves more in their lives if they were thinking the miners were quiet. There was unrest amongst the men everywhere."
Next week's stories will include the armed midnight raids on explosive stores in St Helens by Irish extremists, the Parr dirty boots assault, the stone throwing boys at Rainhill Asylum and a terrible death down Ashtons Green Colliery.
This week's stories include the runaway lorry on Crank Hill, the egg stealing from Eccleston Hall Sanatorium, the damned and hellish conditions in St Helens coal mines, the old soldier's fight in a Bold farmer's field, the comeuppance of ex-copper Samuel Cain and the benefit fraudster caught trying it on.
We begin with a hearing in the St Helens County Police Court on the 23rd in which a Bold farmer claimed an old soldier had attacked him with a stick – in the manner of making a bayonet charge.
Alexander Critchley of Kepps Farm, off Clock Face Road, told the court that James Lawrence and others had veered off a public right of way and, along with their dogs, had trespassed into his potato field.
One of the party was Lawrence's son, who'd picked up a dividing stick that the farmer used to keep his horses' heads apart while seed drilling.
A row ensued and Critchley claimed he had been struck with the stick in a military fashion – as if it was a bayonet.
At one point the farmer asked Lawrence who the dog in his field belonged to and received the reply "Ask the dog", although the animal wisely kept its counsel!
James Lawrence from Bell Lane had served in both the Boer and world war but was now a miner.
He brought his own counter summons, claiming the farmer had assaulted his son. But the jury dismissed it and awarded the farmer Alexander Critchley £1 damages.
These days the theft of birds' eggs is largely limited to a small number of adult collectors – but it used to be a popular activity with lads. So much so that the St Helens Reporter wrote this week:
"Boys and bird-nesting are almost synonymous terms but it is not often their nesting instinct runs to such big eggs as those of the swan."
They were referring to a case in St Helens Police Court in the 23rd in which five lads were each fined seven shillings for stealing a swan's egg from the grounds of Eccleston Hall Sanatorium (pictured above).
The boys were aged between 11 and 14 and accused of driving a swan off a nest under some bushes and then taking her eggs – which were ruined when recovered.
The Liverpool Echo in their account said: "The parents were cautioned to keep their boys in better order."
The ex-PC Samuel Cain was back in the news on the 23rd. Only last month I reported how the former St Helens policeman had been fined £5 after obtaining money from a widow by false pretences.
The woman had alleged that Cain had claimed to be still in the force and investigating a case of desertion.
Cain – from Brookfield Street in Earlestown – had previously been fined 40 shillings in St Helens Police Court for impersonating a policeman and earlier this week had been fined for being drunk.
Now he was accused of obtaining £2 from Councillor Webster of Wigan by false pretences.
Cain had told him that his mother was in a distressed state and practically starving. He promised to repay the borrowed cash but failed to do so.
Belatedly, Cllr. Webster checked out Cain's claim and found it to be bogus and so reported the matter to the police.
In court the ex-copper gave his occupation as a painter and decorator and applied for time to repay the money.
Cain was given time by the magistrates – but not to repay the loan. Instead he had to serve a month in prison.
I've previously written this about the increase in benefit fraud in St Helens:
"I do wonder how many of these cases were caused by confusion over entitlement – as opposed to deliberately attempting to cheat the system – with such benefits still being fairly new."
However, I think Patrick Mullen had definitely been trying it on when he made a false statement to the Employment Exchange in Church Street (pictured above).
Certainly the magistrates in St Helens Police Court thought so, as on the 26th they sentenced him to a month in prison in the second division.
Mullen was a married man with two children but was separated from his wife and kids, which he failed to write on the form.
Evidence was provided to the court that he had contributed nothing towards his family's maintenance since last October despite claiming for them.
Mullen's defence was that he had filled in the form without thinking in a reckless moment.
Second division prisoners were granted certain privileges. These included being allowed to wear clothes of a different colour to the standard prison issue and being able to receive more frequent visits and letters than other prisoners.
The St Helens Reporter on the 26th was full of praise for an unknown youth whose actions had prevented a potential calamity on Crank Hill.
A motor lorry – or "lurry" as such vehicles were often spelt – carrying timber to an address in Rainford had seemingly been misdirected.
Outside Rainford Hall on Crank Hill – the residence of Guy Pilkington – the driver stopped to obtain further directions to his destination.
However, he failed to properly apply his brakes and, in his absence, the vehicle began moving downhill and rapidly gathered speed.
The youth accompanying the driver in the cab attempted to put on the lorry's brakes but found he didn't have sufficient strength to operate them.
A train was passing and so the level crossing across Crank Road had shut. The runaway vehicle was heading straight for the closed gates and potential calamity, as the Reporter explained:
"To have steered the swiftly-moving motor-lorry into the gates would have spelt a terrible disaster, which might easily have resulted in wrecking the train.
"Exerting all his strength in an effort to avoid a collision, and choosing the only means of escape, the gallant youth steered the heavy vehicle into the thick hedge, which skirts the road, and after ploughing onwards for a few yards, the lurry came to a stop."
The new activity of wireless listening was starting to take hold. The BBC was still some months away from being launched and so there was not much yet to hear.
However, the early adopters of the new technology were not known as "listeners" but "listeners-in".
The term was used in the St Helens Reporter this week when they described the "vogue of listening in" which they said was spreading throughout the country.
The article was promoting courses in wireless telegraphy and telephony, which were being delivered in Manchester and were said to benefit those seeking a career in the subject, as well as amateurs.
The Universal School of Telegraphy in Oxford Street claimed to possess "the very latest inventions in every branch of the telegraph profession", and two of the most modern Marconi installations.
It was a long established custom for May Day to be celebrated in St Helens by a display of horses and carts.
However, the parade had now switched to a day at the end of the month – seemingly because May Day had developed socialist associations.
This year's horse show took place on the 27th with many prizes available for those entering the different categories.
The adage "finder's keepers, losers weepers" did not apply a century ago, especially if you were seen picking some lost item up and placing it in your pocket.
On the 27th Hugh Hill appeared in the Police Court charged with stealing a ten shillings note.
The miner from Nutgrove Road had found the money lying on the upper deck of a tram but instead of handing it to the conductor, put the note in his pocket and got off at Elephant Lane.
The money had been tendered as a fare and the conductor, John Mousdale, had placed it in his pocket.
When he realised the ten bob note had slipped out, he began a search and was told that Hill had picked it up and kept it. He was fined 20 shillings for the theft.
Last year's 3-month-long coal strike had left a bitter taste in the mouths of St Helens miners.
They had voted to reject the deal that pitmen nationwide had accepted in which the government agreed to subsidise their wages for three months.
The mine-owners for their part guaranteed that the men's pay would be at least 20% more than what it had been in 1914.
However, the cost of living had more than doubled since then and so the miners would still be receiving a substantial pay cut.
This week a mass meeting of St Helens miners was held at Thatto Heath Picturedrome (or Empire as it became) in which the men expressed their frustrations at undertaking a dangerous job for low pay.
Union leader Thomas Greenall claimed that mining was the "biggest sweated industry in Great Britain".
The president of the Lancashire and Cheshire Miners' Federation called on the men to declare that they would:
"…work no longer under such damned and hellish conditions as we are now enduring. The Government and the community of Great Britain never deceived themselves more in their lives if they were thinking the miners were quiet. There was unrest amongst the men everywhere."
Next week's stories will include the armed midnight raids on explosive stores in St Helens by Irish extremists, the Parr dirty boots assault, the stone throwing boys at Rainhill Asylum and a terrible death down Ashtons Green Colliery.
We begin with a hearing in the St Helens County Police Court on the 23rd in which a Bold farmer claimed an old soldier had attacked him with a stick – in the manner of making a bayonet charge.
Alexander Critchley of Kepps Farm, off Clock Face Road, told the court that James Lawrence and others had veered off a public right of way and, along with their dogs, had trespassed into his potato field.
One of the party was Lawrence's son, who'd picked up a dividing stick that the farmer used to keep his horses' heads apart while seed drilling.
A row ensued and Critchley claimed he had been struck with the stick in a military fashion – as if it was a bayonet.
At one point the farmer asked Lawrence who the dog in his field belonged to and received the reply "Ask the dog", although the animal wisely kept its counsel!
James Lawrence from Bell Lane had served in both the Boer and world war but was now a miner.
He brought his own counter summons, claiming the farmer had assaulted his son. But the jury dismissed it and awarded the farmer Alexander Critchley £1 damages.
These days the theft of birds' eggs is largely limited to a small number of adult collectors – but it used to be a popular activity with lads. So much so that the St Helens Reporter wrote this week:
"Boys and bird-nesting are almost synonymous terms but it is not often their nesting instinct runs to such big eggs as those of the swan."
The boys were aged between 11 and 14 and accused of driving a swan off a nest under some bushes and then taking her eggs – which were ruined when recovered.
The Liverpool Echo in their account said: "The parents were cautioned to keep their boys in better order."
The ex-PC Samuel Cain was back in the news on the 23rd. Only last month I reported how the former St Helens policeman had been fined £5 after obtaining money from a widow by false pretences.
The woman had alleged that Cain had claimed to be still in the force and investigating a case of desertion.
Cain – from Brookfield Street in Earlestown – had previously been fined 40 shillings in St Helens Police Court for impersonating a policeman and earlier this week had been fined for being drunk.
Now he was accused of obtaining £2 from Councillor Webster of Wigan by false pretences.
Cain had told him that his mother was in a distressed state and practically starving. He promised to repay the borrowed cash but failed to do so.
Belatedly, Cllr. Webster checked out Cain's claim and found it to be bogus and so reported the matter to the police.
In court the ex-copper gave his occupation as a painter and decorator and applied for time to repay the money.
Cain was given time by the magistrates – but not to repay the loan. Instead he had to serve a month in prison.
"I do wonder how many of these cases were caused by confusion over entitlement – as opposed to deliberately attempting to cheat the system – with such benefits still being fairly new."
However, I think Patrick Mullen had definitely been trying it on when he made a false statement to the Employment Exchange in Church Street (pictured above).
Certainly the magistrates in St Helens Police Court thought so, as on the 26th they sentenced him to a month in prison in the second division.
Mullen was a married man with two children but was separated from his wife and kids, which he failed to write on the form.
Evidence was provided to the court that he had contributed nothing towards his family's maintenance since last October despite claiming for them.
Mullen's defence was that he had filled in the form without thinking in a reckless moment.
Second division prisoners were granted certain privileges. These included being allowed to wear clothes of a different colour to the standard prison issue and being able to receive more frequent visits and letters than other prisoners.
The St Helens Reporter on the 26th was full of praise for an unknown youth whose actions had prevented a potential calamity on Crank Hill.
A motor lorry – or "lurry" as such vehicles were often spelt – carrying timber to an address in Rainford had seemingly been misdirected.
Outside Rainford Hall on Crank Hill – the residence of Guy Pilkington – the driver stopped to obtain further directions to his destination.
However, he failed to properly apply his brakes and, in his absence, the vehicle began moving downhill and rapidly gathered speed.
The youth accompanying the driver in the cab attempted to put on the lorry's brakes but found he didn't have sufficient strength to operate them.
A train was passing and so the level crossing across Crank Road had shut. The runaway vehicle was heading straight for the closed gates and potential calamity, as the Reporter explained:
"To have steered the swiftly-moving motor-lorry into the gates would have spelt a terrible disaster, which might easily have resulted in wrecking the train.
"Exerting all his strength in an effort to avoid a collision, and choosing the only means of escape, the gallant youth steered the heavy vehicle into the thick hedge, which skirts the road, and after ploughing onwards for a few yards, the lurry came to a stop."
The new activity of wireless listening was starting to take hold. The BBC was still some months away from being launched and so there was not much yet to hear.
However, the early adopters of the new technology were not known as "listeners" but "listeners-in".
The term was used in the St Helens Reporter this week when they described the "vogue of listening in" which they said was spreading throughout the country.
The article was promoting courses in wireless telegraphy and telephony, which were being delivered in Manchester and were said to benefit those seeking a career in the subject, as well as amateurs.
The Universal School of Telegraphy in Oxford Street claimed to possess "the very latest inventions in every branch of the telegraph profession", and two of the most modern Marconi installations.
It was a long established custom for May Day to be celebrated in St Helens by a display of horses and carts.
However, the parade had now switched to a day at the end of the month – seemingly because May Day had developed socialist associations.
This year's horse show took place on the 27th with many prizes available for those entering the different categories.
The adage "finder's keepers, losers weepers" did not apply a century ago, especially if you were seen picking some lost item up and placing it in your pocket.
On the 27th Hugh Hill appeared in the Police Court charged with stealing a ten shillings note.
The miner from Nutgrove Road had found the money lying on the upper deck of a tram but instead of handing it to the conductor, put the note in his pocket and got off at Elephant Lane.
The money had been tendered as a fare and the conductor, John Mousdale, had placed it in his pocket.
When he realised the ten bob note had slipped out, he began a search and was told that Hill had picked it up and kept it. He was fined 20 shillings for the theft.
Last year's 3-month-long coal strike had left a bitter taste in the mouths of St Helens miners.
They had voted to reject the deal that pitmen nationwide had accepted in which the government agreed to subsidise their wages for three months.
The mine-owners for their part guaranteed that the men's pay would be at least 20% more than what it had been in 1914.
However, the cost of living had more than doubled since then and so the miners would still be receiving a substantial pay cut.
This week a mass meeting of St Helens miners was held at Thatto Heath Picturedrome (or Empire as it became) in which the men expressed their frustrations at undertaking a dangerous job for low pay.
Union leader Thomas Greenall claimed that mining was the "biggest sweated industry in Great Britain".
The president of the Lancashire and Cheshire Miners' Federation called on the men to declare that they would:
"…work no longer under such damned and hellish conditions as we are now enduring. The Government and the community of Great Britain never deceived themselves more in their lives if they were thinking the miners were quiet. There was unrest amongst the men everywhere."
Next week's stories will include the armed midnight raids on explosive stores in St Helens by Irish extremists, the Parr dirty boots assault, the stone throwing boys at Rainhill Asylum and a terrible death down Ashtons Green Colliery.