IOO YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (23rd - 29th NOVEMBER 1920)
This week's stories include a violent attack on a wife in Bold, the day of reckoning for the thieving Ravenhead hostel lads, the planned widening of the town's roads, how Will Hay fared at the Hippodrome, the motor bus revolution and the Sinn Feiner fracas in Boundary Road.
We begin on the 23rd when the seven light-fingered lads from the Ravenhead Boys' Hostel returned to court. All but one worked for Pilkingtons – who sponsored the hostel – and all had come to St Helens from reformatories or industrial schools. On the face of it the boys had not done anything really bad – having simply pilfered fruit and biscuits out of goods wagons at the railway station. However the stealing had been a regular event, as the Reporter revealed: "P.C. Higgs commented that the prisoners had been down there so often that they were beginning to be a bit hazy as to what they really did when they got there."
The lads had discovered that the wagons would be parked up on Sundays with no one on watch and so went there often to treat themselves. They were also on licence from the reformatories and industrial schools from where they came. And committing any infringement risked their return to a much harsher regime than at the hostel. Five of the boys had also broken into a fruit warehouse in Tontine Street and when the police started making enquiries, some went on the run.
One lad was found in Stalybridge, another was arrested at the hostel and the police discovered the remaining boys sleeping in an old railway carriage in Salisbury Street. The superintendent of the hostel, Mr Roche, told the court that he was at a loss to explain their crimes as they were provided with good food and fruit. The Reporter said Chief Inspector Roe read to the court a "formidable list of the boys' misdeeds" prior to coming to St Helens.
Five of them had come to the town from Clifton Industrial School and their managers had sent a message to the hostel. They did not want the boys to be sent back to their school or returned to their own individual homes, as they said these were "no better than dens of thieves". However the industrial school had responsibility for each of the lads until they turned eighteen. So the court ordered that most of the boys be sent back to the schools and also be given a fine of between 30 and 40 shillings each.
On the 24th an inquest on Bernard Ryan of Fairclough Street in Burtonwood was held at St Helens Town Hall. A heavy stone had fallen on his back while working down Clock Face Colliery (pictured above c.1925). Such accidents were very common and only merited eight lines in the St Helens Reporter.
In 1938 comedian Will Hay would be the third highest grossing performer in the British cinema behind George Formby and Gracie Fields. Many years before becoming a film star, Hay had been a humourist touring the music halls as a schoolmaster called Dr. Muffin. Throughout this week he was starring at the Hippodrome and on the 26th the St Helens Reporter gave this review of the 31-year-old's performance as an ageing professor:
"There are creative humourists and humourists who draw on human nature for their fun, and of the two we like the second better. In this category one can place Will Hay, who is the leading “turn” at the Hippodrome this week. Scholastic humourist, indeed! Of three deliciously farcical sections the first is by far the best, for it might have been transported from the schoolroom itself – the dry, musty old professor, the imp of mischief, and the slow-coach. It is a convulsing performance, which everyone will enjoy because of its freshness and its mimicry."
The problem with a place like St Helens is that the town was never planned. Four townships were simply cobbled together and the building of homes was uncoordinated. St Helens would have been much better if it could have been carefully designed from scratch with wide thoroughfares and pavements. But even then the planners could never have dreamt of the impact of motor vehicles and trams. Since the war such vehicles were expanding at a rapid rate. Although few working class people could yet afford a car, an increasing number were able to buy a motorbike and sidecar – usually on credit.
But these small vehicles were causing few problems on the roads. It was the rise of the heavier traffic – charabancs (such as James Bridge's of Parr pictured above) and large lorries – that were damaging the narrow thoroughfares that the town had inherited. Although road repairs could easily be made if the cash could be found, widening the streets was far more problematic but it had to be done. Wide roads were needed to safely accommodate all the horse-drawn and motor traffic that were battling it out with trams for road supremacy – with pedestrians increasingly getting in the middle of it all and suffering deadly consequences.
There were now plans to expand the motor bus service that had begun tentatively in St Helens in 1914 and which was expected to lead to even more congestion on the highways. Something had to be done and the Reporter had some good news to deliver about a new Parliamentary Bill that would allow St Helens Corporation to make big improvements:
"St. Helens receives a tremendous volume of motor traffic, traffic which is growing so rapidly in extent as to make it clear that many parts of the main roads must be widened if they are to be safe. The Prescot road is to be widened just above Cropper's Hill, where the congested part of the town is reached, and where the double tramway track begins to the centre of the town. Bridge-street is to be widened at the dangerous “bottle-neck”, and Church-street, Barrow-street, Ormskirk-street, in fact nearly all the main streets are to be improved where traffic is heaviest. Dentons Green-lane and Robins-lane will also be improved."
The trams only ran on very limited routes and the Reporter described how proposals to greatly expand motor bus services out to the rural districts would effectively double the size of St Helens. For example Rainford and St Helens were presently linked by just a few daily train services. These were often at inconvenient times and so many people were forced to walk or use a bike. That would all change with the upcoming motor bus revolution, with regularly scheduled services at affordable fares.
Advertising in the Reporter was H. Slinn who was urging readers to "Buy Wall Papers from the Wall Paper Shop". Not the greatest of slogans but to the point! Henry Slinn's premises were then in Peter Street but the shop later moved to Westfield Street when his son Reg was in charge. Grandson Eric then took over and the business is currently supplying decorating needs from Hill Street. Their present telephone number is a bit longer than H. Slinn's was back in 1920 when it was just '38'.
The Reporter also described how planned improvements to the pavement in Robins Lane had finally taken place after a long delay. This had been accomplished by the setting back of the monastery wall. The paper called for more work to be done in other parts of the street where the pavement was either narrow or non-existent.
James Foy was another bigmouth supporter of Sinn Fein when drunk but rather timid and regretful when in the dock. In St Helens Police Court on the 29th the Irishman from Phythian Street was charged with being drunk and disorderly in Boundary Road and assaulting two policemen. Foy had been chucked out of the Nag's Head for expressing his views on Sinn Fein and creating a disturbance. PC Wigglesworth told him to go home quietly but he refused to leave, saying: "I will not be moved by any ________ Englishman [expletive deleted by the Reporter]. I am a Sinn Feiner, and I am, body and soul, one of them."
Upon being taken into custody Foy became violent and knocked the officer down. A man in Eccleston Street came to the constable's assistance and then PC Parkinson arrived on the scene but was violently kicked on the legs. Foy was swearing and shouting at the top of his voice "The English were never any good". Eventually in Duke Street the two officers managed to get their prisoner into a taxi and escort him to the station at the Town Hall. In court Foy said he was sorry for what had occurred and was fined a total of £5 10 shillings.
In another case James Tinsley was charged with wounding his wife with intent to do her grievous bodily harm. The attack had taken place two days earlier at their Abbotsfield Road home and the woman was still in hospital nursing her injuries. Tinsley told the court that what had happened had been his wife's own fault as she had been nagging him all day. Inspector Bowden said Tinsley had been drinking heavily and his wife was in a "terrible condition" after losing a "tremendous amount" of blood. She was not expected to be fit to leave the hospital for a week and so the man was remanded in custody for 7 days.
Next week's stories will include the terrific storm that struck the town, the Parr toddler that died from a spilt cup of tea, a runaway horse in Haydock and why Sutton folk were in danger of being drowned out like rats.
We begin on the 23rd when the seven light-fingered lads from the Ravenhead Boys' Hostel returned to court. All but one worked for Pilkingtons – who sponsored the hostel – and all had come to St Helens from reformatories or industrial schools. On the face of it the boys had not done anything really bad – having simply pilfered fruit and biscuits out of goods wagons at the railway station. However the stealing had been a regular event, as the Reporter revealed: "P.C. Higgs commented that the prisoners had been down there so often that they were beginning to be a bit hazy as to what they really did when they got there."
The lads had discovered that the wagons would be parked up on Sundays with no one on watch and so went there often to treat themselves. They were also on licence from the reformatories and industrial schools from where they came. And committing any infringement risked their return to a much harsher regime than at the hostel. Five of the boys had also broken into a fruit warehouse in Tontine Street and when the police started making enquiries, some went on the run.
One lad was found in Stalybridge, another was arrested at the hostel and the police discovered the remaining boys sleeping in an old railway carriage in Salisbury Street. The superintendent of the hostel, Mr Roche, told the court that he was at a loss to explain their crimes as they were provided with good food and fruit. The Reporter said Chief Inspector Roe read to the court a "formidable list of the boys' misdeeds" prior to coming to St Helens.
Five of them had come to the town from Clifton Industrial School and their managers had sent a message to the hostel. They did not want the boys to be sent back to their school or returned to their own individual homes, as they said these were "no better than dens of thieves". However the industrial school had responsibility for each of the lads until they turned eighteen. So the court ordered that most of the boys be sent back to the schools and also be given a fine of between 30 and 40 shillings each.
In 1938 comedian Will Hay would be the third highest grossing performer in the British cinema behind George Formby and Gracie Fields. Many years before becoming a film star, Hay had been a humourist touring the music halls as a schoolmaster called Dr. Muffin. Throughout this week he was starring at the Hippodrome and on the 26th the St Helens Reporter gave this review of the 31-year-old's performance as an ageing professor:
"There are creative humourists and humourists who draw on human nature for their fun, and of the two we like the second better. In this category one can place Will Hay, who is the leading “turn” at the Hippodrome this week. Scholastic humourist, indeed! Of three deliciously farcical sections the first is by far the best, for it might have been transported from the schoolroom itself – the dry, musty old professor, the imp of mischief, and the slow-coach. It is a convulsing performance, which everyone will enjoy because of its freshness and its mimicry."
The problem with a place like St Helens is that the town was never planned. Four townships were simply cobbled together and the building of homes was uncoordinated. St Helens would have been much better if it could have been carefully designed from scratch with wide thoroughfares and pavements. But even then the planners could never have dreamt of the impact of motor vehicles and trams. Since the war such vehicles were expanding at a rapid rate. Although few working class people could yet afford a car, an increasing number were able to buy a motorbike and sidecar – usually on credit.
There were now plans to expand the motor bus service that had begun tentatively in St Helens in 1914 and which was expected to lead to even more congestion on the highways. Something had to be done and the Reporter had some good news to deliver about a new Parliamentary Bill that would allow St Helens Corporation to make big improvements:
"St. Helens receives a tremendous volume of motor traffic, traffic which is growing so rapidly in extent as to make it clear that many parts of the main roads must be widened if they are to be safe. The Prescot road is to be widened just above Cropper's Hill, where the congested part of the town is reached, and where the double tramway track begins to the centre of the town. Bridge-street is to be widened at the dangerous “bottle-neck”, and Church-street, Barrow-street, Ormskirk-street, in fact nearly all the main streets are to be improved where traffic is heaviest. Dentons Green-lane and Robins-lane will also be improved."
The trams only ran on very limited routes and the Reporter described how proposals to greatly expand motor bus services out to the rural districts would effectively double the size of St Helens. For example Rainford and St Helens were presently linked by just a few daily train services. These were often at inconvenient times and so many people were forced to walk or use a bike. That would all change with the upcoming motor bus revolution, with regularly scheduled services at affordable fares.
Advertising in the Reporter was H. Slinn who was urging readers to "Buy Wall Papers from the Wall Paper Shop". Not the greatest of slogans but to the point! Henry Slinn's premises were then in Peter Street but the shop later moved to Westfield Street when his son Reg was in charge. Grandson Eric then took over and the business is currently supplying decorating needs from Hill Street. Their present telephone number is a bit longer than H. Slinn's was back in 1920 when it was just '38'.
The Reporter also described how planned improvements to the pavement in Robins Lane had finally taken place after a long delay. This had been accomplished by the setting back of the monastery wall. The paper called for more work to be done in other parts of the street where the pavement was either narrow or non-existent.
James Foy was another bigmouth supporter of Sinn Fein when drunk but rather timid and regretful when in the dock. In St Helens Police Court on the 29th the Irishman from Phythian Street was charged with being drunk and disorderly in Boundary Road and assaulting two policemen. Foy had been chucked out of the Nag's Head for expressing his views on Sinn Fein and creating a disturbance. PC Wigglesworth told him to go home quietly but he refused to leave, saying: "I will not be moved by any ________ Englishman [expletive deleted by the Reporter]. I am a Sinn Feiner, and I am, body and soul, one of them."
Upon being taken into custody Foy became violent and knocked the officer down. A man in Eccleston Street came to the constable's assistance and then PC Parkinson arrived on the scene but was violently kicked on the legs. Foy was swearing and shouting at the top of his voice "The English were never any good". Eventually in Duke Street the two officers managed to get their prisoner into a taxi and escort him to the station at the Town Hall. In court Foy said he was sorry for what had occurred and was fined a total of £5 10 shillings.
In another case James Tinsley was charged with wounding his wife with intent to do her grievous bodily harm. The attack had taken place two days earlier at their Abbotsfield Road home and the woman was still in hospital nursing her injuries. Tinsley told the court that what had happened had been his wife's own fault as she had been nagging him all day. Inspector Bowden said Tinsley had been drinking heavily and his wife was in a "terrible condition" after losing a "tremendous amount" of blood. She was not expected to be fit to leave the hospital for a week and so the man was remanded in custody for 7 days.
Next week's stories will include the terrific storm that struck the town, the Parr toddler that died from a spilt cup of tea, a runaway horse in Haydock and why Sutton folk were in danger of being drowned out like rats.
This week's stories include a violent attack on a wife in Bold, the day of reckoning for the thieving Ravenhead hostel lads, the planned widening of the town's roads, how Will Hay fared at the Hippodrome, the motor bus revolution and the Sinn Feiner fracas in Boundary Road.
We begin on the 23rd when the seven light-fingered lads from the Ravenhead Boys' Hostel returned to court.
All but one worked for Pilkingtons – who sponsored the hostel – and all had come to St Helens from reformatories or industrial schools.
On the face of it the boys had not done anything really bad – having simply pilfered fruit and biscuits out of goods wagons at the railway station.
However the stealing had been a regular event, as the Reporter revealed:
"P.C. Higgs commented that the prisoners had been down there so often that they were beginning to be a bit hazy as to what they really did when they got there."
The lads had discovered that the wagons would be parked up on Sundays with no one on watch and so went there often to treat themselves.
They were also on licence from the reformatories and industrial schools from where they came.
And committing any infringement risked their return to a much harsher regime than at the hostel.
Five of the boys had also broken into a fruit warehouse in Tontine Street and when the police started making enquiries, some went on the run.
One lad was found in Stalybridge, another was arrested at the hostel and the police discovered the remaining boys sleeping in an old railway carriage in Salisbury Street.
The superintendent of the hostel, Mr Roche, told the court that he was at a loss to explain their crimes as they were provided with good food and fruit.
The Reporter said Chief Inspector Roe read to the court a "formidable list of the boys' misdeeds" prior to coming to St Helens.
Five of them had come to the town from Clifton Industrial School and their managers had sent a message to the hostel.
They did not want the boys to be sent back to their school or returned to their own individual homes, as they said these were "no better than dens of thieves".
However the industrial school had responsibility for each of the lads until they turned eighteen.
So the court ordered that most of the boys be sent back to the schools and also be given a fine of between 30 and 40 shillings each.
On the 24th an inquest on Bernard Ryan of Fairclough Street in Burtonwood was held at St Helens Town Hall.
A heavy stone had fallen on his back while working down Clock Face Colliery (pictured above c.1925).
Such accidents were very common and only merited eight lines in the St Helens Reporter.
In 1938 comedian Will Hay would be the third highest grossing performer in the British cinema behind George Formby and Gracie Fields.
Many years before becoming a film star, Hay had been a humourist touring the music halls as a schoolmaster called Dr. Muffin.
Throughout this week he was starring at the Hippodrome and on the 26th the St Helens Reporter gave this review of the 31-year-old's performance as an ageing professor:
"There are creative humourists and humourists who draw on human nature for their fun, and of the two we like the second better. In this category one can place Will Hay, who is the leading “turn” at the Hippodrome this week. Scholastic humourist, indeed!
"Of three deliciously farcical sections the first is by far the best, for it might have been transported from the schoolroom itself – the dry, musty old professor, the imp of mischief, and the slow-coach. It is a convulsing performance, which everyone will enjoy because of its freshness and its mimicry."
The problem with a place like St Helens is that the town was never planned. Four townships were simply cobbled together and the building of homes was uncoordinated.
St Helens would have been much better if it could have been carefully designed from scratch with wide thoroughfares and pavements.
But even then the planners could never have dreamt of the impact of motor vehicles and trams. Since the war such vehicles were expanding at a rapid rate.
Although few working class people could yet afford a car, an increasing number were able to buy a motorbike and sidecar – usually on credit. But these small vehicles were causing few problems on the roads.
It was the rise of the heavier traffic – charabancs (such as James Bridge's of Parr pictured above) and large lorries – that were damaging the narrow thoroughfares that the town had inherited.
Although road repairs could easily be made if the cash could be found, widening the streets was far more problematic but it had to be done.
Wide roads were needed to safely accommodate all the horse-drawn and motor traffic that were battling it out with trams for road supremacy – with pedestrians increasingly getting in the middle of it all and suffering deadly consequences.
There were now plans to expand the motor bus service that had begun tentatively in St Helens in 1914 and which was expected to lead to even more congestion on the highways.
Something had to be done and the Reporter had some good news to deliver about a new Parliamentary Bill that would allow St Helens Corporation to make big improvements:
"St. Helens receives a tremendous volume of motor traffic, traffic which is growing so rapidly in extent as to make it clear that many parts of the main roads must be widened if they are to be safe. The Prescot road is to be widened just above Cropper's Hill, where the congested part of the town is reached, and where the double tramway track begins to the centre of the town.
"Bridge-street is to be widened at the dangerous “bottle-neck”, and Church-street, Barrow-street, Ormskirk-street, in fact nearly all the main streets are to be improved where traffic is heaviest. Dentons Green-lane and Robins-lane will also be improved."
The trams only ran on very limited routes and the Reporter described how proposals to greatly expand motor bus services out to the rural districts would effectively double the size of St Helens.
For example Rainford and St Helens were presently linked by just a few daily train services.
These were often at inconvenient times and so many people were forced to walk or use a bike.
That would all change with the upcoming motor bus revolution, with regularly scheduled services at affordable fares.
Advertising in the Reporter was H. Slinn who was urging readers to "Buy Wall Papers from the Wall Paper Shop". Not the greatest of slogans but to the point!
Henry Slinn's premises were then in Peter Street but the shop later moved to Westfield Street when his son Reg was in charge.
Grandson Eric then took over and the business is currently supplying decorating needs from Hill Street.
Their present telephone number is a bit longer than H. Slinn's was back in 1920 when it was just '38'.
The Reporter also described how planned improvements to the pavement in Robins Lane had finally taken place after a long delay.
This had been accomplished by the setting back of the monastery wall.
The paper called for more work to be done in other parts of the street where the pavement was either narrow or non-existent.
James Foy was another bigmouth supporter of Sinn Fein when drunk but rather timid and regretful when in the dock.
In St Helens Police Court on the 29th the Irishman from Phythian Street was charged with being drunk and disorderly in Boundary Road and assaulting two policemen.
Foy had been chucked out of the Nag's Head for expressing his views on Sinn Fein and creating a disturbance.
PC Wigglesworth told him to go home quietly but he refused to leave, saying:
"I will not be moved by any ________ Englishman [expletive deleted by the Reporter]. I am a Sinn Feiner, and I am, body and soul, one of them."
Upon being taken into custody Foy became violent and knocked the officer down.
A man in Eccleston Street came to the constable's assistance and then PC Parkinson arrived on the scene but was violently kicked on the legs.
Foy was swearing and shouting at the top of his voice "The English were never any good".
Eventually in Duke Street the two officers managed to get their prisoner into a taxi and escort him to the station at the Town Hall.
In court Foy said he was sorry for what had occurred and was fined a total of £5 10 shillings.
In another case James Tinsley was charged with wounding his wife with intent to do her grievous bodily harm.
The attack had taken place two days earlier at their Abbotsfield Road home and the woman was still in hospital nursing her injuries.
Tinsley told the court that what had happened had been his wife's own fault as she had been nagging him all day.
Inspector Bowden said Tinsley had been drinking heavily and his wife was in a "terrible condition" after losing a "tremendous amount" of blood.
She was not expected to be fit to leave the hospital for a week and so the man was remanded in custody for 7 days.
Next week's stories will include the terrific storm that struck the town, the Parr toddler that died from a spilt cup of tea, a runaway horse in Haydock and why Sutton folk were in danger of being drowned out like rats.
We begin on the 23rd when the seven light-fingered lads from the Ravenhead Boys' Hostel returned to court.
All but one worked for Pilkingtons – who sponsored the hostel – and all had come to St Helens from reformatories or industrial schools.
On the face of it the boys had not done anything really bad – having simply pilfered fruit and biscuits out of goods wagons at the railway station.
However the stealing had been a regular event, as the Reporter revealed:
"P.C. Higgs commented that the prisoners had been down there so often that they were beginning to be a bit hazy as to what they really did when they got there."
The lads had discovered that the wagons would be parked up on Sundays with no one on watch and so went there often to treat themselves.
They were also on licence from the reformatories and industrial schools from where they came.
And committing any infringement risked their return to a much harsher regime than at the hostel.
Five of the boys had also broken into a fruit warehouse in Tontine Street and when the police started making enquiries, some went on the run.
One lad was found in Stalybridge, another was arrested at the hostel and the police discovered the remaining boys sleeping in an old railway carriage in Salisbury Street.
The superintendent of the hostel, Mr Roche, told the court that he was at a loss to explain their crimes as they were provided with good food and fruit.
The Reporter said Chief Inspector Roe read to the court a "formidable list of the boys' misdeeds" prior to coming to St Helens.
Five of them had come to the town from Clifton Industrial School and their managers had sent a message to the hostel.
They did not want the boys to be sent back to their school or returned to their own individual homes, as they said these were "no better than dens of thieves".
However the industrial school had responsibility for each of the lads until they turned eighteen.
So the court ordered that most of the boys be sent back to the schools and also be given a fine of between 30 and 40 shillings each.
A heavy stone had fallen on his back while working down Clock Face Colliery (pictured above c.1925).
Such accidents were very common and only merited eight lines in the St Helens Reporter.
In 1938 comedian Will Hay would be the third highest grossing performer in the British cinema behind George Formby and Gracie Fields.
Many years before becoming a film star, Hay had been a humourist touring the music halls as a schoolmaster called Dr. Muffin.
Throughout this week he was starring at the Hippodrome and on the 26th the St Helens Reporter gave this review of the 31-year-old's performance as an ageing professor:
"There are creative humourists and humourists who draw on human nature for their fun, and of the two we like the second better. In this category one can place Will Hay, who is the leading “turn” at the Hippodrome this week. Scholastic humourist, indeed!
"Of three deliciously farcical sections the first is by far the best, for it might have been transported from the schoolroom itself – the dry, musty old professor, the imp of mischief, and the slow-coach. It is a convulsing performance, which everyone will enjoy because of its freshness and its mimicry."
The problem with a place like St Helens is that the town was never planned. Four townships were simply cobbled together and the building of homes was uncoordinated.
St Helens would have been much better if it could have been carefully designed from scratch with wide thoroughfares and pavements.
But even then the planners could never have dreamt of the impact of motor vehicles and trams. Since the war such vehicles were expanding at a rapid rate.
Although few working class people could yet afford a car, an increasing number were able to buy a motorbike and sidecar – usually on credit. But these small vehicles were causing few problems on the roads.
Although road repairs could easily be made if the cash could be found, widening the streets was far more problematic but it had to be done.
Wide roads were needed to safely accommodate all the horse-drawn and motor traffic that were battling it out with trams for road supremacy – with pedestrians increasingly getting in the middle of it all and suffering deadly consequences.
There were now plans to expand the motor bus service that had begun tentatively in St Helens in 1914 and which was expected to lead to even more congestion on the highways.
Something had to be done and the Reporter had some good news to deliver about a new Parliamentary Bill that would allow St Helens Corporation to make big improvements:
"St. Helens receives a tremendous volume of motor traffic, traffic which is growing so rapidly in extent as to make it clear that many parts of the main roads must be widened if they are to be safe. The Prescot road is to be widened just above Cropper's Hill, where the congested part of the town is reached, and where the double tramway track begins to the centre of the town.
"Bridge-street is to be widened at the dangerous “bottle-neck”, and Church-street, Barrow-street, Ormskirk-street, in fact nearly all the main streets are to be improved where traffic is heaviest. Dentons Green-lane and Robins-lane will also be improved."
The trams only ran on very limited routes and the Reporter described how proposals to greatly expand motor bus services out to the rural districts would effectively double the size of St Helens.
For example Rainford and St Helens were presently linked by just a few daily train services.
These were often at inconvenient times and so many people were forced to walk or use a bike.
That would all change with the upcoming motor bus revolution, with regularly scheduled services at affordable fares.
Advertising in the Reporter was H. Slinn who was urging readers to "Buy Wall Papers from the Wall Paper Shop". Not the greatest of slogans but to the point!
Henry Slinn's premises were then in Peter Street but the shop later moved to Westfield Street when his son Reg was in charge.
Grandson Eric then took over and the business is currently supplying decorating needs from Hill Street.
Their present telephone number is a bit longer than H. Slinn's was back in 1920 when it was just '38'.
The Reporter also described how planned improvements to the pavement in Robins Lane had finally taken place after a long delay.
This had been accomplished by the setting back of the monastery wall.
The paper called for more work to be done in other parts of the street where the pavement was either narrow or non-existent.
James Foy was another bigmouth supporter of Sinn Fein when drunk but rather timid and regretful when in the dock.
In St Helens Police Court on the 29th the Irishman from Phythian Street was charged with being drunk and disorderly in Boundary Road and assaulting two policemen.
Foy had been chucked out of the Nag's Head for expressing his views on Sinn Fein and creating a disturbance.
PC Wigglesworth told him to go home quietly but he refused to leave, saying:
"I will not be moved by any ________ Englishman [expletive deleted by the Reporter]. I am a Sinn Feiner, and I am, body and soul, one of them."
Upon being taken into custody Foy became violent and knocked the officer down.
A man in Eccleston Street came to the constable's assistance and then PC Parkinson arrived on the scene but was violently kicked on the legs.
Foy was swearing and shouting at the top of his voice "The English were never any good".
Eventually in Duke Street the two officers managed to get their prisoner into a taxi and escort him to the station at the Town Hall.
In court Foy said he was sorry for what had occurred and was fined a total of £5 10 shillings.
In another case James Tinsley was charged with wounding his wife with intent to do her grievous bodily harm.
The attack had taken place two days earlier at their Abbotsfield Road home and the woman was still in hospital nursing her injuries.
Tinsley told the court that what had happened had been his wife's own fault as she had been nagging him all day.
Inspector Bowden said Tinsley had been drinking heavily and his wife was in a "terrible condition" after losing a "tremendous amount" of blood.
She was not expected to be fit to leave the hospital for a week and so the man was remanded in custody for 7 days.
Next week's stories will include the terrific storm that struck the town, the Parr toddler that died from a spilt cup of tea, a runaway horse in Haydock and why Sutton folk were in danger of being drowned out like rats.