IOO YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (24th - 30th OCTOBER 1922)
This week's many stories include the new scheme to solve the endemic flooding in Sutton, the Bold Heath search party that went on the trail of a violent tramp, the Windle farm guard dog that bit a policeman, the Pudding Bag thief that blamed short-term working for his thieving and the 2-year-old Brynn Street boy who died as a result of wearing a long shirt.
We begin on the 24th when a fierce fire destroyed a large storeroom of the British Quick Firelight Company in Hoghton Road, Sutton. Highly flammable materials were being stored in the shed and a lack of water and dense volumes of smoke hampered the operations of the firemen. One might have imagined that the nature of the firelight firm's business would have necessitated heavy insurance cover in case of such an emergency. But they were uninsured and suffered damage estimated at £1,390, which appears to have wiped them out.
Curiously, it was illegal for a dog not to be kept "under control" from one hour after sunset until one hour before sunrise. In other words the dog could not be let loose on the street at night without a lead – but could during the day. Henry Littler of Fold's Farm in Fold's Lane, Windle, was accused of breaking that law and on the 24th the farmer appeared in court. PC Lynch gave evidence of patrolling Fold's Lane in the direction of Carr Mill at five minutes to midnight when he was attacked by Littler's mastiff.
The constable said he had to strike the dog with his truncheon after it had bit him on his shin. The farmer told PC Lynch that he had let his dog loose that night in order to protect his orchard and in court admitted putting the mastiff out every night since getting it. He was fined 10 shillings and promised to fasten his dog up in future.
Since the end of the war members of the International Bible Students Association had given thousands of lectures worldwide called "Millions Now Living Will Never Die". The premise of the talk was that those still alive in 1925 would live forever. They were not absolutely certain of the year but thought ‘25 quite likely, as that, they claimed, is referred to in the Bible as the year that an upheaval would occur.
The free lecture had already been given several times in St Helens and one might have thought that sufficient mileage had been derived from what some might call a crackpot notion. But it returned on the 27th and was presented again in Griffin's Picture House in St Helens. In 1924 the Ormskirk Street cinema would be renamed the Scala and it is pictured above next to Griffins furnishers. Other speakers all over the world also gave the same lecture simultaneously on the same day and their adverts began: "Proclamation To All The Nations of the Earth – The New World Begun! – ‘Millions Now Living Will Never Die’."
The new plan to address the endemic flooding problem in Sutton was discussed at St Helens Council's Health Committee meeting on the 25th. The long-standing issue mainly affected the appropriately named Watery Lane, Moss Nook and Berry's Lane, and was caused by overflows from the adjacent Sutton Brook, coupled with mining subsidence. Although flooding still occurs in the area today, it is nothing like what it was 100 years ago when, at times of heavy rain, local residents were forced to barricade themselves upstairs. It wouldn't be until the course of the brook was changed that matters would significantly improve.
However, at the committee meeting its chairman, Alderman Henry Bates, described how experiments were currently being carried out to check the effect of pumping operations. The colliery firm of Bromilow, Foster and Co was undertaking the pumping – but Bates said they were "acting without prejudice". In other words they were attempting to solve the problem without admitting that their mining operations might have been the root cause of it!
Uncle Ben in his 'Children's Reporter' column described how over 300 of his "nephews and nieces" had entered his latest competition. Club members were invited to make up as many words as they could from the letters contained within the word 'Reporter'. Some of the kids had cheated – although Uncle Ben did not use that word. But he did gently chide some of his brood for slipping in illegitimate words. The winner of the contest was Elsie Morgan from Alfred Street in St Helens who won a fountain pen engraved with her name.
Women wearing long dresses could cause accidents when dashing off trains or trams by getting their skirts caught in doors or by treading on them. Such long clothing could also prove a danger to young children. This week at the Town Hall the inquest on little Alfred Lewis was held. The two-year-old from Brynn Street in St Helens had been wearing a lengthy nightshirt when he fell down the stairs at his home. Alfred's widowed mother told the hearing that on that morning at 8am she had heard a bumping noise on the stairs, followed by the sound of her son's screams. She said she immediately ran into her back kitchen and found her boy lying near the foot of the stairs.
Mrs Lewis wrapped her son in a blanket and carried him to St Helens Hospital where he died on the following morning. It was thought likely that Alfred had fallen after tripping on his trailing nightshirt. Upon being asked by the coroner whether there were any handrails on the stairs, Mrs Lewis had to admit that there weren't. But she said if there had been any rail, her son would not have been tall enough to reach it. It was not reported whether Mrs Lewis was asked if any carpet was laid that might have helped to cushion the fall – but if there hadn't been a handrail there probably wasn't any carpet. A verdict of misadventure was recorded.
The Reporter also described how a search party had been organised in Bold to find a dangerous man lurking in the woods. Jonathan Shepley was the landlord of the Griffin Inn in Bold Heath and he had decided to take a Sunday morning stroll – or "peregrination" as the paper put it. Upon coming across a man cooking potatoes on a lit fire in the open, Mr Shepley inquired as to what he was doing. However, the mystery man did not answer and instead struck the landlord over his head with a heavy stick.
Mr Shepley was quite badly hurt but managed to alert the police and PC Barber gathered some locals together to comb the woods for the attacker. The man put up strenuous resistance when apprehended but had since appeared in court where he was identified as a young London tramp called Ernest Spence. Jonathan Shepley was still nursing his sore head and unable to give evidence in court. So the man was remanded in custody for a week.
A Grand Sacred Concert took place on the 29th at the Theatre Royal in aid of St Helens Hospital and featuring St Helens Orchestral Society and The Excelsior Male Voice Choir. The conductor and founder of the Orchestral Society was George Groves from King Edward Road. I expect his 20-year-old son bearing the same name was in the audience. In just over a year's time, George Jnr would sail to America and in 1927 become the first sound recordist in movie history when he recorded Al Jolson in 'The Jazz Singer'.
A few weeks ago I wrote that things were looking a bit brighter on the economic front in St Helens with unemployment levels on the decline. But such stats tend not to tell the whole story as many workers had been placed on short time. That was why Henry Campbell of Woodstock Street (pictured above) in the so-called "Pudding Bag" district of Sutton claimed he had become a thief. On the 30th the colliery surface worker appeared in court charged with stealing items from railway waggons at St Helens Junction station. The nicked goods included a case of 13 bottles of champagne, a gramophone and a sewing machine.
The magistrates were told that as a result of previous thefts from the goods yard, the police went on watch on Sunday 22nd and saw Campbell climb over a fence in Station Road. He was carrying a chisel and opened the doors of several vans before detectives chased him to his home where he was arrested and the stolen items found. Campbell explained that by the end of the 1921 miners' strike he was in a bad financial way. Although he resumed his employment at Sutton Manor Colliery with the expectation of being able to clear his debts, Campbell was only given part-time work.
His hours and wages also kept being reduced until he was only earning 21 shillings a week. "Under these circumstances can you wonder that I yielded", the married man with four children told the police. In court Campbell said: "The county court is pressing me for money, the Miners Federation [trade union] are pressing me for money, the landlord is pressing me for money with my rent book being in a deplorable condition. I cannot keep up with my insurance payments and the anxiety, coupled with the domestic strife of not being able to take home sufficient money is overwhelming." The magistrates said they would be lenient in the circumstances and sentenced Campbell to two months imprisonment.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next week's stories will include the plans to cut Town Hall officials' wages, the noisy woman who accused the Chief Constable of seeking another stripe, the cutting of relief payments for the poor and the black sheep of the family that burgled Swire's.
We begin on the 24th when a fierce fire destroyed a large storeroom of the British Quick Firelight Company in Hoghton Road, Sutton. Highly flammable materials were being stored in the shed and a lack of water and dense volumes of smoke hampered the operations of the firemen. One might have imagined that the nature of the firelight firm's business would have necessitated heavy insurance cover in case of such an emergency. But they were uninsured and suffered damage estimated at £1,390, which appears to have wiped them out.
Curiously, it was illegal for a dog not to be kept "under control" from one hour after sunset until one hour before sunrise. In other words the dog could not be let loose on the street at night without a lead – but could during the day. Henry Littler of Fold's Farm in Fold's Lane, Windle, was accused of breaking that law and on the 24th the farmer appeared in court. PC Lynch gave evidence of patrolling Fold's Lane in the direction of Carr Mill at five minutes to midnight when he was attacked by Littler's mastiff.
The constable said he had to strike the dog with his truncheon after it had bit him on his shin. The farmer told PC Lynch that he had let his dog loose that night in order to protect his orchard and in court admitted putting the mastiff out every night since getting it. He was fined 10 shillings and promised to fasten his dog up in future.
Since the end of the war members of the International Bible Students Association had given thousands of lectures worldwide called "Millions Now Living Will Never Die". The premise of the talk was that those still alive in 1925 would live forever. They were not absolutely certain of the year but thought ‘25 quite likely, as that, they claimed, is referred to in the Bible as the year that an upheaval would occur.
The new plan to address the endemic flooding problem in Sutton was discussed at St Helens Council's Health Committee meeting on the 25th. The long-standing issue mainly affected the appropriately named Watery Lane, Moss Nook and Berry's Lane, and was caused by overflows from the adjacent Sutton Brook, coupled with mining subsidence. Although flooding still occurs in the area today, it is nothing like what it was 100 years ago when, at times of heavy rain, local residents were forced to barricade themselves upstairs. It wouldn't be until the course of the brook was changed that matters would significantly improve.
However, at the committee meeting its chairman, Alderman Henry Bates, described how experiments were currently being carried out to check the effect of pumping operations. The colliery firm of Bromilow, Foster and Co was undertaking the pumping – but Bates said they were "acting without prejudice". In other words they were attempting to solve the problem without admitting that their mining operations might have been the root cause of it!
Uncle Ben in his 'Children's Reporter' column described how over 300 of his "nephews and nieces" had entered his latest competition. Club members were invited to make up as many words as they could from the letters contained within the word 'Reporter'. Some of the kids had cheated – although Uncle Ben did not use that word. But he did gently chide some of his brood for slipping in illegitimate words. The winner of the contest was Elsie Morgan from Alfred Street in St Helens who won a fountain pen engraved with her name.
Women wearing long dresses could cause accidents when dashing off trains or trams by getting their skirts caught in doors or by treading on them. Such long clothing could also prove a danger to young children. This week at the Town Hall the inquest on little Alfred Lewis was held. The two-year-old from Brynn Street in St Helens had been wearing a lengthy nightshirt when he fell down the stairs at his home. Alfred's widowed mother told the hearing that on that morning at 8am she had heard a bumping noise on the stairs, followed by the sound of her son's screams. She said she immediately ran into her back kitchen and found her boy lying near the foot of the stairs.
Mrs Lewis wrapped her son in a blanket and carried him to St Helens Hospital where he died on the following morning. It was thought likely that Alfred had fallen after tripping on his trailing nightshirt. Upon being asked by the coroner whether there were any handrails on the stairs, Mrs Lewis had to admit that there weren't. But she said if there had been any rail, her son would not have been tall enough to reach it. It was not reported whether Mrs Lewis was asked if any carpet was laid that might have helped to cushion the fall – but if there hadn't been a handrail there probably wasn't any carpet. A verdict of misadventure was recorded.
The Reporter also described how a search party had been organised in Bold to find a dangerous man lurking in the woods. Jonathan Shepley was the landlord of the Griffin Inn in Bold Heath and he had decided to take a Sunday morning stroll – or "peregrination" as the paper put it. Upon coming across a man cooking potatoes on a lit fire in the open, Mr Shepley inquired as to what he was doing. However, the mystery man did not answer and instead struck the landlord over his head with a heavy stick.
Mr Shepley was quite badly hurt but managed to alert the police and PC Barber gathered some locals together to comb the woods for the attacker. The man put up strenuous resistance when apprehended but had since appeared in court where he was identified as a young London tramp called Ernest Spence. Jonathan Shepley was still nursing his sore head and unable to give evidence in court. So the man was remanded in custody for a week.
A Grand Sacred Concert took place on the 29th at the Theatre Royal in aid of St Helens Hospital and featuring St Helens Orchestral Society and The Excelsior Male Voice Choir. The conductor and founder of the Orchestral Society was George Groves from King Edward Road. I expect his 20-year-old son bearing the same name was in the audience. In just over a year's time, George Jnr would sail to America and in 1927 become the first sound recordist in movie history when he recorded Al Jolson in 'The Jazz Singer'.
The magistrates were told that as a result of previous thefts from the goods yard, the police went on watch on Sunday 22nd and saw Campbell climb over a fence in Station Road. He was carrying a chisel and opened the doors of several vans before detectives chased him to his home where he was arrested and the stolen items found. Campbell explained that by the end of the 1921 miners' strike he was in a bad financial way. Although he resumed his employment at Sutton Manor Colliery with the expectation of being able to clear his debts, Campbell was only given part-time work.
His hours and wages also kept being reduced until he was only earning 21 shillings a week. "Under these circumstances can you wonder that I yielded", the married man with four children told the police. In court Campbell said: "The county court is pressing me for money, the Miners Federation [trade union] are pressing me for money, the landlord is pressing me for money with my rent book being in a deplorable condition. I cannot keep up with my insurance payments and the anxiety, coupled with the domestic strife of not being able to take home sufficient money is overwhelming." The magistrates said they would be lenient in the circumstances and sentenced Campbell to two months imprisonment.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next week's stories will include the plans to cut Town Hall officials' wages, the noisy woman who accused the Chief Constable of seeking another stripe, the cutting of relief payments for the poor and the black sheep of the family that burgled Swire's.
This week's many stories include the new scheme to solve the endemic flooding in Sutton, the Bold Heath search party that went on the trail of a violent tramp, the Windle farm guard dog that bit a policeman, the Pudding Bag thief that blamed short-term working for his thieving and the 2-year-old Brynn Street boy who died as a result of wearing a long shirt.
We begin on the 24th when a fierce fire destroyed a large storeroom of the British Quick Firelight Company in Hoghton Road, Sutton.
Highly flammable materials were being stored in the shed and a lack of water and dense volumes of smoke hampered the operations of the firemen.
One might have imagined that the nature of the firelight firm's business would have necessitated heavy insurance cover in case of such an emergency.
But they were uninsured and suffered damage estimated at £1,390, which appears to have wiped them out.
Curiously, it was illegal for a dog not to be kept "under control" from one hour after sunset until one hour before sunrise.
In other words the dog could not be let loose on the street at night without a lead – but could during the day.
Henry Littler of Fold's Farm in Fold's Lane, Windle, was accused of breaking that law and on the 24th the farmer appeared in court.
PC Lynch gave evidence of patrolling Fold's Lane in the direction of Carr Mill at five minutes to midnight when he was attacked by Littler's mastiff.
The constable said he had to strike the dog with his truncheon after it had bit him on his shin.
The farmer told PC Lynch that he had let his dog loose that night in order to protect his orchard and in court admitted putting the mastiff out every night since getting it. He was fined 10 shillings and promised to fasten his dog up in future.
Since the end of the war members of the International Bible Students Association had given thousands of lectures worldwide called "Millions Now Living Will Never Die".
The premise of the talk was that those still alive in 1925 would live forever. They were not absolutely certain of the year but thought ‘25 quite likely, as that, they claimed, is referred to in the Bible as the year that an upheaval would occur.
The free lecture had already been given several times in St Helens and one might have thought that sufficient mileage had been derived from what some might call a crackpot notion.
But it returned on the 27th and was presented again in Griffin's Picture House in St Helens. In 1924 the Ormskirk Street cinema would be renamed the Scala and it is pictured above next to Griffins furnishers.
Other speakers all over the world also gave the same lecture simultaneously on the same day and their adverts began:
"Proclamation To All The Nations of the Earth – The New World Begun! – ‘Millions Now Living Will Never Die’."
The new plan to address the endemic flooding problem in Sutton was discussed at St Helens Council's Health Committee meeting on the 25th.
The long-standing issue mainly affected the appropriately named Watery Lane, Moss Nook and Berry's Lane, and was caused by overflows from the adjacent Sutton Brook, coupled with mining subsidence.
Although flooding still occurs in the area today, it is nothing like what it was 100 years ago when, at times of heavy rain, local residents were forced to barricade themselves upstairs.
It wouldn't be until the course of the brook was changed that matters would significantly improve.
However, at the committee meeting its chairman, Alderman Henry Bates, described how experiments were currently being carried out to check the effect of pumping operations.
The colliery firm of Bromilow, Foster and Co was undertaking the pumping – but Bates said they were "acting without prejudice".
In other words they were attempting to solve the problem without admitting that their mining operations might have been the root cause of it!
Uncle Ben in his 'Children's Reporter' column described how over 300 of his "nephews and nieces" had entered his latest competition.
Club members were invited to make up as many words as they could from the letters contained within the word 'Reporter'.
Some of the kids had cheated – although Uncle Ben did not use that word. But he did gently chide some of his brood for slipping in illegitimate words.
The winner of the contest was Elsie Morgan from Alfred Street in St Helens who won a fountain pen engraved with her name.
Women wearing long dresses could cause accidents when dashing off trains or trams by getting their skirts caught in doors or by treading on them. Such long clothing could also prove a danger to young children.
This week at the Town Hall the inquest on little Alfred Lewis was held. The two-year-old from Brynn Street in St Helens had been wearing a lengthy nightshirt when he fell down the stairs at his home.
Alfred's widowed mother told the hearing that on that morning at 8am she had heard a bumping noise on the stairs, followed by the sound of her son's screams.
She said she immediately ran into her back kitchen and found her boy lying near the foot of the stairs.
Mrs Lewis wrapped her son in a blanket and carried him to St Helens Hospital where he died on the following morning. It was thought likely that Alfred had fallen after tripping on his trailing nightshirt.
Upon being asked by the coroner whether there were any handrails on the stairs, Mrs Lewis had to admit that there weren't.
But she said if there had been any rail, her son would not have been tall enough to reach it.
It was not reported whether Mrs Lewis was asked if any carpet was laid that might have helped to cushion the fall – but if there hadn't been a handrail there probably wasn't any carpet. A verdict of misadventure was recorded.
The Reporter also described how a search party had been organised in Bold to find a dangerous man lurking in the woods.
Jonathan Shepley was the landlord of the Griffin Inn in Bold Heath and he had decided to take a Sunday morning stroll – or "peregrination" as the paper put it.
Upon coming across a man cooking potatoes on a lit fire in the open, Mr Shepley inquired as to what he was doing.
However, the mystery man did not answer and instead struck the landlord over his head with a heavy stick.
Mr Shepley was quite badly hurt but managed to alert the police and PC Barber gathered some locals together to comb the woods for the attacker.
The man put up strenuous resistance when apprehended but had since appeared in court where he was identified as a young London tramp called Ernest Spence.
Jonathan Shepley was still nursing his sore head and unable to give evidence in court. So the man was remanded in custody for a week.
A Grand Sacred Concert took place on the 29th at the Theatre Royal in aid of St Helens Hospital and featuring St Helens Orchestral Society and The Excelsior Male Voice Choir.
The conductor and founder of the Orchestral Society was George Groves from King Edward Road.
I expect his 20-year-old son bearing the same name was in the audience. In just over a year's time, George Jnr would sail to America and in 1927 become the first sound recordist in movie history when he recorded Al Jolson in 'The Jazz Singer'.
A few weeks ago I wrote that things were looking a bit brighter on the economic front in St Helens with unemployment levels on the decline.
But such stats tend not to tell the whole story as many workers had been placed on short time. That was why Henry Campbell of Woodstock Street (pictured above) in the so-called "Pudding Bag" district of Sutton claimed he had become a thief.
On the 30th the colliery surface worker appeared in court charged with stealing items from railway waggons at St Helens Junction station.
The nicked goods included a case of 13 bottles of champagne, a gramophone and a sewing machine.
The magistrates were told that as a result of previous thefts from the goods yard, the police went on watch on Sunday 22nd and saw Campbell climb over a fence in Station Road.
He was carrying a chisel and opened the doors of several vans before detectives chased him to his home where he was arrested and the stolen items found.
Campbell explained that by the end of the 1921 miners' strike he was in a bad financial way.
Although he resumed his employment at Sutton Manor Colliery with the expectation of being able to clear his debts, Campbell was only given part-time work.
His hours and wages also kept being reduced until he was only earning 21 shillings a week.
"Under these circumstances can you wonder that I yielded", the married man with four children told the police. In court Campbell said:
"The county court is pressing me for money, the Miners Federation [trade union] are pressing me for money, the landlord is pressing me for money with my rent book being in a deplorable condition. I cannot keep up with my insurance payments and the anxiety, coupled with the domestic strife of not being able to take home sufficient money is overwhelming."
The magistrates said they would be lenient in the circumstances and sentenced Campbell to two months imprisonment.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next week's stories will include the plans to cut Town Hall officials' wages, the noisy woman who accused the Chief Constable of seeking another stripe, the cutting of relief payments for the poor and the black sheep of the family that burgled Swire's.
We begin on the 24th when a fierce fire destroyed a large storeroom of the British Quick Firelight Company in Hoghton Road, Sutton.
Highly flammable materials were being stored in the shed and a lack of water and dense volumes of smoke hampered the operations of the firemen.
One might have imagined that the nature of the firelight firm's business would have necessitated heavy insurance cover in case of such an emergency.
But they were uninsured and suffered damage estimated at £1,390, which appears to have wiped them out.
Curiously, it was illegal for a dog not to be kept "under control" from one hour after sunset until one hour before sunrise.
In other words the dog could not be let loose on the street at night without a lead – but could during the day.
Henry Littler of Fold's Farm in Fold's Lane, Windle, was accused of breaking that law and on the 24th the farmer appeared in court.
PC Lynch gave evidence of patrolling Fold's Lane in the direction of Carr Mill at five minutes to midnight when he was attacked by Littler's mastiff.
The constable said he had to strike the dog with his truncheon after it had bit him on his shin.
The farmer told PC Lynch that he had let his dog loose that night in order to protect his orchard and in court admitted putting the mastiff out every night since getting it. He was fined 10 shillings and promised to fasten his dog up in future.
Since the end of the war members of the International Bible Students Association had given thousands of lectures worldwide called "Millions Now Living Will Never Die".
The premise of the talk was that those still alive in 1925 would live forever. They were not absolutely certain of the year but thought ‘25 quite likely, as that, they claimed, is referred to in the Bible as the year that an upheaval would occur.
The free lecture had already been given several times in St Helens and one might have thought that sufficient mileage had been derived from what some might call a crackpot notion.
Other speakers all over the world also gave the same lecture simultaneously on the same day and their adverts began:
"Proclamation To All The Nations of the Earth – The New World Begun! – ‘Millions Now Living Will Never Die’."
The new plan to address the endemic flooding problem in Sutton was discussed at St Helens Council's Health Committee meeting on the 25th.
The long-standing issue mainly affected the appropriately named Watery Lane, Moss Nook and Berry's Lane, and was caused by overflows from the adjacent Sutton Brook, coupled with mining subsidence.
Although flooding still occurs in the area today, it is nothing like what it was 100 years ago when, at times of heavy rain, local residents were forced to barricade themselves upstairs.
It wouldn't be until the course of the brook was changed that matters would significantly improve.
However, at the committee meeting its chairman, Alderman Henry Bates, described how experiments were currently being carried out to check the effect of pumping operations.
The colliery firm of Bromilow, Foster and Co was undertaking the pumping – but Bates said they were "acting without prejudice".
In other words they were attempting to solve the problem without admitting that their mining operations might have been the root cause of it!
Uncle Ben in his 'Children's Reporter' column described how over 300 of his "nephews and nieces" had entered his latest competition.
Club members were invited to make up as many words as they could from the letters contained within the word 'Reporter'.
Some of the kids had cheated – although Uncle Ben did not use that word. But he did gently chide some of his brood for slipping in illegitimate words.
The winner of the contest was Elsie Morgan from Alfred Street in St Helens who won a fountain pen engraved with her name.
Women wearing long dresses could cause accidents when dashing off trains or trams by getting their skirts caught in doors or by treading on them. Such long clothing could also prove a danger to young children.
This week at the Town Hall the inquest on little Alfred Lewis was held. The two-year-old from Brynn Street in St Helens had been wearing a lengthy nightshirt when he fell down the stairs at his home.
Alfred's widowed mother told the hearing that on that morning at 8am she had heard a bumping noise on the stairs, followed by the sound of her son's screams.
She said she immediately ran into her back kitchen and found her boy lying near the foot of the stairs.
Mrs Lewis wrapped her son in a blanket and carried him to St Helens Hospital where he died on the following morning. It was thought likely that Alfred had fallen after tripping on his trailing nightshirt.
Upon being asked by the coroner whether there were any handrails on the stairs, Mrs Lewis had to admit that there weren't.
But she said if there had been any rail, her son would not have been tall enough to reach it.
It was not reported whether Mrs Lewis was asked if any carpet was laid that might have helped to cushion the fall – but if there hadn't been a handrail there probably wasn't any carpet. A verdict of misadventure was recorded.
The Reporter also described how a search party had been organised in Bold to find a dangerous man lurking in the woods.
Jonathan Shepley was the landlord of the Griffin Inn in Bold Heath and he had decided to take a Sunday morning stroll – or "peregrination" as the paper put it.
Upon coming across a man cooking potatoes on a lit fire in the open, Mr Shepley inquired as to what he was doing.
However, the mystery man did not answer and instead struck the landlord over his head with a heavy stick.
Mr Shepley was quite badly hurt but managed to alert the police and PC Barber gathered some locals together to comb the woods for the attacker.
The man put up strenuous resistance when apprehended but had since appeared in court where he was identified as a young London tramp called Ernest Spence.
Jonathan Shepley was still nursing his sore head and unable to give evidence in court. So the man was remanded in custody for a week.
A Grand Sacred Concert took place on the 29th at the Theatre Royal in aid of St Helens Hospital and featuring St Helens Orchestral Society and The Excelsior Male Voice Choir.
The conductor and founder of the Orchestral Society was George Groves from King Edward Road.
I expect his 20-year-old son bearing the same name was in the audience. In just over a year's time, George Jnr would sail to America and in 1927 become the first sound recordist in movie history when he recorded Al Jolson in 'The Jazz Singer'.
A few weeks ago I wrote that things were looking a bit brighter on the economic front in St Helens with unemployment levels on the decline.
On the 30th the colliery surface worker appeared in court charged with stealing items from railway waggons at St Helens Junction station.
The nicked goods included a case of 13 bottles of champagne, a gramophone and a sewing machine.
The magistrates were told that as a result of previous thefts from the goods yard, the police went on watch on Sunday 22nd and saw Campbell climb over a fence in Station Road.
He was carrying a chisel and opened the doors of several vans before detectives chased him to his home where he was arrested and the stolen items found.
Campbell explained that by the end of the 1921 miners' strike he was in a bad financial way.
Although he resumed his employment at Sutton Manor Colliery with the expectation of being able to clear his debts, Campbell was only given part-time work.
His hours and wages also kept being reduced until he was only earning 21 shillings a week.
"Under these circumstances can you wonder that I yielded", the married man with four children told the police. In court Campbell said:
"The county court is pressing me for money, the Miners Federation [trade union] are pressing me for money, the landlord is pressing me for money with my rent book being in a deplorable condition. I cannot keep up with my insurance payments and the anxiety, coupled with the domestic strife of not being able to take home sufficient money is overwhelming."
The magistrates said they would be lenient in the circumstances and sentenced Campbell to two months imprisonment.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next week's stories will include the plans to cut Town Hall officials' wages, the noisy woman who accused the Chief Constable of seeking another stripe, the cutting of relief payments for the poor and the black sheep of the family that burgled Swire's.