IOO YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (27th APRIL - 3rd MAY 1920)
This week's stories include the St Helens policeman who had sex while on duty, the Albert Street man who threw his family onto the street at midnight in pouring rain, the fiery Dr O’Keefe threatens the St Helens MP, there's a claim of bigamy in Watery Lane and improvements to the Oxford cinema in Duke Street are proposed.
We begin on the 27th when Patrick Cottington from Albert Street, off North Road (pictured above), appeared in the Police Court charged with breaching the peace and assaulting the police. PC Halsall told the court that at quarter to midnight on the previous evening he'd seen Mary Cottington and her children turned into the street. The officer said the woman asked for his help to be re-admitted to the house but her husband swore at him and kept on shouting and disturbing the neighbourhood. Eventually the man opened the door and invited the officer in for a talk but soon resumed swearing and shouting.
The constable said he told Cottington to be quiet and to let in his wife and children. Instead of doing that the man struck him in the chest and face, which caused his nose to bleed. PC Halsall told the Bench that he was forced to defend himself and the pair ended up rolling out of the house into the street. Of course Cottington told a different tale but made the mistake of calling his wife as a witness – presumably in the belief that she would support his account. That was a mistake!
Mary Cottington complained bitterly of what had happened and said it had been "teeming in torrents with rain". She criticised her husband's disgraceful language in the presence of their children, adding that she could no longer live with him. Patrick Cottington had claimed that the officer had come into his house and dragged him out into the street. However his wife said her husband had struck the officer first. The man was fined just 10 shillings for assaulting the police and bound over for the breach of the peace, for which he would have to find sureties.
Two boys from Mount Street (near Liverpool Road) were before the magistrates on the 28th charged with stealing by means of a trick. Fruiterer Mary Carroll of Boundary Road had a market stall that was run by her sister. The latter had sent Peter Kilgallon and Francis Brannon to Mary's house to collect some clothes. That clearly gave the boys an idea as to how they could make some easy money to spend at the fair.
The pair returned to the house later in the day and told Mary Carroll that her sister now wanted some change for the stall. Mary gave the lads five shillings and three dinners for her staff that were working in the market. However the boys dumped the food in an ashpit and spent the cash. A brainless theft as the family knew who the boys were and the police soon apprehended them.
In court it was stated that Francis Brannon had been a good boy but had gone wrong through the influence of Peter Kilgallon. He was considered a bad lad and was sent to an industrial school until the age of sixteen. Francis Brannon was placed under the probation officer for three years, although he will return to these articles before too long.
Dr Patrick O’Keefe was a fiery Irishman who had been practicing in St Helens since around 1890. Highly outspoken, the coroner for the St Helens district once asked the police to obtain from O’Keefe some medical details on one of his patients that had died. Not only did he refuse to provide them (probably because he would not get paid) but O’Keefe told a sergeant to tell the coroner to "go to hell". On hearing the message, the coroner Samuel Brighouse told the officer: "Next time you see him tell him I decline to accede to his request."
On the 28th Dr O’Keefe called a meeting of Irishmen in the Volunteer Hall and as a result of their discussions sent a telegram to St Helens' Irish MP James Sexton. Many untried Sinn Fein prisoners had recently gone on hunger strike in Wormwood Scrubs after being removed from Ireland. This had caused much anger amongst the Irish in Britain. As well as being a member of parliament, James Sexton was also secretary of the Dockers Union. Dr O’Keefe wanted him to bring all the Liverpool dockers out on strike in sympathy with the Irish prisoners.
But he did not ask the MP politely. At the meeting in the Volunteer Hall he said he wanted to teach James Sexton a lesson. And in the telegram he warned the MP that if he failed to act he would organise the Irish of St Helens against him at the next election. James Sexton was moderate in everything he did and in his reply said he did not want his union involved in political matters. This infuriated Dr O’Keefe who said he would now form a party of Irishmen to campaign against Sexton.
The Oxford Picturedrome in Duke Street was opened in 1912 and would in more recent times become the Plaza (shown above), Cindy's and now the Cinema Bar. On the 29th the Oxford applied in the Police Court for permission to make alterations to their premises – something all licensed properties were obliged to do if they wished to make changes. Their seating accommodation was presently 750 but they wished to increase that number by carrying out improvements on what they called a "rather awkward site". The magistrates granted permission for the work, which would be carried out in July, the cinema's quietest month.
St Helens Hospital's management committee met on the 29th and heard of a new innovation – women were going to join their committee! In fact three females were being appointed, although two more men were also going to join. The hospital's annual report revealed a deficit of almost £2,000 and the committee confirmed its intention to double the 'penny-a-week' insurance subscriptions. Employers would now deduct twopence from the wages of those enrolled in the scheme – instead of a penny – in order for them and their families to receive free hospital treatment.
The St Helens Reporter wrote on the 30th that Millicent Woodward, the champion typist of Great Britain, was coming to Baldwin Street: "Her demonstrations, one might say her séances, for there is a fascination that is almost a spell, in the miraculous fingering of the keyboard and the sustained clamour of the keys falling upon paper at the rate usually of 12, 13, 14, or 15 strokes per second, will be given in the Middle Hall, Cooperative Stores."
A former St Helens police officer appeared in the Police Court on the 30th in an affiliation or maintenance order case. Emma Roberts from Wilson Street (near Boundary Road) accused Harold Toft of having had sex with her in September 1916 while he was on duty and her husband in the army. A child had been born in June of the following year and Mrs Roberts' sister wrote to the Chief Constable about what had occurred after Toft had refused to accept responsibility.
The man left the force soon afterwards, presumably after being sacked. However in court he continued to deny being the father of the child and even claimed to have seen soldiers leaving her house. The magistrates did not believe his claims and ordered Toft to pay Mrs Roberts 5 shillings maintenance per week.
Robert Hudson of Lyon Street, near Prescot Road, was summoned to the court on a charge of persistent cruelty to his wife. Gertrude Hudson told a shocking tale of abuse during the seven years of their marriage. She had left her husband in April after he had come home drunk and struck their children and then slapped her face as she tried to protect them.
In January Hudson had threatened to cut off the head of one of his children who was sick in bed with the measles. He threw the child onto a chair and then made as if to cut his head off with a fish knife. The little boy died three days later. Hudson denied that he had ever been cruel, claiming Gertrude had a short temper. The magistrates granted her a separation order and 35 shillings a week maintenance.
The acts that were performing at the Hippodrome Theatre from the 3rd included: Wright and Hartley ("In songs sung differently"); The Giddy Brothers ("Comedy eccentric acrobats"); V. M. Gaston ("The master xylophonist"); R. E. Livsey ("The real ventriloquist and Old Peter [the dummy]"); Jack Barty ("The burly burlesquer") and Alex Lawson ("The indefatigable filletted dancer").
During the war there had been a big increase in bigamy cases. Although their numbers had now been reduced, 7 of the 27 prosecutions at the Liverpool Assizes in June 1920 would be for committing bigamy. Men were responsible for most cases but occasionally it was a woman who had taken part in a bigamous marriage.
Edith Smith had married William Sunbury at Prescot Registry Office in December 1917 and the couple had settled down in Watery Lane in Sutton. However her husband John Smith was still alive and upon being demobilised from the army in February 1919 he had tracked down his wife and discovered her second marriage. Smith had not written home to Edith since April or May 1916 and had long known that his wife was living with Sunbury, a man that used to be his friend.
Her defence was that her husband had been cruel to her and that there'd been a notice published in a paper that said John Smith had died in the war – although that is, of course, a very common name. After a lengthy hearing the magistrates decided to commit Edith Smith to the assizes for trial.
Next week's stories will include the drunken man found ringing wet with a revolver on a Traverse Street doorstep, St Helens Corporation moves into the bus business, cases of street betting in Peasley Cross Lane and Church Street and the excitable Irishman in Sutton who punched his former friend.
The constable said he told Cottington to be quiet and to let in his wife and children. Instead of doing that the man struck him in the chest and face, which caused his nose to bleed. PC Halsall told the Bench that he was forced to defend himself and the pair ended up rolling out of the house into the street. Of course Cottington told a different tale but made the mistake of calling his wife as a witness – presumably in the belief that she would support his account. That was a mistake!
Mary Cottington complained bitterly of what had happened and said it had been "teeming in torrents with rain". She criticised her husband's disgraceful language in the presence of their children, adding that she could no longer live with him. Patrick Cottington had claimed that the officer had come into his house and dragged him out into the street. However his wife said her husband had struck the officer first. The man was fined just 10 shillings for assaulting the police and bound over for the breach of the peace, for which he would have to find sureties.
Two boys from Mount Street (near Liverpool Road) were before the magistrates on the 28th charged with stealing by means of a trick. Fruiterer Mary Carroll of Boundary Road had a market stall that was run by her sister. The latter had sent Peter Kilgallon and Francis Brannon to Mary's house to collect some clothes. That clearly gave the boys an idea as to how they could make some easy money to spend at the fair.
The pair returned to the house later in the day and told Mary Carroll that her sister now wanted some change for the stall. Mary gave the lads five shillings and three dinners for her staff that were working in the market. However the boys dumped the food in an ashpit and spent the cash. A brainless theft as the family knew who the boys were and the police soon apprehended them.
In court it was stated that Francis Brannon had been a good boy but had gone wrong through the influence of Peter Kilgallon. He was considered a bad lad and was sent to an industrial school until the age of sixteen. Francis Brannon was placed under the probation officer for three years, although he will return to these articles before too long.
Dr Patrick O’Keefe was a fiery Irishman who had been practicing in St Helens since around 1890. Highly outspoken, the coroner for the St Helens district once asked the police to obtain from O’Keefe some medical details on one of his patients that had died. Not only did he refuse to provide them (probably because he would not get paid) but O’Keefe told a sergeant to tell the coroner to "go to hell". On hearing the message, the coroner Samuel Brighouse told the officer: "Next time you see him tell him I decline to accede to his request."
On the 28th Dr O’Keefe called a meeting of Irishmen in the Volunteer Hall and as a result of their discussions sent a telegram to St Helens' Irish MP James Sexton. Many untried Sinn Fein prisoners had recently gone on hunger strike in Wormwood Scrubs after being removed from Ireland. This had caused much anger amongst the Irish in Britain. As well as being a member of parliament, James Sexton was also secretary of the Dockers Union. Dr O’Keefe wanted him to bring all the Liverpool dockers out on strike in sympathy with the Irish prisoners.
But he did not ask the MP politely. At the meeting in the Volunteer Hall he said he wanted to teach James Sexton a lesson. And in the telegram he warned the MP that if he failed to act he would organise the Irish of St Helens against him at the next election. James Sexton was moderate in everything he did and in his reply said he did not want his union involved in political matters. This infuriated Dr O’Keefe who said he would now form a party of Irishmen to campaign against Sexton.
St Helens Hospital's management committee met on the 29th and heard of a new innovation – women were going to join their committee! In fact three females were being appointed, although two more men were also going to join. The hospital's annual report revealed a deficit of almost £2,000 and the committee confirmed its intention to double the 'penny-a-week' insurance subscriptions. Employers would now deduct twopence from the wages of those enrolled in the scheme – instead of a penny – in order for them and their families to receive free hospital treatment.
The St Helens Reporter wrote on the 30th that Millicent Woodward, the champion typist of Great Britain, was coming to Baldwin Street: "Her demonstrations, one might say her séances, for there is a fascination that is almost a spell, in the miraculous fingering of the keyboard and the sustained clamour of the keys falling upon paper at the rate usually of 12, 13, 14, or 15 strokes per second, will be given in the Middle Hall, Cooperative Stores."
A former St Helens police officer appeared in the Police Court on the 30th in an affiliation or maintenance order case. Emma Roberts from Wilson Street (near Boundary Road) accused Harold Toft of having had sex with her in September 1916 while he was on duty and her husband in the army. A child had been born in June of the following year and Mrs Roberts' sister wrote to the Chief Constable about what had occurred after Toft had refused to accept responsibility.
The man left the force soon afterwards, presumably after being sacked. However in court he continued to deny being the father of the child and even claimed to have seen soldiers leaving her house. The magistrates did not believe his claims and ordered Toft to pay Mrs Roberts 5 shillings maintenance per week.
Robert Hudson of Lyon Street, near Prescot Road, was summoned to the court on a charge of persistent cruelty to his wife. Gertrude Hudson told a shocking tale of abuse during the seven years of their marriage. She had left her husband in April after he had come home drunk and struck their children and then slapped her face as she tried to protect them.
In January Hudson had threatened to cut off the head of one of his children who was sick in bed with the measles. He threw the child onto a chair and then made as if to cut his head off with a fish knife. The little boy died three days later. Hudson denied that he had ever been cruel, claiming Gertrude had a short temper. The magistrates granted her a separation order and 35 shillings a week maintenance.
The acts that were performing at the Hippodrome Theatre from the 3rd included: Wright and Hartley ("In songs sung differently"); The Giddy Brothers ("Comedy eccentric acrobats"); V. M. Gaston ("The master xylophonist"); R. E. Livsey ("The real ventriloquist and Old Peter [the dummy]"); Jack Barty ("The burly burlesquer") and Alex Lawson ("The indefatigable filletted dancer").
During the war there had been a big increase in bigamy cases. Although their numbers had now been reduced, 7 of the 27 prosecutions at the Liverpool Assizes in June 1920 would be for committing bigamy. Men were responsible for most cases but occasionally it was a woman who had taken part in a bigamous marriage.
Edith Smith had married William Sunbury at Prescot Registry Office in December 1917 and the couple had settled down in Watery Lane in Sutton. However her husband John Smith was still alive and upon being demobilised from the army in February 1919 he had tracked down his wife and discovered her second marriage. Smith had not written home to Edith since April or May 1916 and had long known that his wife was living with Sunbury, a man that used to be his friend.
Her defence was that her husband had been cruel to her and that there'd been a notice published in a paper that said John Smith had died in the war – although that is, of course, a very common name. After a lengthy hearing the magistrates decided to commit Edith Smith to the assizes for trial.
Next week's stories will include the drunken man found ringing wet with a revolver on a Traverse Street doorstep, St Helens Corporation moves into the bus business, cases of street betting in Peasley Cross Lane and Church Street and the excitable Irishman in Sutton who punched his former friend.
This week's stories include the St Helens policeman who had sex while on duty, the Albert Street man who threw his family onto the street at midnight in pouring rain, the fiery Dr O’Keefe threatens the St Helens MP, there's a claim of bigamy in Watery Lane and improvements to the Oxford cinema in Duke Street are proposed.
We begin on the 27th when Patrick Cottington from Albert Street, off North Road (pictured above), appeared in the Police Court charged with breaching the peace and assaulting the police.
PC Halsall told the court that at quarter to midnight on the previous evening he'd seen Mary Cottington and her children turned into the street.
The officer said the woman asked for his help to be re-admitted to the house but her husband swore at him and kept on shouting and disturbing the neighbourhood.
Eventually the man opened the door and invited the officer in for a talk but soon resumed swearing and shouting.
The constable said he told Cottington to be quiet and to let in his wife and children. Instead of doing that the man struck him in the chest and face, which caused his nose to bleed.
PC Halsall told the Bench that he was forced to defend himself and the pair ended up rolling out of the house into the street.
Of course Cottington told a different tale but made the mistake of calling his wife as a witness – presumably in the belief that she would support his account. That was a mistake!
Mary Cottington complained bitterly of what had happened and said it had been "teeming in torrents with rain".
She criticised her husband's disgraceful language in the presence of their children, adding that she could no longer live with him.
Patrick Cottington had claimed that the officer had come into his house and dragged him out into the street. However his wife said her husband had struck the officer first.
The man was fined just 10 shillings for assaulting the police and bound over for the breach of the peace, for which he would have to find sureties.
Two boys from Mount Street (near Liverpool Road) were before the magistrates on the 28th charged with stealing by means of a trick.
Fruiterer Mary Carroll of Boundary Road had a market stall that was run by her sister.
The latter had sent Peter Kilgallon and Francis Brannon to Mary's house to collect some clothes.
That clearly gave the boys an idea as to how they could make some easy money to spend at the fair.
The pair returned to the house later in the day and told Mary Carroll that her sister now wanted some change for the stall.
Mary gave the lads five shillings and three dinners for her staff that were working in the market. However the boys dumped the food in an ashpit and spent the cash.
A brainless theft as the family knew who the boys were and the police soon apprehended them.
In court it was stated that Francis Brannon had been a good boy but had gone wrong through the influence of Peter Kilgallon.
He was considered a bad lad and was sent to an industrial school until the age of sixteen.
Francis Brannon was placed under the probation officer for three years, although he will return to these articles before too long.
Dr Patrick O’Keefe was a fiery Irishman who had been practicing in St Helens since around 1890.
Highly outspoken, the coroner for the St Helens district once asked the police to obtain from O’Keefe some medical details on one of his patients that had died.
Not only did he refuse to provide them (probably because he would not get paid) but O’Keefe told a sergeant to tell the coroner to "go to hell".
On hearing the message, the coroner Samuel Brighouse told the officer: "Next time you see him tell him I decline to accede to his request."
On the 28th Dr O’Keefe called a meeting of Irishmen in the Volunteer Hall and as a result of their discussions sent a telegram to St Helens' Irish MP James Sexton.
Many untried Sinn Fein prisoners had recently gone on hunger strike in Wormwood Scrubs after being removed from Ireland.
This had caused much anger amongst the Irish in Britain. As well as being a member of parliament, James Sexton was also secretary of the Dockers Union.
Dr O’Keefe wanted him to bring all the Liverpool dockers out on strike in sympathy with the Irish prisoners.
But he did not ask the MP politely. At the meeting in the Volunteer Hall he said he wanted to teach James Sexton a lesson.
And in the telegram he warned the MP that if he failed to act he would organise the Irish of St Helens against him at the next election.
James Sexton was moderate in everything he did and in his reply said he did not want his union involved in political matters.
This infuriated Dr O’Keefe who said he would now form a party of Irishmen to campaign against Sexton.
The Oxford Picturedrome in Duke Street was opened in 1912 and would in more recent times become the Plaza (shown above), Cindy's and now the Cinema Bar.
On the 29th the Oxford applied in the Police Court for permission to make alterations to their premises – something all licensed properties were obliged to do if they wished to make changes.
Their seating accommodation was presently 750 but they wished to increase that number by carrying out improvements on what they called a "rather awkward site".
The magistrates granted permission for the work, which would be carried out in July, the cinema's quietest month.
St Helens Hospital's management committee met on the 29th and heard of a new innovation – women were going to join their committee!
In fact three females were being appointed, although two more men were also going to join.
The hospital's annual report revealed a deficit of almost £2,000 and the committee confirmed its intention to double the 'penny-a-week' insurance subscriptions.
Employers would now deduct twopence from the wages of those enrolled in the scheme – instead of a penny – in order for them and their families to receive free hospital treatment.
The St Helens Reporter wrote on the 30th that Millicent Woodward, the champion typist of Great Britain, was coming to Baldwin Street:
"Her demonstrations, one might say her séances, for there is a fascination that is almost a spell, in the miraculous fingering of the keyboard and the sustained clamour of the keys falling upon paper at the rate usually of 12, 13, 14, or 15 strokes per second, will be given in the Middle Hall, Cooperative Stores."
A former St Helens police officer appeared in the Police Court on the 30th in an affiliation or maintenance order case.
Emma Roberts from Wilson Street (near Boundary Road) accused Harold Toft of having had sex with her in September 1916 while he was on duty and her husband in the army.
A child had been born in June of the following year and Mrs Roberts' sister wrote to the Chief Constable about what had occurred after Toft had refused to accept responsibility.
The man left the force soon afterwards, presumably after being sacked.
However in court he continued to deny being the father of the child and even claimed to have seen soldiers leaving her house.
The magistrates did not believe his claims and ordered Toft to pay Mrs Roberts 5 shillings maintenance per week.
Robert Hudson of Lyon Street, near Prescot Road, was summoned to the court on a charge of persistent cruelty to his wife.
Gertrude Hudson told a shocking tale of abuse during the seven years of their marriage.
She had left her husband in April after he had come home drunk and struck their children and then slapped her face as she tried to protect them.
In January Hudson had threatened to cut off the head of one of his children who was sick in bed with the measles.
He threw the child onto a chair and then made as if to cut his head off with a fish knife. The little boy died three days later.
Hudson denied that he had ever been cruel, claiming Gertrude had a short temper.
The magistrates granted her a separation order and 35 shillings a week maintenance.
The acts that were performing at the Hippodrome Theatre from the 3rd included:
Wright and Hartley ("In songs sung differently"); The Giddy Brothers ("Comedy eccentric acrobats"); V. M. Gaston ("The master xylophonist"); R. E. Livsey ("The real ventriloquist and Old Peter [the dummy]"); Jack Barty ("The burly burlesquer") and Alex Lawson ("The indefatigable filletted dancer").
During the war there had been a big increase in bigamy cases.
Although their numbers had now been reduced, 7 of the 27 prosecutions at the Liverpool Assizes in June 1920 would be for committing bigamy.
Men were responsible for most cases but occasionally it was a woman who had taken part in a bigamous marriage.
Edith Smith had married William Sunbury at Prescot Registry Office in December 1917 and the couple had settled down in Watery Lane in Sutton.
However her husband John Smith was still alive and upon being demobilised from the army in February 1919 he had tracked down his wife and discovered her second marriage.
Smith had not written home to Edith since April or May 1916 and had long known that his wife was living with Sunbury, a man that used to be his friend.
Her defence was that her husband had been cruel to her and that there'd been a notice published in a paper that said John Smith had died in the war – although that is, of course, a very common name.
After a lengthy hearing the magistrates decided to commit Edith Smith to the assizes for trial.
Next week's stories will include the drunken man found ringing wet with a revolver on a Traverse Street doorstep, St Helens Corporation moves into the bus business, cases of street betting in Peasley Cross Lane and Church Street and the excitable Irishman in Sutton who punched his former friend.
PC Halsall told the court that at quarter to midnight on the previous evening he'd seen Mary Cottington and her children turned into the street.
The officer said the woman asked for his help to be re-admitted to the house but her husband swore at him and kept on shouting and disturbing the neighbourhood.
Eventually the man opened the door and invited the officer in for a talk but soon resumed swearing and shouting.
The constable said he told Cottington to be quiet and to let in his wife and children. Instead of doing that the man struck him in the chest and face, which caused his nose to bleed.
PC Halsall told the Bench that he was forced to defend himself and the pair ended up rolling out of the house into the street.
Of course Cottington told a different tale but made the mistake of calling his wife as a witness – presumably in the belief that she would support his account. That was a mistake!
Mary Cottington complained bitterly of what had happened and said it had been "teeming in torrents with rain".
She criticised her husband's disgraceful language in the presence of their children, adding that she could no longer live with him.
Patrick Cottington had claimed that the officer had come into his house and dragged him out into the street. However his wife said her husband had struck the officer first.
The man was fined just 10 shillings for assaulting the police and bound over for the breach of the peace, for which he would have to find sureties.
Two boys from Mount Street (near Liverpool Road) were before the magistrates on the 28th charged with stealing by means of a trick.
Fruiterer Mary Carroll of Boundary Road had a market stall that was run by her sister.
The latter had sent Peter Kilgallon and Francis Brannon to Mary's house to collect some clothes.
That clearly gave the boys an idea as to how they could make some easy money to spend at the fair.
The pair returned to the house later in the day and told Mary Carroll that her sister now wanted some change for the stall.
Mary gave the lads five shillings and three dinners for her staff that were working in the market. However the boys dumped the food in an ashpit and spent the cash.
A brainless theft as the family knew who the boys were and the police soon apprehended them.
In court it was stated that Francis Brannon had been a good boy but had gone wrong through the influence of Peter Kilgallon.
He was considered a bad lad and was sent to an industrial school until the age of sixteen.
Francis Brannon was placed under the probation officer for three years, although he will return to these articles before too long.
Dr Patrick O’Keefe was a fiery Irishman who had been practicing in St Helens since around 1890.
Highly outspoken, the coroner for the St Helens district once asked the police to obtain from O’Keefe some medical details on one of his patients that had died.
Not only did he refuse to provide them (probably because he would not get paid) but O’Keefe told a sergeant to tell the coroner to "go to hell".
On hearing the message, the coroner Samuel Brighouse told the officer: "Next time you see him tell him I decline to accede to his request."
On the 28th Dr O’Keefe called a meeting of Irishmen in the Volunteer Hall and as a result of their discussions sent a telegram to St Helens' Irish MP James Sexton.
Many untried Sinn Fein prisoners had recently gone on hunger strike in Wormwood Scrubs after being removed from Ireland.
This had caused much anger amongst the Irish in Britain. As well as being a member of parliament, James Sexton was also secretary of the Dockers Union.
Dr O’Keefe wanted him to bring all the Liverpool dockers out on strike in sympathy with the Irish prisoners.
But he did not ask the MP politely. At the meeting in the Volunteer Hall he said he wanted to teach James Sexton a lesson.
And in the telegram he warned the MP that if he failed to act he would organise the Irish of St Helens against him at the next election.
James Sexton was moderate in everything he did and in his reply said he did not want his union involved in political matters.
This infuriated Dr O’Keefe who said he would now form a party of Irishmen to campaign against Sexton.
On the 29th the Oxford applied in the Police Court for permission to make alterations to their premises – something all licensed properties were obliged to do if they wished to make changes.
Their seating accommodation was presently 750 but they wished to increase that number by carrying out improvements on what they called a "rather awkward site".
The magistrates granted permission for the work, which would be carried out in July, the cinema's quietest month.
St Helens Hospital's management committee met on the 29th and heard of a new innovation – women were going to join their committee!
In fact three females were being appointed, although two more men were also going to join.
The hospital's annual report revealed a deficit of almost £2,000 and the committee confirmed its intention to double the 'penny-a-week' insurance subscriptions.
Employers would now deduct twopence from the wages of those enrolled in the scheme – instead of a penny – in order for them and their families to receive free hospital treatment.
The St Helens Reporter wrote on the 30th that Millicent Woodward, the champion typist of Great Britain, was coming to Baldwin Street:
"Her demonstrations, one might say her séances, for there is a fascination that is almost a spell, in the miraculous fingering of the keyboard and the sustained clamour of the keys falling upon paper at the rate usually of 12, 13, 14, or 15 strokes per second, will be given in the Middle Hall, Cooperative Stores."
A former St Helens police officer appeared in the Police Court on the 30th in an affiliation or maintenance order case.
Emma Roberts from Wilson Street (near Boundary Road) accused Harold Toft of having had sex with her in September 1916 while he was on duty and her husband in the army.
A child had been born in June of the following year and Mrs Roberts' sister wrote to the Chief Constable about what had occurred after Toft had refused to accept responsibility.
The man left the force soon afterwards, presumably after being sacked.
However in court he continued to deny being the father of the child and even claimed to have seen soldiers leaving her house.
The magistrates did not believe his claims and ordered Toft to pay Mrs Roberts 5 shillings maintenance per week.
Robert Hudson of Lyon Street, near Prescot Road, was summoned to the court on a charge of persistent cruelty to his wife.
Gertrude Hudson told a shocking tale of abuse during the seven years of their marriage.
She had left her husband in April after he had come home drunk and struck their children and then slapped her face as she tried to protect them.
In January Hudson had threatened to cut off the head of one of his children who was sick in bed with the measles.
He threw the child onto a chair and then made as if to cut his head off with a fish knife. The little boy died three days later.
Hudson denied that he had ever been cruel, claiming Gertrude had a short temper.
The magistrates granted her a separation order and 35 shillings a week maintenance.
The acts that were performing at the Hippodrome Theatre from the 3rd included:
Wright and Hartley ("In songs sung differently"); The Giddy Brothers ("Comedy eccentric acrobats"); V. M. Gaston ("The master xylophonist"); R. E. Livsey ("The real ventriloquist and Old Peter [the dummy]"); Jack Barty ("The burly burlesquer") and Alex Lawson ("The indefatigable filletted dancer").
During the war there had been a big increase in bigamy cases.
Although their numbers had now been reduced, 7 of the 27 prosecutions at the Liverpool Assizes in June 1920 would be for committing bigamy.
Men were responsible for most cases but occasionally it was a woman who had taken part in a bigamous marriage.
Edith Smith had married William Sunbury at Prescot Registry Office in December 1917 and the couple had settled down in Watery Lane in Sutton.
However her husband John Smith was still alive and upon being demobilised from the army in February 1919 he had tracked down his wife and discovered her second marriage.
Smith had not written home to Edith since April or May 1916 and had long known that his wife was living with Sunbury, a man that used to be his friend.
Her defence was that her husband had been cruel to her and that there'd been a notice published in a paper that said John Smith had died in the war – although that is, of course, a very common name.
After a lengthy hearing the magistrates decided to commit Edith Smith to the assizes for trial.
Next week's stories will include the drunken man found ringing wet with a revolver on a Traverse Street doorstep, St Helens Corporation moves into the bus business, cases of street betting in Peasley Cross Lane and Church Street and the excitable Irishman in Sutton who punched his former friend.