IOO YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (28th MARCH - 3rd APRIL 1922)
This week's many stories include the breaking up of a Sutton “crime” syndicate, a manslaughter case in Eccleston Street, a welcome freeze in the town's rates, the unemployed ex-soldier's suicide on the railway line and the Pudding Bag marriage break up.
The Hippodrome Music Hall in St Helens gave up its usual variety bill this week for a show called 'Minstrels Of 1922', which featured 40 artistes, many in blackface. "Dis Am De Hit Of The Season!", was the unfortunate strapline used to promote it.
On the 28th the inquest on Herbert Leyland from Grafton Street in St Helens was held. The 39-year-old electrician had been walking home when, in Eccleston Street (pictured above), a man called John Harrison from Silkstone Street overtook him and asked for a match. Leyland replied that he did not have one and Harrison then swore at him. Leyland told him not to swear again or he'd have him arrested and immediately Harrison struck him in the face. The Guardian takes up the story:
"Leyland moved away and said he would give Harrison in charge [have arrested], upon which the latter sprang after him and struck another violent blow with his fist under the chin. Leyland went down like a log and lay on the ground unconscious. It was found he had a fractured skull and other injuries, and he died a few hours later."
John Harrison was described as a strongly built young man who totally denied all knowledge of the affair, claiming it was a case of mistaken identity. Indeed, several witnesses admitted that they could not identify the 24-year-old labourer as the man who had struck the blows. However, another witness called Bridge – who had known Harrison since he was a boy and had served with him in the army – swore that the attacker had definitely been him. The witness described Harrison as a professional "cadger" and on the night in question he had been walking behind him.
Bridge added that he had not wanted to overtake him, as Harrison would've asked him "for a pint or something like that". He also said that since he'd come forward, the prisoner's brother and his family had been trying to intimidate him. As a result, a verdict of manslaughter was returned at the inquest and Harrison was later committed for trial at the Assizes. That took place in Liverpool on April 27th but the case was dismissed after Harrison claimed the witness Bridge had a "down" on him from when they were in the army together.
For forty years before the war, St Helens ratepayers paid one of the lowest rates in the country. However, the unprecedented levels of inflation since the conflict began had ended that. During the financial year of 1913-14, the St Helens rates had been just 7s 9d in the pound. So if the rateable value of your home was £100, you would pay the Corporation just under £40 per year. However, as a result of annual increases that the Town Council had imposed since then, the 1921 - ‘22 rates had shot up to 17 shillings in the £ – more than double the pre-war amount.
The Reporter wrote on the 31st that the council's Finance Committee had recognised the "grave danger of adding to the burden of the people at this time of grave industrial depression". The committee members had also pragmatically accepted the principle that "you cannot get blood from a stone". In other words, raising the rates would simply have increased the number of defaulters and so instead of a rise in bills, £75,000 worth of savings in planned expenditure was going to be made.
There were two adverts by boot sellers published in the Reporter. The first was rather oddly from Nixon's Fish Market in St Helens. What a fish market was doing selling boots, I have no idea! But they were offering boots for youths for just 5/11 and all-leather South African field ones for men at 16/6 a pair.
Meanwhile, the City Boot Company of Bridge Street – which called themselves the "largest and most up-to-date boot store in St Helens" – headlined their ad "Enormous Clearance" and wrote: "Prior to alterations we are sacrificing the whole of a manufacturer's stock. Below are a few of the wonderful bargains that must be cleared." Their offers included a "wonderful collection" of boys and girls "well-finished" boots from just 4/11.
The magistrates in St Helens Police Court on the 31st heard how after the police had conducted a raid in Berry's Lane, a longstanding crime network had been smashed. Had the Sutton gang been peddling drugs, guns, pornography? No, they'd been operating a football sweepstake and had 2,000 regular subscribers! "Have you only just found it out? We have been running it for four years?", a puzzled John Thompson of Ellamsbridge Road was said to have asked the police upon being arrested.
The bobbies had to admit that it had been a very well-run lottery, which was based on the results of Saints and St Helens Recs fixtures – whichever rugby team happened to be at home. There were numerous cash prizes on offer with a jackpot of £10, a large sum at times of great hardship for many. Edward Thompson – whose home in Berry's Lane had been the centre of the criminal operation – was fined £5 and several others received fines of £2 10 shillings.
It's interesting how some terms of abuse from a century ago seem quite mild today. In St Helens Police Court on the 31st, Constable Phillips told the Bench that James Kelly from Heath Street had insulted James Westhead from South John Street by calling him a "long streak of lightning". The F-word was also included in the drunken argument that had taken place outside the Labour Club in Park Road. But the whole thing seemed a bit of a storm in a teacup and the three defendants were bound over or had the charge against them dismissed.
"A Pathetic Story Of Unemployment – Terrible End Of Man Who Had Become Insane", was the Liverpool Echo's headline to their article on Joseph Allan. The 44-year-old from Edinburgh had been found on the railway line near St Nicholas's Church in Sutton, with his head decapitated from his body. Mr Allan's inquest was held on April 1st and this letter that had been found on his body was read to the court:
"My dear Wife, I feel I must write you a farewell note, but as long as you live, do not forget you wore the trousers. But keep wearing them, and by the time you get this letter I will be in a place where they do not split you open with pokers or nag at you all the year round. For, between you and the Ministry of Pensions, you have driven me off my rocker. So, goodbye. I hope to meet you in another land. – Joe Allan"
Mr Allan's son denied that there had ever been any trouble between his parents but told the hearing that his father had suffered shell shock in the war. His army pension had recently been reduced to just £1 0s 6d a week and he had been unable to find work since his military discharge in 1919. After hearing that Mr Allan's widow was very ill and that she had four children under fourteen, the coroner said:
"It is a case of the man having volunteered, although nearly forty years of age, and, having served his country, he unfortunately found that the amount of unemployment prevented him getting back to work, and this had upset him. I sympathise with the man, and also with the wife and family. I am thankful that benevolent people in Lancashire have subscribed money to my poor-box, and I propose to send the widow £5 out of the poor-box to help her over her difficulties."
There was another marital breakup heard in salacious detail in St Helens Police Court on the 3rd and reported in the newspapers at great length. The case concerned Harriet Worton and her husband Edward of Woodcock Street in Sutton (pictured above) – in the district known locally as "Pudding Bag". The couple had parted and Mrs Worton subsequently obtained a court order requiring maintenance payments from her separated spouse – but her husband was £13 in arrears. That was because Edward was deliberately refusing to pay, alleging his wife was living with another man called Bill Caffrey. But Harriet Worton denied the claim and so Edward needed to provide proof.
This he did by bringing to court Ada Millington as his witness. She claimed that Mrs Worton and Caffrey had taken lodgings at her home in Hope Street in Prescot and, claiming to be man and wife, had slept together in the same bed. This was sufficient evidence for the Bench to decide that "misconduct" had been proven and so the court order and the arrears were rescinded. The rationale for the decision was seemingly unexplained by the Bench. But I think it was a feeling that Bill Caffrey should support his girlfriend, combined with the magistrates' disgust at the woman's behaviour – which had included leaving her children.
Next week's stories will include the man who threatened to kill his ex-girlfriend in Church Street, the cruel thefts of a conman, the illegal betting in Queen's Park and the overcrowded Sutton Nash Infants School.
The Hippodrome Music Hall in St Helens gave up its usual variety bill this week for a show called 'Minstrels Of 1922', which featured 40 artistes, many in blackface. "Dis Am De Hit Of The Season!", was the unfortunate strapline used to promote it.
"Leyland moved away and said he would give Harrison in charge [have arrested], upon which the latter sprang after him and struck another violent blow with his fist under the chin. Leyland went down like a log and lay on the ground unconscious. It was found he had a fractured skull and other injuries, and he died a few hours later."
John Harrison was described as a strongly built young man who totally denied all knowledge of the affair, claiming it was a case of mistaken identity. Indeed, several witnesses admitted that they could not identify the 24-year-old labourer as the man who had struck the blows. However, another witness called Bridge – who had known Harrison since he was a boy and had served with him in the army – swore that the attacker had definitely been him. The witness described Harrison as a professional "cadger" and on the night in question he had been walking behind him.
Bridge added that he had not wanted to overtake him, as Harrison would've asked him "for a pint or something like that". He also said that since he'd come forward, the prisoner's brother and his family had been trying to intimidate him. As a result, a verdict of manslaughter was returned at the inquest and Harrison was later committed for trial at the Assizes. That took place in Liverpool on April 27th but the case was dismissed after Harrison claimed the witness Bridge had a "down" on him from when they were in the army together.
For forty years before the war, St Helens ratepayers paid one of the lowest rates in the country. However, the unprecedented levels of inflation since the conflict began had ended that. During the financial year of 1913-14, the St Helens rates had been just 7s 9d in the pound. So if the rateable value of your home was £100, you would pay the Corporation just under £40 per year. However, as a result of annual increases that the Town Council had imposed since then, the 1921 - ‘22 rates had shot up to 17 shillings in the £ – more than double the pre-war amount.
The Reporter wrote on the 31st that the council's Finance Committee had recognised the "grave danger of adding to the burden of the people at this time of grave industrial depression". The committee members had also pragmatically accepted the principle that "you cannot get blood from a stone". In other words, raising the rates would simply have increased the number of defaulters and so instead of a rise in bills, £75,000 worth of savings in planned expenditure was going to be made.
There were two adverts by boot sellers published in the Reporter. The first was rather oddly from Nixon's Fish Market in St Helens. What a fish market was doing selling boots, I have no idea! But they were offering boots for youths for just 5/11 and all-leather South African field ones for men at 16/6 a pair.
Meanwhile, the City Boot Company of Bridge Street – which called themselves the "largest and most up-to-date boot store in St Helens" – headlined their ad "Enormous Clearance" and wrote: "Prior to alterations we are sacrificing the whole of a manufacturer's stock. Below are a few of the wonderful bargains that must be cleared." Their offers included a "wonderful collection" of boys and girls "well-finished" boots from just 4/11.
The magistrates in St Helens Police Court on the 31st heard how after the police had conducted a raid in Berry's Lane, a longstanding crime network had been smashed. Had the Sutton gang been peddling drugs, guns, pornography? No, they'd been operating a football sweepstake and had 2,000 regular subscribers! "Have you only just found it out? We have been running it for four years?", a puzzled John Thompson of Ellamsbridge Road was said to have asked the police upon being arrested.
The bobbies had to admit that it had been a very well-run lottery, which was based on the results of Saints and St Helens Recs fixtures – whichever rugby team happened to be at home. There were numerous cash prizes on offer with a jackpot of £10, a large sum at times of great hardship for many. Edward Thompson – whose home in Berry's Lane had been the centre of the criminal operation – was fined £5 and several others received fines of £2 10 shillings.
It's interesting how some terms of abuse from a century ago seem quite mild today. In St Helens Police Court on the 31st, Constable Phillips told the Bench that James Kelly from Heath Street had insulted James Westhead from South John Street by calling him a "long streak of lightning". The F-word was also included in the drunken argument that had taken place outside the Labour Club in Park Road. But the whole thing seemed a bit of a storm in a teacup and the three defendants were bound over or had the charge against them dismissed.
"A Pathetic Story Of Unemployment – Terrible End Of Man Who Had Become Insane", was the Liverpool Echo's headline to their article on Joseph Allan. The 44-year-old from Edinburgh had been found on the railway line near St Nicholas's Church in Sutton, with his head decapitated from his body. Mr Allan's inquest was held on April 1st and this letter that had been found on his body was read to the court:
"My dear Wife, I feel I must write you a farewell note, but as long as you live, do not forget you wore the trousers. But keep wearing them, and by the time you get this letter I will be in a place where they do not split you open with pokers or nag at you all the year round. For, between you and the Ministry of Pensions, you have driven me off my rocker. So, goodbye. I hope to meet you in another land. – Joe Allan"
Mr Allan's son denied that there had ever been any trouble between his parents but told the hearing that his father had suffered shell shock in the war. His army pension had recently been reduced to just £1 0s 6d a week and he had been unable to find work since his military discharge in 1919. After hearing that Mr Allan's widow was very ill and that she had four children under fourteen, the coroner said:
"It is a case of the man having volunteered, although nearly forty years of age, and, having served his country, he unfortunately found that the amount of unemployment prevented him getting back to work, and this had upset him. I sympathise with the man, and also with the wife and family. I am thankful that benevolent people in Lancashire have subscribed money to my poor-box, and I propose to send the widow £5 out of the poor-box to help her over her difficulties."
This he did by bringing to court Ada Millington as his witness. She claimed that Mrs Worton and Caffrey had taken lodgings at her home in Hope Street in Prescot and, claiming to be man and wife, had slept together in the same bed. This was sufficient evidence for the Bench to decide that "misconduct" had been proven and so the court order and the arrears were rescinded. The rationale for the decision was seemingly unexplained by the Bench. But I think it was a feeling that Bill Caffrey should support his girlfriend, combined with the magistrates' disgust at the woman's behaviour – which had included leaving her children.
Next week's stories will include the man who threatened to kill his ex-girlfriend in Church Street, the cruel thefts of a conman, the illegal betting in Queen's Park and the overcrowded Sutton Nash Infants School.
This week's many stories include the breaking up of a Sutton “crime” syndicate, a manslaughter case in Eccleston Street, a welcome freeze in the town's rates, the unemployed ex-soldier's suicide on the railway line and the Pudding Bag marriage break up.
The Hippodrome Music Hall in St Helens gave up its usual variety bill this week for a show called 'Minstrels Of 1922', which featured 40 artistes, many in blackface.
"Dis Am De Hit Of The Season!", was the unfortunate strapline used to promote it.
On the 28th the inquest on Herbert Leyland from Grafton Street in St Helens was held.
The 39-year-old electrician had been walking home when, in Eccleston Street (pictured above), a man called John Harrison from Silkstone Street overtook him and asked for a match.
Leyland replied that he did not have one and Harrison then swore at him.
Leyland told him not to swear again or he'd have him arrested and immediately Harrison struck him in the face. The Guardian takes up the story:
"Leyland moved away and said he would give Harrison in charge [have arrested], upon which the latter sprang after him and struck another violent blow with his fist under the chin.
"Leyland went down like a log and lay on the ground unconscious. It was found he had a fractured skull and other injuries, and he died a few hours later."
John Harrison was described as a strongly built young man who totally denied all knowledge of the affair, claiming it was a case of mistaken identity.
Indeed, several witnesses admitted that they could not identify the 24-year-old labourer as the man who had struck the blows.
However, another witness called Bridge – who had known Harrison since he was a boy and had served with him in the army – swore that the attacker had definitely been him.
The witness described Harrison as a professional "cadger" and on the night in question he had been walking behind him.
Bridge added that he had not wanted to overtake him, as Harrison would've asked him "for a pint or something like that".
He also said that since he'd come forward, the prisoner's brother and his family had been trying to intimidate him.
As a result, a verdict of manslaughter was returned at the inquest and Harrison was later committed for trial at the Assizes.
That took place in Liverpool on April 27th but the case was dismissed after Harrison claimed the witness Bridge had a "down" on him from when they were in the army together.
For forty years before the war, St Helens ratepayers paid one of the lowest rates in the country.
However, the unprecedented levels of inflation since the conflict began had ended that.
During the financial year of 1913-14, the St Helens rates had been just 7s 9d in the pound.
So if the rateable value of your home was £100, you would pay the Corporation just under £40 per year.
However, as a result of annual increases that the Town Council had imposed since then, the 1921 - ‘22 rates had shot up to 17 shillings in the £ – more than double the pre-war amount.
The Reporter wrote on the 31st that the council's Finance Committee had recognised the "grave danger of adding to the burden of the people at this time of grave industrial depression".
The committee members had also pragmatically accepted the principle that "you cannot get blood from a stone".
In other words, raising the rates would simply have increased the number of defaulters and so instead of a rise in bills, £75,000 worth of savings in planned expenditure was going to be made.
There were two adverts by boot sellers published in the Reporter.
The first was rather oddly from Nixon's Fish Market in St Helens. What a fish market was doing selling boots, I have no idea!
But they were offering boots for youths for just 5/11 and all-leather South African field ones for men at 16/6 a pair.
Meanwhile, the City Boot Company of Bridge Street – which called themselves the "largest and most up-to-date boot store in St Helens" – headlined their ad "Enormous Clearance" and wrote:
"Prior to alterations we are sacrificing the whole of a manufacturer's stock. Below are a few of the wonderful bargains that must be cleared."
Their offers included a "wonderful collection" of boys and girls "well-finished" boots from just 4/11.
The magistrates in St Helens Police Court on the 31st heard how after the police had conducted a raid in Berry's Lane, a longstanding crime network had been smashed.
Had the Sutton gang been peddling drugs, guns, pornography? No, they'd been operating a football sweepstake and had 2,000 regular subscribers!
"Have you only just found it out? We have been running it for four years?", a puzzled John Thompson of Ellamsbridge Road was said to have asked the police upon being arrested.
The bobbies had to admit that it had been a very well-run lottery, which was based on the results of Saints and St Helens Recs fixtures – whichever rugby team happened to be at home.
There were numerous cash prizes on offer with a jackpot of £10, a large sum at times of great hardship for many.
Edward Thompson – whose home in Berry's Lane had been the centre of the criminal operation – was fined £5 and several others received fines of £2 10 shillings.
It's interesting how some terms of abuse from a century ago seem quite mild today.
In St Helens Police Court on the 31st, Constable Phillips told the Bench that James Kelly from Heath Street had insulted James Westhead from South John Street by calling him a "long streak of lightning".
The F-word was also included in the drunken argument that had taken place outside the Labour Club in Park Road.
But the whole thing seemed a bit of a storm in a teacup and the three defendants were bound over or had the charge against them dismissed.
"A Pathetic Story Of Unemployment – Terrible End Of Man Who Had Become Insane", was the Liverpool Echo's headline to their article on Joseph Allan.
The 44-year-old from Edinburgh had been found on the railway line near St Nicholas's Church in Sutton, with his head decapitated from his body.
Mr Allan's inquest was held on April 1st and this letter that had been found on his body was read to the court:
"My dear Wife, I feel I must write you a farewell note, but as long as you live, do not forget you wore the trousers.
"But keep wearing them, and by the time you get this letter I will be in a place where they do not split you open with pokers or nag at you all the year round.
"For, between you and the Ministry of Pensions, you have driven me off my rocker. So, goodbye. I hope to meet you in another land. – Joe Allan"
Mr Allan's son denied that there had ever been any trouble between his parents but told the hearing that his father had suffered shell shock in the war.
His army pension had recently been reduced to just £1 0s 6d a week and he had been unable to find work since his military discharge in 1919.
After hearing that Mr Allan's widow was very ill and that she had four children under fourteen, the coroner said:
"It is a case of the man having volunteered, although nearly forty years of age, and, having served his country, he unfortunately found that the amount of unemployment prevented him getting back to work, and this had upset him.
"I sympathise with the man, and also with the wife and family. I am thankful that benevolent people in Lancashire have subscribed money to my poor-box, and I propose to send the widow £5 out of the poor-box to help her over her difficulties."
There was another marital breakup heard in salacious detail in St Helens Police Court on the 3rd and reported in the newspapers at great length.
The case concerned Harriet Worton and her husband Edward of Woodcock Street in Sutton (pictured above) – in the district known locally as "Pudding Bag".
The couple had parted and Mrs Worton subsequently obtained a court order requiring maintenance payments from her separated spouse – but her husband was £13 in arrears.
That was because Edward was deliberately refusing to pay, alleging his wife was living with another man called Bill Caffrey.
But Harriet Worton denied the claim and so Edward needed to provide proof.
This he did by bringing to court Ada Millington as his witness. She claimed that Mrs Worton and Caffrey had taken lodgings at her home in Hope Street in Prescot and, claiming to be man and wife, had slept together in the same bed.
This was sufficient evidence for the Bench to decide that "misconduct" had been proven and so the court order and the arrears were rescinded.
The rationale for the decision was seemingly unexplained by the Bench. But I think it was a feeling that Bill Caffrey should support his girlfriend, combined with the magistrates' disgust at the woman's behaviour – which had included leaving her children.
Next week's stories will include the man who threatened to kill his ex-girlfriend in Church Street, the cruel thefts of a conman, the illegal betting in Queen's Park and the overcrowded Sutton Nash Infants School.
The Hippodrome Music Hall in St Helens gave up its usual variety bill this week for a show called 'Minstrels Of 1922', which featured 40 artistes, many in blackface.
"Dis Am De Hit Of The Season!", was the unfortunate strapline used to promote it.
On the 28th the inquest on Herbert Leyland from Grafton Street in St Helens was held.
Leyland replied that he did not have one and Harrison then swore at him.
Leyland told him not to swear again or he'd have him arrested and immediately Harrison struck him in the face. The Guardian takes up the story:
"Leyland moved away and said he would give Harrison in charge [have arrested], upon which the latter sprang after him and struck another violent blow with his fist under the chin.
"Leyland went down like a log and lay on the ground unconscious. It was found he had a fractured skull and other injuries, and he died a few hours later."
John Harrison was described as a strongly built young man who totally denied all knowledge of the affair, claiming it was a case of mistaken identity.
Indeed, several witnesses admitted that they could not identify the 24-year-old labourer as the man who had struck the blows.
However, another witness called Bridge – who had known Harrison since he was a boy and had served with him in the army – swore that the attacker had definitely been him.
The witness described Harrison as a professional "cadger" and on the night in question he had been walking behind him.
Bridge added that he had not wanted to overtake him, as Harrison would've asked him "for a pint or something like that".
He also said that since he'd come forward, the prisoner's brother and his family had been trying to intimidate him.
As a result, a verdict of manslaughter was returned at the inquest and Harrison was later committed for trial at the Assizes.
That took place in Liverpool on April 27th but the case was dismissed after Harrison claimed the witness Bridge had a "down" on him from when they were in the army together.
For forty years before the war, St Helens ratepayers paid one of the lowest rates in the country.
However, the unprecedented levels of inflation since the conflict began had ended that.
During the financial year of 1913-14, the St Helens rates had been just 7s 9d in the pound.
So if the rateable value of your home was £100, you would pay the Corporation just under £40 per year.
However, as a result of annual increases that the Town Council had imposed since then, the 1921 - ‘22 rates had shot up to 17 shillings in the £ – more than double the pre-war amount.
The Reporter wrote on the 31st that the council's Finance Committee had recognised the "grave danger of adding to the burden of the people at this time of grave industrial depression".
The committee members had also pragmatically accepted the principle that "you cannot get blood from a stone".
In other words, raising the rates would simply have increased the number of defaulters and so instead of a rise in bills, £75,000 worth of savings in planned expenditure was going to be made.
There were two adverts by boot sellers published in the Reporter.
The first was rather oddly from Nixon's Fish Market in St Helens. What a fish market was doing selling boots, I have no idea!
But they were offering boots for youths for just 5/11 and all-leather South African field ones for men at 16/6 a pair.
Meanwhile, the City Boot Company of Bridge Street – which called themselves the "largest and most up-to-date boot store in St Helens" – headlined their ad "Enormous Clearance" and wrote:
"Prior to alterations we are sacrificing the whole of a manufacturer's stock. Below are a few of the wonderful bargains that must be cleared."
Their offers included a "wonderful collection" of boys and girls "well-finished" boots from just 4/11.
The magistrates in St Helens Police Court on the 31st heard how after the police had conducted a raid in Berry's Lane, a longstanding crime network had been smashed.
Had the Sutton gang been peddling drugs, guns, pornography? No, they'd been operating a football sweepstake and had 2,000 regular subscribers!
"Have you only just found it out? We have been running it for four years?", a puzzled John Thompson of Ellamsbridge Road was said to have asked the police upon being arrested.
The bobbies had to admit that it had been a very well-run lottery, which was based on the results of Saints and St Helens Recs fixtures – whichever rugby team happened to be at home.
There were numerous cash prizes on offer with a jackpot of £10, a large sum at times of great hardship for many.
Edward Thompson – whose home in Berry's Lane had been the centre of the criminal operation – was fined £5 and several others received fines of £2 10 shillings.
It's interesting how some terms of abuse from a century ago seem quite mild today.
In St Helens Police Court on the 31st, Constable Phillips told the Bench that James Kelly from Heath Street had insulted James Westhead from South John Street by calling him a "long streak of lightning".
The F-word was also included in the drunken argument that had taken place outside the Labour Club in Park Road.
But the whole thing seemed a bit of a storm in a teacup and the three defendants were bound over or had the charge against them dismissed.
"A Pathetic Story Of Unemployment – Terrible End Of Man Who Had Become Insane", was the Liverpool Echo's headline to their article on Joseph Allan.
The 44-year-old from Edinburgh had been found on the railway line near St Nicholas's Church in Sutton, with his head decapitated from his body.
Mr Allan's inquest was held on April 1st and this letter that had been found on his body was read to the court:
"My dear Wife, I feel I must write you a farewell note, but as long as you live, do not forget you wore the trousers.
"But keep wearing them, and by the time you get this letter I will be in a place where they do not split you open with pokers or nag at you all the year round.
"For, between you and the Ministry of Pensions, you have driven me off my rocker. So, goodbye. I hope to meet you in another land. – Joe Allan"
Mr Allan's son denied that there had ever been any trouble between his parents but told the hearing that his father had suffered shell shock in the war.
His army pension had recently been reduced to just £1 0s 6d a week and he had been unable to find work since his military discharge in 1919.
After hearing that Mr Allan's widow was very ill and that she had four children under fourteen, the coroner said:
"It is a case of the man having volunteered, although nearly forty years of age, and, having served his country, he unfortunately found that the amount of unemployment prevented him getting back to work, and this had upset him.
"I sympathise with the man, and also with the wife and family. I am thankful that benevolent people in Lancashire have subscribed money to my poor-box, and I propose to send the widow £5 out of the poor-box to help her over her difficulties."
There was another marital breakup heard in salacious detail in St Helens Police Court on the 3rd and reported in the newspapers at great length.
The couple had parted and Mrs Worton subsequently obtained a court order requiring maintenance payments from her separated spouse – but her husband was £13 in arrears.
That was because Edward was deliberately refusing to pay, alleging his wife was living with another man called Bill Caffrey.
But Harriet Worton denied the claim and so Edward needed to provide proof.
This he did by bringing to court Ada Millington as his witness. She claimed that Mrs Worton and Caffrey had taken lodgings at her home in Hope Street in Prescot and, claiming to be man and wife, had slept together in the same bed.
This was sufficient evidence for the Bench to decide that "misconduct" had been proven and so the court order and the arrears were rescinded.
The rationale for the decision was seemingly unexplained by the Bench. But I think it was a feeling that Bill Caffrey should support his girlfriend, combined with the magistrates' disgust at the woman's behaviour – which had included leaving her children.
Next week's stories will include the man who threatened to kill his ex-girlfriend in Church Street, the cruel thefts of a conman, the illegal betting in Queen's Park and the overcrowded Sutton Nash Infants School.