IOO YEARS AGO THIS WEEK 30 JUNE - 6 JULY 1925
This week's many stories include the Waterloo Street fumigation that was mistaken for a fire, the lodging house keeper prosecuted for breaching the Aliens order, the water problem in Hard Lane, the Church Street jeweller who sold ammunition for converted toy guns and half of the town's 20,000 schoolchildren are judged not to be healthy.
We begin in the early hours of June 30th when a major farm fire struck Rainford. The village then had no fire engine of its own and although the use of the telephone and motorised transport expedited the St Helens brigade's arrival in Rainford, there was still an inevitable delay when travelling several miles. As the inferno on Rawlinson's farm at Parsons Brow was centred on their stackyard, the fire amongst the hay and straw stacks boosted by dry conditions – as well as the time that had elapsed before the brigade arrived – allowed the blaze to spread rapidly.
Once the firemen did appear on the scene, they realised that the property in the stackyard – which as well as hay and straw included two Dutch barns, a cart, a waggon and agricultural implements – could not be saved. The firemen's first priority was to free all the livestock in the danger area and all the animals were taken to safety. Then their work was concentrated on saving the main farm buildings and it took about two hours before the brigade had the fire well under control. Fortunately, Mr Rawlinson had the amount of damage (over £1,000) covered by insurance.
And then during the evening of the 30th, when a man was passing a house in Waterloo Street in St Helens, he saw volumes of smoke issuing from a window. He decided to go straight to the fire station to report what he assumed to be a fire and the men turned out with what was described as their chemical apparatus. But upon their arrival at the house the brigade discovered that they were not needed.
The house had become overrun with vermin and prior to a new tenant moving in, the place was being fumigated and sulphur was being burned. The St Helens Reporter wrote: "The firemen “‘bout turned” and such onlookers as witnessed the incident were provided with a cheap joke. The brigade inspector says he has never known a similar false alarm."
At the St Helens Town Council meeting on July 1st, Councillor Ellison drew attention to the shortage of water in the Hard Lane area. He complained that recently after breakfast their water had gone off and they did not get it back on again until about teatime. Although such events often happen today and are blamed usually on burst pipes, the cause of such outages in the 1920s was more to do with high demand coupled with water having to be supplied to high places.
Councillor Guy Pilkington told Cllr Ellison that the Hard Lane area was about the highest point in St Helens that they supplied water to and at times of heavy demand – particularly during dry weather – the pipes were simply not large enough to provide sufficient supply. To that Cllr Ellison enquired whether a larger water main would resolve the problem and Cllr Pilkington said: "Yes, but it would be a very big matter, with a big length of main. We have not a big enough main to serve the district."
Dr Frank Hauxwell was the St Helens Medical Officer of Health and he also served as the School Medical Officer. It was in the latter capacity that Dr Hauxwell this week released a 50-page report on the medical work undertaken by his staff at the borough's schools during 1924.
There were 20,178 children registered to attend school with an average attendance during the year of just under 18,000. The children had regular medical inspections and just over one-fifth had been referred for treatment. A similar number required what was described as observation and in total 46% of children attending elementary and secondary schools in St Helens were not considered completely healthy.
"Defects" in children were said to be on the increase and Dr Hauxwell thought one of the main causes was the prevalence of infectious diseases, especially measles, combined with the poor housing conditions under which so many children lived. "The combined effect of infectious diseases and housing is in the nature of a vicious circle", he wrote. "The immense amount of overcrowding at present leads to general bad health and predisposition to infection."
The doctor outlined the system they employed when detecting that a child was in an unsatisfactory condition. First of all a notice was sent to the parent drawing attention to the fact and suggesting the best means of remedying the problem. Then the school nurse would visit the home and give the mother further advice. Should there be no improvement within a week, a second notice was sent and further visits made.
Cases of persistent neglect by parents were reported to the local authority for possible prosecution and their children would be removed from school for compulsory cleansing. That had occurred with four children during 1924. Imagine the poor child's embarrassment and stigma of having to be taken out of school to be given a good clean! Dr Hauxwell welcomed the fact that the provision of an open-air school was being planned (that would be called the Hamblett Open Air School) and he hoped that "weakly children" would soon be transferred to it.
However, the doctor criticised the fact that no provision had been made for the "crippled children of the town" and he also called for the council's Education Committee to establish an orthopaedic clinic and obtain beds in suitable hospitals where institutional treatment was required.
In a heated fashion in court this week James Corrin declared: "I cannot understand why an Englishman has to be registered like a tramp or a foreigner. It may be the law, but it certainly isn't common sense". The lodging house keeper from New Market Place was upset by being prosecuted for breaching the Aliens order.
A constable had visited his house and found five lodgers. The law required lodging houses to keep a register of everyone staying there with a particular requirement for reporting those that were not British. Corrin could have been prosecuted for not registering all five of his guests but the police had decided to only charge him with the more serious offence of not registering an alien.
But the person in question, Arthur Graley, had lived in St Helens for over 40 years and Corrin considered him English, although he did not, apparently, have British citizenship. The 1921 census states that the man had been born in St Helens in 1885 but had an Irish father. "It is a foolish law", protested Corrin. "I have lost time and money in attending the court this morning." But the magistrates decided to treat him leniently and dismissed the charge upon payment of court costs.
"Those Toy Pistols" was the headline in the Reporter concerning the prosecution of Ernest Galloway. The Church Street jeweller and general shopkeeper had been charged with selling ammunition that could be used by converted toy pistols. I think today they would be called replicas but the guns were proving a menace in St Helens.
The prosecution had taken place through DC Maddocks and PC Reid having visited Galloway's shop as the result of a separate case in which a husband was accused of threatening his wife with a toy pistol. The man had obtained his ammunition from Galloway's and the two officers, after obtaining a supply of ammo from the jeweller, later tried an experiment. They used a converted toy gun to fire a pellet through a board an inch thick from a distance of 4 yards.
In his defence Ernest Galloway said he had started selling ammunition after reading of a similar charge against a St Helens man having been dismissed. But he was told that in actual fact the defendant in that case had been bound over on probation. After a consultation the magistrates decided to dismiss the charge against Galloway under the First Offenders Act but reminded him of his undertaking not to sell any more ammunition.
On the 4th the Eccleston Park Rose Queen festival took place with the Reporter writing:
"Eccleston Park gave itself up to glad rejoicing and revelled in the joys of a glorious July day."
And finally from July 6th the Hippodrome had the following music hall artistes treading the boards in Corporation Street: The Gladiators ("Art in athletes"); Rupert Ingalese and his Funkeys ("In juggling extraordinaire"); George Whyte and Patty Pyke ("The unusual comedy duo"); Pip & Milinda ("Miniature mirth makers") and The Kasiacs ("Carrie & Charlie – The gentle burlesquers").
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the Blackbrook canal tragedy, the dog fight in Gaskell Street that led to disorder, the disabled man who was warned to keep away from drink and the game of cricket that led to an assault taking place.
Once the firemen did appear on the scene, they realised that the property in the stackyard – which as well as hay and straw included two Dutch barns, a cart, a waggon and agricultural implements – could not be saved. The firemen's first priority was to free all the livestock in the danger area and all the animals were taken to safety. Then their work was concentrated on saving the main farm buildings and it took about two hours before the brigade had the fire well under control. Fortunately, Mr Rawlinson had the amount of damage (over £1,000) covered by insurance.
And then during the evening of the 30th, when a man was passing a house in Waterloo Street in St Helens, he saw volumes of smoke issuing from a window. He decided to go straight to the fire station to report what he assumed to be a fire and the men turned out with what was described as their chemical apparatus. But upon their arrival at the house the brigade discovered that they were not needed.
The house had become overrun with vermin and prior to a new tenant moving in, the place was being fumigated and sulphur was being burned. The St Helens Reporter wrote: "The firemen “‘bout turned” and such onlookers as witnessed the incident were provided with a cheap joke. The brigade inspector says he has never known a similar false alarm."
At the St Helens Town Council meeting on July 1st, Councillor Ellison drew attention to the shortage of water in the Hard Lane area. He complained that recently after breakfast their water had gone off and they did not get it back on again until about teatime. Although such events often happen today and are blamed usually on burst pipes, the cause of such outages in the 1920s was more to do with high demand coupled with water having to be supplied to high places.
Councillor Guy Pilkington told Cllr Ellison that the Hard Lane area was about the highest point in St Helens that they supplied water to and at times of heavy demand – particularly during dry weather – the pipes were simply not large enough to provide sufficient supply. To that Cllr Ellison enquired whether a larger water main would resolve the problem and Cllr Pilkington said: "Yes, but it would be a very big matter, with a big length of main. We have not a big enough main to serve the district."
Dr Frank Hauxwell was the St Helens Medical Officer of Health and he also served as the School Medical Officer. It was in the latter capacity that Dr Hauxwell this week released a 50-page report on the medical work undertaken by his staff at the borough's schools during 1924.
There were 20,178 children registered to attend school with an average attendance during the year of just under 18,000. The children had regular medical inspections and just over one-fifth had been referred for treatment. A similar number required what was described as observation and in total 46% of children attending elementary and secondary schools in St Helens were not considered completely healthy.
"Defects" in children were said to be on the increase and Dr Hauxwell thought one of the main causes was the prevalence of infectious diseases, especially measles, combined with the poor housing conditions under which so many children lived. "The combined effect of infectious diseases and housing is in the nature of a vicious circle", he wrote. "The immense amount of overcrowding at present leads to general bad health and predisposition to infection."
The doctor outlined the system they employed when detecting that a child was in an unsatisfactory condition. First of all a notice was sent to the parent drawing attention to the fact and suggesting the best means of remedying the problem. Then the school nurse would visit the home and give the mother further advice. Should there be no improvement within a week, a second notice was sent and further visits made.
Cases of persistent neglect by parents were reported to the local authority for possible prosecution and their children would be removed from school for compulsory cleansing. That had occurred with four children during 1924. Imagine the poor child's embarrassment and stigma of having to be taken out of school to be given a good clean! Dr Hauxwell welcomed the fact that the provision of an open-air school was being planned (that would be called the Hamblett Open Air School) and he hoped that "weakly children" would soon be transferred to it.
However, the doctor criticised the fact that no provision had been made for the "crippled children of the town" and he also called for the council's Education Committee to establish an orthopaedic clinic and obtain beds in suitable hospitals where institutional treatment was required.
In a heated fashion in court this week James Corrin declared: "I cannot understand why an Englishman has to be registered like a tramp or a foreigner. It may be the law, but it certainly isn't common sense". The lodging house keeper from New Market Place was upset by being prosecuted for breaching the Aliens order.
A constable had visited his house and found five lodgers. The law required lodging houses to keep a register of everyone staying there with a particular requirement for reporting those that were not British. Corrin could have been prosecuted for not registering all five of his guests but the police had decided to only charge him with the more serious offence of not registering an alien.
But the person in question, Arthur Graley, had lived in St Helens for over 40 years and Corrin considered him English, although he did not, apparently, have British citizenship. The 1921 census states that the man had been born in St Helens in 1885 but had an Irish father. "It is a foolish law", protested Corrin. "I have lost time and money in attending the court this morning." But the magistrates decided to treat him leniently and dismissed the charge upon payment of court costs.
"Those Toy Pistols" was the headline in the Reporter concerning the prosecution of Ernest Galloway. The Church Street jeweller and general shopkeeper had been charged with selling ammunition that could be used by converted toy pistols. I think today they would be called replicas but the guns were proving a menace in St Helens.
The prosecution had taken place through DC Maddocks and PC Reid having visited Galloway's shop as the result of a separate case in which a husband was accused of threatening his wife with a toy pistol. The man had obtained his ammunition from Galloway's and the two officers, after obtaining a supply of ammo from the jeweller, later tried an experiment. They used a converted toy gun to fire a pellet through a board an inch thick from a distance of 4 yards.
In his defence Ernest Galloway said he had started selling ammunition after reading of a similar charge against a St Helens man having been dismissed. But he was told that in actual fact the defendant in that case had been bound over on probation. After a consultation the magistrates decided to dismiss the charge against Galloway under the First Offenders Act but reminded him of his undertaking not to sell any more ammunition.
On the 4th the Eccleston Park Rose Queen festival took place with the Reporter writing:
"Eccleston Park gave itself up to glad rejoicing and revelled in the joys of a glorious July day."
And finally from July 6th the Hippodrome had the following music hall artistes treading the boards in Corporation Street: The Gladiators ("Art in athletes"); Rupert Ingalese and his Funkeys ("In juggling extraordinaire"); George Whyte and Patty Pyke ("The unusual comedy duo"); Pip & Milinda ("Miniature mirth makers") and The Kasiacs ("Carrie & Charlie – The gentle burlesquers").
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the Blackbrook canal tragedy, the dog fight in Gaskell Street that led to disorder, the disabled man who was warned to keep away from drink and the game of cricket that led to an assault taking place.
This week's many stories include the Waterloo Street fumigation that was mistaken for a fire, the lodging house keeper prosecuted for breaching the Aliens order, the water problem in Hard Lane, the Church Street jeweller who sold ammunition for converted toy guns and half of the town's 20,000 schoolchildren are judged not to be healthy.
We begin in the early hours of June 30th when a major farm fire struck Rainford.
The village then had no fire engine of its own and although the use of the telephone and motorised transport expedited the St Helens brigade's arrival in Rainford, there was still an inevitable delay when travelling several miles.
As the inferno on Rawlinson's farm at Parsons Brow was centred on their stackyard, the fire amongst the hay and straw stacks boosted by dry conditions – as well as the time that had elapsed before the brigade arrived – allowed the blaze to spread rapidly.
Once the firemen did appear on the scene, they realised that the property in the stackyard – which as well as hay and straw included two Dutch barns, a cart, a waggon and agricultural implements – could not be saved.
The firemen's first priority was to free all the livestock in the danger area and all the animals were taken to safety.
Then their work was concentrated on saving the main farm buildings and it took about two hours before the brigade had the fire well under control. Fortunately, Mr Rawlinson had the amount of damage (over £1,000) covered by insurance.
And then during the evening of the 30th, when a man was passing a house in Waterloo Street in St Helens, he saw volumes of smoke issuing from a window.
He decided to go straight to the fire station to report what he assumed to be a fire and the men turned out with what was described as their chemical apparatus.
But upon their arrival at the house the brigade discovered that they were not needed.
The house had become overrun with vermin and prior to a new tenant moving in, the place was being fumigated and sulphur was being burned.
The St Helens Reporter wrote: "The firemen “‘bout turned” and such onlookers as witnessed the incident were provided with a cheap joke. The brigade inspector says he has never known a similar false alarm."
At the St Helens Town Council meeting on July 1st, Councillor Ellison drew attention to the shortage of water in the Hard Lane area.
He complained that recently after breakfast their water had gone off and they did not get it back on again until about teatime.
Although such events often happen today and are blamed usually on burst pipes, the cause of such outages in the 1920s was more to do with high demand coupled with water having to be supplied to high places.
Councillor Guy Pilkington told Cllr Ellison that the Hard Lane area was about the highest point in St Helens that they supplied water to and at times of heavy demand – particularly during dry weather – the pipes were simply not large enough to provide sufficient supply.
To that Cllr Ellison enquired whether a larger water main would resolve the problem and Cllr Pilkington said:
"Yes, but it would be a very big matter, with a big length of main. We have not a big enough main to serve the district."
Dr Frank Hauxwell was the St Helens Medical Officer of Health and he also served as the School Medical Officer.
It was in the latter capacity that Dr Hauxwell this week released a 50-page report on the medical work undertaken by his staff at the borough's schools during 1924.
There were 20,178 children registered to attend school with an average attendance during the year of just under 18,000.
The children had regular medical inspections and just over one-fifth had been referred for treatment.
A similar number required what was described as observation and in total 46% of children attending elementary and secondary schools in St Helens were not considered completely healthy.
"Defects" in children were said to be on the increase and Dr Hauxwell thought one of the main causes was the prevalence of infectious diseases, especially measles, combined with the poor housing conditions under which so many children lived.
"The combined effect of infectious diseases and housing is in the nature of a vicious circle", he wrote. "The immense amount of overcrowding at present leads to general bad health and predisposition to infection."
The doctor outlined the system they employed when detecting that a child was in an unsatisfactory condition.
First of all a notice was sent to the parent drawing attention to the fact and suggesting the best means of remedying the problem.
Then the school nurse would visit the home and give the mother further advice. Should there be no improvement within a week, a second notice was sent and further visits made.
Cases of persistent neglect by parents were reported to the local authority for possible prosecution and their children would be removed from school for "compulsory cleansing". That had occurred with four children during 1924.
Imagine the poor child's embarrassment and stigma of having to be taken out of school to be given a good clean!
Dr Hauxwell welcomed the fact that the provision of an open-air school was being planned (that would be called the Hamblett Open Air School) and he hoped that "weakly children" would soon be transferred to it.
However, the doctor criticised the fact that no provision had been made for the "crippled children of the town" and he also called for the council's Education Committee to establish an orthopaedic clinic and obtain beds in suitable hospitals where institutional treatment was required.
In a heated fashion in court this week James Corrin declared: "I cannot understand why an Englishman has to be registered like a tramp or a foreigner. It may be the law, but it certainly isn't common sense".
The lodging house keeper from New Market Place was upset by being prosecuted for breaching the Aliens order.
A constable had visited his house and found five lodgers. The law required lodging houses to keep a register of everyone staying there with a particular requirement for reporting those that were not British.
Corrin could have been prosecuted for not registering all five of his guests but the police had decided to only charge him with the more serious offence of not registering an alien.
But the person in question, Arthur Graley, had lived in St Helens for over 40 years and Corrin considered him English, although he did not, apparently, have British citizenship.
The 1921 census states that the man had been born in St Helens in 1885 but had an Irish father.
"It is a foolish law", protested Corrin. "I have lost time and money in attending the court this morning."
But the magistrates decided to treat him leniently and dismissed the charge upon payment of court costs.
"Those Toy Pistols" was the headline in the Reporter concerning the prosecution of Ernest Galloway.
The Church Street jeweller and general shopkeeper had been charged with selling ammunition that could be used by converted toy pistols.
I think today they would be called replicas but the guns were proving a menace in St Helens.
The prosecution had taken place through DC Maddocks and PC Reid having visited Galloway's shop as the result of a separate case in which a husband was accused of threatening his wife with a toy pistol.
The man had obtained his ammunition from Galloway's and the two officers, after obtaining a supply of ammo from the jeweller, later tried an experiment.
They used a converted toy gun to fire a pellet through a board an inch thick from a distance of 4 yards.
In his defence Ernest Galloway said he had started selling ammunition after reading of a similar charge against a St Helens man having been dismissed.
But he was told that in actual fact the defendant in that case had been bound over on probation.
After a consultation the magistrates decided to dismiss the charge against Galloway under the First Offenders Act but reminded him of his undertaking not to sell any more ammunition.
On the 4th the Eccleston Park Rose Queen festival took place with the Reporter writing:
"Eccleston Park gave itself up to glad rejoicing and revelled in the joys of a glorious July day."
And finally from July 6th the Hippodrome had the following music hall artistes treading the boards in Corporation Street:
The Gladiators ("Art in athletes"); Rupert Ingalese and his Funkeys ("In juggling extraordinaire"); George Whyte and Patty Pyke ("The unusual comedy duo"); Pip & Milinda ("Miniature mirth makers") and The Kasiacs ("Carrie & Charlie – The gentle burlesquers").
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the Blackbrook canal tragedy, the dog fight in Gaskell Street that led to disorder, the disabled man who was warned to keep away from drink and the game of cricket that led to an assault taking place.
We begin in the early hours of June 30th when a major farm fire struck Rainford.
The village then had no fire engine of its own and although the use of the telephone and motorised transport expedited the St Helens brigade's arrival in Rainford, there was still an inevitable delay when travelling several miles.
As the inferno on Rawlinson's farm at Parsons Brow was centred on their stackyard, the fire amongst the hay and straw stacks boosted by dry conditions – as well as the time that had elapsed before the brigade arrived – allowed the blaze to spread rapidly.
The firemen's first priority was to free all the livestock in the danger area and all the animals were taken to safety.
Then their work was concentrated on saving the main farm buildings and it took about two hours before the brigade had the fire well under control. Fortunately, Mr Rawlinson had the amount of damage (over £1,000) covered by insurance.
And then during the evening of the 30th, when a man was passing a house in Waterloo Street in St Helens, he saw volumes of smoke issuing from a window.
He decided to go straight to the fire station to report what he assumed to be a fire and the men turned out with what was described as their chemical apparatus.
But upon their arrival at the house the brigade discovered that they were not needed.
The house had become overrun with vermin and prior to a new tenant moving in, the place was being fumigated and sulphur was being burned.
The St Helens Reporter wrote: "The firemen “‘bout turned” and such onlookers as witnessed the incident were provided with a cheap joke. The brigade inspector says he has never known a similar false alarm."
At the St Helens Town Council meeting on July 1st, Councillor Ellison drew attention to the shortage of water in the Hard Lane area.
He complained that recently after breakfast their water had gone off and they did not get it back on again until about teatime.
Although such events often happen today and are blamed usually on burst pipes, the cause of such outages in the 1920s was more to do with high demand coupled with water having to be supplied to high places.
Councillor Guy Pilkington told Cllr Ellison that the Hard Lane area was about the highest point in St Helens that they supplied water to and at times of heavy demand – particularly during dry weather – the pipes were simply not large enough to provide sufficient supply.
To that Cllr Ellison enquired whether a larger water main would resolve the problem and Cllr Pilkington said:
"Yes, but it would be a very big matter, with a big length of main. We have not a big enough main to serve the district."
Dr Frank Hauxwell was the St Helens Medical Officer of Health and he also served as the School Medical Officer.
It was in the latter capacity that Dr Hauxwell this week released a 50-page report on the medical work undertaken by his staff at the borough's schools during 1924.
There were 20,178 children registered to attend school with an average attendance during the year of just under 18,000.
The children had regular medical inspections and just over one-fifth had been referred for treatment.
A similar number required what was described as observation and in total 46% of children attending elementary and secondary schools in St Helens were not considered completely healthy.
"Defects" in children were said to be on the increase and Dr Hauxwell thought one of the main causes was the prevalence of infectious diseases, especially measles, combined with the poor housing conditions under which so many children lived.
"The combined effect of infectious diseases and housing is in the nature of a vicious circle", he wrote. "The immense amount of overcrowding at present leads to general bad health and predisposition to infection."
The doctor outlined the system they employed when detecting that a child was in an unsatisfactory condition.
First of all a notice was sent to the parent drawing attention to the fact and suggesting the best means of remedying the problem.
Then the school nurse would visit the home and give the mother further advice. Should there be no improvement within a week, a second notice was sent and further visits made.
Cases of persistent neglect by parents were reported to the local authority for possible prosecution and their children would be removed from school for "compulsory cleansing". That had occurred with four children during 1924.
Imagine the poor child's embarrassment and stigma of having to be taken out of school to be given a good clean!
Dr Hauxwell welcomed the fact that the provision of an open-air school was being planned (that would be called the Hamblett Open Air School) and he hoped that "weakly children" would soon be transferred to it.
However, the doctor criticised the fact that no provision had been made for the "crippled children of the town" and he also called for the council's Education Committee to establish an orthopaedic clinic and obtain beds in suitable hospitals where institutional treatment was required.
In a heated fashion in court this week James Corrin declared: "I cannot understand why an Englishman has to be registered like a tramp or a foreigner. It may be the law, but it certainly isn't common sense".
The lodging house keeper from New Market Place was upset by being prosecuted for breaching the Aliens order.
A constable had visited his house and found five lodgers. The law required lodging houses to keep a register of everyone staying there with a particular requirement for reporting those that were not British.
Corrin could have been prosecuted for not registering all five of his guests but the police had decided to only charge him with the more serious offence of not registering an alien.
But the person in question, Arthur Graley, had lived in St Helens for over 40 years and Corrin considered him English, although he did not, apparently, have British citizenship.
The 1921 census states that the man had been born in St Helens in 1885 but had an Irish father.
"It is a foolish law", protested Corrin. "I have lost time and money in attending the court this morning."
But the magistrates decided to treat him leniently and dismissed the charge upon payment of court costs.
"Those Toy Pistols" was the headline in the Reporter concerning the prosecution of Ernest Galloway.
The Church Street jeweller and general shopkeeper had been charged with selling ammunition that could be used by converted toy pistols.
I think today they would be called replicas but the guns were proving a menace in St Helens.
The prosecution had taken place through DC Maddocks and PC Reid having visited Galloway's shop as the result of a separate case in which a husband was accused of threatening his wife with a toy pistol.
The man had obtained his ammunition from Galloway's and the two officers, after obtaining a supply of ammo from the jeweller, later tried an experiment.
They used a converted toy gun to fire a pellet through a board an inch thick from a distance of 4 yards.
In his defence Ernest Galloway said he had started selling ammunition after reading of a similar charge against a St Helens man having been dismissed.
But he was told that in actual fact the defendant in that case had been bound over on probation.
After a consultation the magistrates decided to dismiss the charge against Galloway under the First Offenders Act but reminded him of his undertaking not to sell any more ammunition.
On the 4th the Eccleston Park Rose Queen festival took place with the Reporter writing:
"Eccleston Park gave itself up to glad rejoicing and revelled in the joys of a glorious July day."
And finally from July 6th the Hippodrome had the following music hall artistes treading the boards in Corporation Street:
The Gladiators ("Art in athletes"); Rupert Ingalese and his Funkeys ("In juggling extraordinaire"); George Whyte and Patty Pyke ("The unusual comedy duo"); Pip & Milinda ("Miniature mirth makers") and The Kasiacs ("Carrie & Charlie – The gentle burlesquers").
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the Blackbrook canal tragedy, the dog fight in Gaskell Street that led to disorder, the disabled man who was warned to keep away from drink and the game of cricket that led to an assault taking place.