150 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (25th - 31st JULY 1872)
This week's stories include the lightning flashes that were blinding in their brilliancy, the shocking child emaciation case in Crank, the porters in the goods department at St Helens Railway Station go on strike and love is blind for the Laffak swains and damsels.
We begin on the 25th with yet another summer storm – which continued on and off throughout the day. The St Helens Newspaper said it had included the most vivid lightning that they had ever seen, with the flashes "blinding in their brilliancy". During the night one flash of lightning was so strong that it "made distinct the most minute objects" and those flashes that followed were "terrible to behold".
Around 10am, the storm returned and the streets "ran with rushing streams of water, which the sewers could not receive fast enough to dispose of as it fell." Water poured from Cowley Hill into Duke Street and with no intercepting sewer, large amounts of water accumulated.
Some women in Knowsley had a narrow escape during the storm. They had been sheltering under a tree when a farmer warned them of the danger they were in. Several minutes after leaving the spot lightning struck, as the Newspaper described: "The electric fluid struck the tree making it glow as if on fire." The telegraph wires between St Helens and Manchester via Rainford were cut by the lightning but were made operational again after six hours.
Also on the 25th the porters in the goods department at St Helens Railway Station went on strike after what was described as a misunderstanding. When employees wanted improvements in their pay or working conditions, the usual procedure was to send to their bosses a politely worded – if not ingratiating – memorial or petition. This the porters did, with a deputation handing the district manager of the railway a memorial requesting a pay rise.
However, the manager gave the impression that he would not be passing the petition onto the directors of the railway, who were the decision-makers when it came to such matters. So the porters went out on strike and only resumed work once the manager confirmed the memorial would be passed on to the directors, who'd be asked to give it their full consideration. Or as the Liverpool Daily Post put it, "He will forward the memorial and urge its prayer".
James Unsworth appeared in St Helens police court on the 26th charged with neglecting and starving his 13-month-old child. Dr Millner gave evidence that when he first saw the child in his crib, there was a "fearful stench" and it had a "most wasted" appearance. The coal miner from Rainford was remanded on bail for a week while the police made further enquiries. The child was described as a "miserable little wreck" and was taken to the hospital at Whiston Workhouse but died on the following day.
That led to the charge against James Unsworth, the father, being changed to wilful murder and the grandparents, who lived in the same house near the Red Cat in Crank, were also taken into custody. 45-year-old nailmaker Ralph Unsworth and his wife Mary subsequently appeared in court charged with the wilful murder of their grandchild and were remanded until August 2nd.
Although the St Helens Newspaper could be quite amusing in its portrayal of court cases, their depictions of the lives of the working class could be seen as patronising and treating crimes such as violence against women in a light manner. On the 27th the paper reported on a case heard in the Petty Sessions in which they invoked one of their favourite words, "swain", meaning bachelor:
"Thomas Kilshaw, a rustic looking swain, was summoned by Mary Eaton, for assaulting her at Laffak on the 19th inst. Mr. Swift defended. The complainant's case was that on Friday evening, when the day's work was over, she went to the fields with some female companions, for the purpose of meeting some swains of their acquaintance. One of her companions was Elizabeth Hill, a young damsel who had for a time ensnared the susceptible heart of Kilshaw, but had lost possession of the treasure.
"As they went towards the fields they saw Kilshaw in close converse with a certain Ellen Anders, to whom he was supposed to have transferred his unstable affections. The sight was sufficient to rouse the rejected one, and some vituperation was indulged in which had better be neither imagined nor described. After this they continued their walk, but were followed by Kilshaw, who turned his attention to the complainant and gave her treatment which she chose to consider an assault, and which appears to have been indecent as well as rough, but which he doubtless meant to be a mere token of friendship.
"He embraced her in her arms, pitched her on the grass, rolled her against a hedge, disordered her chignon [hairstyle], and committed similar depredations. She said she would “bring him up,” which is the mode she adopted of threatening the vengeance of the law, and then he altered his conduct a little. Observing that he had better be “brought up” for something than nothing, he struck her a couple of blows.
"Mr. Swift [defence counsel] submitted that there was no case to answer, but the magistrates made no sign of acquiescence. Mr. Spencely [court clerk] told him to go into evidence. Mr. Swift, (who is fond of public ablutions) said he would have to wash his mouth when he had done with the case, if he were called upon to answer. The Bench preferred to hear the defence, even at the risk of giving the learned advocate the trouble of rinsing his mouth.
"Witnesses were then called, who deposed principally to what passed in the lane in [the] presence of Ellen Anders. The jealousy of the rivals was represented as having led to a wordy war, in which the complainant and others joined, and the expressions reproduced, as having been used on the occasions, were bad enough to require the washing of every ear in the court. The magistrates finally dismissed the charge."
After making an arrest, the police invariably had a fair distance to walk with their prisoner to get them to the station. Often someone – usually with a lot of drink inside of them and a dislike of the police – would try to liberate the arrested person. On the 29th Peter Ball pleaded guilty in St Helens Petty Sessions to assaulting PC George Wilson in Rainford.
In the 1871 census Ball was 19 and lodging in Old Lane and Wilson was 44 and living at the police house in School Brow, which is now part of Church Road. Wilson and a colleague had arrested two men for being disorderly. Ball decided to interfere and attempted to free the men. That he achieved in a way, as he was described as having fought so energetically that the officers had to let their prisoners go in order to secure their attacker. Ball was fined £2 5 shillings or if in default of payment, go to prison for three months.
Two boys called Thomas Brady and Thomas Sutton appeared in court charged with indecent exposure. That was a not uncommon charge during the summertime and had nothing to do with what we might call "flashing". The lads had been bathing in the canal and would not have owned any swimming togs and so had simply stripped off. Getting out of the water and getting dressed was, of course, the tricky bit without being seen in the nude! The two Thomas's had been unlucky – but in court were simply given a warning and discharged.
A man bearing the unusual name of Sandyland Stockley and appearing to live in Snig Lane in Prescot was charged with neglecting to maintain his wife and family. Stockley had left home, leaving his wife destitute and so she pleaded for help from the St Helens Relieving Officer. James Fowler gave her 4 shillings a week – 25 shillings in total – and when her husband returned home, he demanded restitution on behalf of the Prescot Guardians.
Fowler told the Bench that Stockley was a brass moulder and easily able to find work, but was an "idle man, and unwilling to do any good". He asked the magistrates to immediately commit Stockley to prison saying such desertions were on the increase. But the Bench preferred to give him a week to see if he could find the cash before sending him to gaol.
And finally, the inquest on the Unsworth baby from Crank was held on the 31st in which it was revealed that the 13-month-old child had died weighing just six pounds. The head nurse at the workhouse hospital described the baby as "very much emaciated" and the inquest also heard that the mother had died while giving birth.
However, it was also stated that the child may have been diseased and the father insisted that his 50-year-old mother – who he called "the old woman" – had done everything she could to care for it. Unsworth said he had another child by a previous wife who was almost four and "well and hearty". After a lengthy investigation and hearing from many witnesses, the coroner advised the jury to bring in a verdict of natural causes, which they immediately agreed to do.
On the following day James Unsworth and his mother and father were brought back to court and in the light of the inquest verdict, all three of them were discharged. Major Pilkington on the Bench said he had not the slightest doubt that the child had been neglected but there was insufficient proof of culpability to keep the accused in custody. It was another case where the limitations of medical knowledge were on show and which stymied a prosecution.
Next week's stories will include the shocking condition of an ex-soldier in Prescot, the death of a child in an old clay pit in Marshalls Cross, the holy hand at Garswood and the foundry chimney in St Mary's Street demolished by lightning.
We begin on the 25th with yet another summer storm – which continued on and off throughout the day. The St Helens Newspaper said it had included the most vivid lightning that they had ever seen, with the flashes "blinding in their brilliancy". During the night one flash of lightning was so strong that it "made distinct the most minute objects" and those flashes that followed were "terrible to behold".
Around 10am, the storm returned and the streets "ran with rushing streams of water, which the sewers could not receive fast enough to dispose of as it fell." Water poured from Cowley Hill into Duke Street and with no intercepting sewer, large amounts of water accumulated.
Some women in Knowsley had a narrow escape during the storm. They had been sheltering under a tree when a farmer warned them of the danger they were in. Several minutes after leaving the spot lightning struck, as the Newspaper described: "The electric fluid struck the tree making it glow as if on fire." The telegraph wires between St Helens and Manchester via Rainford were cut by the lightning but were made operational again after six hours.
Also on the 25th the porters in the goods department at St Helens Railway Station went on strike after what was described as a misunderstanding. When employees wanted improvements in their pay or working conditions, the usual procedure was to send to their bosses a politely worded – if not ingratiating – memorial or petition. This the porters did, with a deputation handing the district manager of the railway a memorial requesting a pay rise.
James Unsworth appeared in St Helens police court on the 26th charged with neglecting and starving his 13-month-old child. Dr Millner gave evidence that when he first saw the child in his crib, there was a "fearful stench" and it had a "most wasted" appearance. The coal miner from Rainford was remanded on bail for a week while the police made further enquiries. The child was described as a "miserable little wreck" and was taken to the hospital at Whiston Workhouse but died on the following day.
That led to the charge against James Unsworth, the father, being changed to wilful murder and the grandparents, who lived in the same house near the Red Cat in Crank, were also taken into custody. 45-year-old nailmaker Ralph Unsworth and his wife Mary subsequently appeared in court charged with the wilful murder of their grandchild and were remanded until August 2nd.
Although the St Helens Newspaper could be quite amusing in its portrayal of court cases, their depictions of the lives of the working class could be seen as patronising and treating crimes such as violence against women in a light manner. On the 27th the paper reported on a case heard in the Petty Sessions in which they invoked one of their favourite words, "swain", meaning bachelor:
"Thomas Kilshaw, a rustic looking swain, was summoned by Mary Eaton, for assaulting her at Laffak on the 19th inst. Mr. Swift defended. The complainant's case was that on Friday evening, when the day's work was over, she went to the fields with some female companions, for the purpose of meeting some swains of their acquaintance. One of her companions was Elizabeth Hill, a young damsel who had for a time ensnared the susceptible heart of Kilshaw, but had lost possession of the treasure.
"As they went towards the fields they saw Kilshaw in close converse with a certain Ellen Anders, to whom he was supposed to have transferred his unstable affections. The sight was sufficient to rouse the rejected one, and some vituperation was indulged in which had better be neither imagined nor described. After this they continued their walk, but were followed by Kilshaw, who turned his attention to the complainant and gave her treatment which she chose to consider an assault, and which appears to have been indecent as well as rough, but which he doubtless meant to be a mere token of friendship.
"He embraced her in her arms, pitched her on the grass, rolled her against a hedge, disordered her chignon [hairstyle], and committed similar depredations. She said she would “bring him up,” which is the mode she adopted of threatening the vengeance of the law, and then he altered his conduct a little. Observing that he had better be “brought up” for something than nothing, he struck her a couple of blows.
"Mr. Swift [defence counsel] submitted that there was no case to answer, but the magistrates made no sign of acquiescence. Mr. Spencely [court clerk] told him to go into evidence. Mr. Swift, (who is fond of public ablutions) said he would have to wash his mouth when he had done with the case, if he were called upon to answer. The Bench preferred to hear the defence, even at the risk of giving the learned advocate the trouble of rinsing his mouth.
"Witnesses were then called, who deposed principally to what passed in the lane in [the] presence of Ellen Anders. The jealousy of the rivals was represented as having led to a wordy war, in which the complainant and others joined, and the expressions reproduced, as having been used on the occasions, were bad enough to require the washing of every ear in the court. The magistrates finally dismissed the charge."
After making an arrest, the police invariably had a fair distance to walk with their prisoner to get them to the station. Often someone – usually with a lot of drink inside of them and a dislike of the police – would try to liberate the arrested person. On the 29th Peter Ball pleaded guilty in St Helens Petty Sessions to assaulting PC George Wilson in Rainford.
In the 1871 census Ball was 19 and lodging in Old Lane and Wilson was 44 and living at the police house in School Brow, which is now part of Church Road. Wilson and a colleague had arrested two men for being disorderly. Ball decided to interfere and attempted to free the men. That he achieved in a way, as he was described as having fought so energetically that the officers had to let their prisoners go in order to secure their attacker. Ball was fined £2 5 shillings or if in default of payment, go to prison for three months.
Two boys called Thomas Brady and Thomas Sutton appeared in court charged with indecent exposure. That was a not uncommon charge during the summertime and had nothing to do with what we might call "flashing". The lads had been bathing in the canal and would not have owned any swimming togs and so had simply stripped off. Getting out of the water and getting dressed was, of course, the tricky bit without being seen in the nude! The two Thomas's had been unlucky – but in court were simply given a warning and discharged.
A man bearing the unusual name of Sandyland Stockley and appearing to live in Snig Lane in Prescot was charged with neglecting to maintain his wife and family. Stockley had left home, leaving his wife destitute and so she pleaded for help from the St Helens Relieving Officer. James Fowler gave her 4 shillings a week – 25 shillings in total – and when her husband returned home, he demanded restitution on behalf of the Prescot Guardians.
Fowler told the Bench that Stockley was a brass moulder and easily able to find work, but was an "idle man, and unwilling to do any good". He asked the magistrates to immediately commit Stockley to prison saying such desertions were on the increase. But the Bench preferred to give him a week to see if he could find the cash before sending him to gaol.
And finally, the inquest on the Unsworth baby from Crank was held on the 31st in which it was revealed that the 13-month-old child had died weighing just six pounds. The head nurse at the workhouse hospital described the baby as "very much emaciated" and the inquest also heard that the mother had died while giving birth.
However, it was also stated that the child may have been diseased and the father insisted that his 50-year-old mother – who he called "the old woman" – had done everything she could to care for it. Unsworth said he had another child by a previous wife who was almost four and "well and hearty". After a lengthy investigation and hearing from many witnesses, the coroner advised the jury to bring in a verdict of natural causes, which they immediately agreed to do.
On the following day James Unsworth and his mother and father were brought back to court and in the light of the inquest verdict, all three of them were discharged. Major Pilkington on the Bench said he had not the slightest doubt that the child had been neglected but there was insufficient proof of culpability to keep the accused in custody. It was another case where the limitations of medical knowledge were on show and which stymied a prosecution.
Next week's stories will include the shocking condition of an ex-soldier in Prescot, the death of a child in an old clay pit in Marshalls Cross, the holy hand at Garswood and the foundry chimney in St Mary's Street demolished by lightning.
This week's stories include the lightning flashes that were blinding in their brilliancy, the shocking child emaciation case in Crank, the porters in the goods department at St Helens Railway Station go on strike and love is blind for the Laffak swains and damsels.
We begin on the 25th with yet another summer storm – which continued on and off throughout the day.
The St Helens Newspaper said it had included the most vivid lightning that they had ever seen, with the flashes "blinding in their brilliancy".
During the night one flash of lightning was so strong that it "made distinct the most minute objects" and those flashes that followed were "terrible to behold".
Around 10am, the storm returned and the streets "ran with rushing streams of water, which the sewers could not receive fast enough to dispose of as it fell."
Water poured from Cowley Hill into Duke Street and with no intercepting sewer, large amounts of water accumulated.
Some women in Knowsley had a narrow escape during the storm. They had been sheltering under a tree when a farmer warned them of the danger they were in.
Several minutes after leaving the spot lightning struck, as the Newspaper described:
"The electric fluid struck the tree making it glow as if on fire."
The telegraph wires between St Helens and Manchester via Rainford were cut by the lightning but were made operational again after six hours.
Also on the 25th the porters in the goods department at St Helens Railway Station went on strike after what was described as a misunderstanding.
When employees wanted improvements in their pay or working conditions, the usual procedure was to send to their bosses a politely worded – if not ingratiating – memorial or petition.
This the porters did, with a deputation handing the district manager of the railway a memorial requesting a pay rise.
However, the manager gave the impression that he would not be passing the petition onto the directors of the railway, who were the decision-makers when it came to such matters.
So the porters went out on strike and only resumed work once the manager confirmed the memorial would be passed on to the directors, who'd be asked to give it their full consideration.
Or as the Liverpool Daily Post put it, "He will forward the memorial and urge its prayer".
James Unsworth appeared in St Helens police court on the 26th charged with neglecting and starving his 13-month-old child.
Dr Millner gave evidence that when he first saw the child in his crib, there was a "fearful stench" and it had a "most wasted" appearance.
The coal miner from Rainford was remanded on bail for a week while the police made further enquiries.
The child was described as a "miserable little wreck" and was taken to the hospital at Whiston Workhouse but died on the following day.
That led to the charge against James Unsworth, the father, being changed to wilful murder and the grandparents, who lived in the same house near the Red Cat in Crank, were also taken into custody.
45-year-old nailmaker Ralph Unsworth and his wife Mary subsequently appeared in court charged with the wilful murder of their grandchild and were remanded until August 2nd.
Although the St Helens Newspaper could be quite amusing in its portrayal of court cases, their depictions of the lives of the working class could be seen as patronising and treating crimes such as violence against women in a light manner.
On the 27th the paper reported on a case heard in the Petty Sessions in which they invoked one of their favourite words, "swain", meaning bachelor:
"Thomas Kilshaw, a rustic looking swain, was summoned by Mary Eaton, for assaulting her at Laffak on the 19th inst. Mr. Swift defended.
"The complainant's case was that on Friday evening, when the day's work was over, she went to the fields with some female companions, for the purpose of meeting some swains of their acquaintance.
"One of her companions was Elizabeth Hill, a young damsel who had for a time ensnared the susceptible heart of Kilshaw, but had lost possession of the treasure.
"As they went towards the fields they saw Kilshaw in close converse with a certain Ellen Anders, to whom he was supposed to have transferred his unstable affections.
"The sight was sufficient to rouse the rejected one, and some vituperation was indulged in which had better be neither imagined nor described.
"After this they continued their walk, but were followed by Kilshaw, who turned his attention to the complainant and gave her treatment which she chose to consider an assault, and which appears to have been indecent as well as rough, but which he doubtless meant to be a mere token of friendship.
"He embraced her in her arms, pitched her on the grass, rolled her against a hedge, disordered her chignon [hairstyle], and committed similar depredations.
"She said she would “bring him up,” which is the mode she adopted of threatening the vengeance of the law, and then he altered his conduct a little.
"Observing that he had better be “brought up” for something than nothing, he struck her a couple of blows.
"Mr. Swift [defence counsel] submitted that there was no case to answer, but the magistrates made no sign of acquiescence. Mr. Spencely [court clerk] told him to go into evidence.
"Mr. Swift, (who is fond of public ablutions) said he would have to wash his mouth when he had done with the case, if he were called upon to answer.
"The Bench preferred to hear the defence, even at the risk of giving the learned advocate the trouble of rinsing his mouth.
"Witnesses were then called, who deposed principally to what passed in the lane in [the] presence of Ellen Anders.
"The jealousy of the rivals was represented as having led to a wordy war, in which the complainant and others joined, and the expressions reproduced, as having been used on the occasions, were bad enough to require the washing of every ear in the court. The magistrates finally dismissed the charge."
After making an arrest, the police invariably had a fair distance to walk with their prisoner to get them to the station.
Often someone – usually with a lot of drink inside of them and a dislike of the police – would try to liberate the arrested person.
On the 29th Peter Ball pleaded guilty in St Helens Petty Sessions to assaulting PC George Wilson in Rainford.
In the 1871 census Ball was 19 and lodging in Old Lane and Wilson was 44 and living at the police house in School Brow, which is now part of Church Road.
Wilson and a colleague had arrested two men for being disorderly. Ball decided to interfere and attempted to free the men.
That he achieved in a way, as he was described as having fought so energetically that the officers had to let their prisoners go in order to secure their attacker.
Ball was fined £2 5 shillings or if in default of payment, go to prison for three months.
Two boys called Thomas Brady and Thomas Sutton appeared in court charged with indecent exposure.
That was a not uncommon charge during the summertime and had nothing to do with what we might call "flashing".
The lads had been bathing in the canal and would not have owned any swimming togs and so had simply stripped off.
Getting out of the water and getting dressed was, of course, the tricky bit without being seen in the nude!
The two Thomas's had been unlucky – but in court were simply given a warning and discharged.
A man bearing the unusual name of Sandyland Stockley and appearing to live in Snig Lane in Prescot was charged with neglecting to maintain his wife and family.
Stockley had left home, leaving his wife destitute and so she pleaded for help from the St Helens Relieving Officer.
James Fowler gave her 4 shillings a week – 25 shillings in total – and when her husband returned home, he demanded restitution on behalf of the Prescot Guardians.
Fowler told the Bench that Stockley was a brass moulder and easily able to find work, but was an "idle man, and unwilling to do any good".
He asked the magistrates to immediately commit Stockley to prison saying such desertions were on the increase.
But the Bench preferred to give him a week to see if he could find the cash before sending him to gaol.
And finally, the inquest on the Unsworth baby from Crank was held on the 31st in which it was revealed that the 13-month-old child had died weighing just six pounds.
The head nurse at the workhouse hospital described the baby as "very much emaciated" and the inquest also heard that the mother had died while giving birth.
However, it was also stated that the child may have been diseased and the father insisted that his 50-year-old mother – who he called "the old woman" – had done everything she could to care for it.
Unsworth said he had another child by a previous wife who was almost four and "well and hearty".
After a lengthy investigation and hearing from many witnesses, the coroner advised the jury to bring in a verdict of natural causes, which they immediately agreed to do.
On the following day James Unsworth and his mother and father were brought back to court and in the light of the inquest verdict, all three of them were discharged.
Major Pilkington on the Bench said he had not the slightest doubt that the child had been neglected but there was insufficient proof of culpability to keep the accused in custody.
It was another case where the limitations of medical knowledge were on show and which stymied a prosecution.
Next week's stories will include the shocking condition of an ex-soldier in Prescot, the death of a child in an old clay pit in Marshalls Cross, the holy hand at Garswood and the foundry chimney in St Mary's Street demolished by lightning.
We begin on the 25th with yet another summer storm – which continued on and off throughout the day.
The St Helens Newspaper said it had included the most vivid lightning that they had ever seen, with the flashes "blinding in their brilliancy".
During the night one flash of lightning was so strong that it "made distinct the most minute objects" and those flashes that followed were "terrible to behold".
Around 10am, the storm returned and the streets "ran with rushing streams of water, which the sewers could not receive fast enough to dispose of as it fell."
Water poured from Cowley Hill into Duke Street and with no intercepting sewer, large amounts of water accumulated.
Some women in Knowsley had a narrow escape during the storm. They had been sheltering under a tree when a farmer warned them of the danger they were in.
Several minutes after leaving the spot lightning struck, as the Newspaper described:
"The electric fluid struck the tree making it glow as if on fire."
The telegraph wires between St Helens and Manchester via Rainford were cut by the lightning but were made operational again after six hours.
When employees wanted improvements in their pay or working conditions, the usual procedure was to send to their bosses a politely worded – if not ingratiating – memorial or petition.
This the porters did, with a deputation handing the district manager of the railway a memorial requesting a pay rise.
However, the manager gave the impression that he would not be passing the petition onto the directors of the railway, who were the decision-makers when it came to such matters.
So the porters went out on strike and only resumed work once the manager confirmed the memorial would be passed on to the directors, who'd be asked to give it their full consideration.
Or as the Liverpool Daily Post put it, "He will forward the memorial and urge its prayer".
James Unsworth appeared in St Helens police court on the 26th charged with neglecting and starving his 13-month-old child.
Dr Millner gave evidence that when he first saw the child in his crib, there was a "fearful stench" and it had a "most wasted" appearance.
The coal miner from Rainford was remanded on bail for a week while the police made further enquiries.
The child was described as a "miserable little wreck" and was taken to the hospital at Whiston Workhouse but died on the following day.
That led to the charge against James Unsworth, the father, being changed to wilful murder and the grandparents, who lived in the same house near the Red Cat in Crank, were also taken into custody.
45-year-old nailmaker Ralph Unsworth and his wife Mary subsequently appeared in court charged with the wilful murder of their grandchild and were remanded until August 2nd.
Although the St Helens Newspaper could be quite amusing in its portrayal of court cases, their depictions of the lives of the working class could be seen as patronising and treating crimes such as violence against women in a light manner.
On the 27th the paper reported on a case heard in the Petty Sessions in which they invoked one of their favourite words, "swain", meaning bachelor:
"Thomas Kilshaw, a rustic looking swain, was summoned by Mary Eaton, for assaulting her at Laffak on the 19th inst. Mr. Swift defended.
"The complainant's case was that on Friday evening, when the day's work was over, she went to the fields with some female companions, for the purpose of meeting some swains of their acquaintance.
"One of her companions was Elizabeth Hill, a young damsel who had for a time ensnared the susceptible heart of Kilshaw, but had lost possession of the treasure.
"As they went towards the fields they saw Kilshaw in close converse with a certain Ellen Anders, to whom he was supposed to have transferred his unstable affections.
"The sight was sufficient to rouse the rejected one, and some vituperation was indulged in which had better be neither imagined nor described.
"After this they continued their walk, but were followed by Kilshaw, who turned his attention to the complainant and gave her treatment which she chose to consider an assault, and which appears to have been indecent as well as rough, but which he doubtless meant to be a mere token of friendship.
"He embraced her in her arms, pitched her on the grass, rolled her against a hedge, disordered her chignon [hairstyle], and committed similar depredations.
"She said she would “bring him up,” which is the mode she adopted of threatening the vengeance of the law, and then he altered his conduct a little.
"Observing that he had better be “brought up” for something than nothing, he struck her a couple of blows.
"Mr. Swift [defence counsel] submitted that there was no case to answer, but the magistrates made no sign of acquiescence. Mr. Spencely [court clerk] told him to go into evidence.
"Mr. Swift, (who is fond of public ablutions) said he would have to wash his mouth when he had done with the case, if he were called upon to answer.
"The Bench preferred to hear the defence, even at the risk of giving the learned advocate the trouble of rinsing his mouth.
"Witnesses were then called, who deposed principally to what passed in the lane in [the] presence of Ellen Anders.
"The jealousy of the rivals was represented as having led to a wordy war, in which the complainant and others joined, and the expressions reproduced, as having been used on the occasions, were bad enough to require the washing of every ear in the court. The magistrates finally dismissed the charge."
After making an arrest, the police invariably had a fair distance to walk with their prisoner to get them to the station.
Often someone – usually with a lot of drink inside of them and a dislike of the police – would try to liberate the arrested person.
On the 29th Peter Ball pleaded guilty in St Helens Petty Sessions to assaulting PC George Wilson in Rainford.
In the 1871 census Ball was 19 and lodging in Old Lane and Wilson was 44 and living at the police house in School Brow, which is now part of Church Road.
Wilson and a colleague had arrested two men for being disorderly. Ball decided to interfere and attempted to free the men.
That he achieved in a way, as he was described as having fought so energetically that the officers had to let their prisoners go in order to secure their attacker.
Ball was fined £2 5 shillings or if in default of payment, go to prison for three months.
Two boys called Thomas Brady and Thomas Sutton appeared in court charged with indecent exposure.
That was a not uncommon charge during the summertime and had nothing to do with what we might call "flashing".
The lads had been bathing in the canal and would not have owned any swimming togs and so had simply stripped off.
Getting out of the water and getting dressed was, of course, the tricky bit without being seen in the nude!
The two Thomas's had been unlucky – but in court were simply given a warning and discharged.
A man bearing the unusual name of Sandyland Stockley and appearing to live in Snig Lane in Prescot was charged with neglecting to maintain his wife and family.
Stockley had left home, leaving his wife destitute and so she pleaded for help from the St Helens Relieving Officer.
James Fowler gave her 4 shillings a week – 25 shillings in total – and when her husband returned home, he demanded restitution on behalf of the Prescot Guardians.
Fowler told the Bench that Stockley was a brass moulder and easily able to find work, but was an "idle man, and unwilling to do any good".
He asked the magistrates to immediately commit Stockley to prison saying such desertions were on the increase.
But the Bench preferred to give him a week to see if he could find the cash before sending him to gaol.
And finally, the inquest on the Unsworth baby from Crank was held on the 31st in which it was revealed that the 13-month-old child had died weighing just six pounds.
The head nurse at the workhouse hospital described the baby as "very much emaciated" and the inquest also heard that the mother had died while giving birth.
However, it was also stated that the child may have been diseased and the father insisted that his 50-year-old mother – who he called "the old woman" – had done everything she could to care for it.
Unsworth said he had another child by a previous wife who was almost four and "well and hearty".
After a lengthy investigation and hearing from many witnesses, the coroner advised the jury to bring in a verdict of natural causes, which they immediately agreed to do.
On the following day James Unsworth and his mother and father were brought back to court and in the light of the inquest verdict, all three of them were discharged.
Major Pilkington on the Bench said he had not the slightest doubt that the child had been neglected but there was insufficient proof of culpability to keep the accused in custody.
It was another case where the limitations of medical knowledge were on show and which stymied a prosecution.
Next week's stories will include the shocking condition of an ex-soldier in Prescot, the death of a child in an old clay pit in Marshalls Cross, the holy hand at Garswood and the foundry chimney in St Mary's Street demolished by lightning.