150 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (9th - 15th AUGUST 1871)
This week's many stories include the curious death of a child in a Lea Green pit, a harsh sentence is imposed on the thieving Sutton postie, a Rainford man's murderous assault, the workhouse cook's dodgy meals and outspoken lawyer Thomas Swift has his wings clipped.
We begin on the 9th at Kirkdale when Thomas Critchley finally received his trial after being held on remand since April. The St Helens magistrates had committed the 30-year-old postman to the Liverpool Assizes after Critchley had been accused of stealing from letters. The postie from Stanhope Street with a wife and four children was also a watchmaker and his thefts had not involved huge sums – 129 postage stamps, a quarter-rupee and two money orders for £5 5 shillings and 6 shillings. However he had fallen into a trap, as the Liverpool Mercury explained in their report:
"Thomas Critchley (30), a watchmaker, was indicted for having, at Sutton, on the 8th of April last, stolen two post letters containing certain postage stamps and a coin, the property her Majesty's Postmaster-General. The prisoner, it appeared, was a letter carrier between St. Helens and Sutton, and had been in the employ of the Post-office authorities for eight years. Some time ago, in consequence of letters not reaching their destination, suspicion was aroused, and on the 4th April, Mr. Henry Mulock, one of the officials of the missing letter office of the General Postoffice, made up two letters.
"One of them was addressed to Mr. John Croft, care of Mr. Ewart, clogmaker, Peasley Cross-lane, near St. Helens, and contained 119 stamps in one sheet; and the other letter was addressed to Mr. Page, innkeeper, of Robin's-lane, St. Helens, and contained 20 postage stamps, and a silver quarter rupee. Mr. Mulock, before closing the letters, put a private mark upon each of the stamps, and also upon the quarter rupee, and the letters were, on the 6th April, handed to Mr. Henry Rumble, a detective-officer, of the General Postoffice, who kept them in his possession until the evening of the 7th of April, when he posted them at the St. Helens Postoffice.
"Mr. Grey, the postmaster at St. Helens, withdrew the letters from the box the same evening, and kept them in his possession until the following morning, when he placed them on the prisoner's desk, in readiness for delivery. It was afterward found that the letters had not been delivered, and the same morning the prisoner was seen by Mr. Mulock, who told him of the fact, and also stated that a great many letters had previously been missed. The prisoner was then searched, and the quarter rupee which had been enclosed in the letter addressed to Mr. Page was found upon him.
"He was then taken into custody, and he stated that he had delivered the letter at Mr. Page's, but that the servant gave him the stamps, which he had sold to Mr. Cross, postmaster, of Sutton. It transpired, however, that the prisoner had also sold to Mr. Cross the 119 stamps which had been contained in the other letter, and that he had received 11s 7d for them. After the evidence for the prosecution had been given, Mr. Torr [defence counsel] said that he could not resist it, and the jury found the prisoner guilty.
"His Lordship said that the evidence of guilt could not have been clearer, and it was of enormous importance that a person who committed Postoffice robberies should be punished severely. The prisoner must be kept in penal servitude for five years." The aforementioned Hewitt Page, by the way, was the landlord of the Bowling Green Inn in Robins Lane.
St Helens Corporation had only been created in 1868 and some members of its Town Council had a rather part-time attitude to their job. On the 9th a Water Committee meeting was scheduled to take place. Corporation officials and reporters all showed up and waited and waited – but none of the eight members of the committee bothered to attend.
However the Prescot Guardians did turn up for their meeting on the 10th and heard more complaints about the workhouse cook. Over the last few years there had been several women charged with dishing up the grub to the more than 300 adult and child paupers at Whiston. Getting drunk was the main complaint – but at the meeting the Guardians heard that the cook had been doling out mouldy bread and soup that was sour. However the woman was already on a month's trial to see if she could improve her cooking and that term would not expire for another fortnight. So a decision as to what action to take was delayed until then.
At the St Helens Petty Sessions on the 11th, John Parry was charged with "burglariously breaking into the dwelling-house of Thomas Lyon, Bridge-street" and stealing a hat. The 26-year-old miner was sent for trial to the assizes and as he had prior convictions for thieving and housebreaking, Parry was sentenced to a year in prison.
The St Helens Newspaper on the 12th described a court hearing in which an allegation of illegal gambling was made against a police officer. PC Wood has arrested Michael Bulger for obstructing the street at Smithy Brow but he claimed that the constable had been in the Albion Hotel boasting of betting on the races. A pub barmaid denied such remarks had been made and Superintendent James Ludlam (who was in charge of St Helens police) accused Bulger of being a "thorough blackguard" who had been previously imprisoned for theft. And so the man was fined £1 3s 6d including costs – or he would have to serve a month in prison. At the same hearing James Worrall was sent to prison for three months for stealing a jacket worth 1 shilling from a beerhouse in Westfield Street.
Religious disputes – usually between Catholics and Protestants – were very common and violence was never far away, especially if drink was involved. The Wigan Observer described on the 12th how Richard Sennett had been charged with committing a "murderous assault" with a poker on John Holding at Rainford and had subsequently been sent for trial at Liverpool Assizes. The paper added: "The quarrel arose out of a religious difference while the men were in drink." In November the 30-year-old labourer would be sent to prison for six months.
The Observer also wrote about a hearing in St Helens County Court in East Street (pictured above) in which a man called Douglas sued a grocer called Fleming for £4 8 shillings wages. The plaintiff had been sacked for drunkenness and his ex-boss had refused to pay what was due to him. Douglas called a witness who admitted that at the time of the dismissal the man had been too drunk to work. One would have thought that Douglas would still have been able to receive his back pay. However the judge "nonsuited the plaintiff", as it was reported. In other words told him to get on his bike!
The paper also commented how St Helens magistrate John Bibby had settled his slander suit against Thomas Swift. That was after the outspoken and – at times – highly rude solicitor had accused the industrialist of being prejudiced against him and his clients. Swift realised that he had gone too far and after apologising and agreeing to pay all the legal costs the action had been dropped. No doubt there were many in the court – clerks, police officers and other solicitors, as well as JPs – delighted to have seen his wings clipped!
On the 14th in St Helens Petty Sessions, 12-year-old John Gorse was cleared of the charge of drowning a young girl called Margaret Eden some eleven days earlier. During the evening in question, a farm labourer had seen the boy with Margaret and her six-year-old brother at Lea Green and the latter had told the police that Gorse had thrown his sister into a pit. However after initially remanding the boy in custody, the St Helens magistrates decided not to commit him for trial. That was because the child witness was perceived as being uneducated, or "very uninstructed", as it was reported.
Afterwards John Gorse embarked on a mini crime wave, committing two burglaries, stealing two trowels and a chisel from a building being erected at Micklehead Green – and he also attempted to steal his mother's watch. From what I can tell from the records, the boy was only 8 or 9 and lived in Walkers Lane and on October 24th was sent to prison for 14 days and then to a reformatory for 5 years.
Also in the Petty Sessions was Joseph Graham of Prescot who was summoned for assaulting James Johnson, his apprentice. However the case was dismissed as – according to the Liverpool Mercury – "the boy had been thrashed for gross misconduct". So that's all right then!
Last year I described a Prescot Reporter account of a massacre of an Indian village in Montana in which it was claimed that American soldiers had slaughtered 173 Indians. Ninety were said to have been women and fifty children under the age of twelve. It has been said that Indians learnt barbarism from the white man and this distressing report published in the Liverpool Mercury this week suggests that they had learned it well:
"INDIAN ATROCITIES – A despatch from St. Louis gives details of a most fiendish outrage perpetrated by Indians. About the middle of June, a man named McMoore and 13 others started from Pau Valley, Texas, with a Government train for Fort Lill, on Indian territory. On the evening of the 26th, whilst crossing a stream 30 miles east of Fort Lill, they were suddenly attacked by a band of 150 Cheyennes and white desperadoes. A fight ensued, but it only lasted a few minutes, during which seven of the teamsters were killed, one was wounded, and the remainder captured.
"The Indians tomahawked and scalped the wounded man, and took McMoore, J. Jones, Thomas Hayward, Henry Brown, Harry Jackson, and another driver prisoners. They then bound their captives, and sent them to the woods under guard. What became of the contents of the train of waggons is not known. The day after the fight one of the drivers made an attempt to escape, but was caught, killed, and scalped.
"They were then marched in a northerly direction for two days, and on the 30th they halted, when the savages tied Jones and Hayward to a stake, cut out their tongues, lopped off their ears, and otherwise tortured them in the presence of the other captives, and then burned them to death. A few nights after, while the Indian guards were asleep, Brown succeeded in loosening his cords, got free, took a knife from the belt of one of the Indians, and cut the bonds of McMoore and Jackson.
"This was on the 5th of July, and after marching for several days nearly naked, during which they were fed by a friendly band of Pottawattamees, they reached Fort Riley on the 12th, completely exhausted, where McMoore left his friends, after a rest, and proceeded to St. Joseph. This man declares that amongst the Indians who committed the above atrocities were a band of white desperadoes, under Stanley, an Eastern Texas outlaw, who were dressed as savages, and participated in the cruelties with all the zest and fiendishness of the Cheyennes themselves."
Next week's stories will include the mild penalty imposed for a savage clog assault, concern over an impending cholera outbreak in the district, a Newton card sharper is caught and the man who beat the Rainford Colliery Company at their own game.
We begin on the 9th at Kirkdale when Thomas Critchley finally received his trial after being held on remand since April. The St Helens magistrates had committed the 30-year-old postman to the Liverpool Assizes after Critchley had been accused of stealing from letters. The postie from Stanhope Street with a wife and four children was also a watchmaker and his thefts had not involved huge sums – 129 postage stamps, a quarter-rupee and two money orders for £5 5 shillings and 6 shillings. However he had fallen into a trap, as the Liverpool Mercury explained in their report:
"Thomas Critchley (30), a watchmaker, was indicted for having, at Sutton, on the 8th of April last, stolen two post letters containing certain postage stamps and a coin, the property her Majesty's Postmaster-General. The prisoner, it appeared, was a letter carrier between St. Helens and Sutton, and had been in the employ of the Post-office authorities for eight years. Some time ago, in consequence of letters not reaching their destination, suspicion was aroused, and on the 4th April, Mr. Henry Mulock, one of the officials of the missing letter office of the General Postoffice, made up two letters.
"One of them was addressed to Mr. John Croft, care of Mr. Ewart, clogmaker, Peasley Cross-lane, near St. Helens, and contained 119 stamps in one sheet; and the other letter was addressed to Mr. Page, innkeeper, of Robin's-lane, St. Helens, and contained 20 postage stamps, and a silver quarter rupee. Mr. Mulock, before closing the letters, put a private mark upon each of the stamps, and also upon the quarter rupee, and the letters were, on the 6th April, handed to Mr. Henry Rumble, a detective-officer, of the General Postoffice, who kept them in his possession until the evening of the 7th of April, when he posted them at the St. Helens Postoffice.
"Mr. Grey, the postmaster at St. Helens, withdrew the letters from the box the same evening, and kept them in his possession until the following morning, when he placed them on the prisoner's desk, in readiness for delivery. It was afterward found that the letters had not been delivered, and the same morning the prisoner was seen by Mr. Mulock, who told him of the fact, and also stated that a great many letters had previously been missed. The prisoner was then searched, and the quarter rupee which had been enclosed in the letter addressed to Mr. Page was found upon him.
"He was then taken into custody, and he stated that he had delivered the letter at Mr. Page's, but that the servant gave him the stamps, which he had sold to Mr. Cross, postmaster, of Sutton. It transpired, however, that the prisoner had also sold to Mr. Cross the 119 stamps which had been contained in the other letter, and that he had received 11s 7d for them. After the evidence for the prosecution had been given, Mr. Torr [defence counsel] said that he could not resist it, and the jury found the prisoner guilty.
"His Lordship said that the evidence of guilt could not have been clearer, and it was of enormous importance that a person who committed Postoffice robberies should be punished severely. The prisoner must be kept in penal servitude for five years." The aforementioned Hewitt Page, by the way, was the landlord of the Bowling Green Inn in Robins Lane.
St Helens Corporation had only been created in 1868 and some members of its Town Council had a rather part-time attitude to their job. On the 9th a Water Committee meeting was scheduled to take place. Corporation officials and reporters all showed up and waited and waited – but none of the eight members of the committee bothered to attend.
However the Prescot Guardians did turn up for their meeting on the 10th and heard more complaints about the workhouse cook. Over the last few years there had been several women charged with dishing up the grub to the more than 300 adult and child paupers at Whiston. Getting drunk was the main complaint – but at the meeting the Guardians heard that the cook had been doling out mouldy bread and soup that was sour. However the woman was already on a month's trial to see if she could improve her cooking and that term would not expire for another fortnight. So a decision as to what action to take was delayed until then.
At the St Helens Petty Sessions on the 11th, John Parry was charged with "burglariously breaking into the dwelling-house of Thomas Lyon, Bridge-street" and stealing a hat. The 26-year-old miner was sent for trial to the assizes and as he had prior convictions for thieving and housebreaking, Parry was sentenced to a year in prison.
The St Helens Newspaper on the 12th described a court hearing in which an allegation of illegal gambling was made against a police officer. PC Wood has arrested Michael Bulger for obstructing the street at Smithy Brow but he claimed that the constable had been in the Albion Hotel boasting of betting on the races. A pub barmaid denied such remarks had been made and Superintendent James Ludlam (who was in charge of St Helens police) accused Bulger of being a "thorough blackguard" who had been previously imprisoned for theft. And so the man was fined £1 3s 6d including costs – or he would have to serve a month in prison. At the same hearing James Worrall was sent to prison for three months for stealing a jacket worth 1 shilling from a beerhouse in Westfield Street.
Religious disputes – usually between Catholics and Protestants – were very common and violence was never far away, especially if drink was involved. The Wigan Observer described on the 12th how Richard Sennett had been charged with committing a "murderous assault" with a poker on John Holding at Rainford and had subsequently been sent for trial at Liverpool Assizes. The paper added: "The quarrel arose out of a religious difference while the men were in drink." In November the 30-year-old labourer would be sent to prison for six months.
The paper also commented how St Helens magistrate John Bibby had settled his slander suit against Thomas Swift. That was after the outspoken and – at times – highly rude solicitor had accused the industrialist of being prejudiced against him and his clients. Swift realised that he had gone too far and after apologising and agreeing to pay all the legal costs the action had been dropped. No doubt there were many in the court – clerks, police officers and other solicitors, as well as JPs – delighted to have seen his wings clipped!
On the 14th in St Helens Petty Sessions, 12-year-old John Gorse was cleared of the charge of drowning a young girl called Margaret Eden some eleven days earlier. During the evening in question, a farm labourer had seen the boy with Margaret and her six-year-old brother at Lea Green and the latter had told the police that Gorse had thrown his sister into a pit. However after initially remanding the boy in custody, the St Helens magistrates decided not to commit him for trial. That was because the child witness was perceived as being uneducated, or "very uninstructed", as it was reported.
Afterwards John Gorse embarked on a mini crime wave, committing two burglaries, stealing two trowels and a chisel from a building being erected at Micklehead Green – and he also attempted to steal his mother's watch. From what I can tell from the records, the boy was only 8 or 9 and lived in Walkers Lane and on October 24th was sent to prison for 14 days and then to a reformatory for 5 years.
Also in the Petty Sessions was Joseph Graham of Prescot who was summoned for assaulting James Johnson, his apprentice. However the case was dismissed as – according to the Liverpool Mercury – "the boy had been thrashed for gross misconduct". So that's all right then!
Last year I described a Prescot Reporter account of a massacre of an Indian village in Montana in which it was claimed that American soldiers had slaughtered 173 Indians. Ninety were said to have been women and fifty children under the age of twelve. It has been said that Indians learnt barbarism from the white man and this distressing report published in the Liverpool Mercury this week suggests that they had learned it well:
"INDIAN ATROCITIES – A despatch from St. Louis gives details of a most fiendish outrage perpetrated by Indians. About the middle of June, a man named McMoore and 13 others started from Pau Valley, Texas, with a Government train for Fort Lill, on Indian territory. On the evening of the 26th, whilst crossing a stream 30 miles east of Fort Lill, they were suddenly attacked by a band of 150 Cheyennes and white desperadoes. A fight ensued, but it only lasted a few minutes, during which seven of the teamsters were killed, one was wounded, and the remainder captured.
"The Indians tomahawked and scalped the wounded man, and took McMoore, J. Jones, Thomas Hayward, Henry Brown, Harry Jackson, and another driver prisoners. They then bound their captives, and sent them to the woods under guard. What became of the contents of the train of waggons is not known. The day after the fight one of the drivers made an attempt to escape, but was caught, killed, and scalped.
"They were then marched in a northerly direction for two days, and on the 30th they halted, when the savages tied Jones and Hayward to a stake, cut out their tongues, lopped off their ears, and otherwise tortured them in the presence of the other captives, and then burned them to death. A few nights after, while the Indian guards were asleep, Brown succeeded in loosening his cords, got free, took a knife from the belt of one of the Indians, and cut the bonds of McMoore and Jackson.
"This was on the 5th of July, and after marching for several days nearly naked, during which they were fed by a friendly band of Pottawattamees, they reached Fort Riley on the 12th, completely exhausted, where McMoore left his friends, after a rest, and proceeded to St. Joseph. This man declares that amongst the Indians who committed the above atrocities were a band of white desperadoes, under Stanley, an Eastern Texas outlaw, who were dressed as savages, and participated in the cruelties with all the zest and fiendishness of the Cheyennes themselves."
Next week's stories will include the mild penalty imposed for a savage clog assault, concern over an impending cholera outbreak in the district, a Newton card sharper is caught and the man who beat the Rainford Colliery Company at their own game.
This week's many stories include the curious death of a child in a Lea Green pit, a harsh sentence is imposed on the thieving Sutton postie, a Rainford man's murderous assault, the workhouse cook's dodgy meals and outspoken lawyer Thomas Swift has his wings clipped.
We begin on the 9th at Kirkdale when Thomas Critchley finally received his trial after being held on remand since April.
The St Helens magistrates had committed the 30-year-old postman to the Liverpool Assizes after Critchley had been accused of stealing from letters.
The postie from Stanhope Street with a wife and four children was also a watchmaker and his thefts had not involved huge sums – 129 postage stamps, a quarter-rupee and two money orders for £5 5 shillings and 6 shillings.
However he had fallen into a trap, as the Liverpool Mercury explained in their report:
"Thomas Critchley (30), a watchmaker, was indicted for having, at Sutton, on the 8th of April last, stolen two post letters containing certain postage stamps and a coin, the property her Majesty's Postmaster-General.
"The prisoner, it appeared, was a letter carrier between St. Helens and Sutton, and had been in the employ of the Post-office authorities for eight years.
"Some time ago, in consequence of letters not reaching their destination, suspicion was aroused, and on the 4th April, Mr. Henry Mulock, one of the officials of the missing letter office of the General Postoffice, made up two letters.
"One of them was addressed to Mr. John Croft, care of Mr. Ewart, clogmaker, Peasley Cross-lane, near St. Helens, and contained 119 stamps in one sheet; and the other letter was addressed to Mr. Page, innkeeper, of Robin's-lane, St. Helens, and contained 20 postage stamps, and a silver quarter rupee.
"Mr. Mulock, before closing the letters, put a private mark upon each of the stamps, and also upon the quarter rupee, and the letters were, on the 6th April, handed to Mr. Henry Rumble, a detective-officer, of the General Postoffice, who kept them in his possession until the evening of the 7th of April, when he posted them at the St. Helens Postoffice.
"Mr. Grey, the postmaster at St. Helens, withdrew the letters from the box the same evening, and kept them in his possession until the following morning, when he placed them on the prisoner's desk, in readiness for delivery.
"It was afterward found that the letters had not been delivered, and the same morning the prisoner was seen by Mr. Mulock, who told him of the fact, and also stated that a great many letters had previously been missed.
"The prisoner was then searched, and the quarter rupee which had been enclosed in the letter addressed to Mr. Page was found upon him.
"He was then taken into custody, and he stated that he had delivered the letter at Mr. Page's, but that the servant gave him the stamps, which he had sold to Mr. Cross, postmaster, of Sutton.
"It transpired, however, that the prisoner had also sold to Mr. Cross the 119 stamps which had been contained in the other letter, and that he had received 11s 7d for them.
"After the evidence for the prosecution had been given, Mr. Torr [defence counsel] said that he could not resist it, and the jury found the prisoner guilty.
"His Lordship said that the evidence of guilt could not have been clearer, and it was of enormous importance that a person who committed Postoffice robberies should be punished severely. The prisoner must be kept in penal servitude for five years."
The aforementioned Hewitt Page, by the way, was the landlord of the Bowling Green Inn in Robins Lane.
St Helens Corporation had only been created in 1868 and some members of its Town Council had a rather part-time attitude to their job.
On the 9th a Water Committee meeting was scheduled to take place. Corporation officials and reporters all showed up and waited and waited – but none of the eight members of the committee bothered to attend.
However the Prescot Guardians did turn up for their meeting on the 10th and heard more complaints about the workhouse cook.
Over the last few years there had been several women charged with dishing up the grub to the more than 300 adult and child paupers at Whiston.
Getting drunk was the main complaint – but at the meeting the Guardians heard that the cook had been doling out mouldy bread and soup that was sour.
However the woman was already on a month's trial to see if she could improve her cooking and that term would not expire for another fortnight. So a decision as to what action to take was delayed until then.
At the St Helens Petty Sessions on the 11th, John Parry was charged with "burglariously breaking into the dwelling-house of Thomas Lyon, Bridge-street" and stealing a hat.
The 26-year-old miner was sent for trial to the assizes and as he had prior convictions for thieving and housebreaking, Parry was sentenced to a year in prison.
The St Helens Newspaper on the 12th described a court hearing in which an allegation of illegal gambling was made against a police officer.
PC Wood has arrested Michael Bulger for obstructing the street at Smithy Brow but he claimed that the constable had been in the Albion Hotel boasting of betting on the races.
A pub barmaid denied such remarks had been made and Superintendent James Ludlam (who was in charge of St Helens police) accused Bulger of being a "thorough blackguard" who had been previously imprisoned for theft.
And so the man was fined £1 3s 6d including costs – or he would have to serve a month in prison.
At the same hearing James Worrall was sent to prison for three months for stealing a jacket worth 1 shilling from a beerhouse in Westfield Street.
Religious disputes – usually between Catholics and Protestants – were very common and violence was never far away, especially if drink was involved.
The Wigan Observer described on the 12th how Richard Sennett had been charged with committing a "murderous assault" with a poker on John Holding at Rainford and had subsequently been sent for trial at Liverpool Assizes.
The paper added: "The quarrel arose out of a religious difference while the men were in drink."
In November the 30-year-old labourer would be sent to prison for six months.
The Observer also wrote about a hearing in St Helens County Court in East Street (pictured above) in which a man called Douglas sued a grocer called Fleming for £4 8 shillings wages.
The plaintiff had been sacked for drunkenness and his ex-boss had refused to pay what was due to him.
Douglas called a witness who admitted that at the time of the dismissal the man had been too drunk to work.
One would have thought that Douglas would still have been able to receive his back pay.
However the judge "nonsuited the plaintiff", as it was reported. In other words told him to get on his bike!
The paper also commented how St Helens magistrate John Bibby had settled his slander suit against Thomas Swift.
That was after the outspoken and – at times – highly rude solicitor had accused the industrialist of being prejudiced against him and his clients.
Swift realised that he had gone too far and after apologising and agreeing to pay all the legal costs the action had been dropped.
No doubt there were many in the court – clerks, police officers and other solicitors, as well as JPs – delighted to have seen his wings clipped!
On the 14th in St Helens Petty Sessions, 12-year-old John Gorse was cleared of the charge of drowning a young girl called Margaret Eden some eleven days earlier.
During the evening in question, a farm labourer had seen the boy with Margaret and her six-year-old brother at Lea Green and the latter had told the police that Gorse had thrown his sister into a pit.
However after initially remanding the boy in custody, the St Helens magistrates decided not to commit him for trial.
That was because the child witness was perceived as being uneducated, or "very uninstructed", as it was reported.
Afterwards John Gorse embarked on a mini crime wave, committing two burglaries, stealing two trowels and a chisel from a building being erected at Micklehead Green – and he also attempted to steal his mother's watch.
From what I can tell from the records, the boy was only 8 or 9 and lived in Walkers Lane and on October 24th was sent to prison for 14 days and then to a reformatory for 5 years.
Also in the Petty Sessions was Joseph Graham of Prescot who was summoned for assaulting James Johnson, his apprentice.
However the case was dismissed as – according to the Liverpool Mercury – "the boy had been thrashed for gross misconduct". So that's all right then!
Last year I described a Prescot Reporter account of a massacre of an Indian village in Montana in which it was claimed that American soldiers had slaughtered 173 Indians. Ninety were said to have been women and fifty children under the age of twelve.
It has been said that Indians learnt barbarism from the white man and this distressing report published in the Liverpool Mercury this week suggests that they had learned it well:
"INDIAN ATROCITIES – A despatch from St. Louis gives details of a most fiendish outrage perpetrated by Indians.
"About the middle of June, a man named McMoore and 13 others started from Pau Valley, Texas, with a Government train for Fort Lill, on Indian territory.
"On the evening of the 26th, whilst crossing a stream 30 miles east of Fort Lill, they were suddenly attacked by a band of 150 Cheyennes and white desperadoes.
"A fight ensued, but it only lasted a few minutes, during which seven of the teamsters were killed, one was wounded, and the remainder captured.
"The Indians tomahawked and scalped the wounded man, and took McMoore, J. Jones, Thomas Hayward, Henry Brown, Harry Jackson, and another driver prisoners.
"They then bound their captives, and sent them to the woods under guard. What became of the contents of the train of waggons is not known.
"The day after the fight one of the drivers made an attempt to escape, but was caught, killed, and scalped.
"They were then marched in a northerly direction for two days, and on the 30th they halted, when the savages tied Jones and Hayward to a stake, cut out their tongues, lopped off their ears, and otherwise tortured them in the presence of the other captives, and then burned them to death.
"A few nights after, while the Indian guards were asleep, Brown succeeded in loosening his cords, got free, took a knife from the belt of one of the Indians, and cut the bonds of McMoore and Jackson.
"This was on the 5th of July, and after marching for several days nearly naked, during which they were fed by a friendly band of Pottawattamees, they reached Fort Riley on the 12th, completely exhausted, where McMoore left his friends, after a rest, and proceeded to St. Joseph.
"This man declares that amongst the Indians who committed the above atrocities were a band of white desperadoes, under Stanley, an Eastern Texas outlaw, who were dressed as savages, and participated in the cruelties with all the zest and fiendishness of the Cheyennes themselves."
Next week's stories will include the mild penalty imposed for a savage clog assault, concern over an impending cholera outbreak in the district, a Newton card sharper is caught and the man who beat the Rainford Colliery Company at their own game.
We begin on the 9th at Kirkdale when Thomas Critchley finally received his trial after being held on remand since April.
The St Helens magistrates had committed the 30-year-old postman to the Liverpool Assizes after Critchley had been accused of stealing from letters.
The postie from Stanhope Street with a wife and four children was also a watchmaker and his thefts had not involved huge sums – 129 postage stamps, a quarter-rupee and two money orders for £5 5 shillings and 6 shillings.
However he had fallen into a trap, as the Liverpool Mercury explained in their report:
"Thomas Critchley (30), a watchmaker, was indicted for having, at Sutton, on the 8th of April last, stolen two post letters containing certain postage stamps and a coin, the property her Majesty's Postmaster-General.
"The prisoner, it appeared, was a letter carrier between St. Helens and Sutton, and had been in the employ of the Post-office authorities for eight years.
"Some time ago, in consequence of letters not reaching their destination, suspicion was aroused, and on the 4th April, Mr. Henry Mulock, one of the officials of the missing letter office of the General Postoffice, made up two letters.
"One of them was addressed to Mr. John Croft, care of Mr. Ewart, clogmaker, Peasley Cross-lane, near St. Helens, and contained 119 stamps in one sheet; and the other letter was addressed to Mr. Page, innkeeper, of Robin's-lane, St. Helens, and contained 20 postage stamps, and a silver quarter rupee.
"Mr. Mulock, before closing the letters, put a private mark upon each of the stamps, and also upon the quarter rupee, and the letters were, on the 6th April, handed to Mr. Henry Rumble, a detective-officer, of the General Postoffice, who kept them in his possession until the evening of the 7th of April, when he posted them at the St. Helens Postoffice.
"Mr. Grey, the postmaster at St. Helens, withdrew the letters from the box the same evening, and kept them in his possession until the following morning, when he placed them on the prisoner's desk, in readiness for delivery.
"It was afterward found that the letters had not been delivered, and the same morning the prisoner was seen by Mr. Mulock, who told him of the fact, and also stated that a great many letters had previously been missed.
"The prisoner was then searched, and the quarter rupee which had been enclosed in the letter addressed to Mr. Page was found upon him.
"He was then taken into custody, and he stated that he had delivered the letter at Mr. Page's, but that the servant gave him the stamps, which he had sold to Mr. Cross, postmaster, of Sutton.
"It transpired, however, that the prisoner had also sold to Mr. Cross the 119 stamps which had been contained in the other letter, and that he had received 11s 7d for them.
"After the evidence for the prosecution had been given, Mr. Torr [defence counsel] said that he could not resist it, and the jury found the prisoner guilty.
"His Lordship said that the evidence of guilt could not have been clearer, and it was of enormous importance that a person who committed Postoffice robberies should be punished severely. The prisoner must be kept in penal servitude for five years."
The aforementioned Hewitt Page, by the way, was the landlord of the Bowling Green Inn in Robins Lane.
St Helens Corporation had only been created in 1868 and some members of its Town Council had a rather part-time attitude to their job.
On the 9th a Water Committee meeting was scheduled to take place. Corporation officials and reporters all showed up and waited and waited – but none of the eight members of the committee bothered to attend.
However the Prescot Guardians did turn up for their meeting on the 10th and heard more complaints about the workhouse cook.
Over the last few years there had been several women charged with dishing up the grub to the more than 300 adult and child paupers at Whiston.
Getting drunk was the main complaint – but at the meeting the Guardians heard that the cook had been doling out mouldy bread and soup that was sour.
However the woman was already on a month's trial to see if she could improve her cooking and that term would not expire for another fortnight. So a decision as to what action to take was delayed until then.
At the St Helens Petty Sessions on the 11th, John Parry was charged with "burglariously breaking into the dwelling-house of Thomas Lyon, Bridge-street" and stealing a hat.
The 26-year-old miner was sent for trial to the assizes and as he had prior convictions for thieving and housebreaking, Parry was sentenced to a year in prison.
The St Helens Newspaper on the 12th described a court hearing in which an allegation of illegal gambling was made against a police officer.
PC Wood has arrested Michael Bulger for obstructing the street at Smithy Brow but he claimed that the constable had been in the Albion Hotel boasting of betting on the races.
A pub barmaid denied such remarks had been made and Superintendent James Ludlam (who was in charge of St Helens police) accused Bulger of being a "thorough blackguard" who had been previously imprisoned for theft.
And so the man was fined £1 3s 6d including costs – or he would have to serve a month in prison.
At the same hearing James Worrall was sent to prison for three months for stealing a jacket worth 1 shilling from a beerhouse in Westfield Street.
Religious disputes – usually between Catholics and Protestants – were very common and violence was never far away, especially if drink was involved.
The Wigan Observer described on the 12th how Richard Sennett had been charged with committing a "murderous assault" with a poker on John Holding at Rainford and had subsequently been sent for trial at Liverpool Assizes.
The paper added: "The quarrel arose out of a religious difference while the men were in drink."
In November the 30-year-old labourer would be sent to prison for six months.
The plaintiff had been sacked for drunkenness and his ex-boss had refused to pay what was due to him.
Douglas called a witness who admitted that at the time of the dismissal the man had been too drunk to work.
One would have thought that Douglas would still have been able to receive his back pay.
However the judge "nonsuited the plaintiff", as it was reported. In other words told him to get on his bike!
The paper also commented how St Helens magistrate John Bibby had settled his slander suit against Thomas Swift.
That was after the outspoken and – at times – highly rude solicitor had accused the industrialist of being prejudiced against him and his clients.
Swift realised that he had gone too far and after apologising and agreeing to pay all the legal costs the action had been dropped.
No doubt there were many in the court – clerks, police officers and other solicitors, as well as JPs – delighted to have seen his wings clipped!
On the 14th in St Helens Petty Sessions, 12-year-old John Gorse was cleared of the charge of drowning a young girl called Margaret Eden some eleven days earlier.
During the evening in question, a farm labourer had seen the boy with Margaret and her six-year-old brother at Lea Green and the latter had told the police that Gorse had thrown his sister into a pit.
However after initially remanding the boy in custody, the St Helens magistrates decided not to commit him for trial.
That was because the child witness was perceived as being uneducated, or "very uninstructed", as it was reported.
Afterwards John Gorse embarked on a mini crime wave, committing two burglaries, stealing two trowels and a chisel from a building being erected at Micklehead Green – and he also attempted to steal his mother's watch.
From what I can tell from the records, the boy was only 8 or 9 and lived in Walkers Lane and on October 24th was sent to prison for 14 days and then to a reformatory for 5 years.
Also in the Petty Sessions was Joseph Graham of Prescot who was summoned for assaulting James Johnson, his apprentice.
However the case was dismissed as – according to the Liverpool Mercury – "the boy had been thrashed for gross misconduct". So that's all right then!
Last year I described a Prescot Reporter account of a massacre of an Indian village in Montana in which it was claimed that American soldiers had slaughtered 173 Indians. Ninety were said to have been women and fifty children under the age of twelve.
It has been said that Indians learnt barbarism from the white man and this distressing report published in the Liverpool Mercury this week suggests that they had learned it well:
"INDIAN ATROCITIES – A despatch from St. Louis gives details of a most fiendish outrage perpetrated by Indians.
"About the middle of June, a man named McMoore and 13 others started from Pau Valley, Texas, with a Government train for Fort Lill, on Indian territory.
"On the evening of the 26th, whilst crossing a stream 30 miles east of Fort Lill, they were suddenly attacked by a band of 150 Cheyennes and white desperadoes.
"A fight ensued, but it only lasted a few minutes, during which seven of the teamsters were killed, one was wounded, and the remainder captured.
"The Indians tomahawked and scalped the wounded man, and took McMoore, J. Jones, Thomas Hayward, Henry Brown, Harry Jackson, and another driver prisoners.
"They then bound their captives, and sent them to the woods under guard. What became of the contents of the train of waggons is not known.
"The day after the fight one of the drivers made an attempt to escape, but was caught, killed, and scalped.
"They were then marched in a northerly direction for two days, and on the 30th they halted, when the savages tied Jones and Hayward to a stake, cut out their tongues, lopped off their ears, and otherwise tortured them in the presence of the other captives, and then burned them to death.
"A few nights after, while the Indian guards were asleep, Brown succeeded in loosening his cords, got free, took a knife from the belt of one of the Indians, and cut the bonds of McMoore and Jackson.
"This was on the 5th of July, and after marching for several days nearly naked, during which they were fed by a friendly band of Pottawattamees, they reached Fort Riley on the 12th, completely exhausted, where McMoore left his friends, after a rest, and proceeded to St. Joseph.
"This man declares that amongst the Indians who committed the above atrocities were a band of white desperadoes, under Stanley, an Eastern Texas outlaw, who were dressed as savages, and participated in the cruelties with all the zest and fiendishness of the Cheyennes themselves."
Next week's stories will include the mild penalty imposed for a savage clog assault, concern over an impending cholera outbreak in the district, a Newton card sharper is caught and the man who beat the Rainford Colliery Company at their own game.