150 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (13 - 19 NOVEMBER 1873)
This week's many stories include the trowel stealing amongst the labourers building the new town hall, the elderly victim of an assault that was branded a lunatic, the ornamental gas lamp at the bottom of Bridge Street, the bigotry of the pit brow lasses at Ravenhead Colliery, the founding of Saints and the less than free and easy life of a St Helens carter.
We begin on the 15th when the St Helens Newspaper revealed the repercussions from their claim in last week's paper of corruption in the local elections. Tailor Thomas Thomson had sent a solicitor's letter to the paper claiming that the allegations that they had made against him were unfounded. Those had been that a payment of £26 18 shillings had been made, with the implication that it had been a bribe. The Newspaper said they were standing by their claim but did reduce the amount to £24 18s. A case for libel was looming…
Often court cases inadvertently reveal some interesting detail about life in St Helens from 150 years ago. For example, in a court hearing this week we learn that instead of the standard single gas lamp, there used to be a three-light ornamental lamp situated at the bottom of Bridge Street. That must have looked quite attractive, as well as providing extra illumination at that spot. The only reason we learn this is because William Jones was charged with extinguishing the gas in the lamp. Why, was not stated in the report, but Jones was fined 2s 6d and costs for his exploits.
In another case the Newspaper described how religious and racial hatred between the English and the Irish had surfaced again. During the last 25 years the numbers of Irish men and women that had arrived in St Helens had gone from a trickle to a flood. Some residents of the town resented their arrival. That was despite many of the emigrants fleeing from famine and the expanding industries in St Helens needing more workers. And that resentment could easily be converted into plain bigotry, as in the case of Sarah Lyon and Ann Potter.
They were both "pit brow lasses" at Groves Colliery (aka Ravenhead Colliery). Ann was English and Protestant and Sarah was Irish and Catholic and had taken out a court summons accusing Ann of assault. The Newspaper described how a new worker in their midst had been the trigger for trouble between the women:
"Complainant [Sarah] said that on the 1st inst., on arriving at her place of business, she found that a stranger – an Irishman – had commenced his labours at the Colliery. Defendant [Ann], an English woman, was giving her companions convincing proofs of the superiority of the English race over the Irish by taunting him on his birthplace, and concluded by saying, as she was passing an Irish woman, that the Irish were all alike. The plaintiff, who heard the last remark, acquainted the subject of it [the Irishman] with her (the defendant's) conduct.
"On hearing this, defendant started at plaintiff, and gave her striking proofs of her superiority over some of her English compeers [equivalents]. In this manner, she added a beautiful dark shade to plaintiff's left eye. The plaintiff, as is usual, in such cases, was almost innocent, having only hit defendant once, and thrown a piece of coal at her, which, as it did not hit her, was not to be reckoned amongst the provocations received by defendant. Mr. Swift [solicitor], during his cross-examination of plaintiff, asked her about her black eye, wishing to be informed whether the shades of the evening were still upon it.
"Plaintiff not having a mirror handy, could not tell Mr. Swift whether it was still black, whereupon Mr. Swift went up to witness and having examined her eye, pronounced it to be black, as a ni***r's, concluding with the forcible remark, that, “If it had been a policeman's eye, it would have been very black indeed.” This provoked great laughter from that part of the public whose delight is to sit in the Court every Monday, listening to the details of cases, which no respectable person would or could sit out. The defendant was fined 5s. and costs."
In another case Thomas Chisnall was charged with assaulting Peter Gaskell, who was described as an old man. Thomas Swift was again the solicitor for the defendant and he offered a rather unusual defence to the charge. "The complainant is a lunatic", he said. Swift was not being abusive (for once) about Peter Gaskell; simply stating that was how the elderly man had been classed at some point.
However, the newspaper report did not suggest that any evidence had been put forward to support the claim that Gaskell was presently a lunatic. If that had been so, why was he not in an institution, such as Rainhill Asylum? Not all patients there were long stay and so Peter Gaskell might well have been discharged if deemed well enough to leave. But the stigma of being branded a lunatic would have remained with him. Swift added that the alleged assault and threats by Thomas Chisnall had been "one of his fancies" and the case was subsequently withdrawn.
However, it was on the basis that the defendant Chisnall promised not to assault the old man again, which suggested that Peter Gaskell's claim had not just been an imagined "fancy". The victim was very deaf and when told in a loud voice what the decision was, said "I would not take his promise; I would not take his oath." But Peter Gaskell had no choice but to accept it, as he was considered a lunatic. The attackers of persons judged to be sane would be fined or bound over to keep the peace upon payment of sureties. But a promise was seen as good enough restitution for a lunatic.
I don't think there were many places in St Helens that had billiard tables – but the Wellington in Naylor Street (pictured above) had one. On the 15th the hotel hosted a match between St Helens Athenaeum and the Wigan Mechanics but the home side lost.
In 1868 the St Helens Newspaper had written: "The Fifth of November. The celebration of this famous anniversary is losing much of its interest yearly, and has now almost died out." However, Guy Fawkes Night was still lingering on and last year William Walsh of Tontine Street was fined 10 shillings and costs for selling fireworks to a small boy.
On the 17th Walsh returned to court to face a charge of having sold fireworks on the 5th to a boy named Yarwood who was under 16. The shopkeeper claimed that he had done his best to only serve fireworks to those over age but he was fined 20 shillings and costs.
Being a carter driving your horse and cart along mainly country roads in the fresh air was not necessarily the free and easy life that you might think. For one thing it can't have been much fun when the heavens opened! And the carter had to follow all sorts of rules and regulations and members of the carting fraternity regularly appeared in court after transgressing them. Here's a selection of offences from the St Helens Petty Sessions of the 17th.
Peter Barrow was charged with leaving his horse standing for too long in Bridge Street and was fined 10 shillings and costs. Robert Ball was fined 2s 6d for not having his name and address prominently displayed on the side of his cart. John Twist was fined 10 shillings and costs for riding without reins in Eccleston. And John Kelly received a 5-shilling fine for being asleep in his cart. Horses knew their way home as well as their master but the authorities did not approve of autonomous vehicles wandering around the streets!
It transpired in the next case that when the foundation stone had recently been laid for the new St Helens Town Hall, the architect had given the sum of £2 to the labourers employed on the building site. That had allowed them to go on a spree – as it was put. But in the celebrations, George Hunt lost his trowel and so he went to Liverpool to ask Robert Cassidy if he'd got it.
It transpired that the trowel had been pawned in Liverpool and Hunt had Cassidy arrested by the local police who then brought him to St Helens. However, the court case fell apart because Hunt had wrung an admission of guilt from Cassidy by falsely promising not to prosecute him if he came clean – and so the charge was dismissed. And Patrick McKenzie was charged with obstructing the pathway in College Street by "jumping on it for the amusement of several others" and was fined 5 shillings.
And finally, on the 19th a meeting took place in the Fleece Hotel in Church Street in St Helens with the intention of forming a new football club. The get-together was called by William Herman who the 1871 census lists as a 19-year-old Middlesex-born analytical chemist boarding in the better-off St Anne's district in Eccleston. By 1881 Herman was living in Hastings but during the few years that he lived in St Helens employed by Pilkingtons, the young man transformed the town by planting the seeds that led to the creation of "Saints". I'll have a review of the club's first training session in a couple of weeks.
St Helens Newspaper courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the Bridge Street window smashing over a tanner, some shocking child mortality statistics are released, the St Helens Newspaper is sued for libel and the annual inspection of St Helens roads.
We begin on the 15th when the St Helens Newspaper revealed the repercussions from their claim in last week's paper of corruption in the local elections. Tailor Thomas Thomson had sent a solicitor's letter to the paper claiming that the allegations that they had made against him were unfounded. Those had been that a payment of £26 18 shillings had been made, with the implication that it had been a bribe. The Newspaper said they were standing by their claim but did reduce the amount to £24 18s. A case for libel was looming…
Often court cases inadvertently reveal some interesting detail about life in St Helens from 150 years ago. For example, in a court hearing this week we learn that instead of the standard single gas lamp, there used to be a three-light ornamental lamp situated at the bottom of Bridge Street. That must have looked quite attractive, as well as providing extra illumination at that spot. The only reason we learn this is because William Jones was charged with extinguishing the gas in the lamp. Why, was not stated in the report, but Jones was fined 2s 6d and costs for his exploits.
In another case the Newspaper described how religious and racial hatred between the English and the Irish had surfaced again. During the last 25 years the numbers of Irish men and women that had arrived in St Helens had gone from a trickle to a flood. Some residents of the town resented their arrival. That was despite many of the emigrants fleeing from famine and the expanding industries in St Helens needing more workers. And that resentment could easily be converted into plain bigotry, as in the case of Sarah Lyon and Ann Potter.
They were both "pit brow lasses" at Groves Colliery (aka Ravenhead Colliery). Ann was English and Protestant and Sarah was Irish and Catholic and had taken out a court summons accusing Ann of assault. The Newspaper described how a new worker in their midst had been the trigger for trouble between the women:
"Complainant [Sarah] said that on the 1st inst., on arriving at her place of business, she found that a stranger – an Irishman – had commenced his labours at the Colliery. Defendant [Ann], an English woman, was giving her companions convincing proofs of the superiority of the English race over the Irish by taunting him on his birthplace, and concluded by saying, as she was passing an Irish woman, that the Irish were all alike. The plaintiff, who heard the last remark, acquainted the subject of it [the Irishman] with her (the defendant's) conduct.
"On hearing this, defendant started at plaintiff, and gave her striking proofs of her superiority over some of her English compeers [equivalents]. In this manner, she added a beautiful dark shade to plaintiff's left eye. The plaintiff, as is usual, in such cases, was almost innocent, having only hit defendant once, and thrown a piece of coal at her, which, as it did not hit her, was not to be reckoned amongst the provocations received by defendant. Mr. Swift [solicitor], during his cross-examination of plaintiff, asked her about her black eye, wishing to be informed whether the shades of the evening were still upon it.
"Plaintiff not having a mirror handy, could not tell Mr. Swift whether it was still black, whereupon Mr. Swift went up to witness and having examined her eye, pronounced it to be black, as a ni***r's, concluding with the forcible remark, that, “If it had been a policeman's eye, it would have been very black indeed.” This provoked great laughter from that part of the public whose delight is to sit in the Court every Monday, listening to the details of cases, which no respectable person would or could sit out. The defendant was fined 5s. and costs."
In another case Thomas Chisnall was charged with assaulting Peter Gaskell, who was described as an old man. Thomas Swift was again the solicitor for the defendant and he offered a rather unusual defence to the charge. "The complainant is a lunatic", he said. Swift was not being abusive (for once) about Peter Gaskell; simply stating that was how the elderly man had been classed at some point.
However, the newspaper report did not suggest that any evidence had been put forward to support the claim that Gaskell was presently a lunatic. If that had been so, why was he not in an institution, such as Rainhill Asylum? Not all patients there were long stay and so Peter Gaskell might well have been discharged if deemed well enough to leave. But the stigma of being branded a lunatic would have remained with him. Swift added that the alleged assault and threats by Thomas Chisnall had been "one of his fancies" and the case was subsequently withdrawn.
However, it was on the basis that the defendant Chisnall promised not to assault the old man again, which suggested that Peter Gaskell's claim had not just been an imagined "fancy". The victim was very deaf and when told in a loud voice what the decision was, said "I would not take his promise; I would not take his oath." But Peter Gaskell had no choice but to accept it, as he was considered a lunatic. The attackers of persons judged to be sane would be fined or bound over to keep the peace upon payment of sureties. But a promise was seen as good enough restitution for a lunatic.
In 1868 the St Helens Newspaper had written: "The Fifth of November. The celebration of this famous anniversary is losing much of its interest yearly, and has now almost died out." However, Guy Fawkes Night was still lingering on and last year William Walsh of Tontine Street was fined 10 shillings and costs for selling fireworks to a small boy.
On the 17th Walsh returned to court to face a charge of having sold fireworks on the 5th to a boy named Yarwood who was under 16. The shopkeeper claimed that he had done his best to only serve fireworks to those over age but he was fined 20 shillings and costs.
Being a carter driving your horse and cart along mainly country roads in the fresh air was not necessarily the free and easy life that you might think. For one thing it can't have been much fun when the heavens opened! And the carter had to follow all sorts of rules and regulations and members of the carting fraternity regularly appeared in court after transgressing them. Here's a selection of offences from the St Helens Petty Sessions of the 17th.
Peter Barrow was charged with leaving his horse standing for too long in Bridge Street and was fined 10 shillings and costs. Robert Ball was fined 2s 6d for not having his name and address prominently displayed on the side of his cart. John Twist was fined 10 shillings and costs for riding without reins in Eccleston. And John Kelly received a 5-shilling fine for being asleep in his cart. Horses knew their way home as well as their master but the authorities did not approve of autonomous vehicles wandering around the streets!
It transpired in the next case that when the foundation stone had recently been laid for the new St Helens Town Hall, the architect had given the sum of £2 to the labourers employed on the building site. That had allowed them to go on a spree – as it was put. But in the celebrations, George Hunt lost his trowel and so he went to Liverpool to ask Robert Cassidy if he'd got it.
It transpired that the trowel had been pawned in Liverpool and Hunt had Cassidy arrested by the local police who then brought him to St Helens. However, the court case fell apart because Hunt had wrung an admission of guilt from Cassidy by falsely promising not to prosecute him if he came clean – and so the charge was dismissed. And Patrick McKenzie was charged with obstructing the pathway in College Street by "jumping on it for the amusement of several others" and was fined 5 shillings.
And finally, on the 19th a meeting took place in the Fleece Hotel in Church Street in St Helens with the intention of forming a new football club. The get-together was called by William Herman who the 1871 census lists as a 19-year-old Middlesex-born analytical chemist boarding in the better-off St Anne's district in Eccleston. By 1881 Herman was living in Hastings but during the few years that he lived in St Helens employed by Pilkingtons, the young man transformed the town by planting the seeds that led to the creation of "Saints". I'll have a review of the club's first training session in a couple of weeks.
St Helens Newspaper courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the Bridge Street window smashing over a tanner, some shocking child mortality statistics are released, the St Helens Newspaper is sued for libel and the annual inspection of St Helens roads.
This week's many stories include the trowel stealing amongst the labourers building the new town hall, the elderly victim of an assault that was branded a lunatic, the ornamental gas lamp at the bottom of Bridge Street, the founding of Saints, the bigotry of the pit brow lasses at Ravenhead Colliery and the less than free and easy life of a St Helens carter.
We begin on the 15th when the St Helens Newspaper revealed the repercussions from their claim in last week's paper of corruption in the local elections.
Tailor Thomas Thomson had sent a solicitor's letter to the paper claiming that the allegations that they had made against him were unfounded.
Those had been that a payment of £26 18 shillings had been made, with the implication that it had been a bribe.
The Newspaper said they were standing by their claim but did reduce the amount to £24 18s. A case for libel was looming…
Often court cases inadvertently reveal some interesting detail about life in St Helens from 150 years ago.
For example, in a court hearing this week we learn that instead of the standard single gas lamp, there used to be a three-light ornamental lamp situated at the bottom of Bridge Street.
That must have looked quite attractive, as well as providing extra illumination at that spot.
The only reason we learn this is because William Jones was charged with extinguishing the gas in the lamp. Why, was not stated in the report, but Jones was fined 2s 6d and costs for his exploits.
In another case the Newspaper described how religious and racial hatred between the English and the Irish had surfaced again.
During the last 25 years the numbers of Irish men and women that had arrived in St Helens had gone from a trickle to a flood.
Some residents of the town resented their arrival. That was despite many of the emigrants fleeing from famine and the expanding industries in St Helens needing more workers.
And that resentment could easily be converted into plain bigotry, as in the case of Sarah Lyon and Ann Potter.
They were both "pit brow lasses" at Groves Colliery (aka Ravenhead Colliery). Ann was English and Protestant and Sarah was Irish and Catholic and had taken out a court summons accusing Ann of assault.
The Newspaper described how a new worker in their midst had been the trigger for trouble between the women:
"Complainant [Sarah] said that on the 1st inst., on arriving at her place of business, she found that a stranger – an Irishman – had commenced his labours at the Colliery.
"Defendant [Ann], an English woman, was giving her companions convincing proofs of the superiority of the English race over the Irish by taunting him on his birthplace, and concluded by saying, as she was passing an Irish woman, that the Irish were all alike.
"The plaintiff, who heard the last remark, acquainted the subject of it [the Irishman] with her (the defendant's) conduct.
"On hearing this, defendant started at plaintiff, and gave her striking proofs of her superiority over some of her English compeers [equivalents].
"In this manner, she added a beautiful dark shade to plaintiff's left eye. The plaintiff, as is usual, in such cases, was almost innocent, having only hit defendant once, and thrown a piece of coal at her, which, as it did not hit her, was not to be reckoned amongst the provocations received by defendant.
"Mr. Swift [solicitor], during his cross-examination of plaintiff, asked her about her black eye, wishing to be informed whether the shades of the evening were still upon it.
"Plaintiff not having a mirror handy, could not tell Mr. Swift whether it was still black, whereupon Mr. Swift went up to witness and having examined her eye, pronounced it to be black, as a ni***r's, concluding with the forcible remark, that, “If it had been a policeman's eye, it would have been very black indeed.”
"This provoked great laughter from that part of the public whose delight is to sit in the Court every Monday, listening to the details of cases, which no respectable person would or could sit out. The defendant was fined 5s. and costs."
In another case Thomas Chisnall was charged with assaulting Peter Gaskell, who was described as an old man.
Thomas Swift was again the solicitor for the defendant and he offered a rather unusual defence to the charge. "The complainant is a lunatic", he said.
Swift was not being abusive (for once) about Peter Gaskell; simply stating that was how the elderly man had been classed at some point.
However, the newspaper report did not suggest that any evidence had been put forward to support the claim that Gaskell was presently a lunatic.
If that had been so, why was he not in an institution, such as Rainhill Asylum? Not all patients there were long stay and so Peter Gaskell might well have been discharged if deemed well enough to leave.
But the stigma of being branded a lunatic would have remained with him. Swift added that the alleged assault and threats by Thomas Chisnall had been "one of his fancies" and the case was subsequently withdrawn.
However, it was on the basis that the defendant Chisnall promised not to assault the old man again, which suggested that Peter Gaskell's claim had not just been an imagined "fancy".
The victim was very deaf and when told in a loud voice what the decision was, said "I would not take his promise; I would not take his oath."
But Peter Gaskell had no choice but to accept it, as he was considered a lunatic.
The attackers of persons judged to be sane would be fined or bound over to keep the peace upon payment of sureties. But a promise was seen as good enough restitution for a lunatic.
I don't think there were many places in St Helens that had billiard tables – but the Wellington in Naylor Street (pictured above) had one.
On the 15th the hotel hosted a match between St Helens Athenaeum and the Wigan Mechanics but the home side lost.
In 1868 the St Helens Newspaper had written: "The Fifth of November. The celebration of this famous anniversary is losing much of its interest yearly, and has now almost died out."
However, Guy Fawkes Night was still lingering on and last year William Walsh of Tontine Street was fined 10 shillings and costs for selling fireworks to a small boy.
On the 17th Walsh returned to court to face a charge of having sold fireworks on the 5th to a boy named Yarwood who was under 16.
The shopkeeper claimed that he had done his best to only serve fireworks to those over age but he was fined 20 shillings and costs.
Being a carter driving your horse and cart along mainly country roads in the fresh air was not necessarily the free and easy life that you might think. For one thing it can't have been much fun when the heavens opened!
And the carter had to follow all sorts of rules and regulations and members of the carting fraternity regularly appeared in court after transgressing them.
Here's a selection of offences from the St Helens Petty Sessions of the 17th.
Peter Barrow was charged with leaving his horse standing for too long in Bridge Street and was fined 10 shillings and costs.
Robert Ball was fined 2s 6d for not having his name and address prominently displayed on the side of his cart.
John Twist was fined 10 shillings and costs for riding without reins in Eccleston. And John Kelly received a 5-shilling fine for being asleep in his cart.
Horses knew their way home as well as their master but the authorities did not approve of autonomous vehicles wandering around the streets!
It transpired in the next case that when the foundation stone had recently been laid for the new St Helens Town Hall, the architect had given the sum of £2 to the labourers employed on the building site.
That had allowed them to go on a spree – as it was put. But in the celebrations, George Hunt lost his trowel and so he went to Liverpool to ask Robert Cassidy if he'd got it.
It transpired that the trowel had been pawned in Liverpool and Hunt had Cassidy arrested by the local police who then brought him to St Helens.
However, the court case fell apart because Hunt had wrung an admission of guilt from Cassidy by falsely promising not to prosecute him if he came clean – and so the charge was dismissed.
And Patrick McKenzie was charged with obstructing the pathway in College Street by "jumping on it for the amusement of several others" and was fined 5 shillings.
And finally, on the 19th a meeting took place in the Fleece Hotel in Church Street in St Helens with the intention of forming a new football club.
The get-together was called by William Herman who the 1871 census lists as a 19-year-old Middlesex-born analytical chemist boarding in the better-off St Anne's district in Eccleston.
By 1881 Herman was living in Hastings but during the few years that he lived in St Helens employed by Pilkingtons, the young man transformed the town by planting the seeds that led to the creation of "Saints".
I'll have a review of the club's first training session in a couple of weeks.
St Helens Newspaper courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the Bridge Street window smashing over a tanner, some shocking child mortality statistics are released, the St Helens Newspaper is sued for libel and the annual inspection of St Helens roads.
We begin on the 15th when the St Helens Newspaper revealed the repercussions from their claim in last week's paper of corruption in the local elections.
Tailor Thomas Thomson had sent a solicitor's letter to the paper claiming that the allegations that they had made against him were unfounded.
Those had been that a payment of £26 18 shillings had been made, with the implication that it had been a bribe.
The Newspaper said they were standing by their claim but did reduce the amount to £24 18s. A case for libel was looming…
Often court cases inadvertently reveal some interesting detail about life in St Helens from 150 years ago.
For example, in a court hearing this week we learn that instead of the standard single gas lamp, there used to be a three-light ornamental lamp situated at the bottom of Bridge Street.
That must have looked quite attractive, as well as providing extra illumination at that spot.
The only reason we learn this is because William Jones was charged with extinguishing the gas in the lamp. Why, was not stated in the report, but Jones was fined 2s 6d and costs for his exploits.
In another case the Newspaper described how religious and racial hatred between the English and the Irish had surfaced again.
During the last 25 years the numbers of Irish men and women that had arrived in St Helens had gone from a trickle to a flood.
Some residents of the town resented their arrival. That was despite many of the emigrants fleeing from famine and the expanding industries in St Helens needing more workers.
And that resentment could easily be converted into plain bigotry, as in the case of Sarah Lyon and Ann Potter.
They were both "pit brow lasses" at Groves Colliery (aka Ravenhead Colliery). Ann was English and Protestant and Sarah was Irish and Catholic and had taken out a court summons accusing Ann of assault.
The Newspaper described how a new worker in their midst had been the trigger for trouble between the women:
"Complainant [Sarah] said that on the 1st inst., on arriving at her place of business, she found that a stranger – an Irishman – had commenced his labours at the Colliery.
"Defendant [Ann], an English woman, was giving her companions convincing proofs of the superiority of the English race over the Irish by taunting him on his birthplace, and concluded by saying, as she was passing an Irish woman, that the Irish were all alike.
"The plaintiff, who heard the last remark, acquainted the subject of it [the Irishman] with her (the defendant's) conduct.
"On hearing this, defendant started at plaintiff, and gave her striking proofs of her superiority over some of her English compeers [equivalents].
"In this manner, she added a beautiful dark shade to plaintiff's left eye. The plaintiff, as is usual, in such cases, was almost innocent, having only hit defendant once, and thrown a piece of coal at her, which, as it did not hit her, was not to be reckoned amongst the provocations received by defendant.
"Mr. Swift [solicitor], during his cross-examination of plaintiff, asked her about her black eye, wishing to be informed whether the shades of the evening were still upon it.
"Plaintiff not having a mirror handy, could not tell Mr. Swift whether it was still black, whereupon Mr. Swift went up to witness and having examined her eye, pronounced it to be black, as a ni***r's, concluding with the forcible remark, that, “If it had been a policeman's eye, it would have been very black indeed.”
"This provoked great laughter from that part of the public whose delight is to sit in the Court every Monday, listening to the details of cases, which no respectable person would or could sit out. The defendant was fined 5s. and costs."
In another case Thomas Chisnall was charged with assaulting Peter Gaskell, who was described as an old man.
Thomas Swift was again the solicitor for the defendant and he offered a rather unusual defence to the charge. "The complainant is a lunatic", he said.
Swift was not being abusive (for once) about Peter Gaskell; simply stating that was how the elderly man had been classed at some point.
However, the newspaper report did not suggest that any evidence had been put forward to support the claim that Gaskell was presently a lunatic.
If that had been so, why was he not in an institution, such as Rainhill Asylum? Not all patients there were long stay and so Peter Gaskell might well have been discharged if deemed well enough to leave.
But the stigma of being branded a lunatic would have remained with him. Swift added that the alleged assault and threats by Thomas Chisnall had been "one of his fancies" and the case was subsequently withdrawn.
However, it was on the basis that the defendant Chisnall promised not to assault the old man again, which suggested that Peter Gaskell's claim had not just been an imagined "fancy".
The victim was very deaf and when told in a loud voice what the decision was, said "I would not take his promise; I would not take his oath."
But Peter Gaskell had no choice but to accept it, as he was considered a lunatic.
The attackers of persons judged to be sane would be fined or bound over to keep the peace upon payment of sureties. But a promise was seen as good enough restitution for a lunatic.
On the 15th the hotel hosted a match between St Helens Athenaeum and the Wigan Mechanics but the home side lost.
In 1868 the St Helens Newspaper had written: "The Fifth of November. The celebration of this famous anniversary is losing much of its interest yearly, and has now almost died out."
However, Guy Fawkes Night was still lingering on and last year William Walsh of Tontine Street was fined 10 shillings and costs for selling fireworks to a small boy.
On the 17th Walsh returned to court to face a charge of having sold fireworks on the 5th to a boy named Yarwood who was under 16.
The shopkeeper claimed that he had done his best to only serve fireworks to those over age but he was fined 20 shillings and costs.
Being a carter driving your horse and cart along mainly country roads in the fresh air was not necessarily the free and easy life that you might think. For one thing it can't have been much fun when the heavens opened!
And the carter had to follow all sorts of rules and regulations and members of the carting fraternity regularly appeared in court after transgressing them.
Here's a selection of offences from the St Helens Petty Sessions of the 17th.
Peter Barrow was charged with leaving his horse standing for too long in Bridge Street and was fined 10 shillings and costs.
Robert Ball was fined 2s 6d for not having his name and address prominently displayed on the side of his cart.
John Twist was fined 10 shillings and costs for riding without reins in Eccleston. And John Kelly received a 5-shilling fine for being asleep in his cart.
Horses knew their way home as well as their master but the authorities did not approve of autonomous vehicles wandering around the streets!
It transpired in the next case that when the foundation stone had recently been laid for the new St Helens Town Hall, the architect had given the sum of £2 to the labourers employed on the building site.
That had allowed them to go on a spree – as it was put. But in the celebrations, George Hunt lost his trowel and so he went to Liverpool to ask Robert Cassidy if he'd got it.
It transpired that the trowel had been pawned in Liverpool and Hunt had Cassidy arrested by the local police who then brought him to St Helens.
However, the court case fell apart because Hunt had wrung an admission of guilt from Cassidy by falsely promising not to prosecute him if he came clean – and so the charge was dismissed.
And Patrick McKenzie was charged with obstructing the pathway in College Street by "jumping on it for the amusement of several others" and was fined 5 shillings.
And finally, on the 19th a meeting took place in the Fleece Hotel in Church Street in St Helens with the intention of forming a new football club.
The get-together was called by William Herman who the 1871 census lists as a 19-year-old Middlesex-born analytical chemist boarding in the better-off St Anne's district in Eccleston.
By 1881 Herman was living in Hastings but during the few years that he lived in St Helens employed by Pilkingtons, the young man transformed the town by planting the seeds that led to the creation of "Saints".
I'll have a review of the club's first training session in a couple of weeks.
St Helens Newspaper courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the Bridge Street window smashing over a tanner, some shocking child mortality statistics are released, the St Helens Newspaper is sued for libel and the annual inspection of St Helens roads.