150 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK 14 - 20 SEPTEMBER 1876
This week's many stories include the blackguardism and ruffianism at the St Helens Fair, the stealing of Champagne from the railway at Pocket Nook, the stone-throwing at a policeman in Parr, the recall of books ahead of the launch of the new library and the little boy encouraged by his step-dad to throw stones at a woman.
We begin on the 16th when the St Helens Newspaper was published and described how the St Helens Library Committee had written to all library members. The councillors were requesting that all borrowers immediately returned all books that they held.
The Mechanics Institute had started the first free public lending library at the old Town Hall and when the institute closed about 1870, St Helens Corporation had taken over their library service. It contained over 3,000 volumes and by 1876 was still operating out of the fire-damaged old hall in New Market Place.
However, the library's opening hours were only 7 to 8pm on three evenings a week and those wishing to borrow books needed to bring in a "certificate from a respectable householder", presumably as confirmation of their identity.
The reason that the library committee wanted all loaned books to be surrendered, was that they were preparing for next year's move to the new Town Hall, which had opened recently in Corporation Street. That would have more spacious accommodation for the library, more volumes available and, presumably, much longer opening hours than just three hours a week. In 1896 that library would itself transfer to the new Gamble Institute.
The St Helens Fair was held twice a year, usually over three days, on a piece of land known as the Fairground, off Salisbury Street, in St Helens. They were noisy pleasure fairs and the Newspaper was regularly critical of the cacophony, drunkenness and behaviour of both attendees and the showmen whose attractions often featured human freak shows.
The Newspaper this week reviewed the September fair that had taken place last weekend, claiming that instead of innocent mirth and hilarity, there had been nothing but "blackguardism and ruffianism". They wrote that in the past there had been a form of gentleman's agreement as to the music that was played on the fairground, so it wasn't all played at once and included some cultural items. But not anymore! The Newspaper wrote:
"The operatic selections have all now given place to gongs, steam organs, and here and there a few trumpets most execrably played, and all banging away together like a lot of escaped Bedlamites, to the annoyance of the peaceable part of the population and to the discomfort and terror of those who may be at all nervous."
The attractions included shooting galleries, a sparring booth, pea saloons, steam circuses, velocipedes [type of bicycle], swings, weighing machines, photograph booths and freak shows, which included exhibitions of obese men and women. The Newspaper also noticed a squirrel and a kangaroo that were being passed off to "credulous St. Helenites as monster American rats weighing 20lbs each."
There were various illusions available, including what were described as a ghostoscope and a phantoscope. However, the crowds had not been rolling up in great numbers for the fair, with the Newspaper saying it was the worst attendance they had ever seen on a Saturday night:
"It is to be hoped that this indicates the beginning of the end, and of the gradual inanimity of the public to further patronise and encourage these itinerant idlers and parasites upon the community, who so continuously disturb the public peace, and fleece the working classes of their hard earnings."
But they also felt that the St Helens Fair should not be allowed to die a natural death: "The strong arm of the law should be invoked by our Town Council to put a stop to what is neither more nor less than a biannial nuisance, a crying evil, and a social disgrace."
A youth called Henry Campbell appeared in court this week charged with stealing a case containing 24 pint bottles of Champagne. It sounds like items had been disappearing from St Helens Railway's goods station, as magistrates were told that a railway detective called David Tanner had been on watch in the yard along with PC Kinahan.
At 1am on a Sunday morning, the pair had spotted Henry Campbell with two other men coming from a wagon on the railway line near Pocket Nook Bridge. The 16-year-old was arrested carrying the Champagne case but the other two men succeeded in escaping. Henry was committed to take his trial at the next Kirkdale Quarter Sessions where he received a sentence of six months in prison.
I don't know if there was a big demand for Champagne in St Helens in the 1870s. But James Maudsley, who was a wine and spirit merchant from Prescot, had ordered 24 cases of it. And so if all the 24 cases contained 24 bottles, that works out at 576 pints, which suggests there very much was a big demand!
Stealing meant an automatic prison sentence, unlike an assault, which only usually merited a fine. This week Mary Butler got 14 days with hard labour after appearing in court charged with stealing a piece of meat valued at just 7½d. She had taken the bit of steak from James Hatton's stall in the market, placed it in her basket and walked off while the assistant was serving another customer.
But the young man saw what Mary had done and went after her. The police never seemed to be far away in those days and a detective called Robinson was walking past and placed the woman in his custody. Mary insisted to the officer that she had bought the meat from Wainwright's butchers in Bridge Street – but they denied selling it to her.
The Star Inn in Coal Pit Lane in Parr – now known as Merton Bank Road – had its own raceground. There was also a wall, which the police did not apparently like children sitting on, as the court was told that PC Daniel Callister had chased a number of boys off it. Some event must have been taking place on the field as Peter Johnson, who was aged about 12, chucked a stone at the constable in revenge for being turned off the wall before attempting to disappear into the crowd.
But PC Callister had longer legs than the lad and caught the boy, who was fined 10 shillings and costs. No doubt his dad would have had to pay what was likely to have been the best part of a week's wages, when the court costs were factored in. And so you can just imagine the father's fury!
There was a curious case in which a beerhouse keeper called Olivia Vose from Peasley Cross was accused of permitting drunkenness inside her house and two of her customers called John Taylor and John Hughes from Sutton were charged with being drunk on licensed premises. Although the police conducted random checks on pubs, PC McKimm only went into the beerhouse because John Hughes' wife had asked him to get her husband out.
She said he was drunk and she wanted her spouse to come home – but he had refused her. However, when PC McKimm entered the beerhouse, John Hughes and his mate John Taylor still would not leave. Although the landlady insisted that they had only drunk one or two pints each, she asked them both to go but they refused her as well and so the constable decided to unceremoniously turf them out of the house.
But it was claimed in court that Mrs Hughes had also been drunk and had regularly been causing trouble in the beerhouse. Licensee Mrs Vose and her late husband were described as having kept the drinking house for 15 years and there had never previously been any complaint made against them. And so as a result, the case was dismissed.
Described as a little boy, James Seddon was summoned to court for assaulting an elderly woman named Elizabeth Foster. Mrs Foster's son and James had been fighting each other in the street and the woman had separated them and taken her own boy home. But while she was doing this, James' stepfather had told his lad to "go into her and fire at her with stones", as well as kick Mrs Foster.
And so James did what he was told and chucked two half-bricks and a large stone at the woman, striking her on her thigh. The defence case was that in separating the two boys, Mrs Foster had seized James by the neck and scratched him and she had also been the first to throw stones. However, the magistrates considered the stepfather as having been worse than the boy – but still fined the child 10 shillings and costs.
St Helens Newspaper courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the new temperance cafes planned for St Helens, the annual inspection of the town's part-time soldiers, the drunken Parr woman that fell down the stairs and the incorrigible prostitute that appeared in court.
The Mechanics Institute had started the first free public lending library at the old Town Hall and when the institute closed about 1870, St Helens Corporation had taken over their library service. It contained over 3,000 volumes and by 1876 was still operating out of the fire-damaged old hall in New Market Place.
However, the library's opening hours were only 7 to 8pm on three evenings a week and those wishing to borrow books needed to bring in a "certificate from a respectable householder", presumably as confirmation of their identity.
The reason that the library committee wanted all loaned books to be surrendered, was that they were preparing for next year's move to the new Town Hall, which had opened recently in Corporation Street. That would have more spacious accommodation for the library, more volumes available and, presumably, much longer opening hours than just three hours a week. In 1896 that library would itself transfer to the new Gamble Institute.
The St Helens Fair was held twice a year, usually over three days, on a piece of land known as the Fairground, off Salisbury Street, in St Helens. They were noisy pleasure fairs and the Newspaper was regularly critical of the cacophony, drunkenness and behaviour of both attendees and the showmen whose attractions often featured human freak shows.
The Newspaper this week reviewed the September fair that had taken place last weekend, claiming that instead of innocent mirth and hilarity, there had been nothing but "blackguardism and ruffianism". They wrote that in the past there had been a form of gentleman's agreement as to the music that was played on the fairground, so it wasn't all played at once and included some cultural items. But not anymore! The Newspaper wrote:
"The operatic selections have all now given place to gongs, steam organs, and here and there a few trumpets most execrably played, and all banging away together like a lot of escaped Bedlamites, to the annoyance of the peaceable part of the population and to the discomfort and terror of those who may be at all nervous."
The attractions included shooting galleries, a sparring booth, pea saloons, steam circuses, velocipedes [type of bicycle], swings, weighing machines, photograph booths and freak shows, which included exhibitions of obese men and women. The Newspaper also noticed a squirrel and a kangaroo that were being passed off to "credulous St. Helenites as monster American rats weighing 20lbs each."
There were various illusions available, including what were described as a ghostoscope and a phantoscope. However, the crowds had not been rolling up in great numbers for the fair, with the Newspaper saying it was the worst attendance they had ever seen on a Saturday night:
"It is to be hoped that this indicates the beginning of the end, and of the gradual inanimity of the public to further patronise and encourage these itinerant idlers and parasites upon the community, who so continuously disturb the public peace, and fleece the working classes of their hard earnings."
But they also felt that the St Helens Fair should not be allowed to die a natural death: "The strong arm of the law should be invoked by our Town Council to put a stop to what is neither more nor less than a biannial nuisance, a crying evil, and a social disgrace."
A youth called Henry Campbell appeared in court this week charged with stealing a case containing 24 pint bottles of Champagne. It sounds like items had been disappearing from St Helens Railway's goods station, as magistrates were told that a railway detective called David Tanner had been on watch in the yard along with PC Kinahan.
At 1am on a Sunday morning, the pair had spotted Henry Campbell with two other men coming from a wagon on the railway line near Pocket Nook Bridge. The 16-year-old was arrested carrying the Champagne case but the other two men succeeded in escaping. Henry was committed to take his trial at the next Kirkdale Quarter Sessions where he received a sentence of six months in prison.
I don't know if there was a big demand for Champagne in St Helens in the 1870s. But James Maudsley, who was a wine and spirit merchant from Prescot, had ordered 24 cases of it. And so if all the 24 cases contained 24 bottles, that works out at 576 pints, which suggests there very much was a big demand!
Stealing meant an automatic prison sentence, unlike an assault, which only usually merited a fine. This week Mary Butler got 14 days with hard labour after appearing in court charged with stealing a piece of meat valued at just 7½d. She had taken the bit of steak from James Hatton's stall in the market, placed it in her basket and walked off while the assistant was serving another customer.
But the young man saw what Mary had done and went after her. The police never seemed to be far away in those days and a detective called Robinson was walking past and placed the woman in his custody. Mary insisted to the officer that she had bought the meat from Wainwright's butchers in Bridge Street – but they denied selling it to her.
The Star Inn in Coal Pit Lane in Parr – now known as Merton Bank Road – had its own raceground. There was also a wall, which the police did not apparently like children sitting on, as the court was told that PC Daniel Callister had chased a number of boys off it. Some event must have been taking place on the field as Peter Johnson, who was aged about 12, chucked a stone at the constable in revenge for being turned off the wall before attempting to disappear into the crowd.
But PC Callister had longer legs than the lad and caught the boy, who was fined 10 shillings and costs. No doubt his dad would have had to pay what was likely to have been the best part of a week's wages, when the court costs were factored in. And so you can just imagine the father's fury!
There was a curious case in which a beerhouse keeper called Olivia Vose from Peasley Cross was accused of permitting drunkenness inside her house and two of her customers called John Taylor and John Hughes from Sutton were charged with being drunk on licensed premises. Although the police conducted random checks on pubs, PC McKimm only went into the beerhouse because John Hughes' wife had asked him to get her husband out.
She said he was drunk and she wanted her spouse to come home – but he had refused her. However, when PC McKimm entered the beerhouse, John Hughes and his mate John Taylor still would not leave. Although the landlady insisted that they had only drunk one or two pints each, she asked them both to go but they refused her as well and so the constable decided to unceremoniously turf them out of the house.
But it was claimed in court that Mrs Hughes had also been drunk and had regularly been causing trouble in the beerhouse. Licensee Mrs Vose and her late husband were described as having kept the drinking house for 15 years and there had never previously been any complaint made against them. And so as a result, the case was dismissed.
Described as a little boy, James Seddon was summoned to court for assaulting an elderly woman named Elizabeth Foster. Mrs Foster's son and James had been fighting each other in the street and the woman had separated them and taken her own boy home. But while she was doing this, James' stepfather had told his lad to "go into her and fire at her with stones", as well as kick Mrs Foster.
And so James did what he was told and chucked two half-bricks and a large stone at the woman, striking her on her thigh. The defence case was that in separating the two boys, Mrs Foster had seized James by the neck and scratched him and she had also been the first to throw stones. However, the magistrates considered the stepfather as having been worse than the boy – but still fined the child 10 shillings and costs.
St Helens Newspaper courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the new temperance cafes planned for St Helens, the annual inspection of the town's part-time soldiers, the drunken Parr woman that fell down the stairs and the incorrigible prostitute that appeared in court.
This week's many stories include the blackguardism and ruffianism at the St Helens Fair, the stealing of Champagne from the railway at Pocket Nook, the stone-throwing at a policeman in Parr, the recall of books ahead of the launch of the new library and the little boy encouraged by his step-dad to throw stones at a woman.
We begin on the 16th when the St Helens Newspaper was published and described how the St Helens Library Committee had written to all library members.
The councillors were requesting that all borrowers immediately returned all books that they held.
The Mechanics Institute had started the first free public lending library at the old Town Hall and when the institute closed about 1870, St Helens Corporation had taken over their library service.
It contained over 3,000 volumes and by 1876 was still operating out of the fire-damaged old hall in New Market Place.
However, the library's opening hours were only 7 to 8pm on three evenings a week and those wishing to borrow books needed to bring in a "certificate from a respectable householder", presumably as confirmation of their identity.
The reason that the library committee wanted all loaned books to be surrendered, was that they were preparing for next year's move to the new Town Hall, which had opened recently in Corporation Street.
That would have more spacious accommodation for the library, more volumes available and, presumably, much longer opening hours than just three hours a week.
In 1896 that library would itself transfer to the new Gamble Institute.
The St Helens Fair was held twice a year, usually over three days, on a piece of land known as the Fairground, off Salisbury Street, in St Helens.
They were noisy pleasure fairs and the Newspaper was regularly critical of the cacophony, drunkenness and behaviour of both attendees and the showmen whose attractions often featured human freak shows.
The Newspaper this week reviewed the September fair that had taken place last weekend, claiming that instead of innocent mirth and hilarity, there had been nothing but "blackguardism and ruffianism".
They wrote that in the past there had been a form of gentleman's agreement as to the music that was played on the fairground, so it wasn't all played at once and included some cultural items. But not anymore! The Newspaper wrote:
"The operatic selections have all now given place to gongs, steam organs, and here and there a few trumpets most execrably played, and all banging away together like a lot of escaped Bedlamites, to the annoyance of the peaceable part of the population and to the discomfort and terror of those who may be at all nervous."
The attractions included shooting galleries, a sparring booth, pea saloons, steam circuses, velocipedes [type of bicycle], swings, weighing machines, photograph booths and freak shows, which included exhibitions of obese men and women.
The Newspaper also noticed a squirrel and a kangaroo that were being passed off to "credulous St. Helenites as monster American rats weighing 20lbs each."
There were various illusions available, including what were described as a ghostoscope and a phantoscope.
However, the crowds had not been rolling up in great numbers for the fair, with the Newspaper saying it was the worst attendance they had ever seen on a Saturday night:
"It is to be hoped that this indicates the beginning of the end, and of the gradual inanimity of the public to further patronise and encourage these itinerant idlers and parasites upon the community, who so continuously disturb the public peace, and fleece the working classes of their hard earnings."
But they also felt that the St Helens Fair should not be allowed to die a natural death:
"The strong arm of the law should be invoked by our Town Council to put a stop to what is neither more nor less than a biannial nuisance, a crying evil, and a social disgrace."
A youth called Henry Campbell appeared in court this week charged with stealing a case containing 24 pint bottles of Champagne.
It sounds like items had been disappearing from St Helens Railway's goods station, as magistrates were told that a railway detective called David Tanner had been on watch in the yard along with PC Kinahan.
At 1am on a Sunday morning, the pair had spotted Henry Campbell with two other men coming from a wagon on the railway line near Pocket Nook Bridge.
The 16-year-old was arrested carrying the Champagne case but the other two men succeeded in escaping.
Henry was committed to take his trial at the next Kirkdale Quarter Sessions where he received a sentence of six months in prison.
I don't know if there was a big demand for Champagne in St Helens in the 1870s.
But James Maudsley, who was a wine and spirit merchant from Prescot, had ordered 24 cases of it.
And so if all the 24 cases contained 24 bottles, that works out at 576 pints, which suggests there very much was a big demand!
Stealing meant an automatic prison sentence, unlike an assault, which only usually merited a fine.
This week Mary Butler got 14 days with hard labour after appearing in court charged with stealing a piece of meat valued at just 7½d.
She had taken the bit of steak from James Hatton's stall in the market, placed it in her basket and walked off while the assistant was serving another customer.
But the young man saw what Mary had done and went after her.
The police never seemed to be far away in those days and a detective called Robinson was walking past and placed the woman in his custody.
Mary insisted to the officer that she had bought the meat from Wainwright's butchers in Bridge Street – but they denied selling it to her.
The Star Inn in Coal Pit Lane in Parr – now known as Merton Bank Road – had its own raceground.
There was also a wall, which the police did not apparently like children sitting on, as the court was told that PC Daniel Callister had chased a number of boys off it.
Some event must have been taking place on the field as Peter Johnson, who was aged about 12, chucked a stone at the constable in revenge for being turned off the wall before attempting to disappear into the crowd.
But PC Callister had longer legs than the lad and caught the boy, who was fined 10 shillings and costs.
No doubt his dad would have had to pay what was likely to have been the best part of a week's wages, when the court costs were factored in. And so you can just imagine the father's fury!
There was a curious case in which a beerhouse keeper called Olivia Vose from Peasley Cross was accused of permitting drunkenness inside her house and two of her customers called John Taylor and John Hughes from Sutton were charged with being drunk on licensed premises.
Although the police conducted random checks on pubs, PC McKimm only went into the beerhouse because John Hughes' wife had asked him to get her husband out.
She said he was drunk and she wanted her spouse to come home – but he had refused her.
However, when PC McKimm entered the beerhouse, John Hughes and his mate John Taylor still would not leave.
Although the landlady insisted that they had only drunk one or two pints each, she asked them both to go but they refused her as well and so the constable decided to unceremoniously turf them out of the house.
But it was claimed in court that Mrs Hughes had also been drunk and had regularly been causing trouble in the beerhouse.
Licensee Mrs Vose and her late husband were described as having kept the drinking house for 15 years and there had never previously been any complaint made against them. And so as a result, the case was dismissed.
Described as a little boy, James Seddon was summoned to court for assaulting an elderly woman named Elizabeth Foster.
Mrs Foster's son and James had been fighting each other in the street and the woman had separated them and taken her own boy home.
But while she was doing this, James' stepfather had told his lad to "go into her and fire at her with stones", as well as kick Mrs Foster.
And so James did what he was told and chucked two half-bricks and a large stone at the woman, striking her on her thigh.
The defence case was that in separating the two boys, Mrs Foster had seized James by the neck and scratched him and she had also been the first to throw stones.
However, the magistrates considered the stepfather as having been worse than the boy – but still fined the child 10 shillings and costs.
St Helens Newspaper courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the new temperance cafes planned for St Helens, the annual inspection of the town's part-time soldiers, the drunken Parr woman that fell down the stairs and the incorrigible prostitute that appeared in court.
The councillors were requesting that all borrowers immediately returned all books that they held.
The Mechanics Institute had started the first free public lending library at the old Town Hall and when the institute closed about 1870, St Helens Corporation had taken over their library service.
It contained over 3,000 volumes and by 1876 was still operating out of the fire-damaged old hall in New Market Place.
However, the library's opening hours were only 7 to 8pm on three evenings a week and those wishing to borrow books needed to bring in a "certificate from a respectable householder", presumably as confirmation of their identity.
The reason that the library committee wanted all loaned books to be surrendered, was that they were preparing for next year's move to the new Town Hall, which had opened recently in Corporation Street.
That would have more spacious accommodation for the library, more volumes available and, presumably, much longer opening hours than just three hours a week.
In 1896 that library would itself transfer to the new Gamble Institute.
The St Helens Fair was held twice a year, usually over three days, on a piece of land known as the Fairground, off Salisbury Street, in St Helens.
They were noisy pleasure fairs and the Newspaper was regularly critical of the cacophony, drunkenness and behaviour of both attendees and the showmen whose attractions often featured human freak shows.
The Newspaper this week reviewed the September fair that had taken place last weekend, claiming that instead of innocent mirth and hilarity, there had been nothing but "blackguardism and ruffianism".
They wrote that in the past there had been a form of gentleman's agreement as to the music that was played on the fairground, so it wasn't all played at once and included some cultural items. But not anymore! The Newspaper wrote:
"The operatic selections have all now given place to gongs, steam organs, and here and there a few trumpets most execrably played, and all banging away together like a lot of escaped Bedlamites, to the annoyance of the peaceable part of the population and to the discomfort and terror of those who may be at all nervous."
The attractions included shooting galleries, a sparring booth, pea saloons, steam circuses, velocipedes [type of bicycle], swings, weighing machines, photograph booths and freak shows, which included exhibitions of obese men and women.
The Newspaper also noticed a squirrel and a kangaroo that were being passed off to "credulous St. Helenites as monster American rats weighing 20lbs each."
There were various illusions available, including what were described as a ghostoscope and a phantoscope.
However, the crowds had not been rolling up in great numbers for the fair, with the Newspaper saying it was the worst attendance they had ever seen on a Saturday night:
"It is to be hoped that this indicates the beginning of the end, and of the gradual inanimity of the public to further patronise and encourage these itinerant idlers and parasites upon the community, who so continuously disturb the public peace, and fleece the working classes of their hard earnings."
But they also felt that the St Helens Fair should not be allowed to die a natural death:
"The strong arm of the law should be invoked by our Town Council to put a stop to what is neither more nor less than a biannial nuisance, a crying evil, and a social disgrace."
A youth called Henry Campbell appeared in court this week charged with stealing a case containing 24 pint bottles of Champagne.
It sounds like items had been disappearing from St Helens Railway's goods station, as magistrates were told that a railway detective called David Tanner had been on watch in the yard along with PC Kinahan.
At 1am on a Sunday morning, the pair had spotted Henry Campbell with two other men coming from a wagon on the railway line near Pocket Nook Bridge.
The 16-year-old was arrested carrying the Champagne case but the other two men succeeded in escaping.
Henry was committed to take his trial at the next Kirkdale Quarter Sessions where he received a sentence of six months in prison.
I don't know if there was a big demand for Champagne in St Helens in the 1870s.
But James Maudsley, who was a wine and spirit merchant from Prescot, had ordered 24 cases of it.
And so if all the 24 cases contained 24 bottles, that works out at 576 pints, which suggests there very much was a big demand!
Stealing meant an automatic prison sentence, unlike an assault, which only usually merited a fine.
This week Mary Butler got 14 days with hard labour after appearing in court charged with stealing a piece of meat valued at just 7½d.
She had taken the bit of steak from James Hatton's stall in the market, placed it in her basket and walked off while the assistant was serving another customer.
But the young man saw what Mary had done and went after her.
The police never seemed to be far away in those days and a detective called Robinson was walking past and placed the woman in his custody.
Mary insisted to the officer that she had bought the meat from Wainwright's butchers in Bridge Street – but they denied selling it to her.
The Star Inn in Coal Pit Lane in Parr – now known as Merton Bank Road – had its own raceground.
There was also a wall, which the police did not apparently like children sitting on, as the court was told that PC Daniel Callister had chased a number of boys off it.
Some event must have been taking place on the field as Peter Johnson, who was aged about 12, chucked a stone at the constable in revenge for being turned off the wall before attempting to disappear into the crowd.
But PC Callister had longer legs than the lad and caught the boy, who was fined 10 shillings and costs.
No doubt his dad would have had to pay what was likely to have been the best part of a week's wages, when the court costs were factored in. And so you can just imagine the father's fury!
There was a curious case in which a beerhouse keeper called Olivia Vose from Peasley Cross was accused of permitting drunkenness inside her house and two of her customers called John Taylor and John Hughes from Sutton were charged with being drunk on licensed premises.
Although the police conducted random checks on pubs, PC McKimm only went into the beerhouse because John Hughes' wife had asked him to get her husband out.
She said he was drunk and she wanted her spouse to come home – but he had refused her.
However, when PC McKimm entered the beerhouse, John Hughes and his mate John Taylor still would not leave.
Although the landlady insisted that they had only drunk one or two pints each, she asked them both to go but they refused her as well and so the constable decided to unceremoniously turf them out of the house.
But it was claimed in court that Mrs Hughes had also been drunk and had regularly been causing trouble in the beerhouse.
Licensee Mrs Vose and her late husband were described as having kept the drinking house for 15 years and there had never previously been any complaint made against them. And so as a result, the case was dismissed.
Described as a little boy, James Seddon was summoned to court for assaulting an elderly woman named Elizabeth Foster.
Mrs Foster's son and James had been fighting each other in the street and the woman had separated them and taken her own boy home.
But while she was doing this, James' stepfather had told his lad to "go into her and fire at her with stones", as well as kick Mrs Foster.
And so James did what he was told and chucked two half-bricks and a large stone at the woman, striking her on her thigh.
The defence case was that in separating the two boys, Mrs Foster had seized James by the neck and scratched him and she had also been the first to throw stones.
However, the magistrates considered the stepfather as having been worse than the boy – but still fined the child 10 shillings and costs.
St Helens Newspaper courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the new temperance cafes planned for St Helens, the annual inspection of the town's part-time soldiers, the drunken Parr woman that fell down the stairs and the incorrigible prostitute that appeared in court.