150 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (26th OCT. - 1st NOV. 1870)
This week's stories include the Parr grocer who impugned a woman's chastity, the corrupt council elections, the boy thieves at Whiston and the mother of a future St Helens MP calls another son a "good-for-nothing lazy fellow".
We begin on the 27th when there was another drowning in St Helens Canal, this time at Smithy Brow. Twenty-three-year-old Robert Prescott from Peasley Cross had been drunk when last seen and so it was supposed that he had accidentally stumbled into the water while returning home. There were few (if any) protective fences then and so drunken drownings were quite common.
The Wigan Observer on the 28th wrote: "An enormous specimen of the mangel-wurzel tribe may now be seen at the Lyceum Newsroom. It is nearly 12lbs., and was grown on the farm of Mr. Wm. Hand, Newton Park, Newton-le-Willows. On the same estate there are others of equally large growth."
This article about a Petty Sessions hearing was published in the St Helens Newspaper on the 29th and inadvertently provides a glimpse into the family life of a future St Helens MP: "John Saxton, a precocious looking youth of 16, was charged with sleeping the night before in the glass works of Messrs. Pilkington, Sutton, where he had no right to be. The defendant, in a whispering tone, said that his mother had left him in charge of a child on Wednesday evening, when a neighbour came in and asked if there were any pulleys belonging to her in the house.
"He went to inquire, and his mother coming in in his absence and finding no one having charge of the child, gave him a beating for leaving it. In consequence he left the house. Mrs. Saxton, a comfortable looking woman, stated that the boy was a good-for-nothing, lazy fellow, who would rather run messages for the neighbours than work at home. Her husband was an umbrella maker, living in Tontine-street. She thought the charge would be a lesson to the prisoner.
"The magistrate said he could not discharge the prisoner, without having the joint words of mother and father that they would look carefully after him in future. James Saxton, the father, for whom Mrs. Saxton had gone, having come into court, said that he had done all that could have been expected from him, for the prisoner. The boy had been at school nine years but lately he had formed acquaintance with street lads. That was, however, the first time any complaint had been brought against him by the police authorities. The father said he would give his word for the lad's future good conduct. The prisoner was then discharged, and the father had to pay 4s. 6d. costs."
The family's surname was actually Sexton, not Saxton, and during the previous year John Sexton's 13-year-old brother James Jnr had run away to sea. Almost fifty years later, James Sexton would become the Labour MP for St Helens, a seat he retained until 1931. The family give the impression in the court report of being a law-abiding lot. However in Sexton's autobiography he reveals that his father regularly went on poaching expeditions and his parents acted as gunrunners for the banned Irish Republican Brotherhood. There were far more lethal things than umbrellas hidden under the floorboards in their Tontine Street home!
On the 31st one of the last corrupt elections was held in St Helens. It wasn't until 1872 that polls were held by secret ballot. Until then it was a public record who every citizen had voted for and bribery and (at times) violent intimidation was rife. In 1863 the St Helens Newspaper had written: "Not only is bribery by drink carried on to a great extent, but personation and false representation are practised to a degree unknown in any other town and a great disgrace to this."
A number of the candidates were unopposed with the most contentious seat being in Eccleston, which contained the Irish Greenbank district around Liverpool Road. This is how the St Helens Newspaper described the poll there: "Eccleston Ward, or, as it is familiarly described, the “Kilkenny Ward,” was the real seat of war. The potent charms, and influence of beer, and more fiery spirits, were invoked to the full. On the behalf of both combatants, cabs and every conceivable kind of conveyance were put into requisition, and the greatest energy displayed on both sides."
Later in the week the Newspaper added: "From eleven o’clock until the closing of the poll that portion of the Liverpool road in which the committee rooms of the two candidates, Messrs. James Bayley, who sought re-election, and Isaac Grace, were situated, was almost rendered impassable by an excited and tumultuous crowd of men, women, and children.
"Nearly every public vehicle in the town and a great many private carriages were brought into requisition by the opposing candidates to carry their supporters to the poll. The sides of the cars were covered with huge placards on which were printed the words “Vote for Grace,” “Grace for ever,” “Vote for Bayley,” “Roll up for Bayley.”" Most of the "tumultuous crowd" would not have had the vote but those that did – known as burgesses – voted 515 for Bayley against 417 for Grace.
The St Helens Petty Sessions also took place on the 31st and this is how an incident in Coal Pit Lane in Parr (now Merton Bank Road) was described by the Newspaper: "William Richards, a grocer residing in Coal Pit-lane, was summoned by Mrs. Annie Pilkington to give security to keep the peace towards her. Mr. Swift appeared for the prosecutrix. The circumstances of the case were as follows:– On Saturday night last as Mr. and Mrs. Pilkington were going to bed they heard a disturbance in the lane, and on looking out of the window they saw the defendant and his wife quarrelling.
"When Richards saw the prosecutrix at the window he used towards her very foul language, made a very grave imputation on her chastity, in the presence of her husband, and said that, if he had a stone, he would smash her face. John Ramsdale was examined and deposed to the fact of Richards creating a disturbance in the lane. The defendant asked if the witness did not offer to fight him. The witness said he did not. Defendant – It would pay you not.
"James Barrow deposed to the use of filthy language by the defendant. Said to Richards that he ought be disgusted with himself, a married man, using such language to a married woman. Mrs. Barrow corroborated the evidence. Mrs. Alice Prescott was produced for the defence, and stated that she did not know anything of what occurred on Saturday night, but on Saturday morning….
"Mr. Evans [magistrate] – Well, we don't want to know anything about Saturday morning. Defendant – That is my only witness. Mr. Evans – We shall bind you over to keep the peace. Is there anything against him? Mr. Ludlam [police superintendent] – It is his seventeenth offence. He has been convicted for drunkenness, for profane language, and for felony. Mr. Evans – Well, he must give bail himself in £10 and two sureties in £10 each to keep the peace for three months, and he must give twenty four hours' notice of the bails."
The Kirkdale Quarter Sessions were held on November 1st in Liverpool at the courtroom / prison pictured above. These were for the more serious cases that had been referred to the court by local magistrates. A large number of cases were dealt with at the usual breakneck speed with most of those convicted given lengthy prison terms at the adjacent gaol. The most eye-catching case concerned an 11-year-old boy called John Walsh and a 14-year-old named William White, who were both employed as labourers. They were each given a month in prison followed by five years in a reformatory for stealing 13 shillings from a woman at Whiston.
Next week's stories will include a terrible case of poverty and wife beating in Rainford, Whiston Workhouse gets a poor inspector's report, the end of the Pilkington glass strike after 6 months and a Parr Street burglary.
We begin on the 27th when there was another drowning in St Helens Canal, this time at Smithy Brow. Twenty-three-year-old Robert Prescott from Peasley Cross had been drunk when last seen and so it was supposed that he had accidentally stumbled into the water while returning home. There were few (if any) protective fences then and so drunken drownings were quite common.
The Wigan Observer on the 28th wrote: "An enormous specimen of the mangel-wurzel tribe may now be seen at the Lyceum Newsroom. It is nearly 12lbs., and was grown on the farm of Mr. Wm. Hand, Newton Park, Newton-le-Willows. On the same estate there are others of equally large growth."
This article about a Petty Sessions hearing was published in the St Helens Newspaper on the 29th and inadvertently provides a glimpse into the family life of a future St Helens MP: "John Saxton, a precocious looking youth of 16, was charged with sleeping the night before in the glass works of Messrs. Pilkington, Sutton, where he had no right to be. The defendant, in a whispering tone, said that his mother had left him in charge of a child on Wednesday evening, when a neighbour came in and asked if there were any pulleys belonging to her in the house.
"He went to inquire, and his mother coming in in his absence and finding no one having charge of the child, gave him a beating for leaving it. In consequence he left the house. Mrs. Saxton, a comfortable looking woman, stated that the boy was a good-for-nothing, lazy fellow, who would rather run messages for the neighbours than work at home. Her husband was an umbrella maker, living in Tontine-street. She thought the charge would be a lesson to the prisoner.
"The magistrate said he could not discharge the prisoner, without having the joint words of mother and father that they would look carefully after him in future. James Saxton, the father, for whom Mrs. Saxton had gone, having come into court, said that he had done all that could have been expected from him, for the prisoner. The boy had been at school nine years but lately he had formed acquaintance with street lads. That was, however, the first time any complaint had been brought against him by the police authorities. The father said he would give his word for the lad's future good conduct. The prisoner was then discharged, and the father had to pay 4s. 6d. costs."
The family's surname was actually Sexton, not Saxton, and during the previous year John Sexton's 13-year-old brother James Jnr had run away to sea. Almost fifty years later, James Sexton would become the Labour MP for St Helens, a seat he retained until 1931. The family give the impression in the court report of being a law-abiding lot. However in Sexton's autobiography he reveals that his father regularly went on poaching expeditions and his parents acted as gunrunners for the banned Irish Republican Brotherhood. There were far more lethal things than umbrellas hidden under the floorboards in their Tontine Street home!
On the 31st one of the last corrupt elections was held in St Helens. It wasn't until 1872 that polls were held by secret ballot. Until then it was a public record who every citizen had voted for and bribery and (at times) violent intimidation was rife. In 1863 the St Helens Newspaper had written: "Not only is bribery by drink carried on to a great extent, but personation and false representation are practised to a degree unknown in any other town and a great disgrace to this."
A number of the candidates were unopposed with the most contentious seat being in Eccleston, which contained the Irish Greenbank district around Liverpool Road. This is how the St Helens Newspaper described the poll there: "Eccleston Ward, or, as it is familiarly described, the “Kilkenny Ward,” was the real seat of war. The potent charms, and influence of beer, and more fiery spirits, were invoked to the full. On the behalf of both combatants, cabs and every conceivable kind of conveyance were put into requisition, and the greatest energy displayed on both sides."
Later in the week the Newspaper added: "From eleven o’clock until the closing of the poll that portion of the Liverpool road in which the committee rooms of the two candidates, Messrs. James Bayley, who sought re-election, and Isaac Grace, were situated, was almost rendered impassable by an excited and tumultuous crowd of men, women, and children.
"Nearly every public vehicle in the town and a great many private carriages were brought into requisition by the opposing candidates to carry their supporters to the poll. The sides of the cars were covered with huge placards on which were printed the words “Vote for Grace,” “Grace for ever,” “Vote for Bayley,” “Roll up for Bayley.”" Most of the "tumultuous crowd" would not have had the vote but those that did – known as burgesses – voted 515 for Bayley against 417 for Grace.
The St Helens Petty Sessions also took place on the 31st and this is how an incident in Coal Pit Lane in Parr (now Merton Bank Road) was described by the Newspaper: "William Richards, a grocer residing in Coal Pit-lane, was summoned by Mrs. Annie Pilkington to give security to keep the peace towards her. Mr. Swift appeared for the prosecutrix. The circumstances of the case were as follows:– On Saturday night last as Mr. and Mrs. Pilkington were going to bed they heard a disturbance in the lane, and on looking out of the window they saw the defendant and his wife quarrelling.
"When Richards saw the prosecutrix at the window he used towards her very foul language, made a very grave imputation on her chastity, in the presence of her husband, and said that, if he had a stone, he would smash her face. John Ramsdale was examined and deposed to the fact of Richards creating a disturbance in the lane. The defendant asked if the witness did not offer to fight him. The witness said he did not. Defendant – It would pay you not.
"James Barrow deposed to the use of filthy language by the defendant. Said to Richards that he ought be disgusted with himself, a married man, using such language to a married woman. Mrs. Barrow corroborated the evidence. Mrs. Alice Prescott was produced for the defence, and stated that she did not know anything of what occurred on Saturday night, but on Saturday morning….
"Mr. Evans [magistrate] – Well, we don't want to know anything about Saturday morning. Defendant – That is my only witness. Mr. Evans – We shall bind you over to keep the peace. Is there anything against him? Mr. Ludlam [police superintendent] – It is his seventeenth offence. He has been convicted for drunkenness, for profane language, and for felony. Mr. Evans – Well, he must give bail himself in £10 and two sureties in £10 each to keep the peace for three months, and he must give twenty four hours' notice of the bails."
Next week's stories will include a terrible case of poverty and wife beating in Rainford, Whiston Workhouse gets a poor inspector's report, the end of the Pilkington glass strike after 6 months and a Parr Street burglary.
This week's stories include the Parr grocer who impugned a woman's chastity, the corrupt council elections, the boy thieves at Whiston and the mother of a future St Helens MP calls another son a "good-for-nothing lazy fellow".
We begin on the 27th when there was another drowning in St Helens Canal, this time at Smithy Brow.
Twenty-three-year-old Robert Prescott from Peasley Cross had been drunk when last seen and so it was supposed that he had accidentally stumbled into the water while returning home.
There were few (if any) protective fences then and so drunken drownings were quite common.
The Wigan Observer on the 28th wrote: "An enormous specimen of the mangel-wurzel tribe may now be seen at the Lyceum Newsroom.
"It is nearly 12lbs., and was grown on the farm of Mr. Wm. Hand, Newton Park, Newton-le-Willows. On the same estate there are others of equally large growth."
This article about a Petty Sessions hearing was published in the St Helens Newspaper on the 29th and inadvertently provides a glimpse into the family life of a future St Helens MP:
"John Saxton, a precocious looking youth of 16, was charged with sleeping the night before in the glass works of Messrs. Pilkington, Sutton, where he had no right to be.
"The defendant, in a whispering tone, said that his mother had left him in charge of a child on Wednesday evening, when a neighbour came in and asked if there were any pulleys belonging to her in the house.
"He went to inquire, and his mother coming in in his absence and finding no one having charge of the child, gave him a beating for leaving it.
"In consequence he left the house. Mrs. Saxton, a comfortable looking woman, stated that the boy was a good-for-nothing, lazy fellow, who would rather run messages for the neighbours than work at home.
"Her husband was an umbrella maker, living in Tontine-street. She thought the charge would be a lesson to the prisoner.
"The magistrate said he could not discharge the prisoner, without having the joint words of mother and father that they would look carefully after him in future.
"James Saxton, the father, for whom Mrs. Saxton had gone, having come into court, said that he had done all that could have been expected from him, for the prisoner. The boy had been at school nine years but lately he had formed acquaintance with street lads.
"That was, however, the first time any complaint had been brought against him by the police authorities. The father said he would give his word for the lad's future good conduct. The prisoner was then discharged, and the father had to pay 4s. 6d. costs."
The family's surname was actually Sexton, not Saxton, and during the previous year John Sexton's 13-year-old brother James Jnr had run away to sea.
Almost fifty years later, James Sexton would become the Labour MP for St Helens, a seat he retained until 1931.
The family give the impression in the court report of being a law-abiding lot.
However in Sexton's autobiography he reveals that his father regularly went on poaching expeditions and his parents acted as gunrunners for the banned Irish Republican Brotherhood.
There were far more lethal things than umbrellas hidden under the floorboards in their Tontine Street home!
On the 31st one of the last corrupt elections was held in St Helens. It wasn't until 1872 that polls were held by secret ballot.
Until then it was a public record who every citizen had voted for and bribery and (at times) violent intimidation was rife. In 1863 the St Helens Newspaper had written:
"Not only is bribery by drink carried on to a great extent, but personation and false representation are practised to a degree unknown in any other town and a great disgrace to this."
A number of the candidates were unopposed with the most contentious seat being in Eccleston, which contained the Irish Greenbank district around Liverpool Road.
This is how the St Helens Newspaper described the poll there:
"Eccleston Ward, or, as it is familiarly described, the “Kilkenny Ward,” was the real seat of war. The potent charms, and influence of beer, and more fiery spirits, were invoked to the full.
"On the behalf of both combatants, cabs and every conceivable kind of conveyance were put into requisition, and the greatest energy displayed on both sides." Later in the week the Newspaper added:
"From eleven o’clock until the closing of the poll that portion of the Liverpool road in which the committee rooms of the two candidates, Messrs. James Bayley, who sought re-election, and Isaac Grace, were situated, was almost rendered impassable by an excited and tumultuous crowd of men, women, and children.
"Nearly every public vehicle in the town and a great many private carriages were brought into requisition by the opposing candidates to carry their supporters to the poll. The sides of the cars were covered with huge placards on which were printed the words “Vote for Grace,” “Grace for ever,” “Vote for Bayley,” “Roll up for Bayley.”"
Most of the "tumultuous crowd" would not have had the vote but those that did – known as burgesses – voted 515 for Bayley against 417 for Grace.
The St Helens Petty Sessions also took place on the 31st and this is how an incident in Coal Pit Lane in Parr (now Merton Bank Road) was described by the Newspaper:
"William Richards, a grocer residing in Coal Pit-lane, was summoned by Mrs. Annie Pilkington to give security to keep the peace towards her. Mr. Swift appeared for the prosecutrix. The circumstances of the case were as follows:–
"On Saturday night last as Mr. and Mrs. Pilkington were going to bed they heard a disturbance in the lane, and on looking out of the window they saw the defendant and his wife quarrelling.
"When Richards saw the prosecutrix at the window he used towards her very foul language, made a very grave imputation on her chastity, in the presence of her husband, and said that, if he had a stone, he would smash her face.
"John Ramsdale was examined and deposed to the fact of Richards creating a disturbance in the lane. The defendant asked if the witness did not offer to fight him. The witness said he did not. Defendant – It would pay you not.
"James Barrow deposed to the use of filthy language by the defendant. Said to Richards that he ought be disgusted with himself, a married man, using such language to a married woman. Mrs. Barrow corroborated the evidence. Mrs. Alice Prescott was produced for the defence, and stated that she did not know anything of what occurred on Saturday night, but on Saturday morning….
"Mr. Evans [magistrate] – Well, we don't want to know anything about Saturday morning. Defendant – That is my only witness. Mr. Evans – We shall bind you over to keep the peace. Is there anything against him?
"Mr. Ludlam [police superintendent] – It is his seventeenth offence. He has been convicted for drunkenness, for profane language, and for felony. Mr. Evans – Well, he must give bail himself in £10 and two sureties in £10 each to keep the peace for three months, and he must give twenty four hours' notice of the bails."
The Kirkdale Quarter Sessions were held on November 1st in Liverpool at the courtroom / prison pictured above.
These were for the more serious cases that had been referred to the court by local magistrates.
A large number of cases were dealt with at the usual breakneck speed with most of those convicted given lengthy prison terms at the adjacent gaol.
The most eye-catching case concerned an 11-year-old boy called John Walsh and a 14-year-old named William White, who were both employed as labourers.
They were each given a month in prison followed by five years in a reformatory for stealing 13 shillings from a woman at Whiston.
Next week's stories will include a terrible case of poverty and wife beating in Rainford, Whiston Workhouse gets a poor inspector's report, the end of the Pilkington glass strike after 6 months and a Parr Street burglary.
We begin on the 27th when there was another drowning in St Helens Canal, this time at Smithy Brow.
Twenty-three-year-old Robert Prescott from Peasley Cross had been drunk when last seen and so it was supposed that he had accidentally stumbled into the water while returning home.
There were few (if any) protective fences then and so drunken drownings were quite common.
The Wigan Observer on the 28th wrote: "An enormous specimen of the mangel-wurzel tribe may now be seen at the Lyceum Newsroom.
"It is nearly 12lbs., and was grown on the farm of Mr. Wm. Hand, Newton Park, Newton-le-Willows. On the same estate there are others of equally large growth."
This article about a Petty Sessions hearing was published in the St Helens Newspaper on the 29th and inadvertently provides a glimpse into the family life of a future St Helens MP:
"John Saxton, a precocious looking youth of 16, was charged with sleeping the night before in the glass works of Messrs. Pilkington, Sutton, where he had no right to be.
"The defendant, in a whispering tone, said that his mother had left him in charge of a child on Wednesday evening, when a neighbour came in and asked if there were any pulleys belonging to her in the house.
"He went to inquire, and his mother coming in in his absence and finding no one having charge of the child, gave him a beating for leaving it.
"In consequence he left the house. Mrs. Saxton, a comfortable looking woman, stated that the boy was a good-for-nothing, lazy fellow, who would rather run messages for the neighbours than work at home.
"Her husband was an umbrella maker, living in Tontine-street. She thought the charge would be a lesson to the prisoner.
"The magistrate said he could not discharge the prisoner, without having the joint words of mother and father that they would look carefully after him in future.
"James Saxton, the father, for whom Mrs. Saxton had gone, having come into court, said that he had done all that could have been expected from him, for the prisoner. The boy had been at school nine years but lately he had formed acquaintance with street lads.
"That was, however, the first time any complaint had been brought against him by the police authorities. The father said he would give his word for the lad's future good conduct. The prisoner was then discharged, and the father had to pay 4s. 6d. costs."
The family's surname was actually Sexton, not Saxton, and during the previous year John Sexton's 13-year-old brother James Jnr had run away to sea.
Almost fifty years later, James Sexton would become the Labour MP for St Helens, a seat he retained until 1931.
The family give the impression in the court report of being a law-abiding lot.
However in Sexton's autobiography he reveals that his father regularly went on poaching expeditions and his parents acted as gunrunners for the banned Irish Republican Brotherhood.
There were far more lethal things than umbrellas hidden under the floorboards in their Tontine Street home!
On the 31st one of the last corrupt elections was held in St Helens. It wasn't until 1872 that polls were held by secret ballot.
Until then it was a public record who every citizen had voted for and bribery and (at times) violent intimidation was rife. In 1863 the St Helens Newspaper had written:
"Not only is bribery by drink carried on to a great extent, but personation and false representation are practised to a degree unknown in any other town and a great disgrace to this."
A number of the candidates were unopposed with the most contentious seat being in Eccleston, which contained the Irish Greenbank district around Liverpool Road.
This is how the St Helens Newspaper described the poll there:
"Eccleston Ward, or, as it is familiarly described, the “Kilkenny Ward,” was the real seat of war. The potent charms, and influence of beer, and more fiery spirits, were invoked to the full.
"On the behalf of both combatants, cabs and every conceivable kind of conveyance were put into requisition, and the greatest energy displayed on both sides." Later in the week the Newspaper added:
"From eleven o’clock until the closing of the poll that portion of the Liverpool road in which the committee rooms of the two candidates, Messrs. James Bayley, who sought re-election, and Isaac Grace, were situated, was almost rendered impassable by an excited and tumultuous crowd of men, women, and children.
"Nearly every public vehicle in the town and a great many private carriages were brought into requisition by the opposing candidates to carry their supporters to the poll. The sides of the cars were covered with huge placards on which were printed the words “Vote for Grace,” “Grace for ever,” “Vote for Bayley,” “Roll up for Bayley.”"
Most of the "tumultuous crowd" would not have had the vote but those that did – known as burgesses – voted 515 for Bayley against 417 for Grace.
The St Helens Petty Sessions also took place on the 31st and this is how an incident in Coal Pit Lane in Parr (now Merton Bank Road) was described by the Newspaper:
"William Richards, a grocer residing in Coal Pit-lane, was summoned by Mrs. Annie Pilkington to give security to keep the peace towards her. Mr. Swift appeared for the prosecutrix. The circumstances of the case were as follows:–
"On Saturday night last as Mr. and Mrs. Pilkington were going to bed they heard a disturbance in the lane, and on looking out of the window they saw the defendant and his wife quarrelling.
"When Richards saw the prosecutrix at the window he used towards her very foul language, made a very grave imputation on her chastity, in the presence of her husband, and said that, if he had a stone, he would smash her face.
"John Ramsdale was examined and deposed to the fact of Richards creating a disturbance in the lane. The defendant asked if the witness did not offer to fight him. The witness said he did not. Defendant – It would pay you not.
"James Barrow deposed to the use of filthy language by the defendant. Said to Richards that he ought be disgusted with himself, a married man, using such language to a married woman. Mrs. Barrow corroborated the evidence. Mrs. Alice Prescott was produced for the defence, and stated that she did not know anything of what occurred on Saturday night, but on Saturday morning….
"Mr. Evans [magistrate] – Well, we don't want to know anything about Saturday morning. Defendant – That is my only witness. Mr. Evans – We shall bind you over to keep the peace. Is there anything against him?
"Mr. Ludlam [police superintendent] – It is his seventeenth offence. He has been convicted for drunkenness, for profane language, and for felony. Mr. Evans – Well, he must give bail himself in £10 and two sureties in £10 each to keep the peace for three months, and he must give twenty four hours' notice of the bails."
These were for the more serious cases that had been referred to the court by local magistrates.
A large number of cases were dealt with at the usual breakneck speed with most of those convicted given lengthy prison terms at the adjacent gaol.
The most eye-catching case concerned an 11-year-old boy called John Walsh and a 14-year-old named William White, who were both employed as labourers.
They were each given a month in prison followed by five years in a reformatory for stealing 13 shillings from a woman at Whiston.
Next week's stories will include a terrible case of poverty and wife beating in Rainford, Whiston Workhouse gets a poor inspector's report, the end of the Pilkington glass strike after 6 months and a Parr Street burglary.