150 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (28th FEB. - 6th MARCH 1872)
This week's stories include the wheelwright wife beater of Rainford, the inquest hearing into the fatal Pocket Nook boiler blast, the lazy, dissolute vagabond that did a runner, the Mill Street toddler that died after playing with matches and the Sunday morning stake out on a Liverpool Street beerhouse.
We begin on the 28th when wheelwright James Haddock appeared in St Helens Petty Sessions. The 33-year-old was charged with assaulting and threatening his wife Harriet Haddock at their home in Chapel Lane in Rainford – as Church Road used to be called. The St Helens Newspaper wrote:
"The wife's story made it appear that the prisoner had not been sober for two years, and he led her a very hard life in his inebriation. Last week he threatened to take her life, actually making the attempt by strangulation, and on Monday he threatened to stab her with a dangerous looking fork, which she produced. The prisoner said he had not touched her until provoked and scratched, and his face bore traces of scratches. He was ordered to find sureties to keep the peace for three months."
The inquest into the deaths of the four men killed last week at a Pocket Nook chemical plant concluded on the 28th. The workers had perished after five boilers filled with caustic soda had exploded. It was stated that the blast hurled half of one boiler a distance of 250 yards and it was found embedded in several feet of soil. A number of pedestrians and children playing outside the factory were badly scalded – or otherwise injured – when boiling liquid fell on them from above.
What was described as a "great mass of iron" also smashed in the roof of the neighbouring Pocket Nook glassworks. There had been fears that a young boy called Gallagher – who had been badly scalded all over his body – would not survive. But there were now hopes for his recovery. The inquest jury at the Raven Hotel in St Helens put the blame for the calamity firmly and squarely on a firm of contractors called Hewson and Smith. Their narrative verdict said:
"The several deceased came by their death by the explosion now in question, which was caused, as we find, by a wooden plug left in the steam-escape pipe of the boiler which first exploded, by the boilermakers, who had been doing certain repairs therein; and we say the omission of the said boilermakers – Hewson and Smith – to remove the said plug calls for weighty censure at their hands, and that we think the employment of such plug at all to have been against all good practice."
Explosions were commonplace in Lancashire during the 1870s. At the end of March a mine blast of "a frightful nature" – as described by the Liverpool Daily Post – would occur at Atherton, near Bolton. Twenty-eight men and boys were immediately killed, with many of the eleven that were seriously injured not expected to survive.
On March 2nd the St Helens Newspaper published this article under the headline "Outrage On Her Majesty": "On Thursday evening a grave outrage was committed on her Majesty as her carriage was entering Buckingham Palace. A youth who gave the name of O’Connor ran up to the carriage and presented a pistol at her, but was immediately secured by an attendant. The pistol turned out to be of ancient construction and unloaded, but the prisoner had on his person a petition for the release of the Fenian prisoners, which he was probably desirous of compelling her Majesty to sign. He gives every symptom of insanity."
O’Connor would later say that his pistol was not loaded as he simply wanted to frighten the Queen into signing his petition. The Fenians were essentially the forerunners of the IRA and four years earlier had staged an unsuccessful revolt in Ireland.
The Newspaper also reported that a two-year-old child called William Seddon from Mill Street had died after his mother had left him in the care of an older brother. The boy had got possession of a box of matches and accidentally set his clothes on fire. The little lad's screams attracted the attention of PC Richard Calvert who lived nearby. The officer quickly ran to extinguish the boy's burning clothes but the child had by then sustained fatal injuries.
John Ashton appeared in St Helens Petty Sessions this week after what the St Helens Newspaper referred to as "jumping from the frying pan into the fire". Twelve months earlier Ashton had been summoned to appear in court for the minor offence of committing a breach of the peace. However, he instead chose to do a runner. His absence from home meant he wasn't supporting his family and that left him open to prosecution for wife desertion and leaving his dependents chargeable to the parish.
So this week he was in court to face such a charge. It was common for the authorities to say what they thought of prisoners in the dock without providing any evidence. The so-called Relieving Officer, Mr Fowler, who was prosecuting, said John Ashton was a "very bad character" and a "lazy, dissolute vagabond, who, although a bottle hand, had a strong distaste for work". The breach of the peace case was withdrawn and Ashton was sent to prison for three months on the desertion charge.
On Sunday mornings when beerhouse keepers were not allowed to open, a cat and mouse game was regularly played between them and the police. With so many other drinking houses in the vicinity, it was hard for landlords to refuse a regular customer's request for ale as they might switch their boozing allegiance elsewhere. Edward Vance ran a beerhouse in Liverpool Street and he was charged this week with illegally selling a quart of ale on a Sunday morning at 8:45 am.
PC Robinson told the court that, along with another officer, he had been on plain-clothes duty observing Vance's house from a "good position". From his stakeout, he saw two men tap at the kitchen window and a boy subsequently came out and looked up and down the street before letting the men in. One called Michael Ward came out of the beerhouse several minutes later. The undercover officers followed him and found a bottle of beer concealed under his coat.
However, Ward claimed in court that he had brought the ale with him from Widnes on the previous night and the wife of the landlord denied selling it to him. PC Jolly had accompanied PC Robinson and he gave evidence of froth being on the outside of the bottle when the pair found it. He added that when Ward had entered the house, his coat had been open and he did not appear to be concealing anything.
Of course, everyone knew an illegal sale had been made. It was ridiculous that Michael Ward would have taken beer into a beerhouse – like coals to Newcastle. But proving it was another matter. The beerseller's solicitor was Thomas Swift. He was red-hot on these cases and had previously got off many of his publican clients – and also had many a row in court with the police over their Sunday selling prosecutions and tactics. He told the Bench that there was not enough proof that the beer had been bought from Vance's house – and so the magistrates agreed and dismissed the case. It wasn't just the fine why the beerhouse keeper's wife lied in court. But several similar convictions could lead to their licence being revoked.
Last week a letter had been published in the St Helens Newspaper condemning the Borough Fire Brigade. The accusation was that they had taken 16 hours before attending a blaze on a farm in Sutton Heath run by the Lowe family after being notified by telegram and by messenger. It was also claimed that they refused to start work until assured they would get beer. "“No beer no water” appeared to be the motto", said the correspondent using the pseudonym "Visitor to the Scene". The allegations rattled the cage of the boss of St Helens Fire Brigade who had this letter published in the Newspaper on the 2nd:
"The first intimation we had of the fire was at 3 5 p.m. on Monday. If a telegram had been sent it never arrived at St. Helens, and therefore never could have been delivered. If a messenger was sent where did he go to? He never arrived in St. Helens, and must have gone after the cowkeeper on the farm who has disappeared altogether. Again, it is utterly untrue that a messenger was sent from here to see if aid was required, as stated by your “Visitor to the Scene,” as Mr. Thomas Lowe came to St. Helens himself at 3 p.m. with the first intimation we received, and we were there and at work before 4 p.m., with fourteen men.
"Of course the damage was all done before then. As to the other charges of laxity, inefficiency, no beer no water and all the other bosh, I consider far beneath my notice. – John Leigh, Superintendent." It's a bit hard to believe that a major fire should break out in the district at midnight on one day and the town Fire Brigade not know anything about it for 15 hours! But it was also quite possible and underlines the communication difficulties that they had in the 1870s.
Next Week's stories will include the Rainhill apprentice who was badly beaten by his boss, the blackface troupe at the Volunteer Hall, the dominoes dispute in a Croppers Hill beerhouse and the pauper who tore up his clothes in Whiston Workhouse.
We begin on the 28th when wheelwright James Haddock appeared in St Helens Petty Sessions. The 33-year-old was charged with assaulting and threatening his wife Harriet Haddock at their home in Chapel Lane in Rainford – as Church Road used to be called. The St Helens Newspaper wrote:
"The wife's story made it appear that the prisoner had not been sober for two years, and he led her a very hard life in his inebriation. Last week he threatened to take her life, actually making the attempt by strangulation, and on Monday he threatened to stab her with a dangerous looking fork, which she produced. The prisoner said he had not touched her until provoked and scratched, and his face bore traces of scratches. He was ordered to find sureties to keep the peace for three months."
The inquest into the deaths of the four men killed last week at a Pocket Nook chemical plant concluded on the 28th. The workers had perished after five boilers filled with caustic soda had exploded. It was stated that the blast hurled half of one boiler a distance of 250 yards and it was found embedded in several feet of soil. A number of pedestrians and children playing outside the factory were badly scalded – or otherwise injured – when boiling liquid fell on them from above.
What was described as a "great mass of iron" also smashed in the roof of the neighbouring Pocket Nook glassworks. There had been fears that a young boy called Gallagher – who had been badly scalded all over his body – would not survive. But there were now hopes for his recovery. The inquest jury at the Raven Hotel in St Helens put the blame for the calamity firmly and squarely on a firm of contractors called Hewson and Smith. Their narrative verdict said:
"The several deceased came by their death by the explosion now in question, which was caused, as we find, by a wooden plug left in the steam-escape pipe of the boiler which first exploded, by the boilermakers, who had been doing certain repairs therein; and we say the omission of the said boilermakers – Hewson and Smith – to remove the said plug calls for weighty censure at their hands, and that we think the employment of such plug at all to have been against all good practice."
Explosions were commonplace in Lancashire during the 1870s. At the end of March a mine blast of "a frightful nature" – as described by the Liverpool Daily Post – would occur at Atherton, near Bolton. Twenty-eight men and boys were immediately killed, with many of the eleven that were seriously injured not expected to survive.
O’Connor would later say that his pistol was not loaded as he simply wanted to frighten the Queen into signing his petition. The Fenians were essentially the forerunners of the IRA and four years earlier had staged an unsuccessful revolt in Ireland.
The Newspaper also reported that a two-year-old child called William Seddon from Mill Street had died after his mother had left him in the care of an older brother. The boy had got possession of a box of matches and accidentally set his clothes on fire. The little lad's screams attracted the attention of PC Richard Calvert who lived nearby. The officer quickly ran to extinguish the boy's burning clothes but the child had by then sustained fatal injuries.
John Ashton appeared in St Helens Petty Sessions this week after what the St Helens Newspaper referred to as "jumping from the frying pan into the fire". Twelve months earlier Ashton had been summoned to appear in court for the minor offence of committing a breach of the peace. However, he instead chose to do a runner. His absence from home meant he wasn't supporting his family and that left him open to prosecution for wife desertion and leaving his dependents chargeable to the parish.
So this week he was in court to face such a charge. It was common for the authorities to say what they thought of prisoners in the dock without providing any evidence. The so-called Relieving Officer, Mr Fowler, who was prosecuting, said John Ashton was a "very bad character" and a "lazy, dissolute vagabond, who, although a bottle hand, had a strong distaste for work". The breach of the peace case was withdrawn and Ashton was sent to prison for three months on the desertion charge.
On Sunday mornings when beerhouse keepers were not allowed to open, a cat and mouse game was regularly played between them and the police. With so many other drinking houses in the vicinity, it was hard for landlords to refuse a regular customer's request for ale as they might switch their boozing allegiance elsewhere. Edward Vance ran a beerhouse in Liverpool Street and he was charged this week with illegally selling a quart of ale on a Sunday morning at 8:45 am.
PC Robinson told the court that, along with another officer, he had been on plain-clothes duty observing Vance's house from a "good position". From his stakeout, he saw two men tap at the kitchen window and a boy subsequently came out and looked up and down the street before letting the men in. One called Michael Ward came out of the beerhouse several minutes later. The undercover officers followed him and found a bottle of beer concealed under his coat.
However, Ward claimed in court that he had brought the ale with him from Widnes on the previous night and the wife of the landlord denied selling it to him. PC Jolly had accompanied PC Robinson and he gave evidence of froth being on the outside of the bottle when the pair found it. He added that when Ward had entered the house, his coat had been open and he did not appear to be concealing anything.
Of course, everyone knew an illegal sale had been made. It was ridiculous that Michael Ward would have taken beer into a beerhouse – like coals to Newcastle. But proving it was another matter. The beerseller's solicitor was Thomas Swift. He was red-hot on these cases and had previously got off many of his publican clients – and also had many a row in court with the police over their Sunday selling prosecutions and tactics. He told the Bench that there was not enough proof that the beer had been bought from Vance's house – and so the magistrates agreed and dismissed the case. It wasn't just the fine why the beerhouse keeper's wife lied in court. But several similar convictions could lead to their licence being revoked.
Last week a letter had been published in the St Helens Newspaper condemning the Borough Fire Brigade. The accusation was that they had taken 16 hours before attending a blaze on a farm in Sutton Heath run by the Lowe family after being notified by telegram and by messenger. It was also claimed that they refused to start work until assured they would get beer. "“No beer no water” appeared to be the motto", said the correspondent using the pseudonym "Visitor to the Scene". The allegations rattled the cage of the boss of St Helens Fire Brigade who had this letter published in the Newspaper on the 2nd:
"The first intimation we had of the fire was at 3 5 p.m. on Monday. If a telegram had been sent it never arrived at St. Helens, and therefore never could have been delivered. If a messenger was sent where did he go to? He never arrived in St. Helens, and must have gone after the cowkeeper on the farm who has disappeared altogether. Again, it is utterly untrue that a messenger was sent from here to see if aid was required, as stated by your “Visitor to the Scene,” as Mr. Thomas Lowe came to St. Helens himself at 3 p.m. with the first intimation we received, and we were there and at work before 4 p.m., with fourteen men.
"Of course the damage was all done before then. As to the other charges of laxity, inefficiency, no beer no water and all the other bosh, I consider far beneath my notice. – John Leigh, Superintendent." It's a bit hard to believe that a major fire should break out in the district at midnight on one day and the town Fire Brigade not know anything about it for 15 hours! But it was also quite possible and underlines the communication difficulties that they had in the 1870s.
Next Week's stories will include the Rainhill apprentice who was badly beaten by his boss, the blackface troupe at the Volunteer Hall, the dominoes dispute in a Croppers Hill beerhouse and the pauper who tore up his clothes in Whiston Workhouse.
This week's stories include the wheelwright wife beater of Rainford, the inquest hearing into the fatal Pocket Nook boiler blast, the lazy, dissolute vagabond that did a runner, the Mill Street toddler that died after playing with matches and the Sunday morning stake out on a Liverpool Street beerhouse.
We begin on the 28th when wheelwright James Haddock appeared in St Helens Petty Sessions.
The 33-year-old was charged with assaulting and threatening his wife Harriet Haddock at their home in Chapel Lane in Rainford – as Church Road used to be called. The St Helens Newspaper wrote:
"The wife's story made it appear that the prisoner had not been sober for two years, and he led her a very hard life in his inebriation.
"Last week he threatened to take her life, actually making the attempt by strangulation, and on Monday he threatened to stab her with a dangerous looking fork, which she produced.
"The prisoner said he had not touched her until provoked and scratched, and his face bore traces of scratches. He was ordered to find sureties to keep the peace for three months."
The inquest into the deaths of the four men killed last week at a Pocket Nook chemical plant concluded on the 28th.
The workers had perished after five boilers filled with caustic soda had exploded. It was stated that the blast hurled half of one boiler a distance of 250 yards and it was found embedded in several feet of soil.
A number of pedestrians and children playing outside the factory were badly scalded – or otherwise injured – when boiling liquid fell on them from above.
What was described as a "great mass of iron" also smashed in the roof of the neighbouring Pocket Nook glassworks.
There had been fears that a young boy called Gallagher – who had been badly scalded all over his body – would not survive. But there were now hopes for his recovery.
The inquest jury at the Raven Hotel in St Helens put the blame for the calamity firmly and squarely on a firm of contractors called Hewson and Smith. Their narrative verdict said:
"The several deceased came by their death by the explosion now in question, which was caused, as we find, by a wooden plug left in the steam-escape pipe of the boiler which first exploded, by the boilermakers, who had been doing certain repairs therein; and we say the omission of the said boilermakers – Hewson and Smith – to remove the said plug calls for weighty censure at their hands, and that we think the employment of such plug at all to have been against all good practice."
Explosions were commonplace in Lancashire during the 1870s. At the end of March a mine blast of "a frightful nature" – as described by the Liverpool Daily Post – would occur at Atherton, near Bolton.
Twenty-eight men and boys were immediately killed, with many of the eleven that were seriously injured not expected to survive.
On March 2nd the St Helens Newspaper published this article under the headline "Outrage On Her Majesty":
"On Thursday evening a grave outrage was committed on her Majesty as her carriage was entering Buckingham Palace.
"A youth who gave the name of O’Connor ran up to the carriage and presented a pistol at her, but was immediately secured by an attendant.
"The pistol turned out to be of ancient construction and unloaded, but the prisoner had on his person a petition for the release of the Fenian prisoners, which he was probably desirous of compelling her Majesty to sign. He gives every symptom of insanity."
O’Connor would later say that his pistol was not loaded as he simply wanted to frighten the Queen into signing his petition.
The Fenians were essentially the forerunners of the IRA and four years earlier had staged an unsuccessful revolt in Ireland.
The Newspaper also reported that a two-year-old child called William Seddon from Mill Street had died after his mother had left him in the care of an older brother.
The boy had got possession of a box of matches and accidentally set his clothes on fire.
The little lad's screams attracted the attention of PC Richard Calvert who lived nearby.
The officer quickly ran to extinguish the boy's burning clothes but the child had by then sustained fatal injuries.
John Ashton appeared in St Helens Petty Sessions this week after what the St Helens Newspaper referred to as "jumping from the frying pan into the fire".
Twelve months earlier Ashton had been summoned to appear in court for the minor offence of committing a breach of the peace. However, he instead chose to do a runner.
His absence from home meant he wasn't supporting his family and that left him open to prosecution for wife desertion and leaving his dependents chargeable to the parish.
So this week he was in court to face such a charge. It was common for the authorities to say what they thought of prisoners in the dock without providing any evidence.
The so-called Relieving Officer, Mr Fowler, who was prosecuting, said John Ashton was a "very bad character" and a "lazy, dissolute vagabond, who, although a bottle hand, had a strong distaste for work".
The breach of the peace case was withdrawn and Ashton was sent to prison for three months on the desertion charge.
On Sunday mornings when beerhouse keepers were not allowed to open, a cat and mouse game was regularly played between them and the police.
With so many other drinking houses in the vicinity, it was hard for landlords to refuse a regular customer's request for ale as they might switch their boozing allegiance elsewhere.
Edward Vance ran a beerhouse in Liverpool Street and he was charged this week with illegally selling a quart of ale on a Sunday morning at 8:45 am.
PC Robinson told the court that, along with another officer, he had been on plain-clothes duty observing Vance's house from a "good position".
From his stakeout, he saw two men tap at the kitchen window and a boy subsequently came out and looked up and down the street before letting the men in.
One called Michael Ward came out of the beerhouse several minutes later. The undercover officers followed him and found a bottle of beer concealed under his coat.
However, Ward claimed in court that he had brought the ale with him from Widnes on the previous night and the wife of the landlord denied selling it to him.
PC Jolly had accompanied PC Robinson and he gave evidence of froth being on the outside of the bottle when the pair found it.
He added that when Ward had entered the house, his coat had been open and he did not appear to be concealing anything.
Of course, everyone knew an illegal sale had been made. It was ridiculous that Michael Ward would have taken beer into a beerhouse – like coals to Newcastle. But proving it was another matter.
The beerseller's solicitor was Thomas Swift. He was red-hot on these cases and had previously got off many of his publican clients – and also had many a row in court with the police over their Sunday selling prosecutions and tactics.
He told the Bench that there was not enough proof that the beer had been bought from Vance's house – and so the magistrates agreed and dismissed the case.
It wasn't just the fine why the beerhouse keeper's wife lied in court. But several similar convictions could lead to their licence being revoked.
Last week a letter had been published in the St Helens Newspaper condemning the Borough Fire Brigade.
The accusation was that they had taken 16 hours before attending a blaze on a farm in Sutton Heath run by the Lowe family after being notified by telegram and by messenger.
It was also claimed that they refused to start work until assured they would get beer. "“No beer no water” appeared to be the motto", said the correspondent using the pseudonym "Visitor to the Scene".
The allegations rattled the cage of the boss of St Helens Fire Brigade who had this letter published in the Newspaper on the 2nd:
"The first intimation we had of the fire was at 3 5 p.m. on Monday. If a telegram had been sent it never arrived at St. Helens, and therefore never could have been delivered.
"If a messenger was sent where did he go to? He never arrived in St. Helens, and must have gone after the cowkeeper on the farm who has disappeared altogether.
"Again, it is utterly untrue that a messenger was sent from here to see if aid was required, as stated by your “Visitor to the Scene,” as Mr. Thomas Lowe came to St. Helens himself at 3 p.m. with the first intimation we received, and we were there and at work before 4 p.m., with fourteen men.
"Of course the damage was all done before then. As to the other charges of laxity, inefficiency, no beer no water and all the other bosh, I consider far beneath my notice. – John Leigh, Superintendent."
It's a bit hard to believe that a major fire should break out in the district at midnight on one day and the town Fire Brigade not know anything about it for 15 hours!
But it was also quite possible and underlines the communication difficulties that they had in the 1870s.
St Helens Newspaper articles courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next week's stories will include the Rainhill apprentice who was badly beaten by his boss, the blackface troupe at the Volunteer Hall, the dominoes dispute in a Croppers Hill beerhouse and the pauper who tore up his clothes in Whiston Workhouse.
We begin on the 28th when wheelwright James Haddock appeared in St Helens Petty Sessions.
The 33-year-old was charged with assaulting and threatening his wife Harriet Haddock at their home in Chapel Lane in Rainford – as Church Road used to be called. The St Helens Newspaper wrote:
"The wife's story made it appear that the prisoner had not been sober for two years, and he led her a very hard life in his inebriation.
"Last week he threatened to take her life, actually making the attempt by strangulation, and on Monday he threatened to stab her with a dangerous looking fork, which she produced.
"The prisoner said he had not touched her until provoked and scratched, and his face bore traces of scratches. He was ordered to find sureties to keep the peace for three months."
The inquest into the deaths of the four men killed last week at a Pocket Nook chemical plant concluded on the 28th.
The workers had perished after five boilers filled with caustic soda had exploded. It was stated that the blast hurled half of one boiler a distance of 250 yards and it was found embedded in several feet of soil.
A number of pedestrians and children playing outside the factory were badly scalded – or otherwise injured – when boiling liquid fell on them from above.
What was described as a "great mass of iron" also smashed in the roof of the neighbouring Pocket Nook glassworks.
There had been fears that a young boy called Gallagher – who had been badly scalded all over his body – would not survive. But there were now hopes for his recovery.
The inquest jury at the Raven Hotel in St Helens put the blame for the calamity firmly and squarely on a firm of contractors called Hewson and Smith. Their narrative verdict said:
"The several deceased came by their death by the explosion now in question, which was caused, as we find, by a wooden plug left in the steam-escape pipe of the boiler which first exploded, by the boilermakers, who had been doing certain repairs therein; and we say the omission of the said boilermakers – Hewson and Smith – to remove the said plug calls for weighty censure at their hands, and that we think the employment of such plug at all to have been against all good practice."
Explosions were commonplace in Lancashire during the 1870s. At the end of March a mine blast of "a frightful nature" – as described by the Liverpool Daily Post – would occur at Atherton, near Bolton.
Twenty-eight men and boys were immediately killed, with many of the eleven that were seriously injured not expected to survive.
"On Thursday evening a grave outrage was committed on her Majesty as her carriage was entering Buckingham Palace.
"A youth who gave the name of O’Connor ran up to the carriage and presented a pistol at her, but was immediately secured by an attendant.
"The pistol turned out to be of ancient construction and unloaded, but the prisoner had on his person a petition for the release of the Fenian prisoners, which he was probably desirous of compelling her Majesty to sign. He gives every symptom of insanity."
O’Connor would later say that his pistol was not loaded as he simply wanted to frighten the Queen into signing his petition.
The Fenians were essentially the forerunners of the IRA and four years earlier had staged an unsuccessful revolt in Ireland.
The Newspaper also reported that a two-year-old child called William Seddon from Mill Street had died after his mother had left him in the care of an older brother.
The boy had got possession of a box of matches and accidentally set his clothes on fire.
The little lad's screams attracted the attention of PC Richard Calvert who lived nearby.
The officer quickly ran to extinguish the boy's burning clothes but the child had by then sustained fatal injuries.
John Ashton appeared in St Helens Petty Sessions this week after what the St Helens Newspaper referred to as "jumping from the frying pan into the fire".
Twelve months earlier Ashton had been summoned to appear in court for the minor offence of committing a breach of the peace. However, he instead chose to do a runner.
His absence from home meant he wasn't supporting his family and that left him open to prosecution for wife desertion and leaving his dependents chargeable to the parish.
So this week he was in court to face such a charge. It was common for the authorities to say what they thought of prisoners in the dock without providing any evidence.
The so-called Relieving Officer, Mr Fowler, who was prosecuting, said John Ashton was a "very bad character" and a "lazy, dissolute vagabond, who, although a bottle hand, had a strong distaste for work".
The breach of the peace case was withdrawn and Ashton was sent to prison for three months on the desertion charge.
On Sunday mornings when beerhouse keepers were not allowed to open, a cat and mouse game was regularly played between them and the police.
With so many other drinking houses in the vicinity, it was hard for landlords to refuse a regular customer's request for ale as they might switch their boozing allegiance elsewhere.
Edward Vance ran a beerhouse in Liverpool Street and he was charged this week with illegally selling a quart of ale on a Sunday morning at 8:45 am.
PC Robinson told the court that, along with another officer, he had been on plain-clothes duty observing Vance's house from a "good position".
From his stakeout, he saw two men tap at the kitchen window and a boy subsequently came out and looked up and down the street before letting the men in.
One called Michael Ward came out of the beerhouse several minutes later. The undercover officers followed him and found a bottle of beer concealed under his coat.
However, Ward claimed in court that he had brought the ale with him from Widnes on the previous night and the wife of the landlord denied selling it to him.
PC Jolly had accompanied PC Robinson and he gave evidence of froth being on the outside of the bottle when the pair found it.
He added that when Ward had entered the house, his coat had been open and he did not appear to be concealing anything.
Of course, everyone knew an illegal sale had been made. It was ridiculous that Michael Ward would have taken beer into a beerhouse – like coals to Newcastle. But proving it was another matter.
The beerseller's solicitor was Thomas Swift. He was red-hot on these cases and had previously got off many of his publican clients – and also had many a row in court with the police over their Sunday selling prosecutions and tactics.
He told the Bench that there was not enough proof that the beer had been bought from Vance's house – and so the magistrates agreed and dismissed the case.
It wasn't just the fine why the beerhouse keeper's wife lied in court. But several similar convictions could lead to their licence being revoked.
Last week a letter had been published in the St Helens Newspaper condemning the Borough Fire Brigade.
The accusation was that they had taken 16 hours before attending a blaze on a farm in Sutton Heath run by the Lowe family after being notified by telegram and by messenger.
It was also claimed that they refused to start work until assured they would get beer. "“No beer no water” appeared to be the motto", said the correspondent using the pseudonym "Visitor to the Scene".
The allegations rattled the cage of the boss of St Helens Fire Brigade who had this letter published in the Newspaper on the 2nd:
"The first intimation we had of the fire was at 3 5 p.m. on Monday. If a telegram had been sent it never arrived at St. Helens, and therefore never could have been delivered.
"If a messenger was sent where did he go to? He never arrived in St. Helens, and must have gone after the cowkeeper on the farm who has disappeared altogether.
"Again, it is utterly untrue that a messenger was sent from here to see if aid was required, as stated by your “Visitor to the Scene,” as Mr. Thomas Lowe came to St. Helens himself at 3 p.m. with the first intimation we received, and we were there and at work before 4 p.m., with fourteen men.
"Of course the damage was all done before then. As to the other charges of laxity, inefficiency, no beer no water and all the other bosh, I consider far beneath my notice. – John Leigh, Superintendent."
It's a bit hard to believe that a major fire should break out in the district at midnight on one day and the town Fire Brigade not know anything about it for 15 hours!
But it was also quite possible and underlines the communication difficulties that they had in the 1870s.
St Helens Newspaper articles courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next week's stories will include the Rainhill apprentice who was badly beaten by his boss, the blackface troupe at the Volunteer Hall, the dominoes dispute in a Croppers Hill beerhouse and the pauper who tore up his clothes in Whiston Workhouse.