Old Salford stories

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I have recently read numerous articles which some of the forum members may find of interest. Here are a few.

Salford or the Wild West?


14th November 1843


ATROCIOUS OUTRAGE BY A PARTY OF THREE HUNDRED ARMED TURN-OUTS - SEVERAL PERSONS WOUNDED.

About 11 o'clock last night, an outrage of a most alarming character was perpetrated in the immediate neighbourhood of this town, by a party of 300 or 400 persons, chiefly brickmakers, armed with blunder busses, guns, pistols, bludgeons, and almost every description of weapon, who, in the most savage manner, forcibly entered the brick-croft of Messrs Pauling and Henfry, with the evident intention of destroying the property, and either murdering or maiming every one who might oppose their violence. Some disputes which arose between Mr Pauling and his workmen, some months ago, led to the turn-out of the brickmakers ; their places were of course supplied by other men, and ever since a system of annoyance and intimidation, accompanied with occasional acts of violence, has been practised to-wards the new hands. But in no instance have the turn-outs, in this or any other case, as far as we know, been guilty of such atrocious and unwarrantable conduct as that about to be recorded. The brick-croft which has been the scene of this murderous outrage, is situate on the right hand side of the Eccles new road, about 250 yards beyond the Cross lane toll bar. It runs for about a quarter of a mile along the side of the road, and is perhaps 100 yards in breath. Near the centre of the ground is a cottage, which was occupied by Mr Ralph Fletcher, the manager and over-looker ; also a stable, and another small building, called " the office." Close to the house are two large kilns of bricks, containing about 100,000, which they had not commenced burning. A third kiln, at a little distance, contained about 50,000 more. On the night in question there were eleven men on the premises, along with Mr Fletcher, who bad been led to apprehend that an attack on them would be made. Two of these were private watchmen, one, Thomas Lomas, late of the Manchester police, the other a soldier named Peers, who had been discharged from the 35th regiment ; the remainder were workmen employed on the ground ; and about 10 o'clock this small force was augmented by Butterworth, one of the Salford beadles, being sent, up on a representation from Mr Fletcher to Mr Diggles, the deputy constable, that danger was apprehended. Thus the whole force for the defence of the property consisted only of 13 men, 12 of whom were armed, having among them four blunderbusses, five guns, and three brace of pistols.
It was about 10 minutes after 11 when the attack was made. The parties on the ground were first alarmed by hearing two guns fired at the top of the croft, the end nearest Manchester. Reports were heard at intervals for 10 minutes after, when between 300 and 400 men, all armed, furiously rushed upon the ground and overspread it in all directions, trampling down the bricks that were lying in a soft state upon the ground, and destroying everything that they could lay their hands on. Seeing the men who belonged to the ground drawn up near the house, the mob fired upon them; the men returned the fire. Upwards of ten volleys were fired on each aide, and the affray lasted about 15 minutes. The mob separated themselves into two divisions, one of which stood apart, firing at the men as above described, while the other division forced their way into Fletcher's house. They broke open the door with, a large pickaxe which they had brought with them for the purpose, and having thus obtained an entrance the house was in a moment filled with the mob, all of whom were armed with, guns and pistols. The only persons in the house were Mrs Fletcher and a poor Irishwoman, who had been sheltered, out of charity, for the last three days. Mrs Fletcher was in a chair near the bottom of the stairs, and several guns and pistols were immediately presented to her. She would undoubtedly have been shot, but one of them called out, " D-n you, don't kill a woman." She was, however, thrown down, her head dashed against the flags, and afterwards dragged out of the house by her hair.
One of the ruffians ran up stairs to look for Fletcher, and came down exclaiming, "The b- b- is not there; he's given us the slip." Mrs Fletcher was able to identify this man as Michael Bagley, commonly called "Big Mick," and he was afterwards apprehended on her information. The poor Irishwoman being observed looking at one of the ruffians, was also knocked down and ill treated. They then smashed the furniture to pieces, threw the bed into the brick croft, threw a small table upon the fire, and afterwards broke into an office adjoining, which they attempted to set on fire. They also carried off some portions of the furniture. All thia was going on while the 13 men were engaged outside with the other portion of the mob, who spread themselves over the ground, and attempted to surround Mr Fletcher's party, but without effect; they were kept off by the continual firing; indeed, the place was kept in a perfect blaze for upwards of ten minutes. The soldier, one of the private watchmen, was knocked down, and was consequently disabled ; and another of the party fell into a gutter, and his gun getting wet he could render no further service. A portion of the mob attempted to pull down the newly-raised kilns, but the firing was too hot for them, and they were driven off, without doing much damage there. The whole of the mob at length retreated, those in the house as well ; and it was fortunate they did so, for Mr Fletcher's little party had expended their last shot in the gallant defence of the property, and must have been left almost at the mercy of the mob.
Probably their ammunition was also expended, and hence their precipitate retreat, which was effected at the command of one who appeared to act as their leader. They quitted the croft by the lower end, and took the road towards Eccles, taking their " killed and wounded," if any, along with them ; but, owing to the random firing of the men on both sides, less injury was done than might have been expected from the number of shots. Of the defenders of the property, only two were seriously wounded Lomas, the watchman, and the soldier, and the latter only with the butt end of a gun. As soon as the mob were fairly out of the ground, and Mr Fletcher had ascertained the little injury which his party had suffered, he and Butterworth, the Salford police officer, set out in pursuit of the mob. After proceeding a little way on the Eccles road, they had halted opposite to Trafford Park View; and Fletcher andButterworth, having got behind the hedge, overheard them in the act of counting themselves, or calling over the roll, from which it appeared they were in six divisions, with leaders to each ; and it seemed there were many missing. They then retreated towards Eccles. At Eccles, which is about a mile and a half off, the county constabulary had heard the firing, and two of them were hastening towards the spot, but being warned that a great number of men were coming along the road, well armed, they concealed themselves till the mob had passed, and then followed them. When they got to the lane which turns off to Seedley, the mob separated, the greater portion taking that road, but three were traced to Eccles, and there apprehended. They were not armed. One of them had his boots full of blood, and was found to have received a wound above his knee; and the boots of another, who was not wounded, corresponded with impressions left in the clay in the brick-ground.
Information was speedily conveyed to tho Salford police, office, and a party of officers were soon on the spot, and by their exertions two more prisoners were secured, whose names are given below. The pieces fired by the mob appeared to be loaded with large heavy balls and slugs, but the shots chiefly flew over the heads of the party attacked. The night was cloudy and dark, and the light emitted from the kilns from their peculiar situation was a disadvantage rather than otherwise. A surgeon was sent for, who examined and dressed the wounds of the two watchmen. The principal damage done by the mob was to the soft bricks, of which about 94,000 were broken. As well as their fire arms they had with them, a quantity of pick shafts (the shafts of pick-axes), and they left on the ground a large pick-axe, with which they had broken open the bouse door, also the ram rods of two pistols. It is remarkable that four out of the five men who are apprehended, are workmen employed at Mr H. Pimley's brick yard, which is on the other side the road, a little nearer Manchester.

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Kidnapping of a child from Eccles.

23rd August 1904

KIDNAPPING ROMANCE. A SLIGHTED WOMAN'S REVENGE.


Notice to lady and gentleman who fifty-one years ago lost their child, a little girl with light blue eyes, light, flaxen hair, and fair skin, in Eccles, near Manchester. Anyone wishing, for further particulars apply to R. Shaw, 52 Harold street, New Clee, Grimsby..
This advertisement appeared in the agony column of a Manchester evening newspaper on May 3rd. Behind it lies a
curious and romantic story which Mr Shaw related himself.
"The little girl was kidnapped fifty one years ago," he said, "and though every effort. was made by her parents to find her, they were in vain. And yet I knew her. She became my wife thirty six years ago, and died on March 10th last, aged fifty-three years.
"When I first knew her," he continued. "she was living with an old lady in Hull whom she called 'Grannie.' The old lady was a widow, and appeared to have plenty of money. She vigorously opposed our marriage, but we managed it on the sIy, and it was then I learned the story of how my wife was kidnapped.
"She told me she could distinctly remember playing In a beautiful garden in front of a big house with stone steps. Suddenly a dark lady leaned over the wall and pressed some sweets upon her. Then a handkerchief was placed over her mouth, and the next
thing she remembered was being in a train with Grannie (Mrs Payne)."
Some time after Mr Shaw had been married, "Grannie" relented, and eventually came to live with the couple, though she did not hesitate to express her disapproval, of the match. ."She should not have thrown herself away on a laborer," she said, "when she could have had a lord."
But "Grannie" met with an accident, and fearing she was going to die she called Mrs Shaw to her and said: Maggie, I have deceived you all my life. There was a woman in love with your father, but he rejected her In favor of your mother. Your father was a very
wealthy man, living in Eccles, near the racecourse. If you ever go to Manchester you will find the house, because there is a very peculiar tree in front of it. The woman scorned was also weal thy and well known. She stole you while your parents were at the races and when they returned they were almost demented at finding you gone. The lady gave me £900 to carry you away and bring you up. I took you to Hull"
Mr Shaw says his wife refused to repeat the story, "because she did not wish to get Grannie Into disgrace." Now that his wife is dead, however, he is endeavoring to find some clue which will establish the parentage of the woman he made his wife.
Mrs Shaw believed her maiden name was "Dent" or "Dennis," and she used to speak of a visit she made with "Grannie" to Manchester to see a lady, who upon catching sight of her, nearly
fainted, and,,turning to "granule;" said."What have you brought her here for?' "I promised you I would, and I have kept my word," was "Grannie's" reply..

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28th February 1865

Eccles man finds treasure troth

James Britch, the poor man who had found 6000 silver pennies at Eccles in August last, has received from the Duchy of Lancaster a treasury warrant; authorising the piyment to him at the Branch Bank of England at Manchester, of the sum of £73 2s. 6d., being the metal's value of the coins ascertained at the Royal Mint.


Note: The above coins are believed to have been part of the collections levied on the ecclesiastical revenues made in England by Pope Gregory about 1240. The indignation of the public at the sending of such large sums of money out of the country was so great that the papal collectors, Peter the Red and one Supino, had to leave in haste. They buried the money hoping to return at a later date.

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Another article relating to the treasure troth.


The last few days there have been, under somewhat singular circumstances, a succession of finds, at the same spot in Eccles, of a very large number of silver pennies, chiefly of the reign of Henry III. The extent of the deposit may be gathered from the fact that the total quantity of these coins found numbers about 6100 pieces, having an aggregate weight of about twenty-one pounds avoirdupois. A new junction road is being made from Wellington Road, Eccles, past the boundary wall on the west side of the ancient residence known as Monk's Hall, where it is probable the Monks of Whalley Abbey, who were formerly the lords of the greater part of Eccles, Monton, and Swinton, had a Orange or farm residence, with tithe barns, &c, and where they collected rents and tithes from their tenants and other inhabitants of the neighbourhood. On Saturday week a young man named James Britch [? Bridge], a card room hand at the Moorside Mills of Messrs. John Gibb and Sons (who had two fingers taken off by incautiously putting his hand too near the beater in the blowing-room), was walking along this footpath, when his eye caught something glittering on the ground. He picked it up and found it to be a small silver coin, and a little further search was rewarded by finding about a score of similar coins. Still he did not pick up all that he saw, and did not believe the coins to be worth much, for he gave several to his companions and acquaintances. He showed some to Mr. J. Allan Gibb, one of his employers, who told him to take them for inspection to a gentleman in the neighbourhood, a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries who would be able to tell him their natureand probable value. This gentleman gave Britch a few shillings for fifteen coins, and learning that he had left tome lying on the spot, urged him to go again and biing away all he could. This was on the morning of Wednesday last week ; but strange to say, Britch did not go to the spot till Thursday evening, and then his trouble was largely rewarded by finding that not only were some coins scattered about the footpath, but that in one spot there was a large collection, which, on his beginning to remove it, he found to be contained in a coarse earthenware pot or pipkin. This he emptied, and took his treasure for safety to the neighbouring residence of Mr. Allan Gibb. About five o'clock on Friday morning Britch again visited the place, and found 179 more coins ; but he left the pot in the earth, covering it up with soil. The same morning he again called on the antiquary and told him what he had done, and the gentleman at once accompanied him to the place, and with the aid of a small garden tool, the pot (which was mouth uppermost and close to the surface) was carefully exhumed ; but was so fragile and friable that it crumbled even under tender handling, and broke, and only the lower part could be get away. Even at their fourth visit twenty nore coins were found on the surface of the footpath. The pot and coins were removed to the residence of the local Monkbarns ; where the latter were washed, a thousand of them counted, weighed in a kitchen balance, and found to be about 3 1/4 lb avoirdupois. The rest were then weighed in batches of 3 1/4lb., and in this way it was found there were probably about 6400 of these silver pennies, weighing altogether about 21 lb. The 1000 coins were then cursorily examined, and it was found that 964 of them were of Henry III. and though of different types, yet all struck before the 32nd year of his reign, 1247-48, when, in order to stop clipping, the cross on the reverse, which till then had been confined within the legend border, was carried through that border to the edge of the coin, in the new mintage of that year, All the coins examined have the shortt cross. The remaining portion of the thousand coins included nineteen of the reign of John, and seventeen of other and various types, but all probably earlier than the reign of Henry III. Of the 964 coins of Henry, there were many varieties of type. This King had mints in various parts of the kingdom, and different mint-masters, or, as they were called, moneyers, and it was then the custom for the reverse of a coin to bear the names of the moneyer and of the city or town where it was minted. Of the coins of Henry III. in this find, most stem to have been struck at London and Canterbury, but there are some also of the mints at Winchester, Taunton, Northampton, Chichester, Bury St. Edmunds, Lincoln, and Durham. Amongst the moneyers' names are Abel, Adam, Aimer, Alis, andre, Andre, Arnaud, Bart ebne, Eeneit, Elis, Fulke, Fulre, Henri, Hum, Hunter, Ilger, Joan, Chichester, Johan, «Tun, Meinir, Miles, Nichole, Norman, Fietres, Rauf, Reinard, Ricard,
Roberd, Rodbert, Roger, Saieman, Samuel, Simún, Walter, and Willelm.
The obverse of most of these pennies of Henry III. is the same, the King represented full face, with crown and cross of pealla,
and the sceptre in the right hand, surmounted by a similar cross. Legend, " Henricus Rex," but without the " Tere." or " III." of later coinage.

[ELAINE]

Thanks garry,
I have really enjoyed reading them....

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Thanks Elaine. Please check back as I am always finding these interesting stories whilst searching.

Clocks that strike thirteen.


Worsley, six miles north-west of Manchester, possesses two novel public clocks, which strike thirteen when, other timepieces mark one o'clock. One is situated in the old Worsley depot, adjoining the Bridgewater Canal, and was established there by the enterprising Duke of Bridgewater at the latter end of the18th century. It is locally reported that his grace one day surprised a number of his workmen who were returning to work ten minutes late after dinner, viz, ten minutes after one instead of at the hour. He sought an explanation, and was naively answered that the 'men' could not hear the yard clock strike one.
His grace was amused with his reply and said he would alter the existing state of affairs. He thereupon had the timekeeper so arranged as to strike 13 at 1 o'clock, and it has continued to do so for more than a century. In connection -with the transference of the works and workmen from Worsley to Walkden, the trustees of the Duke of Bridgewater have had another public clock erected on the top of their palatial offices in Bridgewater-road, which also strikes 13 at , 1 o'clock. This timekeeper, which is much larger than, the one at Worsley, has four dials, each over 6ft. in depth, illuminated at night by electricity. The workshops are close by the trustees' offices, but as the dinner hour is now from one to two the workmen do not require the novel reminder originated by the canal duke. The latter's famous 100 year's trust expires next October, then the ,Walkden, Worsley, Farnworth, Little Hulton, and other South Lancashire districts will be formally handed over to Francis Egerton, third Earl of Ellesmere.

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The precursor to the car wash?

Published - 30th November 1866


HORSE CLEANING BY MACHINERY.

At the establishment of the Manchester Carriage Company, Pendleton, there is now in practical operation a novel and an ingenious system of cleaning horses by means of a steam brushing machine, invented by Mr,Haworth. The idea has evidently been derived from the revolving brush which many hairdressers have had in use, but the application of the idea to horse cleaning is of such utility, and has had so great an effect economising labour, that it is worth a public notice, especially as we believe the machine is not in use in any other stable. In the lower stable yard at Pendleton there is a large shed, where ten or a dozen horses can be cleaned at one time Along the centre of the roof is a revolving shaft, from which hang several endless strops Each strap gives motion to a horizontal pole, at one end of which is a conical brush that rotates rapidly. On an omnibus horse being brought into the stables, after his three hours work (during which, in any kind of weather, he removes from the roads of Manchester and Salford an almost incredible quantity of dirt), he is taken to this shed and a man applies to him the machine brush. In about half an hour the horse is thoroughly cleaned, and only the head requires finishing by hand. The cleaning effected by the machine is much more searching and effectual than the most diligent hand currying can possible be, and to the majority of animals the greater cleanliness of their skins, as well as the improved circulation of the blood which is produced by the machine brush, appears to be acceptable
Most horses undergo the operation patiently and quietly, but in some animals timidity is produced by the rattle of the machinery. Under the old system, a man was thought to have done a fair day’s work if he cleaned ten or a dozen horses ,but by the machine he can clean thirty in the same time, and with considerably less bodily labour
When it is remembered that from Pendleton several hundred horses are daily sent out to work, it will be seen how important a saving in money is effected by the employment of this new process.

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Published April 7th 1906


Bridegroom Aged 90.


Mr. Isaac Lloyd, a widower of Walkden near Manchester, has married Mrs Eliza Gilmore, a Pendlebury widow, at Pendlebury, Manchester. The bridegroom is nearly ninety years of age, but looks twenty years younger. The bride is sixty years of age.

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Published 30th December 1936

VETERAN TAILOR - Claimed To Be 107


Manchester folk recall the retirement four years ago of Mr. William Groundwater, a tailor, of Pendlebury,Salford, who claimed then to be 103 years of age.
After 60 years in Manchester he retired to his native Orkney Islands and occupied a cottage with a tree-surrounded garden in Rendait, near Kirkwall.
He died recently when sitting by his fireside, presumably at the age of 107years. A cigarette-smoker to the end, and a vigorous pedestrian with candid opinions on the "road hog," he refused to allow his housekeeper - a Manchester woman-to fetch a doctor when he felt ill. Recently he declared he was "darned well not going to walk 20 miles a day for a shave," the nearest barber being in the Kirkwall,10 miles distant, so he grew a beard.

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Published 02/03/1929

SMOKING COMPETITION

GIRL BEATS MEN

A seventeen-year-old girl, Eton cropped girl gave men an object lesson in the, art of smoking a cigarette in Manchester recently, beating them all in an open competition. The competition was the final stage of a contest at the Tobacco Trades Exhibition at the Free Trade Hall. The six finalists, three men and three women, were each allowed one, ordinary sized Virginia cigarette and one match, the winner being the one who could make his or her smoke last the longest. Once lighted the cigarette could not be taken from the smoker's mouth.
All the women adopted a confident poise, which contrasted sharply with the obvious embarrassment of the men. After 20 minutes silent puffing the " field" was reduced to three, two women and a man, and a large crowd watched with keen interest the almost imperceptible creep of fire towards the 'smokers' mouths. The first to drop out was Mrs. Parkes but since she started earlier than Mr. Winstanley, she retained an interest in the placings. Mr. Winstanley, who wore his cap throughout, was left to figit out the issue with Miss Majorie Stoker, of Seedley, a typical modern miss with a boyish crop, who with su preme-self control, smoked her rival to a standstill by keeping her cigarette alight for exactly half an hour. Mr. Winstanley, who smoked for 27 1/2 minutes, was also beaten by Mrs. Parkes, who was only a minute behind the winner.
Smokes Only Now and Then
Miss Stoker's time was the best of the week. 'It isn't a question of smoking ' she said afterwards. 'The secret of success lies in not smoking. I didn't puff at all but just held the cigarette between my lips and let it burn out slowly. I am only a moderate smoker and I hope people won't get a wrong idea about me because I have won a smoking com petition. I like a cigarette now and then, but not too often. The final of the pipe-smoking com petition was won by Mr. J. Collenge, of Higher Broughton, who set up a local record of 1 hour 30 minutes during the week. His time was 1 hour 5 minutes. His rival, Mr. S. Palmerston of Salford, dropped out a minute earlier.

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Wardley Hall



Published 14th May 1897
A Hautned Hall Wardley Hall, near Manchester

A house which belongs to the Earl of Ellesmere and the trustees of the Duke of Bridgewater, is being modernised and repaired in order that Mr J. Cairns, the outside manager for the Bridgewater trustees ,may take up his residence there. The house, which lies near the main road leading from Manchester to the North and but a few minutes' walk from the ill-fated Sandhole colliery, Walkden, which has been on fire nearly three months, is famous as one of England's haunted homes.
In a glass box is kept what is deemed the cause of many strange disturbances-namely, a skull, said to be that of one Roger Downes, a "rake-hell" Cavalier of Charles the Second's Court, and the last of an old family. After gambling and drinking one night Downes walked out with a drawn sword, swearing to kill the first man he met, and kept his word, his victim being a poor tailor. By Court influence he avoided punishment for his crime and pursued his career more wildly than ever. One evening, shortly afterwards, his sister and cousin, who lived at Wardley Hall, were surprised to receive a strange looking box by the wagon from Manchester. On opening it they were horrified to find inside a grinning skull, and a communication in a quaint, crabbed hand, to the effect that it was Roger Downes' head. He had been killed in a brawl on London Bridge, his head cut off, his body thrown in the Thames the writer, an eye-witness of the affair ,forwarding it to Wardley with the significant announcement, "Heaven has avenged the innocent blood which he has shed." His relatives tried to keep the story a secret, but in vain. " No grave, says " Harland's Lancashire Legends," "would hold the head; no triple-locked box of iron would keep it captive." There was no rest till it was placed in the window of the library, its eyeless sockets looking .out over the domain it formerly ruled. Two centuries and more have passed and any attempt to disturb the skull has always brought disaster upon the disturber. At least such is the fixed belief of the country-side. One man attempted to break it up, but was taken with violent pains in his limbs as though being cut to pieces, while even to remove the skull from its accustomed resting place is said to have caused terrible thunderstorms and disturbances in the district. Thomas Burnitt, the Manchester antiquary, paid Wardly Hall a visit at the close of the last century, and wrote of the skull as "a surprising and most unusual piece of household furniture." He adds that one of the party removed it from its position to a dark corner. That night a violent' storm arose-"trees were blown down and cottages unroofed," but on the skull being returned to Its accustomed place these disturbances of Nature ceased.". Such are some of the strange stories concerning Wardley Hall, and the inhabitants round about implicitly' believe them. Whether the alteration in the old mansion will annoy the "spirit of the skull" yet remains to be seen, but in any case owing to its past history, the old place will always be of interest.

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Published 16/10/1936

ECCLES MAN'S KINGDOM


ENGLISHMAN RULES
LONELY ISLE

Every evening at sunset the Union Jack and an unknown flag carrying a white seahorse on a dark-blue background are hauled down to the sound of a Boer War bugle on a two-acre coral island in the seas, west of Singapore. It is the island of Palau Serimbun the tiniest "kingdom" in the world, ruled by an English man who does not want to return to England.
Mr. W. A. B. Goodall, who was born at Eccles, Lancashire, and later lived at Bedford, went to the East after he had served with the 1st Battalion Manchester Regiment at Ladysmith and other Boer War battles .As an engineer he undertook Government contracts in Malaya and then joined the Johore Government service. At 57 he was "too old" for engineering jobs, He found that, after many years m the tropics, he could not live in England because his blood had become too ' thin and the cold made him miserable. He leased the little island of Pulau Serimbun, a pile of rocks and palm trees, from the British Government, and established his own kingdom. He has four ''subjects"-a Chinese who was educated at Cambridge, two Chinese servants, and a Malay boatman. The flag with the white sea-horse on the dark blue background is the national flag of Pulau Serimbun. With the Union Jack it always flies from the staff near Mr. Goodall's bungalow, perched on the peak of the island.

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Published 10/08/1914

ESPIONAGE.

FIFTY SPIES ARRESTED.
GERMAN AEROPLANEWORKS SEIZED

Additional evidence of Germany's preparedness for war has been furnished by the constant discoveries of a most complete system of espionage, which is described as one of the best organised systems that one nation could use against another. Consequently the War Office found it necessary to take action, and altogether about 50 spies have been rounded up by the police.
Acting under instructions from the War Office tbe police have seized the German
aeroplane works at Salford, where they arrested 32 workmen. There is no malice however, displayed against the 30,000 Germans remaining at liberty.

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Published 26/09/1905



I was at Peel Green, six miles from Manchester. Warrington was twelve miles away, and I intended to stop there that night.
It was a wonderful blazing day. I was wearing a cap, and so got the full scorch and sear of the sun upon my face. I ought to have worn a broad-brimmed hat.
It seemed to me to be almost as hot as it would be in the South of Spain, but I walked sharply along till I began to perspire. When one perspires the sun loses its power to hurt. Then i: Is that the sun becomes beneficent, and puts power and life into a man. To walk in the blaze of the sun, with the head properly protected, is to get added length of life. For the sun is life. A sun-bath is past all the baths that the wit of man can devise
.When I was six miles from Warrington I fell in with two tramps. They were going my way, and we began talking. Both had been soldiers-good, handy-looking men, who were homeless .We came up with a man who was sitting by the roadside with his face buried in his hands. He looked ragged and tired and weary, and as if the heat of the sun had got a little ahead of him.
"Which way are you going?" I asked.
"Both ways," said the man, without raising his head.
The man had put the philosophy of his circumstances into the shortest sentence.
There was wit and truth and pith in his answer.
"Come on, then," I said.
But he did not stir. I-e had become Indifferent even to companionship.
"Come on and have a drink," I said again.
And he slowly got up.
He was a shrewd-looking, tired man, with cynical eyes, set deep in his head. He turned out to be an Irishman who hailed from Clonmel. He, too, had been in the army.
We went into the first inn we came to along the road, and I ordered pints of beer and bread and butter for the lot of us. The two men whom I had met first had eaten nothing that day. The Irish man did not say when he had eaten last. And then a man who had been hawking vegetables around in a cart chummed in with us. He, also, had been in the army, and he provided onions from his cart for our feast - for which he could take nothing. This hawker was a good sort.
He had served under Methuen in the Boer war, and he told us how he had been three days without food at Modder River. And so we talked along as we polished off the beer and the bread and onions and cheese.
And then I found myself again on the road-this time, alone. I had left the tramps who had been soldiers talking together in the inn. They had done the work of their country, and their reward was that they were outcasts upon the road. Of course, there was a good reason. I suppose, for their being outcasts just as there is a good reason for everything. But good reasons for misfortunes don't make the misfortunes any easier to bear. And it seemed to me that these soldiers had been badly used
In fact, soldiers are very badly used in England. They are looked down upon and often insulted by-the people whose battles they have to fight. The truth of the matter is that the middle and the trading classes of England shirk their plain duty to their country. Every man in England should be ready and willing to fight in the defence of his country. If he is not wiling to do this, he does not deserve to be allowed to live in the country
.Every man in England should be trained and broken into the use of arms, so that he might be a good and true man when his country was in danger. He would then learn not to despise the soldier and he would be able to do his duty.
I thought of this as I stepped along the road to Warrington.

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Published 20/08/1915

SOLDIERS WIFE DECEIVED

A soldier was committed for trial in Manchester yesterday for, impersonating Sergeant Dandy, who has been fighting at the Dardanelles. Evidence was given that the prisoner entered Mrs Dandy's shop sobbing, “Oh! I'm pleased to get home to my wife and children." Mrs. Dandy accepted him as her husband, and lived with him for a week, until her relatives expressed doubts as to the man's identity. The soldier attributed his altered appearance to the horrors of the war and the seriousness of his wounds. He explained his lack of knowledge of Dandy's home affairs by loss of memory. Soldiers who had fought with Dandy declared that the prisoner was an impersonator. Mrs. Hall of Patricroft, gave evidence that the accused was her husband, who had enlisted early in the year, and had since been in training in North Wales. Mrs. Hall, when leaving the court, shouted, "It's a caution to people who don't know their own husband! You are as bad as he is. I should know my husband in a hundred!"