I was perusing the pages of the long defunct Salford City Reporter from March 1924 when I came across two similar stories from the Before The Bench pages and realised they were the same case and so I have merged them both in this heartwarming tale of Salford.
Salford Magistrates Court in Bexley Square saw James Brierley aged 27 who lived in Portland Avenue appear charged with being drunk and disorderly.
Constable Jaggard told the Bench that he saw Brierley outside a public house drinking from a bottle of beer, he told him to put the bottle away and go home, Brierley asked the Constable if he wanted a sup of the beer and refused to go home.
Jaggard decided to take him into custody but a large crowd surrounded them and a struggle took place, a woman in the crowd managed to get his police whistle and place it in his mouth so he could summon assistance.
Brierley said it was the crowds fault there was any trouble and he wanted to go home quietly but was manhandled to the police station and locked up for the night.
He was fined 25 shillings or 21 days in prison.
But what of the mystery woman who helped P.C. Jaggard in his hour of need?
The very next case before the Magistrates answers that question.
Mary Ellen Barratt summoned Mary Schofield for alleged assault, she told the Court that she was walking along Cross Lane when she saw a crowd around a Police Constable and managed to put his police whistle into his mouth despite Mary Schofield attempting to pull it out of her hand.
When the man was taken into custody Schofield struck her twice in the face and said that the police don’t need any help from the likes of you and struck her again, Barratt’s friend saw the assault and hurried her away.
Schofield told the Court that she was outside her house when she saw the Constable and the young man, and then alleged that Barrett was hysterical and shouting and that she was scared that she was going to be hit by her.
Detective Inspector Smith said that Schofield was addicted to drink and for a long time had been a problem to both her family and the local police.
The Stipendiary Magistrate thanked Mary Ellen Barrett for her assistance to the Police Constable saying he was much obliged to her.
He then fined Schofield £3 or 26 days imprisonment and said that he had thought of sending her to prison for her “brutal attack” and then added that out of the £3 fine, £1 would be given to Mary Barrett and her unnamed friend in what seems quite poetic justice…
