Tuesday, August 24, 2004

100 years ago: Against a man who pleaded guilty to theft at Selby no previous conviction could be proved, but the Superintendent of Police went, it struck TT, rather out of his way to inform the Bench that the man appeared to be well acquainted with police regulations. Whether this information operated with the Bench in fixing the sentence he didn't know, but it certainly should not have done in the columnist's opinion: "acquaintance with police regulations does not, of necessity, bespeak the criminal." Knowledge of this character is held by many who in various innocent ways are brought into touch with the police, and so he saw the statement made by the Superintendent as wholly out of place, and nothing but convictions should be produced against a man, he added. TT concluded that as a rule police officers are so punctiliously correct that the departure from strict etiquette to say nothing of common justice is the more regrettable.

50 years ago: Malton and Norton residents were indulging in more than their usual share of shop window gazing, looking for a "Cuckoo in the Nest." The "cuckoos" were in each of 88 shop windows, with a prize of £5 going to the person who found the most. It was part of a novel shop window competition organised by the local Chamber of Trade and two charities: in each window was placed an article not usually sold by the shop, and people had to list what the items were, with prizes on offer and entry money going to charity.

25 years ago: The Humberside Police newspaper, Context, published some amusing and bizarre claims made by local motorists on their insurance. The article started with "I knocked over a man. He admitted it was his fault as he had been run over before." Another motorist claimed that "I collided with a stationary bus coming the other way," and yet another "dog on the road applied brakes, causing a skid." One claim was that "I blew my horn but it would not work as it had been stolen," and finally, the article ended with "I considered that neither vehicle was to blame, but if either was to blame it was the other one."

Updated: 15:25 Friday, August 27, 2004