Rumours rife over bride’s auction lots

A youthful William Hague talks to five-yearold Katy Perry, left, at the opening of an extension to Mill Hill Primary School, Northallerton. The year is 1990. Is Katy Perry still living in Northallerton, and what of her classmates? 

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From this newspaper 150 years ago

Staindrop matrimonial disappointment – An unworthy couple, not many miles from Staindrop, about a year ago, agreed to enter the holy bands of wedlock.

The wedding dress was bought for the bride elect, the wedding cake was made, and the fickle bride elect provided a large quantity of household requisites, and deposited them in the intended bridegroom’s house (a brisk young widower), who was already a house-keeper – but alas, for some reason unknown, the lady regretted what she had done, but contrived by stratagem to regain possession of the luckless deposits, which she did by various pretences, and had them removed by piecemeal.

They were kept secure till it was anticipated the rumour was blown off, and on Saturday last, they were sold by auction. The crafty lady had not all her wits about her as the first letter of her surname was marked on each lot, which let the “cat out of the bag”. No doubt the lady would turn up her eyes in her usual way when she found how matters stood.

From this newspaper 100 years ago

Bomb at Northallerton. The alarm caused by the bomb outrages has extended to Northallerton.

It is stated that the County Hall is nightly guarded by sentries to provide against any possible attempt to blow up the building.

All parcels, however innocent they may appear, are apt to be regarded with great suspicion if left untended in the vicinity of public buildings.

The other day a young porter at Northallerton Station who ventured into the bonds of holy matrimony had two empty bottles to dispose of. What they had contained, and whether they were, had been emptied by congratulatory friends in anticipation of the great event impending, has not transpired.

However, he tied the empty bottles in a brown paper parcel intending to dispose of them when he was at leisure. Meanwhile, he placed the parcel underneath the Northallerton Station platform, and when he was released from duty he went away forgetting all about it.

A colleague coming along shortly after spied the mysterious package and on the instant his mind was filled with panic fears of suffragettes and all their works, which surely included an intent to accomplish the destruction of the station. He cautiously hurried away and called the attention of other porters.

They all stood fearfully aloof at a respectful distance, listening eagerly for the tick of the machinery that told of approaching doom. Then, realising that discretion was the better part of valour they called on the poor police officer, who for the safety of the public is generally ready to put his life in imminent and dreadful jeopardy. In this case the gallant policeman did his duty. Getting some buckets of water he gave the ominous-looking brown parcel a generous drenching with cold water. After a good deal of argument, the courageous onlooker – who, in the other circumstances would certainly have gained the VC – bravely cut the string. The parcel was opened and discovery was made of – two empty bottles! Then there was a great explosion – of laughter.

From this newspaper 50 years ago

Crime in the North Riding has spiralled over the past five years and last year the number of crimes was double that of 1958.

Commenting on yet another increase in the crime figures the Chief Constable of the North Riding said: “Every effort is made to give reasonable covering with the limited resources available.” Last year there were a total of 9,175 actual crimes compared to 8,607 in 1961. Five years ago the figure was 4,777. But an encouraging feature is that the percentage of crimes detected has risen also from 50.93 per cent, in 1958 to 60.97 last year. Giving a breakdown of the crimes committed during last year, the report reveals that there were four murders, the highest figure since 1952, when there were also four.

Attempted murder rose sharply to six, the highest figure for many years. Shopbreaking, 675 offences, and stealing from motor vehicles (724) both of which show a rise over the previous year are the major single offences. A disturbing feature of the number of crimes and their increase was that young people under 17 years of age were responsible for more than a quarter of all detected crime in the county, 1,602 cases out of 5,594. During the year, 820 young people were dealt with for indictable offences as against 775 in 1961.

On the roads there was a drop in road accidents and there were fewer accidents involving multiple fatalities. There were 55 people killed in accidents during 1962. The Chief Constable states that the problem of noise is increasing.

“It seems that more thought could be given to the reduction of noise when designing modern machines and to the elimination of excessive and unnecessary noise from other sources. The public generally seem to be reluctant to complain about scrap collectors, ice cream vendors and others who use noise devices to attract custom”.