July 16, 1966

THE D&S Times reported on a packed protest meeting in Hurworth in which residents who lived on the banks of the Tees from Croft to Worsall were united in their opposition to the Tees Valley and Cleveland Water Board’s proposal to extract water from the river.

The board proposed to build an 80-yard weir across the Tees just above its confluence with the Skerne at Croft, and then pump out 23m gallons of water a day to satisfy the thirst of Teesside industry. This would usually leave at least 10mgd flowing down the river, but some days it could be 5mgd or less when there would be just three inches of water trickling over the weir.

The reason the pumping station had to be above the confluence was because of the state of the Skerne. Its average flow was 15mgd of which 5mgd was sewage from Darlington – no industry would want such polluted water.

To make matters worse, the National Coal Board was about to turn off the pumps which bailed out south Durham collieries, removing 8mgd from the Skerne. Therefore, the Skerne would be down to 7mgd of which 5mgd would be sewage.

Dentist WA McMaster of Over Dinsdale said: “The river will not be a river. All you will have is a mass of sewage outside your doors for you to smell.”

Durham County Council was still deliberating over the water board’s application – angry residents accused the council of selling them "up and down this somewhat filthy river" – but North Yorkshire had already rejected it. However, an appeal at County Hall was imminent.

“County Councillor Capt William Parlour assured the meeting that the council had retained the best barrister it knew to represent its interests at Northallerton,” said the D&S.

The weir was never built.

July 15, 1916

TWO court cases catch the eye from the paper of 100 years ago. The first concerns what in these post-Brexit days would be called a “hate crime”.

Leonard Masters, dental surgeon, and William Haigh, publican, from Huddersfield were charged with assault at Helmsley station and interfering with North Eastern Railway passengers.

Rhodes Hepplethwaite of Husthwaite had asked the booking clerk for a 1,000 mile ticket to Coxwold – he was obviously a frequent traveller – when Masters “addressed him in abusive language, asking him if he were the ruler of the universe and a German”.

Mr Hepplethwaite advised him to moderate his tongue, and was severely kicked and punched for his troubles.

When arrested, Masters said he imagined the complainant was "that foreign gent who resides at Coxwold".

The defence solicitor for the accused men said that "there was not the least justification in the suggestion that they had come to mark any particular man or that there was a German there to go for”. He said: “Masters wishes to tender a most full and ample apology for the unwarranted and unprovoked attack. There was not foundation in the accusation that the complainant was a German, a spy, or anything of that sort.”

The men were fined £5 each for assault and £2 each for interfering with railway passengers.

At Stockton County Court, there were sniggers when a letter was read from Joseph Jackson of Darlington saying why he was unable to pay the damages that had been awarded against him.

He said: "I have no personal assets, and I have got too many irons in the fire (the moneylenders being around me like flies around a treacle cask) and I rely on my earnings which are not too gigantic by any means, although augmented at times by phrenological and graphological delineations of character.”

Graphology, of course, is the study of handwriting to determine the nature of the writer, and phrenology is the study of the shape of the human skull to create a picture of the person who lives within it.

Mr Jackson continued: “But my luck has been dead out, and although a lifelong teetotaller and doing my bit to make ends meet, the last straw, I may say, is almost upon the camel’s back.”

He was given more time to pay.

July 14, 1866

“AN accident of a peculiarly melancholy character, and attended with serious results, occurred on the North-Eastern Railway on Monday whereby the wife of Mr J Moug, of Markston Bar, near North Cowton, was deprived of both her legs, and her life endangered,” said the D&S of 150 years ago.

The unfortunate lady, 55, was walking along the line, which ran from Richmond to Darlington, to catch the 9.30am train at Dalton Gates which would have taken her to Darlington market. However, with the wind blowing violently in her face, she hadn’t heard the train behind her.

“She was knocked down and the train passed over her legs, completely severing them both above the ankles,” said the paper. In a terrible state, she was carried to her home where, the following day, with her condition improving, two doctors arrived from Darlington and amputated her legs below the knees.

“She never fully recovered from the effects of the operation and she sank and died the following evening,” said the D&S.

To end on a cheerier note, three weeks ago in this space, we told how pedestrianism – long distance endurance walking – was all the rage 150 years ago. A chap was walking non-stop for a week from Barnard Castle to Bishop Auckland in the hope people would give him tips.

Three weeks later, Mr Turner, 42, of Guisborough, was copying the idea, aiming to walk 300 miles in six days, by going from Redcar to Guisborough six times each day.

“He performed his feat all right on Monday and on Tuesday he showed signs of fatigue which resulted in him not making his appearance on Wednesday morning,” said the D&S. “His wife then undertook to finish the feat, but on Friday she had likewise to succumb. The hot weather is said to have been too much for them.”