Women are still presented to us by the media as the gentler sex, however this little story from the pages of the Eccles and Patricroft Journal would seem to disprove the theory.
In May 1915 Eccles Magistrates Court heard the sorry tale of Jane Flack, who lived at Silk Street in Eccles.
The houses and neighbourhood around Silk Street have been long demolished but the area would roughly be where the Morrisons car park is now.
100 years ago: Brawl erupts on Patricroft Bridge as mums go toe-to-toe
This was a thriving residential and industrial area in the 19th century, with the Eccles silk mill remembered in this blue plaque on the supermarket boundary wall, near Eccles bus station.
The plaque, installed in the centre of Eccles – By Nick Harrison via Flickr
The Talking Town plaque, Eccles Town Hall in the background – By Nick Harrison via Flickr
Mrs Flack told the Magistrate that she was minding her own business at her home, it was around 9.30pm when she heard Emma Jones, who lived at Clegg Street, quarelling loudly with a neighbour of hers.
She approached Mrs Jones and enquired, I’m sure in a non-confrontational manner, what all the noise was about, as any good neighbour would.
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For her sins she was told to “shut up as it was none of [her] business” and for good measure was punched in the face, blacking both her eyes.
The trouble wasn’t yet over as Mrs Flack fled to Mrs Lingard’s, who was her neighbour, as she feared for her safety and wanted to avoid the feuding Jones woman.
Undaunted, Emma Jones raced over to the Lingard household, banging on the front door, shouting and making a huge commotion. When the door was finally opened she pushed in and started scrapping with Jane Flack, who by this time had already thrown in the proverbial towel in and didn’t want any further punishment.
Mrs Kilgarriff, another a neighbour on Silk Street, gave evidence to the Magistrate in which she stated that she and Jane Flack were both keeping their distance and watching the initial argument unfold when Emma Jones came along and started punching the defendant for no reason.
One resident, Mrs Pennington, gave evidence in which she said that she saw both women fighting but didn’t see Jane Flack receive the pair of shiners.
Perhaps because Mrs Pennington also resided in the same street as Emma Jones she wanted a quiet life and chose to tell the court, what she ‘thought’ she saw.
The Magistrate tired quickly of hearing about the women fighting and behaving in a disorderly manner, fining Emma Jones 10 shillings and sixpence or else face 14 days imprisonment.
I do know that Silk Street along with Timothy Street in Eccles were considered to be on the ‘rough side’, but has Eccles changed for the better?
Main image: © Salford Local History Library
