100 YEARS AGO: DOMESTIC BLISS IN SALFORD SHATTERED BY A CHUCKED FLOWER VASE

Marital harmony is a wonderful thing I have been told, sadly this couple from Salford must have missed that memo, when Arthur Blewitt of St Stephen Street, appeared at  he Salford Stipendiary Court charged with unlawfully wounding his wife, Mary Ellen.

P.C. Barrett, told the Court that he was on duty at St Stephen Street when he noticed a crowd gathered around a house, he ascertained from speaking to Mary Ellen, who told him that she had been arguing with her husband and was afraid to go back into the house.

The noble Constable knocked on the front door asked Arthur if he would let his wife back in to the house and calm down, to which he dutifully agreed, however he slammed the door shut once she was inside and they began fighting again, with Mary Ellen screaming for police help.

Arthur had struck her on the head with a decanter causing a wound that required treatment at the nearby, Salford Royal Hospital, a scalp wound, described as being, "not of a serious nature", he was arrested and taken into police custody, where he said he had nothing to say,, however his wife turned up at the police station asking if he could be granted bail and released...not granted.

Mary Ellen took the stand and told the Magistrate that she had taken "a drop" of drink on the Saturday night and was not accustomed to it, Arthur reprimanded her for being drunk to which she answered by throwing a flower vase at his head, he ducked and it smashed against the wall luckily for him.

Arthur then gave his side of the story, 

"She has admitted being drunk and I was stone cold sober, we have six children and I would not like to injure my wife, I love her.

She took the flower vase from the dresser and flung it at me, it smashed and in my temper I picked a piece up and threw it at her it caught her on the head, but I had no intention of harming her"

The Stipendiary Magistrate after hearing all the evidence told the warring couple,

"If you both give up the drink it would be better for each of you, and for the children, also it will enable you to live more happily together"

The couple then promised to abstain from intoxicants and were discharged from the Court.

Nice to see a happy ending to a domestic argument as they do sound like a loving couple, albeit with a few hiccups, I do hope they kept of the drink and lived happily ever after.