CAN you imagine a remarkable Victorian scene in St Helens town centre with a cow stuck within the roof of a solicitor’s office in Hardshaw Street?

The beast was not at all pleased at its predicament as a group of men with pulleys and blocks attempted to haul it to safety.

In those days it was quite common to see animals in the streets of St Helens, so cows being driven towards the yard of the Fleece Hotel for a cattle sale would have merited little interest.

But at 4pm on October 31, 1893, one independent-minded cow decided to go to law instead of the Fleece’s yard. Daisy shot into the premises of Joseph Massey at 7, Hardshaw Street, ran up the stairs, smashed a glass door and reached the second floor then broke through a staircase window and scrambled onto the roof.

Her four legs went through the slates, her hind legs sank through a plaster ceiling.

A dozen men were soon on the roof, including butchers and police. No doubt they did a lot of head-scratching until ropes were brought and passed round a chimney.

These were then connected to pulleys and blocks, as well as to the trapped Daisy. The intention was to slowly lower the cow through the roof. However as the rafters were being sawn away to create a large enough hole, the belligerent bovine kicked wildly, smashing up large numbers of slates.

Eventually Daisy was safely back on the street, leaving considerable damage in her wake.

Just what lawyer and local councillor Joseph Massey had to say about his offices being wrecked isn’t recorded, but he had quite a temper.

On May 26, 1891 the local press published an article about a waterworks. Some saw it as being critical of St Helens Council, so Cllr Massey summoned newspaper manager Fred Dromgoole to his office. Massey, the elected representative for South Eccleston, gave him a real pasting, striking him 20 times to the head and knocking out a tooth.

Amazingly Cllr Massey got away with his attack and in 1903 was made Mayor of St Helens.

Bizarre animal tales were much more common when most transport was horse-driven and many folk kept pigs in their back yards. Sometimes there was tragedy, such as in August 1892 when five-months-old Alice Fairclough of 59, Back College Street died after being attacked in her cradle by one of her family’s pigs which had strayed into their home from the back yard.

That same year the Clarke family at 64, Morley Street had an unwelcome experience in May when during a cattle sale in the yard of the Red Lion in Bridge Street when a cow seized an opportunity to escape. Pursued by several men it ran along Ormskirk Street, Duke Street and then into Cowley Hill by this time chased by a large posse.

It took refuge at the home of John and Mary Clarke.

It entered through the open front door, ran through the parlour then into the kitchen where Mary and her two-years-old daughter Jane were sitting on a rocking chair.

A sofa and chairs were broken and after putting its head through glass, blood flowed from the cow’s nose and the angry animal was roped and returned to its owner. Luckily mother and daughter were unhurt.

A similar incident happened in St Helens on July 14, 1899, when a cow ran through the open door of the Richardson’s home at 42, Bickerstaffe Street.

The cow ran upstairs, where it got stuck half-way until the men arrived to release it and backed it downstairs and into the street.

Stephen Wainwright