100 Years Ago:

Benjamin Howard Wakefield, chauffeur of 12 Lavender Road, Worcester, was summonsed at the city police court for driving a motor car in Astwood Road in a manner dangerous to the public.

Witnesses claimed he was driving at 20 miles an hour or more, and there were school children about. But the defendant said he was going at no more than 14 mph, and friends affirmed he was a very skilful driver. However, he was found guilty and fined £2 with £1.1s.6d costs.

* Terrible disaster in Ohio. A shocking holocaust of children occurred this week at a school in North Collingwood, a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio. It appears that a stove became overheated and set fire to surrounding woodwork. The flames spread so rapidly that the majority of the teachers and schoolchildren could not escape. In all, 178 lives are believed to have been lost. Only 80 of the 300 pupils escaped uninjured.

150 Years Ago:AN accident of a melancholy nature occurred on Monday last at Shrub Hill station in which the life of William Rawlings, foreman porter in the passenger department, was sacrificed.

At the inquest held at the Prince of Wales Inn on Tuesday, it was stated by witnesses that the deceased escorted a female passenger into a compartment and remained there when the train pulled out. He rode about 10 or 15 yards and, in jumping out, fell between the platform and the carriages and was twisted round three or four times and then disappeared.

After being dragged about 100 yards, the train was stopped and his head was found between the rod and the carriage wheel. He appeared quite dead.

A verdict of accidental death was returned by the jury at the inquest. Rawlings was 34 years of age and leaves a wife and three children to mourn his untimely death. He was the oldest servant at the Worcester station and one of the oldest on the line. His widow will receive £10 from the Railway Accident Fund and we are happy to say that a subscription is about to be opened at each station on her behalf.

200 Years Ago:Mad dogs. Much alarm having been excited by the appearance of madness in some dogs in the neighbourhood of this city of Worcester, all persons having dogs are desired to keep them tied up or otherwise secured, as proper persons are employed to destroy any which are found in the streets - by order of the Mayor, Worcester April 19, 1808.

* On Monday morning last died at his father's house in Bridge Street, Worcester, after a tedious and painful illness, James Wilkins, china manufacturer. He was a very amiable young man and his loss will be deservedly lamented by his family and numerous friends.

* On Wednesday, two publicans were convicted here in the mitigated penalties of five shillings each for suffering tippling in their houses on the Sabbath.

* Hay for sale. Enquire of the toll gate man near Worcester Bridge.

250 Years Ago:THE commissioners of the Turnpike Road leading from Worcester through the borough of Droitwich to Bromsgrove, having come to a resolution to erect a bridge over the River Salwarpe, do hereby give notice that any person or persons willing to undertake the building of the said bridge, may attend on the commissioners at their next meeting at the George Inn, Droitwich on May 7, next, to deliver plans and estimates thereof.

The commissioners have also agreed to the pulling down of the chapel in the parish of St Peter, Droitwich, called The Chapel on the Bridge, and intend to have a new one built. Any person or persons willing to undertake its building should also present themselves at the next meeting of the Commissioners.

* On Thursday last died at Droitwich, Henry Roberts who, for many years, had practised the law there with great eminence and integrity. By his death, his estate of upwards of £1,000 a year devolves on his only son, the Rev Henry Roberts, now a fellow of Wadham College at the University of Oxford.