A Manchester steamer the Thordis was the hero of the hour in the seas after it rammed and sank a German submarine off the coast of Weymouth while carrying a cargo of coal from Newcastle to Plymouth.
Its Captain, Bell, went on the offensive after the fearsome submarine fired a torpedo at his small steamship in the English Channel. He steered full steam ahead towards the U-boat’s periscope until he and his crew heard a loud crash from beneath them. Minutes later oil from the stricken sub floated to the surface of the sea and it was never seen again.
After returning to port news that Capt Bell’s ship had become the first to sink one got out and he and his crew were given a reward of £860. He also received the Distinguished Service Order by King George V at Buckingham Palace, an 18 carat gold watch and given a celebratory dinner at the Mansion House in London.
The former German Consul in Manchester Captain Schlagintweit who had been arrested at the end of August for contravening his travel permit and had since been detained in a detention camp near Denbigh, was to return to Germany in a prisoner exchange.
The Captain had been elected mess president while being interned. He was a reserve officer in the Bavarian Jagers and wore the German order of the Red Eagle.
Tributes were being paid to the work of the Manchester First regiment in France who had fought at Givenchy urging a thirty hour on and off attack and counter attack.Sir John French’s report described the gallant attack of the Manchester’s during the battle.
The Evening News would use the report as a recruiting cry.”What do the young men of Manchester who are still sticking to their office desks, their soft jobs and their afternoon lounges in the cafes think of that.”
A renowned astrologer, Mr Alan Leo was making predictions about the war.He had predicted its outbreak back in 1910 and had said that the Kaiser was doomed to fail,his friends will desert him, he will ruin his country financially and bring the end of the Royal Dynasty in Germany and will be the direct cause of revolution.
He was predicting that the summer would see great efforts made towards a peace process but should that fail, the war would continue into 1916.
The public were hearing of the advance of the Allied fleet on the Dardanelles, The first Lord of the Admirality, Winston Churchill’s attempt to attack the soft underbelly of the Central Powers, as shelling had begun on the Turkish forts from the Gulf of Xeros.
A Stockport man was in court charged with embezzling money from his employer.Robin Kelsall from Heaton Norris broke into the counting house of the Reddish brewery, where he had worked as a clerk for the last eight years, stealing £412 6s and 2d. he had hidden the money in a flue at the premises.Hearing his case, and that the prisoner would plead guilty he was released on bail and committed for trial at the Salford sessions.
An inquest was held on a sixty seven year old man who had been badly bitten by a horse.One of his arms was badly mutilated and he was taken to Salford Royal hospital where he later died.A verdict of accidental death was returned.
