From the Evening News, July 12, 1904: A CASE of attempted murder by means of sending a snake through the post has just come to light in Western Australia.

A package containing a venomous snake was posted to the wife of a well-known hotel keeper. The snake was packed in a parcel, with a hole at one end to admit air. The postal officials, however, noticed the exceptional weight of the packet and, feeling the contents moving, looked through the aperture and into the eyes of the snake. The snake was duly killed, but the author of the outrage has not yet been found.

AT the Clitheroe Board of Guardians Mr Parmeter stated that 139 tramps had called at one house at Dunsop in the last 13 weeks and people were becoming frightened. The clerk: "Then you can only put up a notice - 'tramps will be shot'." (Laughter). The chairman: "I suggest 'tramps beware, for death prepare'." (Loud laughter).

From the Evening News, July 12, 1954: FOR the first time for almost three years the number of people totally unemployed in Bolton is under the 500 mark. On June 14, 370 men and 107 women were wholly unemployed and 23 men and seven women were temporarily stopped. The lowest point in unemployment was reached in November, 1951 when the total, including those temporarily stopped, was 491. This was, of course, in the days before the cotton recession.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR: The other day I got on to a bus at the terminus. The driver was puffing at one of those gurgling pipes, the kind you can hear two yards away and smell 20 yards off if the wind is blowing in your direction. I am a smoker myself, but I think pipe smoking should be banned in any enclosed space where there are women and children. Neal Gregory, Crumpsall Street.

From the Evening News, July 12, 1979: MORE than 5,000 people - the highest ever figure in the 40-plus history of the event - turned up for yesterday's session of Bolton Family Holiday Week. Nearly 2,000 people took part in the events.

THE fastest mover on a spacehopper during his recent visit to Butlin's Skegness Holiday Centre was six-year-old Craig Errington of Elliot Street, Farnworth.

From the Evening News, July 12, 1994: BOSSES at Montcliffe Quarry in Georges Lane, Horwich, say the weekend fire, which damaged a stone-crushing machine, was a deliberate sabotage attempt. Fire bugs wrecked the wiring to the machine at the quarry, run by ARC Northern, after starting a small fire with oily rags. Quarry boss Graham Lamond said: "It seemed to be a deliberate attempt to put us out of action by people who knew what they were doing."

SPY cameras could soon be installed in Westhoughton to combat town centre crime. The move follows fresh calls from high street shopkeepers worried about the rising tide of burglaries and vandal attacks.