Taken from “The History of Wetherby 1891 – 1941” by James Henry Clay
One night a band of youths went to Elli’s yard, man-handled a horse water cart stored there, pulled it to the house of Mr. Blakey in Horse Fair, and tied string to the peg at the back of the water cart, and to Mr. Blakey’s door sneck.
When they kicked at the door, Mr. Blakey went to investigate, and when he finally managed to open the door, he pulled out the peg, resulting in the release of the water in the cart which cascaded into his house.
Such pranks today would result in police court proceedings as would the taking down of a shopkeepers shutters and throwing them over the bridge wall into the river.