ON LAND AND SEA
Reference has been made several times to the studied and determined
reticence of Mounted Policemen concerning their own achievements. That
characteristic is stamped on all their reports and probably accounts for
the fact that no member of the corps would ever attempt writing a full
record of its work as a nation-builder. And any outsider who knows the
country's history, the manner of life on the frontier and who has also
been in contact with these scarlet-coated riders, not only finds it
necessary to read between the lines for the facts but will enjoy the
ingenious efforts of these men to avoid anything savouring of egoism.
Without being so intended some of these reports are positively humorous
on account of this determination to keep "display" in the background.
Here is a gem of that type. It is a report written by Corporal C. Hogg,
who was stationed at North Portal on the Soo Line near the international
boundary. Such localities are often a sort of "No Man's Land" where
would-be desperadoes think they can set law to defiance. Corporal Hogg's
report of an evening's proceeding in that region, with a foot-note by
his superior officer who had received it, makes interesting reading. We
quote them in regular order as follows:
"On the 17th instant I, Corporal Hogg, was called to the hotel to
quiet a disturbance." Hogg put the state of disorder mildly. He
proceeds: "I found the room full of cowboys and one, Monaghan or
'Cowboy Jack,' was carrying a gun and pointed it at me, against
sections 105 and 109 of the Criminal Code." It was taking long
chances, but the Mounted Police generally waited for the other man
to start things. In this case they were started right there and
then. For the Corporal goes on to say, "We struggled." This is
terse, but it involved much more than was said, as will later
appear. "Finally," proceeds the Corporal, "I got him handcuffed
behind and put him inside. His head being in bad shape I had to
engage the services of a doctor who dressed his wound and
pronounced it as nothing serious. To the doctor Monaghan said that
if I hadn't grabbed his gun there would have been another death in
Canadian history. All of which I have the honour to report.
"(S.) C. HOGG, Corporal."
The Officer who received this report puts on the finishing touch by a
memorandum upon it to this effect: "During the arrest of Monaghan the
following property was damaged: Door broken, screen smashed up, chair
broken, field jacket belonging to Corporal Hogg damaged, wall
bespattered." It looks as if Monaghan's ancestors may have hailed from
Donnybrook, and it must be admitted that he lived up to the traditions
of Fair day in that region. But he had never met a North-West Mounted
Policeman before and would probably be wiser in the future in regard to
raising a "disturbance" when one of them was at hand.
Another evening a "bad man" from Idaho "blew in" to Weyburn. He was a
sort of travelling arsenal and got very bold when he got into an unarmed
Canadian town. He began shooting holes in verandahs, and if any one went
to look out of a window the Idaho desperado threatened to "make him into
a sieve." A prominent citizen was made to hold out his hat as a target
for this pistol artist. This citizen remonstrated and warned the Idaho
man that there was a Mounted Policeman not many miles away who would
probably hear of the situation and come over. This enraged the
"gun-man," who offered to bet that no Mounted Policeman could arrest
him, adding, "if he comes to butt in to my game I will eat his liver
cold." A telephone message was sent to Corporal Lett. It took some time
to ride in, but Lett located the Idaho citizen terrorizing a bar-room.
Lett walked in and the Idaho man had his gun up in a second. No one knew
just how it happened, but Lett sprang at the desperado. There was a
grapple and a fall, but when they got up Lett had the Idaho "gun" in his
hand. The rest was simple. The gun-man had to hold out his hands for the
"bracelets." Whether he paid the bet or not no one has recorded, but
Lett got an extra stripe for his daring.
This recalls another real incident which my friend, Robert Stead, the
well-known writer, has put into verse under the title, "A Squad of One,"
though he gives fictitious names. A certain Sergeant Blue of the Mounted
Police who was alone at a prairie post got a letter from a United States
Marshal asking him to find and arrest two men who had committed murder
and escaped to our side of the line. There was always cordial
reciprocity between the police officials along the boundary, and so the
Marshal warns the Sergeant to send out his strongest squad of men to
make the arrest of these fellows, for he said:
"They's as full of sin as a barrel of booze and as quick as a cat,
with a gun,
So if you happen to hit their trail be sure to start the fun."
The Sergeant was alone, but started out next morning clad as a farm
labourer, called at the farm suspected, found the men with
shooting-irons, but got them talking and then got them separated and
bagged them both at "the nose of a forty-four." And when he got back to
his lonely post he wrote and mailed the following note:
"To U.S. Marshal of County Blank, Greetings I give to you:
My squad has just brought in your men and the squad was,
Sergeant Blue."
Of a different variety but with the same brand of cool courage is an old
friend Donald McRae, still speaking with the Gaelic accent and now
living in Vancouver, who when I saw him first wore the scarlet and gold
in Steele's command. We were in action and McRae was shot rather
severely in the advanced skirmish line. The ambulance men were on hand
in a few minutes, but McRae refused to leave his position. He said he
had half his cartridges left and would not budge till he used them. He
stayed there till he used them, and years afterwards our gallant old
Commander, General Strange, grizzled soldier of the Mutiny, met McRae on
the coast and said jocularly to some in the company, that he had seen
lots of service but that this Mounted Policeman was "the stubbornest man
he had ever met." General Strange had Scottish ancestors and while quite
stern about it at the time of the incident probably rejoiced in secret
at McRae's tenacity.
These stories have been thrown in to indicate that all over the country
the Police in their determination not to allow lawlessness of any kind
to get a hold on the country, were doing remarkable exploits without
advertising. But we exhume them from old documents to show how these
things were done. And so as we resume our story we find Superintendent
Wood in 1905 up in Dawson busy with the finger-print system in which he,
as before mentioned, was a pioneer believer. Thus when a cabin had been
robbed of a gold watch and other valuables, Wood was satisfied, without
any other clue to the thief, when he found a finger-print on a
lamp-chimney which the man had to light in order to see what he could
annex. Then Wood proceeded to hunt for a criminal of the thief class,
for he says, "It is well known that the criminal class at large are
segregated into groups according to the line to which their abilities
are applied." By following this idea he settled on a group of five who
would likely do that sort of thing. Four of them did not answer to the
finger-print test, but the fifth showed a facsimile of the print on the
lamp-chimney. He was the man. So the Police were making it daily more
impossible for criminals to ply their trade even in the remotest points.
In those days in quite another direction and with the purpose of
inquiring into the possibilities of the Hudson Bay and Arctic regions,
Inspector J. D. Moodie was engaging in his explorations, and his
reports, with those of Starnes, Beyts, Pelletier, Howard, French,
Sellers, Rowley and others, are being consulted anew in view of the
project of railways to the great bays of the North. Some of these famous
patrols we shall discuss later.
But speaking of railways it is interesting to find statements from that
observant officer, Superintendent Constantine, who despite the fact that
his health had been undermined by the hardships of the Yukon was still
on duty in the Peace and Athabasca regions. In 1907 he discusses the
development of the Peace River country from an agricultural standpoint.
He covers very carefully the great areas that include the Grande
Prairie, Spirit River, Fort Vermilion and the rest and makes careful
analysis of their agricultural capabilities. He sees great
possibilities, but places forcibly in his report the absolute need of
railway communication with the eastern centres before much can be
expected. His forecast has proven correct in every particular. These
regions now have railway and river transportation and are prospering
accordingly. One wonders now why extracts from the reports of these men
on the ground were not put before the people in general instead of being
allowed to suffer from being buried alive in the departments of
Government. All through these official reports from the Mounted Police
officers and men, we find statements and suggestions that might have
influenced the progress of the country greatly had they been given wider
publicity throughout the years.
The Yukon country was undergoing a good many changes. The mad rush of
miners into the Mining areas had dwindled away and big companies with
new hydraulic processes were crowding out the individual miners and
causing them to seek new fields for exploitation. But the vultures and
vampires of human society were slow in letting go their victims, and the
Mounted Police had to be constantly on the watch to prevent the unwary
and the foolish from being caught in their dens. That reliable officer,
Inspector Wroughton, who was in command at Dawson City in 1907, says,
"Dance-halls and their accompanying evils have been more or less
accountable for a good deal of the existing crime. But for these
institutions the wanton and the sneak-thief and the confidence man and
woman would find their opportunities seriously curtailed. During the
last session of the Yukon Council, I am glad to state, the ordinance
licensing these places was repealed after a hard and bitter struggle.
This does not mean that the evils are entirely eradicated. Our great
difficulty is to get evidence. It is, however, more difficult now to
carry on evil businesses." The law in the Yukon as elsewhere was
fulfilling the function assigned to it in the famous words of Gladstone,
"A good law is intended to make it easier for people to do right and
harder for them to do wrong."
That great mining frontier, with its money-mad and heterogeneous
population (albeit there were many splendid people there), was at the
same time the problem and the glory of the men in scarlet and gold. It
was their problem because the criminal class which always makes a dead
set on a frontier was determined from the outset to make the Klondike
country a sort of hell on earth, and it was their glory because they
prevented the thug and the outlaw from getting a foothold where the old
flag flew. There also the lawless individual sought to get away to some
other clime, for he said there as he said in the mountains, "These
blamed Mounted Police won't give a man a chance." That was one of the
biggest testimonials ever given to guardians of the law in any country.
It is not at all generally known that a real "red" revolution that aimed
at seizing the banks and mines with the hope of dividing the spoil
amongst the "revolutionists" was planned in the Yukon a decade or more
before the Bolshevistic terror was let loose in Europe. "Soapy Smith"
the unsavoury but reckless gunman of Skagway, had developed a school of
imitators. There were probably a couple of thousand or so of these tough
characters scattered all through the north country camps, and the idea
was to rally them to a centre, overpower the few policemen, establish a
sort of "liberty" government, seize the money and anything else that
could be carried, divide it up and then scatter to the outside before
any reinforcements could come to the aid of the Mounted Police from the
East. It was an ambitious programme and the "revolutionists" had gone
some distance in their preparations. They had arms stored in certain
localities, they had a seal for the temporary government (which seal I
have personally seen), they had maps prepared indicating the centres to
be attacked as well as a record of the Mounted Police posts with the
number of men in each.
But these same Mounted Police were not asleep. They never hunted after
publicity for themselves. They never thought of the grandstand. It would
have been often more spectacular to have allowed things to come out into
the open and then fight them in a dramatic way. But the preventive power
was what they preferred to exercise. It brought them less advertisement
and public notice, but it was best for the country and that was the main
thing with the scarlet and gold men.
So Superintendent A. E. Snyder, who was in command at White Horse, where
the principal leaders of the plot had, unfortunately for themselves,
located, discovered the half-hatched conspiracy. A knock-about kind of
fellow who had a wholesome fear of the police gave Snyder a hint about
some meetings in a stable loft. Snyder got his men to search the stables
and they discovered some incriminating literature as well as the White
Horse seal of the "republic," which latter Snyder still has in his
possession. Then he wired to Superintendent Primrose at Dawson and to
Comptroller Fred Whyte in Ottawa, at the same time dispatching Inspector
Horrigan to Skagway to put the matter before the American officials.
This energetic type of action frightened the conspirators. They
scattered to the four winds and most of them rushed out of the country.
It was "good riddance of bad rubbish" and the Canadian authorities
decided to let it drop at that point. But the incident, which hardly
anyone outside the police officers above mentioned knew anything about
till some years had passed, is another proof of the statement that the
Mounted Police have headed off more crime without killing than any other
body of men in the world.
In his report for 1908 Commissioner Perry quotes with justifiable pride
from a judgment given in an extradition case by Mr. Justice Hunt of the
United States Federal Court. Counsel for one Johnson who was fighting
extradition put up the plea that Johnson would not get a fair trial in
Canada and the Judge answers that plea very squarely in his
pronouncement. He felt that a strong case had been made out against
Johnson, and he practically ridiculed the suggestion that Johnson would
not get fair play north of the line. The Judge said in part, "The fact
that the officer (Mounted Police) who made the arrest of this defendant
promptly notified him that whatever he said would be used against him,
is a powerful bit of testimony, tending to show the care with which
officers of the law proceed under British systems of government.
Extraditing a prisoner for trial in Canada is not like returning him to
a country where the institutions and laws are so at variance with our
own that the courts might be apprehensive that he might not be
protected, but in ordering that he be returned to Canada, certainly the
courts in the United States will proceed on the well-founded belief,
justified by the light of experience, that he will be afforded ample
protection and that no injustice will be done him. The testimony of the
defendant regarding a conspiracy against him, and his statement that he
cannot get a fair trial, do not appeal a particle to a Judge sitting in
a proceeding of this kind. He will get a fair trial up there."
[Illustration: HERSCHELL ISLAND. YUKON TERRITORY.]
[Illustration: ESQUIMAUX VISITING R.N.W.M. POLICE TENT.]
[Illustration: BARRACKS AT FORT FITZGERALD, GREAT SLAVE RIVER.]
[Illustration: R.N.W.M. POLICE SHELTER, GREAT SLAVE LAKE.]
[Illustration: CABIN OF REV. FATHERS LE ROUX AND ROUVIER. Murdered by
Esquimaux, as found by Mounted Police, September, 1915.]
And it is very interesting to find in the same year Superintendent Wood,
who was in command of the Yukon country with headquarters at Dawson,
standing up against reports in Eastern papers which stated that the
enforcement of law is lax in that country and morals at a low ebb. Wood
heaps up testimony to the contrary. He quotes from two Judges, Dugas and
Craig, both widely known and respected, who affirm that law is enforced
there as well as anywhere else, and that there are few cities where men
and women can go about at any hour as freely and safely as in Dawson.
The minister of a prominent church wrote to the London _Times_ and said,
"Regarding Dawson, our city is most orderly and seldom is a drunken man
seen on the streets. The Mounted Police rule with a firm hand, and life
and property are safer in Dawson than in London." A gentleman who spent
eleven years in Dawson, interviewed in 1907 in an Eastern city said, "I
have seen more trouble and immorality here in a week than I saw all the
years I was in Dawson." And Wood winds up by the strong admonition of a
man who will not allow his corps to be slandered for laxity in law
enforcement: "Let those who are so anxious to redeem the people of this
Territory commence their crusade in their own city or town. Judging from
the outside Press there are few if any places in Canada that can presume
to give Dawson a lecture on morals."
But the Yukon service where the Police were at the beck and call of
every case of need or distress or danger, no matter how much hardship
and exposure they involved, was taking its toll. The men of the corps
were paying the price for the proud privilege of preserving the Pax
Britannica in a remote region inhabited by a mixed population and
showing a record for justice and law-enforcement such as no area of a
similar character in any part of the world had ever seen. For in that
year 1908 Inspector D'Arcy Strickland, an officer of kindly generous
nature, who had gone into the Yukon with Constantine at the very
beginning, died at Fort Saskatchewan, the report stating that he had
never recovered from the effects of that pioneer service in the North.
In the same year Inspector Robert Belcher, C.M.G., who had won that
decoration in the Boer War, retired after thirty-four years' strenuous
service. It was Belcher and Strickland who had first flown the flag and
established custom-houses amid the snow and blizzards and tremendous
cold of those deadly summits of the White and the Chilcoot passes in the
days of the gold rush. Wood himself, and Constantine the pathfinder,
never threw off the effects of the Yukon days, though the former moved
back as Assistant Commissioner to the prairie and the latter did much
strenuous work in the Athabasca district where conditions were almost as
severe as in the Klondike country. Many others there were, gallant
officers, and no less gallant men, who bore the mark of their northern
vigils and patrols to the end of their days. And this applies not only
to the men of the Yukon but to those who in the Hudson Bay, Peace,
Mackenzie and Athabasca areas were abroad in polar seas or on land that
for months was hidden deep by snow and ice.
The year 1908 witnessed some notable trips and patrols. In order to wind
up all matters connected with the Peace-Yukon trail Inspector A. E. C.
Macdonnell was instructed by the Commissioner to proceed from Fort
MacLeod via Calgary, Vancouver and the Skeena River to Hazelton in
British Columbia to dispose of stores that were there and bring the
horses back to Fort Saskatchewan. The Peace-Yukon trail was begun in
order to have a road to the Yukon mines over British territory, and
during its construction a great deal of valuable information as to the
country was acquired and given out in reports by the Mounted Police. But
the dwindling down of the rush to the mines rendered the trail
practically unnecessary. The British Columbia Government did not desire
to assist and police detachments could not be spared, hence Macdonnell's
trip. It involved a route by saddle horse and pack train of over 1,200
miles, but it was carried out in perfect order.
Inspector J. D. Moodie, a noted sea and land patrolling officer, was
asserting the jurisdiction of Canada in the regions of the Hudson Bay
where there was much trading by people from the outside. Sergeant
McArthur, who held a lonely post at Cape Fullerton, receiving word that
the natives were being urged by traders to kill musk-ox contrary to law,
undertook on his own initiative, in the Arctic midwinter, a patrol which
lasted fifty days. Sergeant Donaldson, soldier and sailor too, who was
to meet a tragic death the next year, made a dangerous voyage from Fort
Churchill to Fullerton and return. A patrol with mail went from Regina
to Churchill, Assistant Surgeon LeCroix being sent with this patrol.
Staff-Sergeant Fitzgerald, hero of many trails, and who also was to find
a tragic end in the "white death" frosts of the Yukon, made that 1908
winter a patrol in a whaling ship to Baillie for the purpose of
ascertaining the condition of the natives and asserting Canadian
jurisdiction. Superintendent Routledge, going from Regina to Smith's
Landing, some 1,100 miles, looked into the matter of wild buffalo herds,
as did Sergeant Field and Sergeant McLeod, who went from Fort Vermilion
to Hay River on a similar errand.
The most extensive patrol of that year was the one undertaken by
Inspector E. A. Pelletier, who, accompanied by Corporal Joyce, Constable
Walker and Constable Conway and at a later stage by Sergeant McArthur,
Corporal Reeves and Constables Travers, McMillan, Walker, McDiarmid and
Special Constable Ford, left Fort Saskatchewan on the 1st of June for
Athabasca Landing on the way to Hudson Bay via Great Slave Lake, which
latter point they left on the 1st of July. They in due time reached
Chesterfield Inlet on the Hudson Bay. They were met at that point by
Superintendent J. D. Moodie with the Hudson's Bay steamer _MacTavish_
(called after a famous Hudson's Bay Company family). By this boat
Pelletier and his men started for Churchill, but the _MacTavish_ in a
storm was driven on a reef and totally wrecked. The men all escaped and
went to Corporal Joyce's lonely post at Fullerton. Pelletier was anxious
to go on to Churchill, but had difficulty in persuading even the natives
to go, for they said, "No one travels in December and January--the days
are too cold." But the Inspector was thinking of others and writes in
his report: "I knew what a lot of anxiety the delay of this patrol would
cause and we hurried preparations." The trip was fraught with constant
danger from cold and privation, but they made Churchill on January 11.
Pelletier modestly says they did not suffer and shows how well off they
were when he can state that their dogs were never without food for more
than four days at a time! The men ran out of sugar and coffee, but he
makes light of that, though both are a great help on a cold journey.
They met no natives from whom their stocks of deer and other skins could
be replenished, and so when they were stormbound for a day here and
there they darned and patched so as to prolong the life of their shoes.
The Inspector lets in some light on the general situation when he
writes: "The worst feature of a long journey like this in a country
where no fuel is to be procured, is the absolute impossibility of drying
clothing, bedding, etc. The moisture from the body accumulates and there
are no means to dry clothing to get rid of it in any way, and every day
sees it harder to put on in the morning and the beds harder to get into
at night, until both clothing and bedding become as stiff as a board
from the ice. It is a very uninviting task and disagreeable procedure
getting into an icy bed at night and in the morning getting into icy
clothes." When both clothes and food were frozen and even the prospect
of getting an occasional piece of driftwood was dim, one can imagine the
situation and wonder at the endurance as well as the daring of these
men.
And when this state of affairs is realized one can appreciate the action
of Constable Ford as related by Corporal Reeves and forwarded in the
usual way by Superintendent J. D. Moodie, from Fort Churchill. Some
driftwood had been secured, and clothes dried when the party, consisting
of Sergeant Donaldson (in charge), Constables Reeves and Ford with two
natives, were off Marble Island and anchoring their boat, the
_MacTavish_ (which was wrecked later, as mentioned). Ford went over to
another island in a small boat to get some walrus meat, as they sighted
some walrus there. He came back and reported having killed some, and the
three constables went over to cut off their heads and bring these over.
As they were engaged in this task it began to get dark, so Donaldson and
Reeves left for the _MacTavish_ with some heads, leaving Ford on the
island to cut up the rest of the meat and one of the natives would come
back for him later. On the way to the _MacTavish_ a walrus struck the
boat and Donaldson was drowned, but Reeves, who had done his best to
help Donaldson, managed to swim back to the island where Ford had been
left. Reeves was completely numb with cold and weak with his struggles.
There was no means of getting a fire on that island, but gathering all
his strength he shouted in the darkness and Ford, who had not seen the
wreck, came to his help. Reeves writes vividly of an act of sacrifice on
the part of his companion: "By this time I was very numb and helpless
through being in the water so long and getting into the night air, which
was very cold. My clothing being soaked through, I would certainly have
perished had it not been for Constable Ford, who took off my wet clothes
and gave me his dry ones--wringing out as much water from my clothes as
he could he put them on himself." Then, in this icy suit, Ford searched
all night for Donaldson in vain. It was running a most desperate risk of
losing his own life, and if done under the eyes of others would have
been declared as valorous as the deed of any man who ever rode back to
rescue a wounded comrade under fire of the enemy.
Inspector Pelletier's patrol returned to Regina after nearly a year's
absence, during which they travelled by trail and water about 3,500
miles, a most extraordinary feat. The report of the patrol decided some
important points as to the nature of the country, the conditions of the
natives and the places where detachments of Police should be located.
Up in the sub-Arctic regions in the other directions, the Mounted Police
were keeping their lonely vigils and making their hazardous journeys.
Staff-Sergeant (later Inspector) Fitzgerald, who after several years in
charge at Herschell Island was relieved in 1909 by Inspector Jennings,
gives a little pen-picture of the place when he says, "Herschell Island
is one of the most lonely places when there are no whaling ships. There
is no place one can go except to visit a few hungry natives, and there
is no white man to visit nearer than 180 miles." After speaking highly
of his comrades, Constables Carter and Kinny, he refers to one journey
incidentally and says, "The heavy ice between Kay and King points formed
large pools of water and we struggled with the large sleds all day,
sometimes up to our waists in water." One wonders how these men stood
it. The Commissioner was right when he indicated that service in the
north required men of robust health and hopeful temperament. Inspector
A. M. Jarvis says the sailors regard Herschell Island as a "blowhole."
The wind blows one way or the other constantly, and he quotes the
captains as saying that "a nor'-easter never dies in debt to a
sou'-wester." But Jarvis introduces a fine human touch when he says of
the inhabitants, "They are quite religious, holding services on Sunday
and doing no work on that day. They neither beg nor steal, and slander
is unknown amongst them. They are as near 'God's chosen people' as any I
have ever seen. After my experience of this world I could almost wish
that I had been born an Esquimaux. They are very fond of their children
and take the greatest care of them. The children never require to be
chastised and are very obedient. One never sees any quarrelling or
bickering amongst them. They show the true sport in their games of
football and baseball. The other day I noticed a crowd of little tots,
in their skin clothes, playing on the snow for several hours as though
they were in a bed of roses." This is a delightful picture and in rather
painful contrast to our more artificial life, so that one can understand
Jarvis' wish.
These policemen had a fine regard to the human side of the world's work,
and often indicate their keen desire for the things that they deem in
the highest moral interest of their districts. In the year we have been
discussing, Inspector Horrigan went from Dawson to the Upper Pelly River
to look into the matter of a supposed murder and to bring about a
reconciliation between two groups of Indians that had fallen out about
something. He found that the Blind Creek Indians were in the wrong and
effected a better understanding all around. Of the Indians on the Upper
Pelly, he writes in his report, "The Pelly Indians are sober, honest and
provident. Morally their standard is very high. It seems too bad that so
far no provision has been made for a school for the children, as they
are a very bright, clever-looking crowd. I see a great field here for
good, active Christian work." This is finely spoken--a good admonition
both to Church and State--but incidentally also a rebuke to certain
phases of a so-called higher civilization which often gives to the
unspoiled children of nature its worst rather than its best features.
And up in the Mackenzie River district where we left Inspector Jennings
in charge we find that able officer also engaged in prescribing certain
rules regarding the conduct of visiting ships which tend to ward off
from the unsuspecting natives some practices which would not be for the
good of these innocent people.
Down in the Middle West the Mounted Police were having difficulty with
people whose type of religion, being unmixed with intelligence, led them
into fanatical excesses. The Doukhobors, or "Spirit Wrestlers" as their
name means, were a body of people who had come from Southern Russia,
where they had not enjoyed anything like liberty. When they arrived in
Winnipeg, where I recall speaking to the first band through an
interpreter, they sent back a cablegram to their friends, which was
shown me at the time by Mr. McCreary, Commissioner of Immigration at
that point. The cable read, "Arrived Canada safe are free." The change
was a little too much for them, and they did not realize that they were
not free to become nuisances to others. They were ignorant, illiterate,
but had the merit of being conscientious and being willing to suffer for
conscience' sake. This latter characteristic always prevented me from
condemning them wholly. Once their ignorance was removed they would
become industrious and orderly citizens.
But in the early stages they were fanatics and used to go on
pilgrimages, they said in search of Christ. Inspector Junget, Sergeant
(now Inspector) Spalding and others of the Police had a lot of trouble
in rounding them up, giving them food and preventing them from shocking
communities by their parades. The Police used great tact and in the end
succeeded in impressing these strange people with some sense of
responsibility. In the midst of the difficulty a half-crazed man named
Sharpe crossed from the States with some others. He said he was "Christ"
going to "God's people, the Doukhobors," but as he was heavily armed and
threatened to shoot anyone who tried to stop him, his claim was
naturally rejected. Inspector Tucker and a detachment went to see Sharpe
and reported that an arrest could not be made without shooting, so it
was decided to wait and watch. Sharpe sent the following letter to
Tucker: "To save bloodshed use some judgment. I will not give up alive,
so some of us would be shot. If I have to continue amongst sinful men I
had rather die. No one can say that Jesus is the Christ only by the Holy
Ghost. The spirit came to Christ in the form of a dove. It came to me in
the form of a lion. When the Doukhobors receive me, then the Lord will
prove me and your eyes can open wide." But the Doukhobors were getting
their eyes open and the Police, rather than kill anyone, pursued a
waiting policy with close supervision. Finally Peter Veregen, the
czaristic leader of the Doukhobors, warned the Doukhobors not to receive
Sharpe. This nonplussed the fanatic, who had come possibly with an eye
to business. He expressed disgust at the way the Doukhobors were in
subjection to Veregen, "But they must be the people of God," he said,
"or they would not be in such subservience. Veregen has a fine graft and
I would like to run the spiritual side of the business for him."
However, the redoubtable Peter wanted no partner, so Sharpe and his
following crossed back to the States, informing Constable King, who saw
them safely across, that "they would be back next spring." However, they
came not. The Doukhobors, particularly the new generation, have made
much progress and have prospered in establishing some useful industries.
But for several years they were a source of a good deal of anxiety to
the red-coated riders, who wished to guide them to better conditions
without harshness. Events have justified the attitude of the Police.
Of course, these law-enforcers still had the ordinary class of offenders
to deal with, for crimes like horse-stealing and "cattle-rustling" die
hard. For instance, a man named Marker, then south of the line in North
Dakota, who, having been allowed out on bail by the Canadian
authorities, when he was under a charge of horse-stealing, lost no time
in going across beyond the reach of the Mounted Police. Corporal Church,
on detachment work, kept his eye on the border for a sight of Marker,
who might come over to replenish his stock of horses. Church got word of
his intention at a given time, and taking a man named Kelly with him he
rode all night, and finding a companion of Marker's, he got the
information that the horse-stealer would likely cross over some 20 miles
westward. Their horses were pretty tired, but Church and his men kept
on, and concealed themselves near a trail crossing the boundary about
that distance away. In a few hours Marker and another man rode over and
Corporal Church, galloping up to him, ordered him to halt. Marker
wheeled, drew his revolver and made for the line. Kelly headed him off
and Marker shot at him, but missed. Kelly then charged, knocking both
Marker and his horse over. He quickly remounted and rode on, but Church
intercepted him, telling him he would shoot if he did not stop. Marker
attempted to shoot the constable, but his revolver missed fire. Church
then shot Marker's horse and captured the horse-stealer before he got to
the line. Church then hired a team to take the prisoner to the
detachment headquarters. But when the wagon on a winding road seemed to
be on the American side of the line, Marker threw himself from the
conveyance and reaching a house at the spot, rushed in and slammed the
door. Church reports: "I forced the door open and was met by a blow in
the eye from Marker, who had taken his spurs off and used same as a
weapon. I grappled with him and threw him on the floor, and with
assistance tied his hands and feet after a good rough and tumble scrap."
Church had done his duty surely, but whether lawyers and surveyors would
prove that the arrest was made a few feet over the line or not we cannot
say. The lads of the scarlet tunic always got their man, but the courts
sometimes let him go again.
In support of the position taken by Superintendent Wood, already quoted
in regard to the orderliness of the Yukon, it is interesting to quote
from Inspector Wroughton, who was in command of the Dawson Division. He
says, looking back over 1908, "I am pleased to report that there has
been very little crime in this district during the last eleven months
and, I might say, none of a serious nature." In the list of cases for
gambling and such like one can gather from the names that the Mounted
Police did not confine their efforts to suppressing gambling amongst
aliens as some have done elsewhere. The majority of names mentioned are
of our own race. The Mounted Police played no favourites.
In his report for 1910, Commissioner Perry makes the almost incredible
statement that twenty-five new detachments have been established during
the past year without any increase in the strength of the Force. The
corps seems to have had all through the years an extraordinary
elasticity. It seemed to be able to stretch itself over constantly
growing areas of settlement and to meet the situation created by the
increasing tide of immigration that was flowing over the great new West.
That could only be effected because of the superior quality of the
individual men, their ability to act separately and upon individual
initiative. They did not require to have mass formation to keep their
courage up to the necessary pitch. And still better they had the
training that would make them reliable in judgment when sudden and
unexpected conditions arose. Perry's policy to have a goodly number of
men always in training at headquarters so that unready recruits should
not have to go out to face emergencies, was being approved by events as
highly statesman-like. But he was right in constantly keeping before the
Government the need for increasing the numbers of the Force, because,
although the men were wonderfully efficient and could be trusted even in
"detachments of one," the fact was that burdens were laid upon one man
that should have been borne by two or three. To many a man the increase
in the number of detachments meant doubling his hours in the saddle and
lessening his hours for recuperation. One wonders that more men did not
break down under the strain. But for their invariable high calibre this
would have been the result. An indication of the way in which the
arduous labours of the Police were appreciated is found in the 1909
report of the Commissioner of Agriculture in Saskatchewan, who speaks of
the "invaluable assistance given by the officers and men in enforcing
the various ordinances of the department. In particular I refer to the
Horse-breeders Ordinance, the Fire and Game Ordinances and the Public
Health Act, the latter calling for vigilant work in patrolling foreign
settlements quarantined for outbreaks of infectious and contagious
diseases. Had it not been for the excellent service rendered to the
department by this hard-working and highly-trained force of men, the
spread of disease would probably have reached epidemic proportions."
Speaking of the kind of men required to keep up the reputation of the
Force, Commissioner Perry has this illuminating statement: "We require
sober, trustworthy men; those who are not, only remain in the Force
until they are found out."
During the year 1910, there were some notable changes in the Force.
Wood, who had served for thirteen years in the Yukon, ten of which as
the highly efficient Officer Commanding, was promoted to be Assistant
Commissioner; Starnes, who had done difficult work in many places,
latterly in the Hudson's Bay district, was promoted to the rank of
Superintendent; Sergeants Sweetapple, Raven, Fitzgerald and Hertzog
became Inspectors; while two excellent officers, Inspector John Taylor,
son of Sir Thomas Taylor, Chief Justice of Manitoba, and Inspector
Church, the famous riding master, were called by death.
Superintendent Cortlandt Starnes gives a rather chilling picture of the
Mounted Police surroundings at Fort Churchill where the weather
indicator was for months hitting the bottom of the thermometer bulb, and
where there was a general monotony in surroundings. He says, "The place
is a dreary one, and there is nothing in the way of recreation for the
men except reading and no place to go except the Hudson's Bay post and
the English Church mission on a Sunday." This is a good tribute to the
self-sacrifice of the missionary. Starnes goes on to say, "There was a
gramophone, but it is broken and out of order. The mess-room is a cold
and forbidding place." Starnes has a good appreciation of the value of
some cheerful environment for his men, for he says, "I have had some
chairs put up instead of the long benches, and I have requisitioned for
a few pictures to put on the walls. I would also like to have the tin
plates and cups replaced by the ordinary white crockery, or crockery of
a cheap standard pattern." Starnes is not extravagant in his
requisition. Canada is a rich country, and these men holding her lonely
outposts deserve consideration, but some picayune arm-chair censor may
cut things out, and so the Superintendent goes warily, but he will not
desist altogether because he knows the place better than the censor, and
he knows that his men should have some reasonable comforts. "A small
billiard table," he says, "and some additional books and magazines would
be acceptable. The library is well patronized, but in a year's time the
most of its books will have been read." A year is quite a while to wait
for a mail. It was at a post something like this one that one early
Hudson's Bay Company official heard of the Battle of Waterloo a year
after it happened. But he held a celebration even then, for were not
these grim old traders men of British stock who were holding a new
Empire for the British Crown? Of course, things were improving since the
advent of the Mounted Police, for they had instituted what Inspector
Jennings facetiously called a "rural mail delivery" through regions near
the Pole. Jennings himself and his men had patrolled through snow and
ice very extensively that year, and the sense of humour that could speak
of this white wilderness as a "rural route" would be a saving
make-believe in the midst of Arctic blizzards. And the thought of
bearing a loving missive to solitary men from friends thousands of miles
distant, might well thrill the imagination of these knights of the
modern day.