Crime and Punishment - 1886

Notes from an illustrated talk I gave, Sept. 20, 2018, at the Upper Ottawa Genealogical Group Library

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It was the autumn of 1886 and throughout the reaches of the Ottawa Valley it had been a wonderful fall.

 Most of the crops were in and soon the first contingents of men would be leaving for the lumber camps.

 In Pembroke Mr. Zack Halpenny was back at his livery business on the main street after one his horses took first prize at the Renfrew Fair.

Not far from his business - a bit east and across the street -  Mr. Benjamin Edwards had opened a butcher shop in the new Russell Block, about where Suzanne's Ladies Wear is today.

And  Henry  Hawkins was advertising his new grocery store next to Dunlop and Chapman's hardware business. 

At the other end of the street Mr. Arbuckle had just put in a new roller in McAllister's flour mill

and would stay on to run a bakery in connection with the mill after the previous baker ran off with the funds. 

Out side of town, in Oceolla, there was a new Blacksmith. 

In Cobden the Cobden Hotel had just been sold and was being renovated and August Linburg had just reopened his new tailoring shop.

 In Eganville, Mr. P. Brennan was about to open a new general store.   Eganville also reported that "The hum of the threshing machine may be heard in every direction and grain is turning out very well."

In this bucolic scene, on October the 11th,1886, outside of Palmer Rapids, on a warm and sunny morning, surrounded by the fields he had carved out of the woods and mere steps away from his home, Mr. David Koglin pick up a length of ironwood some 4 feet long and about an inch in diameter and used it to beat his neighbour, Mrs. Minnie Werckenthal, to death.

At the time of the incident David Koglin was described in the paper as being 44 years old, 5 feet 7 or 8 inches in height, dark complexioned, 180 pounds and of muscular build. He was, as many were in those days, unable to read or write. He was born in 1843 in Germany. He was a farmer there, owning 16 acres, was married, his first wife died and he remarried fathering three children. 

 Something happened, or something may have happened - it's unclear - he may or may not have set fire to a neighbour's home and he may, or may not have fled Germany to avoid jail time. At any rate he left, taking a boat to Canada arriving here in 1877.

He intended on going to Golden Lake but through some mishap ended up in Buffalo, New York.

His money all but gone he walked to Hamilton and then on to Toronto, a distance of about 100 miles, where some people there bought him a railway ticket to Sand Point. 

From there he walked to Renfrew, Douglas, Eganville, Brudenell, Rockport, eventually ending up in Palmer Rapids where he found employment with a Mr. McPhee, probably Donald McPhee who was a mill owner (census 1891)

When he finally got a few dollars ahead he walked 12 miles further into the bush, built himself a small shanty and began to clear the land. 

For two years he worked, clearing trees, farming the cleared acreage and making baskets in the evening for sale so he could buy flour and butter.

At the end of the two years of hard work he build a larger shanty and sent for his family. 

In June of 1880 they arrived in Cobden- his wife, their son of about 11 years, a younger daughter of about 5 or 6 and another daughter, perhaps about 14 - and began the 65 mile walk to Raglin Township

carrying with them 3 large feather beds, nine pillows and all their spare clothing. Three days later they arrived, footsore but happy at having a home of their own.

For the next number of years things went well for David. He  owned 100 acres of land with about 40 of those acres planted with crops. He had about a dozen cows, some pigs, sheep, chickens and a span of horses. He had a home and two barns, was prospering through hard work and was looking forward to becoming a rich man.

By all accounts he was not an easy man to live with. He worked hard, almost beyond normal, human endurance, and seemed to expect all around him to give no less an effort.

He quarrelled with and beat his son until that child left home at about age 16 or so. 

His wife seemed to have lived somewhat in fear of him of him saying "my husband has frequently beaten on me….he has beaten me with a stick and with his hands, he has struck me with the spinning wheel…he was passionate and would get into a passion for the slightest cause…." 

And perhaps as a fine example of damning someone with faint praise she said "he has never beaten me to cause severe injury or disable me at any time…"

Into this scene of pioneering toil and success came John Werckenthal, his wife Mina or Minnie and their two children. One of about five years of age and the other probably younger.

They had arrived in Canada about 1884 ending up in Palmer Rapids in February of 1886 and were told they could probably get accommodation with the Koglins until they were able to build a shanty on a piece of land they had acquired about three concessions from Koglin's.

Into their small home the Koglins took in these four extra mouths to feed and house. Within a month or so David and John had EITHER fixed up the original shanty or built a new shanty that was to be Davids to use when the Werkenthals left - which in a statement by John Werkenthal was to when there was snow enough to move his household goods.  Either way in March the Werckenthals had moved into it.

 In the spring he gave them a plot of land and ploughed a garden for them so the'd be able to feed themselves - all with the understanding it was temporary and John Werckenthal would soon build his own place and be gone. 

But that didn't happen. Or at least it wasn't happening as fast as David Koglin thought it should.

When the Werckenthal's had moved into their fixed up shanty, David had temporarily lent them a bedstead to use until perhaps John could make one for himself and his wife but by May that hadn't happened and he asked for it back. Mrs. Werckenthal collected the bed and flung it at him through the open door telling him to stick it down his throat and then slammed the door in his face. 

Months passed and the Werckenthal family made no indications they were about to leave any time soon. The two men had words on several occasions with John Werckenthal saying he had no intention of leaving until he was good and ready. 

Now the two families, living in isolation in the the woods, not more than 30 feet from each other, had more or less, stopped talking. 

Stopped talking except for what seemed to be constant bickering between Minnie Werkenthal and David Koglin. Once it was over some stones David had thrown into her garden and when she confronted him he told her he would "SPLIT HER HEAD WITH AN AXE" which he was holding at the time. Once it was about the chickens and another time a horse got out of it's enclosure and did some damage to the Werckenthal garden which they claimed was done on purpose. 

During this time David Koglin had twice gone to town to seek legal advice on how he could get rid of his unwanted neighbours, but what advise he was given was never revealed.

On that day, Monday, October 11th, at seven in the morning David Koglin again confronted the Werkenthals and told them he wanted them out that very day. John Werkenthal said he'd leave when he was ready but not before the snows came so he could transport his goods by sleigh to his new home. With that he picked up his gun and walked off into the bush to go hunting (David) or to find men to help put up his shanty (John)

David went to the barn to cut hay, undoubtedly still angry about this turn of events. While he was in the barn, and according to his statement, Mrs. Werkenthal continued taunting him until, in his own words "I could stand it no longer."

 At approximately 9 a.m. he walked over to the Werkenthal home and told Minnie he wanted her and her children out - right now. 

She of course refused, using, in his words  "very indecent and insulting language" and entered the house with her two children slamming the door behind her.

David then went to the barn for a hammer and nailed shut the door to the shanty.

There are a couple of versions of what happened next. 

The first -  and the least probable-

With Minnie and the children locked in the cabin he then went to his home, set alight some kindling and shavings from the woodbox, walked back to the Werckenthals shanty and set fire to it.  Minnie then chopped her way out, confronted him and he killed her

The other - is that almost immediately Minnie chopped her way out of the shanty. Koglin now, in his statement, thought the only way to get them out was to burn the shanty to the ground. 

He went to his home, lit some shavings on fire, returned to the Werkenthal shanty and set fire to the straw under the scoops at the North East corner of the house which would be the side closest to his home.

Minnie walked around the west side of the home, confronted David at the rear of the house, picked up a length of fire wood, yelled in German "YOU BAD PIG" and "You Devil…IS THIS THE WAY YOU INTEND TO KILL ME?   whereupon David picked up the length of ironwood, chased her around to the front of the shanty where they confronted one another -  and struck her on the forehead fracturing her FRONTAL BONE.

  She yelled out "OH MY GOD OH MY GOD" Then either tuned and fell, or perhaps just fell. She then attempted to rise.  Either way Koglin then hit her on the back of her head fracturing her OCCIPITAL BONE. 

She then fell forward, her face turned to the right.

 Saying "the devil was in him" Koglin continued beating her inflicting sever damage to the PARIETAL bone and to the TEMPORAL bone breaking the skin where pieces of bone and brain were visible. He had hit her hard enough that when her body was removed her face had been partially driven into the ground. 

At the time of her death Minnie Werkenthal was described as being 35 years of age, 5 feet 4 inches tall, about 140 pounds, of fair complexion with a strong, well developed body. It was also discovered at autopsy that she had been six months pregnant.

 Then, realizing the enormity of what he had done he turned, walked to his home, got his coat, told his wife she would never see him again and that she should take care of the Werckenthal children.

With that he walked out the door and across his field, pausing once at the edge of the forest to look back at his home and entered the bush.

Meanwhile the fire raged and although an attempt was made by one of Koglin's daughters to move the body of Minnie Werckenthal  the heat was too much and there she lay, the side of her body closest to the fire being extensively burned. 

An attempt had also been made to put out the fire but it was futile and one of the Googlien women took the two Werckenthal children to a near by neighbour. 

His plan was to starve himself to death but after five days or so he came to a river and decided to drown himself but seeing two grey birds settle nearby he took this as a sign he was to turn himself in. 

On October 19th he was taken first to Eganville and confined to a locked room in Foy's Hotel overnight until he could be transported the next day to the Pembroke Jail.

In Pembroke, his jailer, Mr. Wm. Cook reported that in the first weeks he was extremely agitated, rolling around on the floor of his cell, calling out in german, eating little, just enough to keep himself alive, pacing in his cell and presumably in the hallway outside the row of cells, sleeping very little. During this time although he never professed his innocence he blamed Minnie Werckenthal for all his troubles saying that in the afterlife he would confront her, telling her this was all her fault.

His trial was in  early April at the spring Assizes and it seemed to last no more than a day. He had a lawyer but had pled guilty and was sentenced to hang on June 6th. He apparently received his sentence with great composure, telling his council he was prepared to die and "would rather it would be so."

During the next two months there were one or two letters to the paper asking for clemency and an appeal to the minister of justice in Ottawa  which was denied. However David Koglin did not want to be spared the hangman's noose and was content with the sentence as it stood saying it would be against God's law if he were to be spared.

In  the months since his incarceration he became friends of a sort with William Cook who was, by all accounts a pleasant and genial man who, aside from his duty as turnkey also had a commercial vegetable garden across from the courthouse. The two men would often converse as much as possible as Koglin spoke little english.  He was fond of music and often he and Mr. Cook would sing hymns together they had heard wafting over from the nearby Methodist church

His son, who he had been estranged from visited often as did a couple of German speaking ministers from the area and they reported he had become genuinely remorseful of his murder of Minnie Werckenthal and was satisfied with the judgement he received as being God's law and he had no wish other than it be carried out.

  Friends visited and talked on religious and secular events and they too reported he was at peace with the verdict. He had made peace with his god and was prepared to atone for his crime.

Sundays were of special joy to him as he could hear the singing of hymns from the Methodist church near by and particularly liked the evenings when he could hear the children's choir.

In the days leading up to his execution he was a bit more agitated than he had been, pacing the hallway and for the final two days had been attended almost constantly by one of the local clergy men. He spent his last day, after a "fine breakfast of bread, butter and coffee"  with his son and they talked and joked and he seemed a peace.

On the evening before his execution Mr. Cook sat with him as they heard the children singing from the church and the two men sang along with some of the hymns and for the first  time he asked about the scaffold he had heard being built in the yard of the jail .

 He was told it was well built and tested and that he would feel no pain. The structure was twelve feet high with a trap door about three feet square. with the release mechanism well oiled and in good working order. And this seemed to bring him some comfort.

On his last night he slept only a few hours, arose abruptly and cried out "Oh mine Gott, mine Gott this is my last day."  He washed, combed his hair, dressed himself in a checked, tweed suit with a pair of carpet slippers on his feet. For the next hour or so he prayed and sang hymns until, as the paper put it, "The Sheriff and executioner arrived and demanded his body."

Some time before eight in the morning the sheriff and other officials entered his cell, asked if he was ready to which he replied "Yes," placed is hands behind his back where they were tied, with another rope tied around his arms above the elbows and with the two ministers leading the way the procession made it's way to the scaffold.

At the foot of the stairs they knelt and prayed then stood and sang three verses of the hymn that began  " Jerusalem, thou high built city, would to god I were in thee"   With that they mounted the stairs in front of an audience of about 30 people. There was a great audience both in front and at the rear of the jail with those behind the building able to see the tops of the heads of the people on the scaffold, and when the time came, to hear the fall of the trap door

Up to this point he had been perfectly calm but on standing on the trap door, as the hangman tied his legs together he faltered a bit and had to be supported by Mr. Cook. He then regained his composure and stood as the hangman placed a white hood over his head and adjusted the noose so as to have the knot in the right position.

The hangman was a local man, unrecognizable with his head and upper body concealed with a thick, black veil and at five minutes past eight he stepped on the release for the trap door and as the crowd held its breath, David Koglin SHOT THROUGH the trap door, fell about nine feet, rebounded a few inches, twitched slightly and then all was quiet except for the pealing of the bell at the near by church. 

There he hung for 3/4's of an hour and then was cut down, his body placed in a waiting coffin and was taken by his family to Rockport where he was buried. 

It was found on examining his body that the neck had not been broken in the fall but in all probability he had been rendered unconscious and had strangled to  death.

In the days following the execution there had been rumours about town that James Morris, the county Sheriff, had received $100 to pay the executioner and had turned that money over to the "officials" who then paid the executioner much less than the full amount. 

This, he said in a notice in the paper, had no truth to it. His deputy had paid the man the full amount for his duties.

Perhaps the last victim of this whole affair was the executioner himself. Although his face and torso had been concealed it soon became common knowledge as to his identity. He was a german and members of the local german community were going to make him pay for his deed. On Tuesday evening, June the 7th at 11:00 in the evening they gathered outside of his home and were prepared to run him out of town on a rail but he had gotten wind of the plan and had made good his escape. He subsequently sold all his household goods and left town.

In his will David Googlien left all his goods and property to his wife until her death or remarriage at which time the property was to be divided among his children. 

In the 1891 Census it would appear his wife did not remarry but stayed on and farmed the homestead with the help of her children and perhaps grand-children.

In the 1881 Census;

Gogline - David  38

              - Amelia  38

               -Austine 15

               - Charles 12

               - Augusta  6      Testimony 1886 - age 11

Gogliun - Emilia (Amelia) 48  Head of family  1891 (died c. 1911)

              - Charles - 25

              - Augusta  16

              - Minnie  10

              - David  8     (1885-1902)  

              - Mary 6

              - Henry   4  (1887 - 1979)

Hard To Be a Cop

                                          1928

                                         

           The Doaks family were well known in the town of Pembroke, known, unfortunately, for all the wrong reasons. When their names appeared in the papers it was never in the social columns but more often than not in the court news or having to do with some hi-jinx that caused a sensation among the more proper citizens of the community.

    In the early summer of 1892 one of the older Doaks boys was, along with a number of other men, brought up on charges of breaking a window in the store of Mrs. McNee, located on Pembroke Street opposite the Mackey House Hotel. When the case came up all the men involved vouched for each other and since it was their word against that of the store owners they managed to avoid either fines or jail time.

    In July of the same year one of the younger boys created something of a sensation when one Sunday, as church was, about to go in, he paraded along Renfrew Street in front of the Presbyterian Church with "a live skunk tied to his leg." It was reported that he was given a wide berth "by all who happened to get a sniff of either one or the other" and while he seemed to get great enjoyment out of the situation it was reported that neither the skunk nor the pedestrians shared in his enthusiasm.

      In the early days of 1893 Mr. Joe Doaks, the patriarch of the clan, was charged with failing to send two of his children to school and was summoned to appear before Police Magistrate Mitchell of the Pembroke judiciary.  Choosing not to attend the hearing he was fined five dollars and costs in absentia with a notice being sent to his home informing him of the judgement and his need to pay it. The home, said to be a rough dwelling on the banks of the Indian River, some of which was "partially an excavation in the hill,"  was eventually visited by Constable G.W. McMartin, truant officer for the town, who was either to collect the unpaid fine or, if he refused to pay, to take Mr. Doaks to jail.

    As may have been expected Mr. Doaks declined to pay, using, as the newspaper reported, "Language unfit for publication." and Mrs. Doaks, looking at the writ declared with a toss of her head, "Talk about this being the Queen's warrant. She never saw it in her life, no indeed." Not to be deterred Constable McMartin advanced to seize Mr. Doaks who picked up a nearby chair and attacked him. Mrs. Doaks then came at him with a poker, his sons set the dog upon him and as well attacked him with "formidable weapons"  including, it was reported, an axe.

    Under these circumstances the good constable was forced to retreat but returned later in the day with Constable Cook of the Pembroke police department as a reinforcement. Finding the door locked and barred Constable McMartin forced it open only to be attacked by the entire family, including the younger children. Receiving a blow to the face by the poker which "left a rather ugly mark" he non-the-less set out after Mr. Doaks who attempted to flee to the upper story of the home. Just as Mr. Doaks reached the top of the stairway Constable McMartin grabbed him by the leg but before he could secure him the constable had the trap door of the upper floor slammed on his head. 

    In the end Mr. Doaks was subdued and handed down to Constable Cook who had been spending his time fending off attacks from the rest of the family. On the way out the door the eldest boy, Joe junior. was apprehended for assaulting the police but he managed to escape from Constable Cook and remained at large. The elder Mr. Doaks was "conveyed to jail where he will be under Governor Wright's care for 30 days." 

       A week later Mr. G.C. Archer, a local retailer with a business on the main street, arrived at his store to find one of his front windows had a piece broken out of it. Examining the stock in the window display he found two items missing, a violin and an iron, toy train. Acting on information, he had a warrant made out to search the premises of the "notorious" Doaks family. The following morning, accompanied by Chief Constable Devlin he found, upon entering the home, the violin hanging on a wall and when pressed, Mrs. Doaks "hauled the toy train from underneath the bed." 

   That evening with a warrant being made out for Joe Doaks junior, aged 15 years, Constables Devlin and McMartin returned to the home, arrested him without difficulty and took him off to the cells to join his father.

   Upon interviewing him he confessed to the crime, also implicating his younger brother John Doaks, aged 12 years, who was subsequently arrested and incarcerated in the town jail.

   The next morning morning, at trial, Joe junior pled guilty and testified against his younger brother John, who had pled not guilty. Their lawyer, Mr. A.J. Fortier who had been hired by the boy's father, asked that they be sent to a reformatory where they "could have a chance to reform and learn a trade." Police Magistrate Mitchell said he would reserve judgement until 4 o'clock that afternoon, requesting the presence of both parents as well as the attendance of Mr. Flanagan, principal of the Separate School along with the boys of that school.

    That afternoon as court resumed the Magistrate ordered the parents be seated close to him so they could hear what he had to say. Issuing a severe rebuke to both parents, especially to Mrs. Doaks, the boy's step mother, for the manner in which they had raised their children saying they had all the advantages of "a good school where they would have received a good moral training" but instead the parents would not allow their boys to go to classes and indeed had encouraged other boys to stay away from school as well.

   The Magistrate said the reason he had asked the Separate School boys to be present was "to show them the evil effects of truancy" and warned the boys that the truancy act would be enforced as far as his powers lay in enforcing 

    it. He said the parents must have know the articles brought into the home had been stolen and they ought to have taken steps to return them to their rightful owner. In conclusion he stated he had the power to imprison the boys to fourteen years in the Kingston Penitentiary but he would "only sentence them to five years in the Penetanguishine Reformatory" which he did not consider a hardship but a blessing. He hoped at the end of their incarceration "if all parties lived" the boys would be in a position "to do by the parents better than the parents had done by them." However by 1897, a full year or more before the boys were due to be released, the elder Mr. Doaks was dead and it's unknown if he ever saw his sons prior to his death.

    It was brought up in court that the Doaks boys were probably to blame for many of the petty robberies that had taken place in Pembroke in the recent past and in fact they confess to "one or two of them." There was much scorn heaped upon the step mother by many in the court room who felt she "deserved a taste of imprisonment" for the callous manner with which she treated the boys and the position they were in. 

    Their father however, who had been brought up from the cells to attend the court case, was deeply affected by the proceedings and the paper reported "it was pitiable to see him bid good-bye to his lads, slipping an apple into each of their hands."

    That was all that was head from the Doaks family until April of 1895 when Mrs. Doaks herself was in court, charged with receiving stolen property after paying her son Wally, aged 11, and a friend for some pork she knew they had stolen from David Shepard's butcher shop. The boys got off with a stern lecture and a suspended sentence thanks to a new set of laws brought in the previous year that changed the way young offenders were dealt with. But Mrs Doaks, despite the best efforts of her lawyer, Mr. Lennox Irving, was sentenced to "one month's imprisonment in gaol."

    Around the first of May Mrs. Doaks perhaps had to miss a visit from Ezra, the eldest son of Mr. Doaks who  had been travelling throughout the United States and returned for a visit after an absence of some years. The younger Mr. Doaks exclaimed how much Pembroke had changed in his absence and how happy he was to be back for a visit.

        The Doaks house had a bit of a history as a home where people who would run afoul of the law would then fight the law when the police came calling. 

    In 1892 Constable Barrand of the Pembroke Police force visited the home of one one James Mc---, the location and description of which sounded much like the Doaks home. Mr. Mc---, better known as "the Gypsy,"  had a warrant issued for his arrest on a charge of beating his wife and in early January the good constable showed up at the house and informed Mr. Mc--- that he was a prisoner "in the Queen's name." The man seemed rather non-plussed by this, inviting the constable in before sitting at the table and telling him that "he might put the warrant wherever he liked, as he had no use for it" and with that opened four bottles of porter, poured them into a bowl and drank it down. 

    He then went about gathering weapons such as a manure fork, a large pair of shears and other things while politely telling Constable Barrand "using some language that would not appear very well in print" that he could go and tell the magistrate whatever he wanted but he wasn't going to jail. Seeing how "the gypsy" was armed to the teeth and was surrounded by his children who would have no doubt come to his aid the constable retreated to outside the house and "wisely took counsel from Mr. Jos. Biggs who happened to be on the scene," to send for reinforcements. Soon a group of men arrived, surrounded Mr. Mc--- who used all of his available weapons in an attempt to avoid arrest but in the end was overcome, arrested and taken off to the lock up. The next morning he appeared before Magistrate Mitchell and was sent to jail to await trial. 

    During the melee Constable Barrand received a "bad bruise and a cut on the hand" but was given great credit for "the pluck and determination he displayed in capturing the desperate man."

    Later in the week Mc--- was brought before Judge Deacon charged with resisting arrest and injuring Constable Barrand while arresting him. His two sons, James aged 13 and Thomas aged 11, were also brought  before the Judge, charged with assisting their father in resisting the arrest. The sons were let off on account of their youth and the father who was also charged with assaulting his wife was let off with a suspended sentence after posting a recognizance of $200. 

    The family must have left town sometime thereafter as by summer there was an item in the local papers referring to the Mc--- family, formerly of Pembroke, telling of the death their eldest boy, James, who was killed in a freak elevator accident while working as a bell boy at the Russell Hotel in Ottawa. He had jumped out of a moving elevator as it passed a floor, had slipped and was crushed to death as the elevator continued its decent.

    If being pummelled by the town miscreants wasn't enough to keep the officers of the law either busy or recovering, the town council, in June of 1892, decided to define the other roles the police should engage in. Mr. Devlin was named chief constable and as well his duties would entail the collection of taxes, enforce the by-laws and act as sanitary inspector. He was to be responsible for inspecting the streets and repairing the sidewalks in the east and west wards and every day but Sunday was to be at the Town Hall form 9 a.m. for an hour to answer any calls and to meet with citizens to hear their concerns or complaints. 

    Mr. McMartin was to be, besides a constable, the engineer of the fire engine, was to "take care of the fire appliances" and be caretaker of the Town Hall. He was also the truant officer and assistant by-law enforcer, collector of statute labour tax and messenger of the town council. He was, along with Mr. Devlin, to be at the town hall mornings until 10 a.m. and again from 1 to 3 p.m. to take calls and hear complaints from citizens. In his "spare hours"  he was to inspect and repair the streets and sidewalks of the centre ward. 

    Both men were to make a beat of the town in the evenings of one hour each, Monday to Saturday and for 2 hours on Sundays and when either one had a free moment they were to be at the town hall until 6 p.m.

    The infamous Doaks house made the news once more when on June 30th, 1898, acting on information the house was being used for immoral purposes, police constables Barr and Miller made a raid on "Mrs. Stone's establishment near the Indian River Bridge" and arrested four people. Two days later, on Saturday July 2nd, when brought up before Magistrate Mitchell the "two (unnamed) young men swore themselves through with the aid of the women, and were let off with a severs lecture by His Worship."  

    The two women, Mrs. Stone and Miss Emily J. Beaker, did not fare quite so lucky. Both were fined $10 and $6.25 in costs and were ordered to "leave the town immediately."  The fines of $16.25 might seem slight by today's standards but in those times it was a considerable amount when most fines for breaching the peace rarely amounted to more than $2 and costs. The only fines that regularly exceeded that was for the offence of selling liquor after hours and the men convicted were often repeat offenders and were otherwise respected hotel proprietors. Even the "crime" of being poor and homeless invariably resulted in a sentence of thirty days in jail at hard labour.

    There were undoubtedly other assaults on the police in performance of their duty but a most notable one occurred decades later in mid December of 1926. One evening, in the weeks leading up to Christmas, officer Kenny of the Pembroke police force was patrolling the main street and happened to see Mr. Hector D--- stagger into two women. Speaking to D--- he advised him to go home but later while talking with his wife near Woolworth's store Mr. D--- again staggered into a woman. This time it was Officer Kennedy's wife. The policeman again advised D--- to go home but the man became abusive, using foul language against the officer who then placed him under arrest and with some difficulty managed to get his prisoner around the corner and onto Prince Street. Here he tried to get him into a car in order to take him to the lock up at the town hall but D--- fought the policeman, kicking him in the stomach during the struggle. Eventually both the policeman and his prisoner got into the back seat of the car whereupon  D--- tried to open the opposite door and escape. Again a fight ensued between him and the officer with the policeman getting the worst of it. By this time, according to the paper, a crowd of about 500 people had gathered to watch the scene and among them was Frank D---, a cousin, who came to the aid of his relative and also set upon the policeman but eventually realizing what was happening, began assisting the constable in the arrest. By this time there was a general melee on the street. There were people helping the policeman, there were people helping the man arrested and there were spectators fighting among themselves. Presently Constables Jette and Carnegie arrived on the scene, got the man into the car and found a driver. By now D--- seemed to have quieted and  was pleading with the officers to allow him to go and see his sick mother before being taken off to jail and so the car with three policemen and two suspects drove to a home on Lake Street. 

     Two of the Constables accompanied D--- into the house but as officer Kenny entered the home D--- slammed the door behind him and in the hallway again attacked the officer. Hearing the ruckus inside Constable Carnegie pushed open the door, went to the aid of his fellow officer and succeeded in getting D--- off of Constable Kennedy. As this was happening D---'s brother George arrived home with his wife and seeing the fight occurring in the house went to the aid of his brother. He grabbed Officer Kenny by the throat, threw him to the ground and began choking him. Hearing his fellow officer being throttled, Constable Carnegie, who was struggling to get a pair of handcuffs on the prisoner, leapt to the aid of Officer Kennedy. As all this was happening a small boy ran to the waiting car where Constable Jette was still sitting and yelled out "they're killing a policeman." Hearing this Jette ran to the house and managed to pull George D--- off of Officer Kennedy who by now was "almost black in the face." At this point the policemen turned all their attention to officer Kennedy who was in some distress, taking him to the town hall where he was attended to by Dr. Delahey. Besides being badly choked he was also suffering from intense pain from the blow to the stomach and was badly bruised about the face and mouth. Constable Carnegie had also "suffered a pommeling" and Constable Jette had one eye blackened. 

    A summons was issued for the D--- boys and on the following Monday, appearing before County Magistrate Chown, they were all charged with a variety of crimes and were remanded to jail. 

    There was such an interest in the case that on the day of their sentencing a temporary courtroom was set up in the town hall to accommodate the spectators which the papers estimated to be about 500 people, including it was reported, "a scattering of women". 

    The first case was for Hector D--- who, for assaulting a police officer, was fined $140 and costs and for being intoxicated in a public place was fined $10 with costs on both sums.

     George D---, charged with assaulting a police officer, was sentenced next and due to extenuating circumstances and being of previous good character was fined $50 and costs with both men each having to post a $500 dollar bond and keep the peace for two years. 

    Frank D--- was charged with obstructing a police officer in execution of his duty and fined $10 and costs.

Note - all names of the accused in this tale have been changed.