The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 18??-1882, 1881-12-09
Canada's Mounted Police. /.

The special correspondent of the Lon
don Times, who made the Northwest
tour with Lord Lorne, praises up the
mounted police, of whom (he says) it
would be difficult to speak too highly.
Lord Lorne, always very keen in mill
tary matters since the days when he
himself worked CON Gncre in volun-
teer artillery corps, and foran amateur,
therefore, an unusually good Judge, pro-
nounced them "as fine troop as he
ever saw" They are ludicrOusly un-
derhanded for the ground they have to
cover, and the number of Indians and
white men, often more unmanageable
than Indians, whom they are expected
to keep in order. They are 300, and
the Indians may be counted by tens OF
thousands. Yet, if a crime be COM
mitted out on the prairie, handful of
mounted police seize the criminal,
chief it may be, surrounded by his
tribe, and carry him off to the nearest
fort as cody as policeman would take
up ptskpocket in Chespside. Not long
ago some Cree chiefs, considering them
selves aggrieved by the Government.
seized upon some Government cattle
passing through their territory, killing
and eating three. Colonel Herschimer
and six of his men heppened to come to
the place almost the same day. They
at once summoned the chiefs to surren-
der. The chiefs refused, armed them
selves and their immediate followers,
and, as the police approached, fired
volley over, but pretty near, their heads,
to intimidate them. Had the fire been
returned the police, far Outnumbered,
would probably have been slain to a
man; but, calmly relying on the maj
esty of the law, they walked under the
bdllets right into the Indian camp,
handcuffed three chiefs and carried
them off, amid loud protestations and
threats, but no actual violence. A still
more striking case occurred quite re-
Gently among the Blackfeet. One Of
the mounted police was murdered, shot
in the back-by young Blackfoot
Indian, whose father had, or thought
he had, grievance against the govern
ment, and on his death-bed bequeathed
the legacy of vengeance to his son.
The murderer at first escaped over the
American frontier, but, coming back,
was taken by small body of police
from the very midst Of his tribe, to
whom he appealed in vain, though they
knew enough of English customs to
know that he was being carried to
death. He is now in Fort Macleod, to
which we are on our way, and though
his execution is certainty, and the
Blackfeet, many of them armed with
Winchesters, are quite numerous and
powerful enough to ayenge-as they
might have rescued-him, indeed, pow
erful enough to raise war, not the
slightest apprehension is felt of their
making any serious difficulty, or the
governor general, need scarcely say,
would not be allowed to go among
them, except under the strongest pro-
tests from those responsible for his
safety. The Indians know well that
nothing more than strict justice has
been OF will be done. What is perhaps
still more curious than their submitting
to the control of the police rather than
resist it by force is that they volun-
tarily make use of it themselves. If
an Indian nowadays has his horse
stolen, instead Of going at once on the
war-path, and trying to recover it him.
self, together with the thief's scalp, ne
appeals to the police and expects then
to recover it, which they usually do.
Special reports have been received of
smallpox at ST. Joseph, Berrien Co.,
and in Bingham and Leelenaw
townships, Leelanaw County. The
disease was brought to st. Joseph from
Chicago. In Leelanaw county it be-
gan with two Indians who contracted
It at Traverse City while loading ves-
sci with wood. One case eff smallpox
at Albion is reported November 70,
1881. Because smallpox may be
brought to any locality at any time by
immigra, ITS or travellers, it is prudent
for all persons to seek protection by
vaccinat ion or revaccination with pure
bovine virus. Local boards of health
are auth orized by law to make provision