The evening world., 1889-10-10
CANADA'S MOUNTED POLICE.
A MEMBER OF THE FORCE RELATES SOME
OF HIS EXPERIENCES.

""t AtuN hNVh HNNohNp''hh'N W
These CustCdinns Of British Interests
The Force Organized shortly After
Ricrs Rebellion-Anusing Incidents of
Life In the barracks.
The N. W. NJ. Police was organized by act
OF Parliament in 1873, shortly after Riel's
frs rebellion. The force was but 800 strong,
and ! believe Col. French was the first Com
missioner, writes Il correspondent of the
Hamilton, (Ont.) Times. Their headquar-
tiers were ut the Stone Fort, Winnipeg.
They were organized for the sole purpose
of maintaining order and discipline in the
N. w. Territories, and truly, for such q
small organization, they have worked Won
dcrs. Tho Indians o are tractable and
amenable to the law, and, moreover, have q
pretty good idea of what that law is.
At the time of which | write. in the very
heart Of the great Blackfoot country, a man
never yentured abroad without his repeating
rifle, and that man for the most part one of
the Montana desperadoes who then infested
the country. All is now quiet and orderly
as in any civilized country, and the farmer
and stock raiser carry on their various Voca.
tiuns without fear of molestatiUn, and oil
this change has been wrought by a handful
OF relocated constabulary.
pub lltlF HCTe presence nus uOI uOho al
this. H. has taken downright hard work, the
utmost of vigilance and perseverance,, in on
deavoring to eXtinguish the liquor traffic and
bring the offenders to justice. The adj
settlers to swarm around their different posts,
and to these aud even to the police them
selves did the old time whiRkey-dealer trans
fer his trade from the Indians.
conception Of the hardships and privations
that have been undergone by the police III
their endeayors to break mp this whiskey
traffic, day alter day ON horseback. night
after night sleeping out with but one blanket,
your provisions generally q buffalo tongue
aud a hard biscuit stuffed into your wallet,
and these expeditions as a rule during the
Winter.
In the Spring of 1882, in view of the some
what rapid tide of settlement coming into
the Territories, ms q precursor, no doubt. of
the G. Z. Hallway, which had reached
Brandon. md the consequent increase of
depreiations on tho part of the Indians in
killing and making away with settlers stock.
NC, the Government decided, owing to the
Immense territory TO be covered aud the
limited number of men at their disposal viz,
800. which necessitated the establishment of
posts Mt very remote intervals with rldlcu-
lousy small garrisons, to increase the force
by 200, making q total strength of 800.
A recruiting station was established Mt the
" New Fort" Toronto, where tho necessary
number OF recruits were engaged after having
passed a very strict medical examination.
Some six weeks were consumed in obtaining
tho required number, and the time was spent
in clicking the men into shape" as they
joined, by which mean frequent drills and
tho rigid enforcement (by an old Second Life
Guardsman whO was acting Sergeant Major)
of larrack routine and discipline generally.
The men Engaged were of a superior class.
composed largely of farmers sons. who had
for the nonce determined to drop the plough
to wicld the sword. The remainder were
men of good education and intelligence. In
fact the general intelligence and physique of
the party were OF a very high order.
In drilling a squad of greenhorns it may
readily be imagined that the instructors lot
was no enviable one. ! sincerely sympa-
thizcd with them. 1t is indeed one of the
few thnnkless things n man can undertake in
this world; perhaps an ultimate appreciation
of his services will be forthcoming by his
being allowed to stand at ease" in the next.
1t would be wearisome to recount the
enormous volume of business done in the
" Orderly Room" daily; suffice it to say tina
the "Defaulter's Book" never lay idle, and
the entries in Its classic pages were numerous,
some ten or twelve daily IA very large per-
ccntage of the crime, however, being lad.
sent without leave" q failing by the way,
that tho generality of recruits have for the
first month or go of service.
During our stay in Toronto many incidents
naturally occurred of q more or less ludicrous
nature. | cannot recount them all, but one
perhaps Is worthy of notice. 1t was custom
airy to mount guard at 8 p. NJ. daily. and on
the evening 1 am about to refer to q German,
who had but lately immigrated and was
rather dense, had been told off for guard
duty.
The men were instructed to call posts after
tattoo, 10 p. NJ. ii. e., each sentry must call
from his respective beat. No. q, "All's
well" No. 2, "Alls we'll, " &c. ms the case
might be. The German was posted at A. NJ.
ms No. 2, in charge Of the stables. and pro-
fessed q thorough knowledge of his orders
before the sergeant of the guard lot him.
Everything went on smoothly till 2 O'Clock
arrived, wbeu No. 1 call of Alls well " was
followed by the Dutchman at No. 2 yelling
out at the top of his voice. which sounded
particularly distinct in the still night air,
something like the following:
NO. 2-All be's purity goot, but my feet is
coldt, und I tink Won of desc here horses
MOST be purity nearly dead"
On this beautiful salute the guard was
turned out with n CELEBRITY that would have
satisfied the most exciting of Grand
hounds, " and proceeded to investigate. when
il was discovered that the dying horse had
been indulging in an innocent nap and the
Dutchman was leaning against the stable, en-
joying n quiet smoke. for which latter ipdul-
@ence on duty he, much to his surprise, next
morning got three days confinement with
hard labor, and left the orderly-room mutter-
ing something which had better be relocated
to his W learned language.