Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1912-03-01

not lack of grit And it is interesting to
note that the two men who lasted long
est were the men who had family lies
and the man who felt responsible for his
detachment.
Possibly the most pathetic note in the
tragedy is the fact that all four men had
been picked for the detachment which
win represent the "Riders Of the Plains
in the coronation parade in London. AS
J it is, four other redcoats will be detached
/ from duty at various little isolated log
cabin posts scattered over prairie and
mountainous terrain and sent to ride af-
ter the unknown master whose word they
carry into the fastnesses of his vast ter
ritory up beyond the place where the
I frozen fifties dip to the North
There will be no particular amount of
mourning over the men who died. Their
names may be read out in the barrack
square at Regina after the pitifully brief
report from the district commander has
been flied with the commissioner rec
ord will be entered against their names
starved to death on patrol Inspector
/ Fitzgerald and Constables Kinney, Tay-
Tor and Carter will have joined the long
roll of the mounted police who have
persisted doing their duty
From this it Will be seen that the COM
| ing of civilization has not banished dam
ger from the work of the force OF
course, it would be foolish to attempt to
! hold that the work of the eonstabIes is as
/ dangerous as il was in the days, say,
1 from 1S76-7s, when they had Sitting Bull s
great war band Of Sioux their hands,
or before Louis RiePs second rebellion In
1850 had been got under control. Never
| theless The lot Of a constable is not an
easy one. There are troublesome half
| breeds and Indians not to speak of white
! despcradoes, still TO be found in the snow
| wastes Of the North, willie the patrotling
| OF the trails as Il precaution and safe
guard for travellers is in itself no light
task Indeed, Fitzgerald's party were en-
gagged upon Just such u task when they
met their doom.
The Royal Northwest mounted police
We're organized in 1885 in response to an
urgent need for an efficient body of a
| semi-miItary character to patrol the
enormous area of the Northwestern ter
ritories. at that time beginning to attract
settlement with all its attending train of
troubles brought by whisky traders, trap
pers, stock raisers, bad Indians and the
like. They started with force of about
800 men modified in six divisions, \, 3.
2. p, E. and +. and by the summer of
1874 they were already iii action.
1t would be endless to tell of all the
| work they did. Suffice it TO say that
within year they had made the name of
their corps feared and respected through
out the country. A rising of Blackfeet,
Cree and Assiniboine Indians had been
much feared by the Canadian authorities
prior to the advent of the police but be-
fore the constables had been in the field
many months the immediate danger was
averted.
Up to their coming it had been impos-
sible Tor small parties of white men to
| travel through the Blackfeet country, bur
by the end of the year trappers reported
that q woman could ride alone wherever
she wished. They were always just with
the Indians This was one reason for
their authority and ability to grip tense
situations. The personal element, the
makeup of Individual men, must have
had a great deal to do with their eff
cheney, too. Consider the inspector who
sent an urgent dIspatch to the commits
sioner at Regina, saving that inasmuch
as he had a band of 5000 Sioux braves to
watch, he thought his command should
be "incrsaeed to at least 80 menr'
The makeup of the corps, cosmopolitan
and varied in the extreme has been one
of its distinctive features. It was ne
common police force. The possibilities
Of excitement and adventure, and. more
than this, the romantic nature of the
work, with its admixture of dare-deviltry,
chances for primitive diplomacy and
stateeraft, combined to make the service
attractive to many men who otherwise
would be holding commissions in his
maiesty's line regiments They would
rather serve as ordinary constables and
wear the fiat-topped forage cap of the
private than be subalterns with a border
foray in India as the most interesting
prospective.
A man who was a member of the force
has left this graphic description of his
comrades
after having been some two months
in the corps 1 was able to form soma idea
of the class of comrades among whom
my lot was cast. l discovered that they
were truly ALI sorts and conditions OF
men, Many I found, in various troops
were related to English families in good
position. There were three men at Regina
who had held commissions in the British
service There was also an eX-otiieer OF
militia and one of volunteers, There was
an eH-midshipInan. son of the governor
of one Of our small colonial dependencies
a son of Il major general, an eX-cadet OF
the Canadian Eogal Military college al
Kingston, a medical student from Dub
lin, two ex-troopers OF the Scots Grays
a son of captain in the line, an oxford
g. ~. and several of the ubiquitous ma
tiVes Of Scotland comprise the mixture.
In addition there We're many Canadians
belonging to families of influence as
well as several from the backwoods who
had never seen the light till their fathers
had hewed way through the bush to a
concession road. They We're none the
worse fellows on that account. though
Several of our men sported medals won
in South Africa. Egypt and Afghaniston
There was one. brother of Yorkshire
baronet, formerly an officer of a certain
regiment of.foet. who rs a contortionist
and lion comique, was the best amateur
clown from Dublin who could beat him