July 14, 1921
What was happening a century ago this week from the front page of the Cowichan Leader.
July 14, 1921
Coincidental to the B.C. government having declared a state of emergency because of raging wildfires on the Mainland (July 21, 2021) fire was the subject of the leading news story for the day in 1921, too.
In this case, Charles Brown, 65, of Cowichan Bay, had been charged with arson. The story began about 7 o’clock on the morning of Saturday, July 9, when R.M. Palmer’s “Chinaman” (sic) alerted him that there was a fire on the beach near his cabin. Not even taking time to dress, Palmer rushed outside to find his 14-foot rowboat aflame and beyond saving. Beached on a bank well above the water on ground that was wet and muddy, there was no apparent reason for it to have caught fire and he reported the incident to Provincial Police Constable William Kier, who arrived on the scene an hour later.
As there was no bush burning nearby, it seemed obvious to Kier that a fire had been started beneath the boat and upon looking around he found seven fresh heel prints in the mud made from a heavy hobnail (left) boot. Noting a distinctive mark no larger than “the size of the end of a lead pencil,” Kier set his bloodhound loose. He and followed the scent up from the beach to Cherry Point Road. Just beyond, and within 15 minute’s walk of where the boat was parked, was a bunkhouse, owned by Robert Brown.
They found Charles Brown, an itinerant logger who was visiting his son, the owner of the bunkhouse; he was lying on an upper bunk and fully clothed but for his boots which he put on to lower himself to the floor. At this, the leashed bloodhound became excited and leaped on him and Kier had to pull her away.
As they stood outside on ground that was bare and dusty, Kier saw that Brown’s left heel print matched those first seen on the beach and on the sandy trail he’d followed up to the cabin.
Kier accused Brown of setting fire to Palmer’s boat but didn’t arrest him and didn’t seize his boots for evidence until two days later, July 11th, when he matched them to the prints beside the burned boat. About midnight, he returned to the bunkhouse and placed Charles Brown under arrest for arson.
Protesting his innocence to Magistrate Maitland-Dougall, Brown said he’d last been on the beach two days before the fire. Kier concluded his evidence by declaring his hound to be a young one and sufficiently trained to pick up only a fresh scent, rather than a cold one as a more sophisticated hound would do; the implication being that she couldn’t have mistaken Brown’s scent.
As for possible motivation, it was brought out that Palmer hadn’t endeared himself with “certain people” (the loggers in the bunkhouse?) by denying them access to the beach through his property. In court, Brown admitted to having visited the beach twice in the days before the rowboat burst into flame and maintained that, when last he saw it, it was undamaged.
Satisfied with the evidence provided, Maitland-Dougall committed him for trial in a higher court and he was off to Oakalla for the duration.
At Duncan Council meeting, Mayor Pitt presiding and Ald. Smithe off to Ladysmith to serve as fire warden, it was reported that tenders for the street paving program were about to be advertised and the work of laying steel waterlines about to start.
Tax collections were up ($5700 remained outstanding from the previous year and less than $4000 was yet to come in for 1921), and accounts totalling $1887.16 were approved. The City had $6,074.00 in the bank. With outstanding taxes, both those in arrear and current, and water and electricity fees, there was approximately $5700 due.
Enough to enable Council to “carry on for some time without further borrowings, although, no doubt, application will have to be made again to the bank before the year is out, mainly because so much of the revenue is in arrears,” reported CityTreasurer James Greig.
All said, however, “Compared with 1920, the collections this year show a slight improvement.”
The Cowichann Chapter of the IODE had held a successful summer fete in fine weather and the ladies of the Cowichan Institute had enjoyed one of their best outings at the G.A. Tisdall home, Somenos. A highlight of the evening was a paper read by Mrs. Tisdall on the subject of ventilation in a sick room. The 25 ladies attending also endorsed a motion by their Shawnigan Lake counterparts that the province authorize a second elementary school teacher for that locale.
Representatives of the Cowichan and District, Nanaimo and Cowichan Fish and Game Associations met at the Tzouhalem Hotel and the Agricultural Hall to discuss game conservation. The emphasis was on ensuring fishing and hunting opportunities for future generations through wise stewardship; delegates were urged to set aside any personal objections they may have had for the general (and future) good.
Another major concern was the relationship between hunters and farmers; mutual goodwill and cooperation were necessary if sportsmen wanted to legally access their lands, they were informed.
Eighty members of the Ladies’ Guild of St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church attended a musical evening at the Rev. A.F. Munro residence on Gibbins Road “amid orchard and berry scenes”.
There was a more contentious meeting at the Duncan courthouse, C.F. Davie sitting as stipendiary magistrate, where John Spears, Cowichan Bay, had claimed $24 damages against Mrs. L. Mackie, Cowichann Station, under the Sheep Protection Act.
Spears explained that, aroused by the noise of a disturbance in his field, he’d grabbed his gun and run to the defence of his 77 sheep and lambs. He found one of his sheep mutilated, just as a dog, wearing a collar, leapt over the fence and began to run off.
Spears took a flying shot then followed the dog’s trail to Capt. J.C.M. Johns’s place where he found Mrs. Mackie, who was visiting, tending her bleeding dog. When Spears convinced her that her dog had attacked his sheep she said she’d appeal to her husband “to do right” with him.
Next morning, Spears found another mauled sheep and he had to put both three-month-old animals down. He was unable to sell the meat because word of the dog attack had spread. He valued the lost animals at $12 each.
He’d appealed by letter to the Mackies for compensation by but they gave no satisfaction so he took them to court. There, Mrs. Mackie, after arguing over the date of the incident, whether it occurred on the 14th or the 15th, as stated in the charge, told a different story. The dog, an eight-month-old bull terrier, wasn’t hers but belonged to the Johns; she’d taken it for a walk and let it off the leash for just five minutes. Yes, she’d viewed one of the injured sheep but she described Spears’s attitude as “very offensive” and she’d offered him $7 compensation for the one animal.
Spears had returned her cheque in favour of litigation.
After a lengthy and, we can imagine, heated exchange of charges and counter-chargtes, Davie dismissed the case without costs—but fined Mrs. Mackie $2.50 for not having licensed the terrier that she’d claimed wasn’t hers!
Proving once again that, as some wise man once, said, the law can be “a ass”.
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