Item FC 3213 L55 002.008 - Two (2) Prince Albert Times Newspaper Clippings

Two (2) newspaper clippings printed onto cream-coloured paper. The second clipping is cut into two (2) pieces and stapled back-to-back.

The headline of the first article reads: "Magistrate's Cotrt. / Queen vs. Leslie." A typewritten note on the back of the paper identifies the newspaper as the Prince Albert Times dated December 2, 1987 [presumably a typo for 1887].

The case involves charges of vagrancy against Constable A. Leslie of the North West Mounted Police. Constable Leslie was found at night lurking in a stable belonging to Mr. T. Oram of the Queen’s Hotel.

The second clipping lacks a headline. It is an editorial comment on the Queen vs. Leslie court case. A typewritten note on the back identifies the newspaper as the Prince Albert Times dated December 2, 1887.

"While we are opposed to the principle of the present liquor law, we agree that so long as it is in force it is the duty all good citizens to assist the authorities in legitimate endeavors to carry it out, but when constables - whether on duty or not - put themselves in positions where they might very properly be taken for sneak thieves or burglars, and when interrogated as to their business refuse to give a satisfactory account of themselves, they not only make themselves amenable to the law, but naturally and rightly prejudice the minds of people against them and against their superiors, under whose orders they may be acting, as well as against the law itself.”
“The Mounted Police Force has done good work in the earlier days of its existence, but it has outlived its usefulness as a force. Now that the Territories are becoming settled and municipal organizations springing up, the carrying out of the laws should be left to the purely civil authorities. And if it is found necessary to have an armed body to preserve peace amongst the Indians, that body should be a purely military force.”