1883 - July - 3

At 4 p.m., Wednesday, July 11, 1883, a meeting of the Hamilton Police Commissioners was held with the matter of policemen’s salary being the main topic for discussion.
          Wentworth County Court Judge Sinclair, once again, led the opposition to any pay increase for Hamilton policemen.
          The following morning, an interview between a Spectator reporter and a disgruntled member of the Hamilton Police force took place :
          “ ‘Yes, Sir, we want more pay, and we’re going to have it too,’ said a policeman to a reporter this morning. ‘If we don’t get it, and right smart, there’s going to be trouble.’
          “ ‘Trouble? In what way?’
          “ ‘Well, I’ll tell you in just what way. There are many of us that will leave, just as Leslie Wright left yesterday. If we don’t leave, we’ll strike – that is, will refuse to go on duty unless the increase is granted us. Now, look at this thing in a right light. Judge Sinclair says we got paid $600 a year; get paid for Sundays, and in rain or shine it goes on all the same. One day is just the same as another to us. Our hours are long, our work terribly wearying and often very dangerous. We never know when we will have occasion to risk our lives when it necessary to do so. And when we are hurt in doing our duty in duty, what do we get for it? Not even a ‘thank you’ or a sympathetic ‘poor fellow!’ No sir, nothing but a gruff, ‘Why didn’t you look out for yourself better?’ Then there’s another thing. When we get hurt in doing our duty, so that we are unable to work, our pay is stopped. Don’t you think that a downright shame? Supposing you risked your life to save your employer’s or to do him a great service, and you got hurt badly through that you could not work. Do you suppose that he would stop you pay? Not at all. He would only be too glad of the chance to show his gratitude by assisting you all he could. Well, we are employed by the public; but what recompense do we get for risking our lives for it? Of course, I know it’s different with us; we are sworn in to do this, and it is our duty to do it, and there is no man in Hamilton that can say we don’t do it well and faithfully; but we are human; we are are men and deserve to be treated better than as if we were so many dogs. Judge Sinclair says we get as much as many mechanics. Maybe we do, but we have to work everyday in the year, and our hours are longer than the average mechanic’s. Take up that matter of getting hurt again. Say I get my skull broken. Very well, I am sent to the hospital. Very kind of the city, isn’t it? But what’s to become of my wife and children? How are they to live? They pay me starvation wages and I can’t save a cent.; more than that, I can’t live at all comfortably on my salary. And when I get hurt, I’m sent to the hospital while my wife and little ones starve. Hamilton is a fine, noble Christian city; but it’s fitness, its nobility and its Christianity never reach poor fellows like us.” ^1
1 “They Want More Pay : The Policemen and Their Many Grievances”

Hamilton Spectator July 12, 1883.

On Monday, July 16, 1883, a report in the Spectator appeared concerning the difficulties that member of the Hamilton Bicycle Club were encountering while cycling on the eastern outskirts of the city.

One of the more popular runs of the local club was the trip to Stoney Creek and back. However riders on this trip had become a frequent targets of troublemakers in the area of the village of Bartonville:

“The young men at Bartonville have placed obstacles on the road. They have even gone so far at times as to paste the flying wheelmen with consumptive eggs. Patience at last ceased to be a virtue and the wheelmen complained to the authorities.”²

² “A Bad Gang”  Hamilton Spectator. July 16, 1883

On Saturday July 14, 1883, County Constables McNair and Bell went to Bartonville to investigate the matter raising by the bicyclists. They came upon three boys in the act of erecting an 8 inch stone barricade across the road near the No. 1 Toll Gate.

One boys saw the policemen coming and managed to escape, but the other two were collared and charged:

“The boys have been put up to do this by the young men who seemingly were afraid to do it themselves. The Hamilton wheelmen  were expected to make a club run Saturday evening which is why the barricade was erected. They did go to the Creek, but went around by the Beach.

“It is time this sort of thing was put a stop to and the juvenile offenders will probably be severely dealt with. It is a pretty serious offense to obstruct a public highway maliciously, that is to say with the intention of inflicting bodily injury on anybody”²