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Some people are known by monikers that do them justice and others
not so. Oddly enough, this blog is about British Columbia’s first Chief
justice, Matthew Baillie Begbie who, after his death, became known as The
Hanging Judge. I
was going to portray him as a bad guy in the new novel, The Joining that I’m
editing, due to his little known reputation, however he was anything but that
once I looked into his history and what he had done.
He left his law practise in 1858 in Cambridge, England, and came
to the fledgling territory of Vancouver Island. He formed many of the early
legislations and founding acts to make BC the province in Canada it is today.
Begbie travelled up and down Vancouver Island and the
mainland, before and after the two colonies joined to become British Columbia,
sometimes travelling as many as 3,500 miles a year, and twice he walked over
350 miles, in order to bring law and order to all parts of the province. He
would then show up for the court case, whether it was on a stump in a field or in
a barn, dressed in his wig and judicial robes, instilling the awe and respect of
the Justice Department to many a backwoods miner or small-town crowd. Obviously a man of intense vigor and stamina,
he would astound many with his decisions and lawful will.
He garnered more respect from the native populations than any
of the few scattered white populations doing unheard of things like speaking
several native languages and making fair and just decisions, which were unheard
of at the time. He was also known for allowing people on the witness stand to swear
on their own highly religious objects instead of the Bible. Begbie was one of
the first judges to try a white man for accosting a First Nations person, and
find him guilty. Many First Nations tribes called him Big Chief for the respect
he garnered among them. He even brought in legislation that when a white man
died without a will, his common law native wife was entitled to the estate.
He also shot down many highly biased laws, like the one
proposing a heavy tax on the length of pigtailed hair among Chinese launderers
or the one proposing a head tax on Orientals.
He stood for and upheld the notion of “equality of all men
before the law.”
The man was a paradox, a staunch Victorian, even knighted by
the Queen herself. He hated hypocrisy, was friends with many American
Republicans, and, while fond of women’s company, he never married.
An accomplished artist, Begbie would draw many witnesses in
the court room and what he saw on his journeys, could sing, and acted in many
play productions. At the age of sixty-one he canoed up the Stikine river to
northern BC for a court case.
Many of the newspapers hated the man for his stance on the minorities
of the province and wrote articles blasting his views. Perhaps that is where he
got the disrespectful moniker The Hanging Judge that people only remember him
by, when in those days most sentences were death by hanging.
After all the years of serving this province in a fair and just manner, I’m sure he’d be turning over in his grave at the injustice of
his nickname.
For a teaser of my upcomimg novel, check out the video link below.
Frank Talaber’s Writing Style? He usually responds with: Mix Dan Millman (Way of The Peaceful Warrior) with Charles De Lint (Moonheart) and throw in a mad scattering of Tom Robbins (Even Cowgirls Get The Blues).
PS: He’s better looking than Stephen King (Carrie, The Stand, It, The Shining)
and his romantic stuff will have you gasping quicker than Robert James Waller
(Bridges Of Madison County).
Or as is often
said: You don’t have to be mad to be a writer, but it sure helps.
https://www.facebook.com/FrankTalaber/
https://www.facebook.com/franktalaberpublishedauthor/
(My facebook short story page)
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