THE following feature profile of Jacob Cohen, a retired Toronto businessman who became Toronto’s first Jewish justice of the peace in 1907, appeared in the Toronto Globe of March 12, 1910. * * * SNUGLY settled in the heart of Toronto reposes a little Hebrew nation sixteen thousand strong and growing rapidly. It has its…
Tag: crime & courts
Policeman’s job not hazardous (1914)
by •
From the Toronto Star Weekly, March 1914 “When constabulary duty’s to be done, A policeman’s lot is not a happy one.” The risks which a policeman constantly encounters are varied and peculiar. In Toronto, within the last few days, two dastardly assaults have been committed on constables engaged in the performance of their duties. On the…
Betting on the Decisions in Toronto’s Police Court (1914)
by •
From the Toronto Star Weekly, February 21, 1914 Small Sums risked by Regulars in Public Seats By Leo Devaney Just the other day a man who obtained food from one of the free missions in the city of Toronto was arrested as he was about to enter a picture show. He appeared in the Police…
Farewell to the old Parliament Buildings (1902)
by •
From the Globe, October 27, 1902 A Centre of History: Frank Yeigh Conducts a Farewell Pilgrimage through old Parliament Buildings A farewell tour of inspection of the old Parliament buildings, now in process of dissolution, was paid by the Canadian Club on Saturday afternoon under the guidance of Mr. Frank Yeigh. Probably 400 persons, including many…
Book reviews: a police procedural and a medical procedural
by •
With the Eaton Centre and Scarborough block party shootings in Toronto, and the Dark Knight and Sikh Temple shootings in Colorado and Wisconsin, gun crimes have been screaming from the headlines all summer. Seems a perfect time, then, to look at Robert Rotenberg’s third police procedural crime novel, Stray Bullets. As he demonstrated in his…
Dark, dangerous police station in St. Andrew’s Market, 1907
by •
The Force Quartered in St. Andrew’s Market Have Poor Quarters, and the Cells are Dark, Dangerous, and Unsanitary From the Toronto Star, October 5, 1907 One cannot be a policeman in a day. It is only after a most thorough coaching and training that a man can don the blue uniform with the silver buttons…
Toronto by night: a policeman’s rounds, 1884
by •
From the Toronto World, May 1884 Toilers of the Night – No. 3 (Final part of a series) Walking Against Time by the Corporation Gaslight — How the Sleeping Citizens are Guarded at Night If night policemen are not exactly “toilers,” insofar as they have little manual labour to perform, they have at least “legwork”…
Behind the Scenes in Toronto Police Court (1910)
by •
Thousands of cases never see cruel light of publicity All the Officials Seek to Settle People’s Trouble Out of Court If Possible — Sifting Out False from True Evidence a Big Task for the Crown Attorney — Jacob Cohen, J.P. Has Troubles of His Own Settling Those of His Countrymen From the Toronto Star Weekly,…
Hot Art: Knelman probes secret world of stolen art
by •
Some years ago, while researching an article for Walrus Magazine on art theft, Joshua Knelman interviewed a convicted art thief in a local restaurant. While providing some quotable patter, the thief threatened to break Knelman’s legs if he used his real name, and handed him some rolled-up items, which proved to be stolen artworks, now…
10,000 Criminals in Toronto’s Police Records (1914)
by •
Fingerprints Practically Infallible — Inspector Duncan an Expert at Identification — A Card With a Peculiar History — How Prisoners Behave Before the Camera By Leo Devaney From The Toronto Star Weekly, January 17, 1914 Probably the most important and yet the least known department of Toronto’s police system is the identification bureau, where the…
