Rogues

At the corner of Robson and Granville Streets there is an interesting display.

I've seen this numerous times from the window of a bus and one day I decided to go look at it. It is another piece of artwork - this one entitled Rogues Gallery circa 1900 and was created by Cam Andrews and Jessica Bushey. Andrews and Bushey consulted the  Vancouver Police archives to create this artwork that is not only interesting but also shows a bit about the attitudes of people in my city at that time.

So today, while showing you some of the beauty around the city, I will tell you about some of these rogues and ne'er do wells featured here.

James Carvey was a 25-year-old native of Sacremento, California. He was a sailor who was arrested on February 16, 1899 and charged with stealing a boat. Carvey was sentenced to six months hard labour in the New Westminster Gaol.

20-year-old Rita King was arrested on July 26, 1899. A sporting woman by profession, she was charged with shooting Lessil McDonald at the Opera Resort Saloon. 3 years in Agassiz Prison was her sentence.

An American Negro who went by names of Frank Johnson or Harry Brown and was known to be a porter and pimp was arrested on a charge of vagrancy on September 9, 1903. He managed to avoid incarceration if he would leave town immediately.

Carl Olson was a Spanish man whose occupation was unknown. He was arrested on January 4, 1904 because he was a frequent visitor to houses of ill repute and for living off the proceeds from prostitution. The charges were dropped due to lack of evidence.

32-year-old K. Kabiyashi was picked up on August 26, 1900 for stealing lumber from the Hastings Mills. He was sentenced to 6 months hard labour.

On September 14, 1901 William McMillan was arrested for stealing a hive of bees from Mt. Pleasant resident M. Mclean. McMillan was sentenced to six months hard labour.

A 20 -year-old Chinese man by the name of Sing was arrested for stealing flowers from the house of Mrs. Pim at 924 Nicola Street on July 11, 1904. He was given a choice of spending thirty days in jail or paying a fine of $10.00 and costs.

An American tramp by the name of William Benton was arrested on May 27, 1904 for trespassing on the CPR. This twenty-year-old walked with crutches but Dr. McAlpine examined Benton and declared the injury to be a fake.

15-year-old Darwin Wood, a native of England, was arrested on August 21, 1903 for stealing cattle and horses. Wood received a sentence of sixty days.

Julia LeBrun was a lady of spunk. This forty-year-old French woman was arrested on November 9, 1903 on the charge of being an owner of a bawdy house at 130 Dupont Street. Well this madam refused to pay the $35.00 fine so she was sentenced to thirty days in the New Westminster jail after being re-arrested on November 26, 1903.

Another forty-year-old, Ah Sing - a Chinaman with no known occupation - was sentenced to six months after being arrested on January 27, 1900 for stealing chickens.

Jake Freeman was 38-years old when he was arrested on November 17, 1904. His nationality is listed as a 'North Arm Half-Breed' and his occupation was labourer. He was charged with stealing an Indian totem and vagrancy but instead of serving time, Freeman was ordered to leave the city immediately.

Gertie Johnson was a twenty-three-old, opium fiend and a native of the U.S. of A when she was arrested on February 20, 1905 on a charge of vagrancy. This prostitute was ordered to leave the city at once after being fined $15.00 and costs.

An American Negro labourer by the name of Charles Maynard was arrested on March 31, 1903. This 31-year-old was sentenced to six months of hard labour for stealing a saddle from the Stanley Park Stables.

Next we have the 22-year-old Mary Lewis. An enterprising young woman, she was arrested on September 2, 1902 on the charge of picking pockets and shoplifting both here and in Victoria. Apparently Lewis and her gang were known all over the West coast for being good pickpockets and thieves. She was sentenced to one year in Vancouver and two years in Victoria.

And finally I want to tell you about John Brown. When Brown was arrested he was sixteen and he was sentenced to two months. He was caught on December 18, 1901 and charged with stealing a quantity of champagne from The Vancouver Club.

There are some of the crimes that were prosecuted way back when and their punishments dealt.

I hope you find the beauty around you.

Karen Magill, Robson Street, Vancouver, Granville Street, The Vancouver Club, rogues, Stanley Park, British Columbia

Emily Carr Part Two

This is Always Wishing You Were Somewhere Else by Louisa Tsui.

As promised, I am going to show you more of the decorated electrical boxes on Granville and tell you more about Emily Carr.

When I finished Monday Emily had felt that she wasn't being appreciated for her artwork and had spent fifteen years doing little painting and running a boarding house.

But Ms. Carr's work was coming to the attention of some influential people like a prominent ethnologist by the name of Marius Barbeau who persuaded the Director of Canada's National  Gallery, Eric Brown, to visit Emily in 1927.

You are looking at All The Possiblities by Roberta Chang.

At Brown's invitation Carr sent 26 oil paintings along with samples of her pottery and rugs with indigenous designs east to be included in an exhibition of West Coast Aboriginal Art that the gallery was having. This exhibit  which included works by Edwin Holgate and Group of Seven founder, A.Y. Jackson traveled from Ottawa to Toronto and Montreal. Carr visited the exhibition in the spring and timed her journey so that she was able to meet members of the Group of Seven who at the time were Canada's most recognized modern painters. This encounter changed the direction of Carr's artistic life.

This is Bird's Eye View by Brenna Randlett. There may be something at the top but I am too short to see!

I haven't shown this side of the electrical boxes because they are all the same. A little of the artwork with the 'wrap' logo and the name of the artist and title of the piece.

The encounter with the Group of Seven ended Carr's artistic isolation of the previous fifteen years and reinvigorated her sense of purpose. It may also have assisted Carr with her spiritual side. Emily's 'distrust for institutional religion' pervades much of her art and at this time, like many artists of her time, she became influenced by Theosophic thought. She began to view God as nature and led a spiritual way of life, rejecting the Church.

Sylvia Chan created 'Wiring Problem'.

This meeting led to more support for Carr and her art but one person stood out. Artist and Group of Seven member Lawren Harris told Carr "You are one of us". An important statement to an artist who not only had a self-deprecating manner but who had also just about given up on her passion.

New Vancouver + Old Vancouver by Sarah Wilson.

During the late 1920s and 1930s Emily Carr continued her journeys to places like the Queen Charlottes and other First Nations' settlements. Her work was finally being recognized and shown in places like London, Paris, Washington and Amsterdam as well as major Canadian cities.

In 1939 Emily Carr suffered a severe heart attack and was forced to move in with her sister Alice. She shifted her attention from painting to writing and with the help of her friend Ira Dilworth, who was principal of Victoria High School, Carr was able to see her first book Klee Wyck published in 1941. A year later Carr was awarded the Governor-General's award for non fiction for her debut literary work.

On March 2, 1945 - shortly before she was to be awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of British Columbia - Emily Carr died in the James Bay Inn in Victoria, British Columbia.

How Electrifying! By Jocelyn Chan

I want to thank the Emily Carr University of Art + Design, the DVBIA and the art students for inspiring these last two entries. Friday I will mention some more on Emily Carr and her works.

I hope you find the beauty around you.

Karen Magill, Emily Carr, Vancouver, DVBIA, Lawren Harris, art, Group of Seven, A.Y. Jackson

1932

Today I am going through my files of photos and showing you some of the things I see around the city. I take photos of anything that interests me and I hope you enjoy them as well.

As well I am going to talk about some of the events that were to important to Vancouver in 1932.

By 1932 the Great Depression had settled over the country like a wet blanket. It is estimated that thousands were on relief and hundreds more were arriving by freight train daily. One reporter counted 1,250 men in the bread line at the First United Church and the city's cost for relief between 1931 and 1932 was over $1.3 million.

In January of 1932 the Hastings Mill Store opened as a museum. It had been moved from it original location on Dunlevy Street to where it now sits in Hastings Mill Park (aka Pioneer Park).

On February 28, 1932 actor, activist and musician Don Francks, (native name Iron Buffalo) was born in Vancouver.

February of 1932 was also the year that the morning newspaper, The Star, was shut down by Victor Odlum when the printers refused to take a wage cut.

The Strand Theatre, on the south side of Georgia Street at Seymour, was closed as a result of the Depression in February. It reopened in 1933.


March 31 proved that the silent film era was totally dead. On this the Beacon Theatre (the old Pantages) on Hastings Street was showing the 1915 classic Birth of a Nation.

On May 27 the Vancouver Youth Symphony Orchestra gave its first performance.

Famed pianist Ignace Paderewski performed at the Vancouver Arena on April 13. By 1940, eight years later,  he was at the head of the Polish government in exile during the Second World War.


The Florence Nightingale of the City died at the age of 80 on April 13.  Sister Frances (Mrs. Fanny Dalrymple Redmond) was our first public health nurse and was a nurse at the St. James' Church. She earned the above mentioned nickname for her devotion and commitment to the sick during the smallpox epidemic of the 1890s.


On April 25 the Vancouver General Hospital broke all previous records in their maternity ward. Eleven babies were born that day - one Japanese child and ten white babies. Six of the children were boys and five were girls.

these tiles are placed in the sidewalk on Hastings street in the Hastings/Sunrise District.

The Vancouver Police Department inaugurated a full radio system in April of 1932.

On May 4 a large demonstration of the unemployed was held at Vancouver City Hall.

In 1912 Robert Dollar established the Canadian Robert Dollar Co. in Vancouver to run the fleet of Dollar Steamship Line of California. Timber stands bought from the BC Government supplied his sawmills and the company's flag was a white dollar sign on a red background and it was known worldwide. Known as the Pacific's Grand Old Man, Dollar died on May 16, 1932 in San Rafael, California at the age of about 88.

Spring of 1932 saw the first Bradner Flower Show that was attended huge crowds. There was a concert and dance in the evening.

The Capilano Timber Company mills were destroyed by fire in June of 1932. Started in 1917 the company was ran a logging railway up the Capilano Valley to bring out the red cedar.

On Canada Day of that year, July 1, the Burrard Street Bridge opened. I have written on it before and the bridge's history so I won't do so now.

On July 17 the CPR began running trains through a tunnel downtown. The tunnel was built to get the trains off of the city streets. With a few modifications it has been transformed to be used by the Skytrain.

I hpoe you find the beauty around you.

Karen Magill,CPR, Vancouver,tunnel,Capilano Timber Company,Robert Dollar,History,Ignace Paderewski