Crime and Policing in Maritime Canada

"To visit 'police circles' in Maritime towns and cities of the past is the enter a world of drama, of humour, of ambiguity -- in these words Peter McGahan introduces his splendid account of the daily reality of 'law enforcement' in St. Andrews, Charlottetown, Moncton, Halifax and Saint John from the 1830s to the 1960s. This is not a statistical record but a constantly human narrative. It is "a world of individuals and of their poignant singularity: Moncton's Marshall Steadman weighing the legitimacy of arresting a young man for profanity; Halifax's Eli Emino entangled in a web of three wives; Charlottetown's Mrs. Sutherland poisoned by her husband's lover; Halifax's King Joseph claiming 'domain' over the hoboes of the 1930s; Saint John's retired policemen recalling the tediousness of beat work . . . to visit 'police circles' is to glimpse, albeit briefly, the passion, the strength, and the flaws of humankind." McGahan's chapter headings only hint at the richness of his research. Who can resist "The Wickedness of Moncton"? "The Slow Poisoning Case in Charlottetown"? "The Rise and Fall of Prohibition in Halifax"? "Halifax and Moncton at War"? "Female Criminality in Saint John"? Throughout "Crime & Policing in Maritime Canada" men and women speak in their own words, cops and robbers are people reflecting the values of their time.