ng been the
property of Clayson, as the nugget and coin were shown to have been
Relphe's.

There were other items of evidence, the exhibits nearly exhausted the
alphabet, and there was a very long list of witnesses brought from many
quarters. The Crown Prosecutor was Mr. Fred O. Wade, K.C. (now
Agent-General for British Columbia in London), and he handled the case
with consummate ability. His address to the jury was a marvel of
logical, irresistible emphasis on every point of evidence. Inspector
Scarth gave Mr. Wade most valuable assistance during the long trial. The
prisoner O'Brien was ably defended, but there is no evidence so strong
as circumstantial evidence when it is compactly pieced together, and the
jury took only half an hour to reach the verdict of "Guilty." O'Brien
received the death sentence, and spent a lot of time before his
execution in cursing the Mounted Police who, as another outlaw once
said, "would give a gunman no chance in this blamed Canada country." It
was a long and costly effort on their part, extending nearly two years
in the case of O'Brien, but it gave notice to the world that Canadians
would not tolerate lax views on the sacredness of human life.

It seems appropriate that in that same year, 1900, an injustice to the
Mounted Police should be at length removed by the granting of medals to
the men of the Force who had served in the North-West Rebellion of 1885.
At the conclusion of that rebellion, medals had been granted to all
others who had been on military duty against Louis Riel's revolt, but
they were only given to the Mounted Police who had been actually under
fire in an engagement. We do not care to know who was responsible for
this extraordinary piece of invidious distinction. The Mounted Police
have practically always been on active service and always liable to be
under fire at any moment. Those who know the history know that all the
members of the Force rendered service of enormous value to Canada and
the Empire during that war time, whether in an engagement or not. They
policed the vast plains and, with endless patience and cool courage,
held at peace the thousands of Indians who might have swept the
defenceless settlements with destruction. These men deserved the medal
and should have had it at the outset, but better late than never.

It is anticipating a little in one respect, but in another it is looking
backwards. During the years since their organization the Mounted Police