- Other Name
- NORTH WEST MOUNTED POLICE
- Date Range From
- 1890
- Date Range To
- 1910
- Material Type
- Artifact
- Materials
- STEEL, LEATHER
- Catalogue Number
- P19970115001
- Material Type
- Artifact
- Other Name
- NORTH WEST MOUNTED POLICE
- Date Range From
- 1890
- Date Range To
- 1910
- Materials
- STEEL, LEATHER
- No. Pieces
- 1
- Length
- 113 (CHAIN)
- Diameter
- 14 (BALL)
- Description
- ROUND STEEL BALL ATTACHED TO A STEEL CHAIN WITH A LEG SHACKLE AT THE END. ALSO ATTACHED TO THE TOP OF THE BALL IS AN ADJUSTABLE LEATHER STRAP, USED BY PRISONER TO LIFT THE BALL OFF THE GROUND. MARKED ON THE SURFACE OF THE ANKLE CUFF IS "TOWER (?) PATENT MAY 26, '74, SEPT. 4, '77, MAR. 5, '78, DEC. ?. '79 DEC. 5, '82". HINGE STAMPED "4" ON ONE SIDE AND "D" ON THE OTHER. SURFACE OF BALL IS STAMPED WITH A LARGE "A". LEATHER IS STILL REASONABLY SOFT.
- Subjects
- REGULATIVE & PROTECTIVE T&E
- Historical Association
- SAFETY SERVICES
- History
- DONATION MADE ON BEHALF OF DONORS FATHER, EDWARD E. BUCHANAN, FORMER SENIOR STAFF SERGEANT, ROYAL CANADIAN MOUNTED POLICE AT LETHBRIDGE FROM MAY 1944 TO NOV. 1950. ACCORDING TO DONOR, ITEM BELONGED TO THE NORTH WEST MOUNTED POLICE AT LETHBRIDGE, BUT WAS GIVEN TO THE LETHBRIDGE JAIL WHEN IT OPENED IN APPROX. 1909. USED TO KEEP A PRISONER IMMOBILE IN THE UNFENCED PRISON YARD. MR. BUCHANAN WAS A MEMBER OF THE ALBERTA PROVINCIAL POLICE FROM 1919 UNTIL 1932 WHEN HE TRANSFERED TO ROYAL CANADIAN MOUNTED POLICE. RETIRED IN 1950, THEN BECAME DIRECTOR OF CORRECTIONS FOR THE PROVINCE OF ALBERTA. FATHER WAS GIVEN THE ITEMS BY WARDEN OF LETHBRIDGE'S JAIL, HERB HOLT IN THE LATE 1950'S. FOR DONOR'S PERSONAL MEMORIES AND HISTORY OF DONATIONS SEE PERMANENT FILE. SEE P20020090001-GA FOR COMPLETE BIOGRAPHY OF EDWARD BUCHANAN. **** ON 18 JANUARY 2013, BALL AND CHAIN (P19970115001) AND OREGON BOOT (P19970115002) DONOR TED BUCHANAN (TB) VISITED THE GALT TO PARTICIPATE IN A COLLECTIONS-REQUESTED INTERVIEW. THE INTENT OF THE INTERVIEW WAS TO CLARIFY DETAILS SURROUNDING BUCHANAN’S 1998 ACQUISITION AND POSSESSION OF A HANGMAN’S NOOSE (P19990088001). ADDITIONAL DETAILS REGARDING BUCHANAN’S OWNERSHIP OF THE BALL AND CHAIN AND THE OREGON BOOT WERE DISCUSSED, QUESTIONS POSED BY KEVIN MACLEAN (KM). RELEVANT EXCERPTS FROM THE INTERVIEW ARE BELOW. FOR MORE INFORMATION, INCLUDING THE INTERVIEW IN ITS ENTIRETY, PLEASE SEE P19990088001’S PERMANENT FILE. TB: “WELL HE HAD A TRUNK IN THE BASEMENT WHERE HE KEPT A LOT OF THIS, THE OLD MEMORABILIA THAT HE HAD. AND AS MUCH OF IT AS I CAN REMEMBER WAS ALL, PRETTY MUCH EVERYTHING WAS KEPT IN THAT BIG ROOM, TRUNK.” TB: “HE HAD TAKEN POSSESSION OF THE BALL AND CHAIN AND THE OREGON BOOT WHILE HE WAS STILL WITH THE RCMP HERE (LETHBRIDGE). IT CAME OUT OF THE OLD RCMP DETACHMENT BUILDING THAT WAS THERE BEFORE THEY BUILT THEIR NEW FACILITY, THEY HAD FOUR OR FIVE JUST LIKE HOUSES THAT WERE ON THE WEST SIDE OF THE PROPERTY, APPROXIMATELY WHERE THE PRESENT POLICE STATION IS. AND THEN ON THE WEST SIDE OF THAT PROPERTY, BECAUSE THEY OWNED THE WHOLE FOUR CITY BLOCKS THERE, WHERE CITY HALL IS, THE YATES MEMORIAL CENTER, AND THE SENIORS’ CENTER AND THE CURLING RINK AND ALL THAT. THAT WAS ALL RCMP PROPERTY; WELL IT WAS NORTH WEST MOUNTED POLICE PROPERTY ORIGINALLY. AND WAY OFF ON THE EAST SIDE WAS WHERE THE STABLES WERE, BECAUSE THE ORIGINAL NORTH WEST MOUNTED POLICE ONLY WAY TO TRAVEL WAS BY HORSEBACK UNTIL THEY STARTED BRINGING IN AUTOMOBILES AND SO THEY HAD QUITE A STABLE THERE. WELL THEN THEY HAD TO BUILD A JAIL OUT HERE, SO THEY BUILT A JAIL ADJACENT TO THE STABLES ON THE EAST SIDE OF THE PROPERTY AND THAT’S WHERE THE BALL AND CHAIN AND THE OREGON BOOT CAME INTO PLAY, BECAUSE THE LAND DOWN THERE WAS GOOD GARDENING LAND AND THEY HAD BIG GARDEN CROPS OUT THERE AND THEY WOULD HAVE SOME OF THE INMATES GO OUT THERE AND HOE THE GARDEN AND LOOK AFTER THE VEGETABLES AND DO THE WATERING AND WHATEVER AND THIS IS WHY THEY HAD TO RESTRAIN THEM.” KM: “DO YOU REMEMBER ANY SPECIFIC STORIES WITH THAT BOOT, WHO WORE IT OR ANYTHING, LIKE THAT?” TB: “NO.” KM: “SO ALL YOU KNOW IS THAT THOSE ITEMS CAME DIRECTLY FROM THE BARRACKS?” TB: “THAT’S RIGHT, IN FACT THE REASON THAT DAD SAID HE TOOK POSSESSION OF THEM BECAUSE WHEN THEY TORE DOWN THE OLD STABLES AND THE OLD JAIL THEY WERE JUST DESTROYING IT, EVERYTHING WAS JUST GOING TO THE CITY DUMP AND HE HAPPENED TO SEE SOME OF THESE THINGS AND HE THOUGHT THEY WERE THINGS THAT PEOPLE WOULD BE INTERESTED IN VIEWING IN THE FUTURE.
- Catalogue Number
- P19970115001
- Acquisition Date
- 1997-12
- Collection
- Museum