Police Chief McKinnon's Absence (Part 9) The Finale

“It was after 3 o’clock when the commissioners filed into the mayor’s office this afternoon to finally decide the punishment of Chief of Police McKinnon. Sometime before that hour, the chief had arrived and sat nervously awaiting the forthcoming result, whatever it might be.”

Hamilton Spectator.   January 18, 1895

Worn out, broken down and exhausted by the recent events in his life, including the intensity of his meeting with the police commissioners the previous day, Hugh McKinnon arrived at Hamilton City Hall about 2:55 p.m, January 18, 1895.

His hostile cross-examination by the police commissioners had left him frustrated that his explanation of his absence from duty and his relationship with Mrs. Gould and her sister was not accepted.

While the chief sat uneasily, the beginning of the meeting was slightly delayed as the three police commissioners remained in the mayor’s office in discussion :

“It was only a few minutes after 3 when the members of the board came out and took their places. At once, Mayor Stewart announced the object of the meeting, stated that the commissioners were prepared to give judgment, and asked Judge Muir to read the decision.”¹

¹ Hamilton Times. January 18, 1895.

Judge Muir rose to read the commissioners’ verdict, but the chief requested that the board hold off for a few minutes, as his legal representation had yet to arrive

His request was granted, and efforts were made to contact J. W. Nesbitt and John Gauld by telephone. Ten minutes later, Mr. Gauld did arrive, apologizing for his tardiness.

At that point, Judge Muir again arose and read the judgment:

“ ‘ The commissioners feel that Chief McKinnon’s own admission that during his absence, he remained at different hotels for nearly a week with another man’s wife and her sister, under the circumstances is sufficient to bring about a forfeiture of the respect which members of the force should have for their head and cannot be overlooked. Such open and flagrant violations of propriety and correct living shock the moral sense of the community and impair the usefulness of the chief to such an extent as, in the opinion of the commissioners, to render it incumbent for them without further investigation to ask for his resignation.’ ”²

²  “Chief McKinnon Must Go : The Police Commissioners Have So Decided.”

Hamilton Spectator.  January 18, 1895.

The chief did not immediately react, but then made a request:

“ Chief McKinnon asked that a few days be given him to wind up his office business affairs. He had heard the decision with bent head and his request was made in a calm, clear voice.”²

In response, the commissioners decided that, rather than demand an immediate resignation, the chief should immediate write a letter of resignation as Hamilton’s Chief of Police, but that he could not date it. The commissioners would keep the letter and fill in the blank space with the date of their choosing in the near future.

After the meeting was officially adjourned, McKinnon went to his office where he talked in private with Mr. Gauld. After chatting with the lawyer, the soon-to-be former chief started looking over some papers, after which he went back to his room at the Royal Hotel. His wife and daughter met him there, but he did not return with them to the McKinnon home, but chose to stay another night at the hotel.

The next morning, McKinnon returned to his office in the City Hall, where a Spectator reporter encountered him:

“He was seated at his desk in the midst of an apparent collection of official documents and private correspondence, and was hard at work straightening up things.”⁴

⁴ “Getting Ready to Move : Chief McKinnon Preparing to Vacate His Office.”

Hamilton Spectator.   January 19, 1895

The reporter was noticed by McKinnon, and invited into the office for a chat:

“ ‘Sit down, old man,’ said he, after shaking hands. ‘I know it all looked bad,’ he continued but I tell you I am innocent of any charge of immorality. When I went to the commissioners’ meeting yesterday, I didn’t know what to expect. I had thought I might be allowed a few days to clear myself of the more serious charge, but it seemed not to be. They did not even look at the letter I spoke of the day before, which was in my police letter-book in connection with the man Smith.

“ ‘Don’t think I blame anyone but myself. It was my drinking that caused the trouble. Had I followed my first impulse when I received the telegram at Guelph on Friday telling me not to come until Saturday night, it could have been all right. My first intention was to return at once to Hamilton, but I went out to hunt for this man and – you know the rest.’⁴

The Spectator reporter in his article then suggested that there was “genuine sorrow among the men of the police force” over the impending resignation of their chief, and that many of them had so stated to McKinnon. His problem was, it was decided, that he was “a kind-hearted, whole-souled fellow, whose worst enemy was his own good-natured self.”⁴

McKinnon indicated that he had one worry in particular, at the moment – that citizens did not believe that he had been actually ill recently:

“ ‘I was too weak to stand. I was not in the best of health when I went away, and at the hotel I was completely prostrated, as the doctors stated. On Sunday last, I made up my mind that I would get up, and did so, but after walking around my room, I was exhausted and my wife and daughter had to put me to bed again,.’ ”⁴

The man from the Spectator inquired as to what McKinnon’s plans were for the future, the chief was unable to reply specifically:

“ “I am not going to give up, though,’ said he. ‘In time, I may be able to work my way up again, and I intend to try hard. This is a horrible thing after nearly thirty years of public life.’ He further said that he had been oftentimes misunderstood and misrepresented by people because of his secretiveness in business affairs, a condition of affairs, he added, that exists in every public man’s life, and which always works for his downfall in time of trouble.”⁴

The conversation ended with McKinnon telling the reporter that he had not yet written out his resignation letter, and would not do so until he had further conversation with his lawyer. He also wanted to complete the considerable work entailed in straightening up the affairs of his office, and getting all in shape for the next official to be appointed as Hamilton’s chief of police.

Of the three Hamilton daily newspapers, the Hamilton Times editorial on the McKinnon affair was the most sympathetic to the chief:

“While sincerely sorry for Chief McKinnon, the Times cannot blame the Police Commissioners for demanding his resignation. It would be difficult, if not impossible, for him to maintain proper discipline in the force after revelations of his own misconduct. In using that word, we do not assume that he has been guilty of anything more than was acknowledged by himself in his letter to the Board.

“A man may off with a woman for an immoral purpose, but he never takes a second woman along for a witness. The circumstantial evidence in favor of Mr. McKinnon’s acquittal on the charge of adultery is very strong. But the drunkenness is admitted, along with neglect of duty, the two offences probably occupying the relation of cause and effect.

“The peculiarly distressing feature of the case is that Mr. McKinnon was not a habitual drinker. For months, and sometimes for years, he would not touch a drop of any intoxicant. So abstemious was he as a rule that many citizens who had known him quite intimately for many years could hardly bring themselves to believe that he had been guilty of drinking.

“His lapse in this respect has cost him dear, and if he deserves censure and punishment, he is also entitled to sympathy. It is no light matter for a man at his age, with a family dependent upon him, to be cut off from his means of livelihood even for a good cause, and we are sure there will be more regret than exultation among the citizens on account of the unfortunate affair.

“The Times hopes that Mr. McKinnon will be able to secure another position suited to his talents and capacity, and that he will never require another such lesson as he is now receiving. He is a good man at heart, though he may have a weakness that can only be kept in subjection by constant struggle and watchfulness. Such a man is entitled to a helping hand, but he has to help himself too.

“Nothing will please the people of Hamilton better than to hear that Hugh McKinnon is doing well, wherever he may go.”³

³ “ The Chief of Police”

Hamilton Times.  January 19, 1895