When There’s a Criminal in the Family…^©

By Candy-Lea Chickite

I’d like to share some of the sources I used in tracking down my criminal.

Here’s what the BC Archives has to say about court records: Researching court cases can be very time consuming. If the case is recent (took place in the last ten to fifteen years), your first stop should be the court registry where the action took place. In addition you should consult the local newspaper from the time to get details about the case. A visit to a law library to take advantage of published resources (including published judgements) and the help of expert librarians is definitely recommended.

You are also welcome to visit the BC Archives in person to conduct research and to use our web site to do key word searches. If you are not able to make a visit, please consider hiring an independent agent to conduct research on your behalf. A list of people for hire is available on our web site. However, please keep in mind that most case files are routinely destroyed by the courts after fifteen years and transcripts are not necessarily prepared for every case. Court records (both Provincial and Supreme) transferred to the BC Archives include orders, judgements, samples of case files and other record books. You may have to look through a variety of indexes, finding aids and records to track down information about the particular case you are interested in. Some court records are restricted and may require a research agreement. BC Archives may also charge an hourly search fee if staff time is required to search through restricted records.

Lucky for me, when I began my search for Sook Sias, most of the present policy/fee structure at the BC Archives had not yet been implemented. Be prepared for higher search fees in response to inquiries you may previously have received for free, or at minimal cost.

Court records may contain a lot of information, I wish I could tell you an easy way to find what you’re looking for, but I can’t. I simply did a lot of keyword searches at the BC Archives website, and requested anything I thought may have mention of my case. Sometimes I hit it big, sometimes I struck out. So will you.

Try just entering your subject’s name in the search engine, in this case, it was “Assu.”

British Columbia, County Court (Cumberland)
Civil case files from Union, 1897 and Cumberland
Originals 1897-1941 6.75 m

I have pulled all three instances where the “Assu” name was mentioned in the long list of cases. One of the above files contained a picture of the fishing boat named in the case against Mr. Assu, who was charged with tying his net to the beach during a commercial fishing opening, which was illegal at the time. The defense was, the net was not tied to the beach, it was secured to a ball of kelp that was off the beach!

The following entry was found after using the keyword “Assize” in the search engine:

GR-2353
British Columbia, Supreme Court (Vancouver)
Originals 1893-1951 0.7 m

Volume 1 is a bound criminal records book for assize court, May 1893 - October 1906. There are 11 pages in this volume that refer to John Hill/Sook Sais/Johnny Tackum. These references start with an entry on the spring assize, June 2, 1902, with two counts of grievous bodily harm and end on the fall assize, October 1906. The 11 pages cost me $30 to reproduce.

Another time I found the records of the Vancouver Jail through using “charge book” in a keyword search. This proved date of admittance to the jail, the charge, who committed him, his usual residence, name (with aliases) in full, the election and kind of trial (speedy trial or jury), and where he eventually ended up.

GR-0602
British Columbia, Provincial Court (Vancouver)
Vancouver lock-up charge books, Originals 1895-1925 14 cm

I also appealed to the Archivists and their knowledge in what sources they might think that would be useful. They said that Attorney General’s records were of great value, but as these records are government records rather than court records, they are subject to the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, so anything that was found was reviewed and opened by the IPS officer. Two series of AG’s correspondence and documents often contain information about court proceedings. GR-429 and GR-419 netted me great finds. One document was the crown brief which generally contain the evidence presented to a magistrate to determine whether or not there is enough evidence to go forward to the assizes.

I searched old newspapers once I could ascertain a date for mention of the story. In each instance of mine the Assize Court was held in the first week of June and October, and usually had a number of cases to hear. Reporters were on hand, and newspapers published “verbatim” coverage of the testimony… If the case is being heard in one city, it may be the front page news there. When looking for mention of it in another city’s newspaper, make sure you look for a column of, or “news” from, the city in which the trial is being held. It may not be headlines in Victoria, when it’s a New Westminster story.

Coroner’s Inquests give first hand accounts at the time of the incident – what a great way to lay out the circumstances! In my case I found the correct entry because Sook “Schis” was listed as the cause of death. Luckily I searched only using the term “Sook.” As I didn’t know the name of the deceased, or where the incident happened, the index was invaluable due to the information the indexer provided. I may have been able to ascertain that this was the correct one by the date of the inquest, but since the only date I had to go on was the June 1892 date of trial, it may have taken me some time to narrow down that the death occurred in December 1891.

The easiest way would be to enter your subject’s surname in the BC Archives search engine and hope that the indexes have captured him (pun intended!). Here is one set of inquests that I have frequented:

GR-1327
British Columbia, Attorney General
Inquisitions/inquests conducted by coroners
Microfilm (neg.) 1862, 1872-1937 74 reels 16mm B2372-B2445

You can always just type in “Coroner” into the BC Archives search engine, see what comes up, then explore!

Capital Case Files (RG 13 B1) Case files on most of the individuals convicted of capital murder from 1867 to 1976 are available at the National Archives. Files may include correspondence, medical reports, summaries and transcripts of the trial proceedings, petitions and newspaper clippings (Finding Aid 13-39). The records must be consulted onsite at the National Archives.

The BC Archives has a copy of the INDEX and they checked for the name of Sook Sias for me. Once you know there is a chance that a file may exist, ask for a copy of the file from the National Archives. In my case, the file is “missing” but I did receive a copy of the page from the INDEX (image at right) from the National Archives.

When I spoke to the archivist at the National Archives about the above index, she told me that the commutation order should still be available. She looked up the Record Group (RG #) for me, and told me to ask for them to “include any attachments” as often the person receiving the request will only copy the actual “Order” and not the notes with it (I can’t imagine why!).
As I was requesting another file already, I requested them to also search and copy RG2 Series, A1A, Order-in-Council PC 1887, dated 1892/06/13 (as the archivist suggested) and was told “can’t find any info relative to request.” I phoned the original archivist and she said to, “Request it again, by itself, with the exact same wording as the first time! It should be there!” and I got it about a month later – free!

Something that took over a year and a half to receive from the National Archives could be the best piece of information you will find. I found the following reference to the BC Penitentiary at the ArchiviaNet database (http://www.collectionscanada.ca/archivianet/02012302_e.html).

Series part of: Correctional Service of Canada fonds — R942-0-X-E
British Columbia Penitentiary (New Westminster, British Columbia)
[textual record]
1878-1980
19.1 m of textual records

Series consists of records created and accumulated by the British Columbia Penitentiary in New Westminster, including federal sessional papers, statute books, American Criminological Associations' reports. There are daily ledgers, Wardens' order book, remission mark books, an inmate question and answer book (1880-1950). A large part of the records (Vols. 239-322) consists of the following ledgers and registers: stock and stores ledgers, convict ledgers, remission registers, chaplin's registers, ration books, invoice books, order books, hospital records and related material. Also, included are registry files (Vols. 227-238) which contain information on a wide variety of subjects such as: boards of inquiry and disciplinary boards, liaison with outside agencies and associations, meetings and conferences, research, establishment, classification of inmates, prison inspection, security and other matters.

I then sent a request for the National Archives to look for Sook Sias in the “convict ledgers” as stated above, and although it took over a year and a half for them to reply, it was worth the wait! They searched RG73 volume 277, which is one bound volume titled, Register of Convicts 1 to 2710, dated 1878 – 1934. They frequently consult this register in response to queries regarding the BC Penitentiary. They located two entries for Sook Sias but were not able to copy them as the bound volume is quite large and extremely fragile; however they painstakingly transcribed the information for me!

Prison number, name, sex, sentence term, date received, date of pardon or death, nationality, race, religion, married state, where born, whence received, age, a personal description with height, complexion, hair and eye colour, his trade, the crime, when sentenced, convicting judge, the court and any remarks were generally all included! By the time I received this information, I knew a lot of it, but – one thing I didn’t know, that was of great interest was the date he was released the first time he went to prison (originally sentenced to death, commuted to life, but was released according to this information 25 NOV 1896 and pardoned). I had narrowed it down to about 1898, so this was very good news. They were able to photocopy his “inmate description card” and they also included some pages containing records of his payment for labour, however, every other person on that document was blacked out.

Something that may jump-start your research is finding the name of the convict in the Sessional Papers of the Parliament of Canada. The Penitentiary or Justice Departments produced a yearly report included in the Sessional Papers, many contained names of the convicts in penitentiaries and asylums run by the Government of Canada. Lists of convicts received, pardoned, paroled or died were among the lists included. The amount of information varies considerably.

http://www.rootsweb.com/~canbc/bc.htm – CONVICT DEATHS IN BRITISH COLUMBIA, 1875-1916, (Originally printed in The Journal of the Victoria Genealogical Society, v.21, #4, Dec 1998) Hugh Armstrong has extracted names of the prisoners who died while incarcerated in the BC Penitentiary from the Sessional Papers, and also added further notations in some cases.

The 1911 Census of Canada may hold a clue as to the town or city in which a court case was held, thereby giving you the opportunity to zero in on newspaper accounts or court records, at least as far as inmates of the British Columbia Penitentiary is concerned…

Individuals who were members of a family, but who had subsequently become inhabitants of an asylum, almshouse, home for the aged, reformatory, prison, or any similar type of institution were to be enumerated at the institution. However, if their home address was in Canada, it was to be entered in column 4 under "Place of Habitation"ⁱ. Specifically, the enumerators were instructed that in the case of prison inmates: “It is to be specially noted that in the cue (sic) of prisons, penitentiaries, etc., the prisoner should be there enumerated however short the term of sentence. The name of the home address (if in Canada) must be entered in column 4.”ⁱⁱ

In most cases I suspect that column 4 records the place from where the convict came from prior to entering the Penitentiary, and often this could be the town or city where the legal proceedings were held that resulted in the incarceration. “Vancouver” was recorded in column 4 as Sook Sias’s home address. I know for a fact that he never lived there, but his court case in 1906 was held there.

Another example would be that of Lewis Colquhoun, one of Bill Miner’s cohorts in the 1906 train robbery that landed them in the Pen. Lewis has the notation of “Kamloops” in column 4, which I know to be his place of conviction. This enumerationⁱⁱⁱ may be the last official listing of him outside of prison records, as he died shortly after the census was conducted, in September of 1911, while serving the remainder of his 25 year sentence.

Ung Wing (Wing Ung?)^iv was convicted in Vancouver and Johnnie Peter^v in Nanaimo, and both men have those place names listed in column 4.

I have not tested this theory in regards to other prisons or penitentiaries, but it seems likely that the records of the inmate (where the census information was gleaned) recorded where they came from prior to their institution, and many came directly from court.

There are a lot of things waiting to be found, it’s just not as easy as doing ‘normal’ research. I guess it goes without saying that the records in a criminal matter can be as elusive as (probably) the criminal himself!

ⁱ Instructions to Enumerators - 1911 Census of Canada http://globalgenealogy.com/Census/Download/Instr1911.pdf
ⁱⁱ ibid
ⁱⁱⁱ 1911 Census of Canada - Enumeration District 6: New Westminster, New Westminster, British Columbia, Page 30, line #6, (http://data2.collectionscanada.ca/1911a/e078/e001938923.pdf)
^iv 1911 Census of Canada - Enumeration District 6: New Westminster, New Westminster, British Columbia, Page 31, line #24, (http://data2.collectionscanada.ca/1911a/e078/e001938924.pdf)
^v 1911 Census of Canada - Enumeration District 6: New Westminster, New Westminster, British Columbia, Page 29, line #39, (http://data2.collectionscanada.ca/1911a/e078/e001938922.pdf)

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Last revised: August 15, 2005