In twenty-nine years as a lawman, Jack Ingram tamed Winnipeg, Calgary, Great Falls (Montana), and Rossland. He was born in St. Thomas, Ontario in 1850. In 1870 he headed west working at different things including trapping and herding horses. In 1873 he arrived in Winnipeg and quickly became a legendary brawler in places such as the Red Saloon. Manitoba at the time was policed by a territorial force headquartered at Fort Garry. Ottawa at the time hoped to police the territory with the North West Mounted Police within a year, but soon realized the NWMP was not large enough, so the territory started recruiting men for it's force and Ingram joined up and became a deputy sherrif. Working quietly and effectively, he rarely carried a gun, preferring to use his fists. His arrest of Ambroise Lepine was typical of his method. Lepine was wanted on a murder charge. Ingram walked up to him and greeted him as a friend and then delivered a left hook to the head. Lepine woke up in jail, and when he was later hung, Ingram was paid the reward.
      When Winnipeg incorporated in 1874, Ingram was hired as it's first Chief of Police. This was during the time of the Riel Rebellion. Within weeks his influence was apparent and he was considered a success. Then Carrie Lyons (an Ontario madam) arrived in town with five girls (Ella Lewis, Fannie Ellsworth, Carrie Rowland, Nellie Foster and Addie Booth) to become Winnipeg's first madam. (As a note of interest, in the police logs from the early days in Rossland brothels were always called "sporting houses" and the girls, whether they were in the brothel or on the street, were always called "sporting girls"). Ingram controlled the brothels (up to this point all owned by men) by strictly enforcing his rule that the gamblers, girls and saloon owners behaved themsleves and stayed in the west end of town and stayed away from the "nice" folks.
      Carrie, however, soon had Ingram spending more time at her place than on the job. Two of his constables made a complaint that he was rarely available when they needed him. Alderman John Villiers, who was strongly apposed to the red light district, publicly charged Ingram with negligence of duty and of maintaining order in the red light district by running a protection racket. Ingram sued Villiers, but before that got anywhere Ingram was rounded up one night in June 1875 in a surprise raid on Carrie's brothel. Ingram was fined $8.00 plus $2.00 costs and then fired. Ingram's remaining time in Winnipeg was spent drinking and prizefighting in the Red Saloon, The Pride Of The West Saloon, and the Prairie Saloon, and no doubt at Carrie's place as well.
     In 1884 the new City of Calgary hired Ingram to head it's new police force. The City Council was well aware of his reputation, but Bob Edwards and his newspaper, The Eye Opener, supported him and carried the day. Calgary was a tough town at that time. In two months Ingram tamed Calgary without firing a single shot. Most of the thugs, including "Crackerbox Bill" and "Bulldog Kelly", left town and those that stayed kept in line. He was never seen in Calgary carrying a gun - at least not in sight. His fists always seemed to be enough for the job. He ran things from a back room in a pool hall / saloon and he hired two like-minded constables. Each of the three of them would decide the right and wrong of any dispute they encountered and deal with it according to their own criteria. Their decisions were final, if not always reflective of justice to the deserving party.
     In July 1887 Ingram became engaged to the pretty Edith Oake, from Hyde, England. A week before the wedding, the folks of the red light district, hoping that marriage would mellow him, all got together in an effort to start things off on a new footing with him, and threw a bachelor party for him that lasted three days. They were married in October 1887, but much to the disappointment of everyone his approach to law and order was changed not one iota.
     His many enemies found an ally in the editor of the Calgary Herald who campaigned for Ingram's removal. In February 1888 Ingram and his two constables resigned. Within two months the Herald was looking back on Ingram's peaceful tenure with fondness and regretting that Calgary was once again in the hands of the lawless. Further emphasizing the point, Ingram accepted a job managing two hotels, The Palace and The Royal, and these became the only establishments in town enjoying peace. May Buchanan who had been operating her brothel on a reduced schedule under Ingram once again expanded her schedule to 24 hours a day, closing only on Sunday morning and evening for church. In 1890 Ingram went to Great Falls, Montana, once again as a lawman.
     There is some confusion around Ingram's arrival in Rossland. Most accounts say that he was contacted by Rossland officials while he was still in Montana and asked to come to Rossland to clean up the town, which had reverted to lawlessness after Kirkup's departure, and that he arived in Rossland in 1896. In fact Kirkup did not leave Rossland (he remained as Gold Commissioner until 1912), but was not kept on as a law officer by the new mayor when Rossland incorporated in April 1897. So whether or not Ingram had to retame the town after Kirkup is not clear. In any case Ingram became Rossland's first Police Chief in April 1897.
     In 1900 Ingram played a prominent role in bringing an eight year old Rossland boy, Ernest Chenoweth, to trial for murder (see The Killing of Mah Lin). Even though no one seriously thought anyone would convict an eight year old for murder, he was relentless in his pursuit. One gets the feeling that he had some kind of axe to grind concerning Mary or her sons. He was quoted as saying that Mary "is no better than a prostitute and her 3 sons are very tough boys", an odd comment considering his history.
     In April 1901, a political enemy by the name of C.O. Lalonde was elected mayor and Ingram retired and spent his time working some mining properties he had. In 1902 John S. Clute was elected mayor and rehired Ingram as Chief, but in 1903 John Dean became mayor and Ingram retired from police work for good.
     Ingram went to work for the Centre Star Mining Company as a powderman. On 16 December 1905 Jack had lunch with his stepson Bert O. Ingram in the fuse house. At 12:40 pm Jack told Bert to go to the thawing room and see that it was not overheated and to open the door if it was, while he continued making fuse bunches. Now the thawing room held 1500 to 1800 pounds of Gelignite explosive which was 75% nitro-glycerine. It had to be thawed before they could use it. They controlled the temperature in the room by opening and closing the door. Shortly after that the thawing room exploded, sending black smoke 600 feet in the air and breaking most of the glass in town (it took them months to bring enough glass into town to replace it all). They found Jack buried head first up to his ankles in a bank, the only fatality. No one knows what happened. Perhaps Bert forgot to leave the door open or perhaps Jack did something to cause it. In any case he died as he lived - explosively!