1915-04-30oo

“Members of the parks board are shivering in their boots. Cold, clammy perspiration trickles from their brows, and his worship, George Frederick Jelfs, magistrate of Hamilton and district, is responsible.” ”

Hamilton Spectator.    April 30, 1915.

At the police court session of April 30, 1915, Magistrate Jelfs forcefully delivered a judgement about a case, actually about a case that was not even on docket :

“ ‘ If any person takes it upon himself to prefer charges of cruelty against those responsible for the zoological garden in Dundurn park, I’ll register convictions as fast as they come.”¹

¹ “Parks Board Members Are Taking Risk”

Hamilton Spectator.    April 30, 1915.

After recounting the magistrate’s threat, the Spectator reporter on police court duty, said that “those responsible” could only mean members of the Hamilton Park Board which was in charge of all things at Dundurn park:

“Is it any wonder that they are nervous? Hourly they expect  to see a blue-coated limb of the law flitting from house to house with official-looking papers in his hand.

“They can vividly picture ‘Jock’ McKay, court clerk extraordinary reading out the heinous indictment::

“ ‘You stand charged that you did on April 30 and many days prior thereto, wantonly and with malice aforethought, coop, detain, confine, harbor, wild, ferocious, uncivilized and untamed animals, beasts and birds of prey, said cooping, confinement, detainment etc. etc. being much against the will and wishes of the said animals, beats and birds of prey, and in direct contravention to section umptyumph-two, subsection umptyumpth, governing cruelty to dumb and speechless animals, beasts and birds of prey.

“ ‘GUILTY OR NOT GUILTY?’”¹

Magistrate Jelfs let his views on how the “animals, beasts and birds of prey” were being cared for at Dundurn park in what the Spectator man termed “convicting tones” :

“ ‘It is flagrant and glaring cruelty to keep those animals cooped up in those narrow, pokey cages, and it is worse in hot weather, Take that poor lion, Leo, for example. He should be roaming carefree and content in the jungles of Africa, but instead he is locked up in a two-by-four cage with just enough room to turn around. If that isn’t cruelty, I don’t know what is.’ ”¹

The Spectator man then fantasized about how Leo would react if he knew of Magistrate Jelfs’ view:

“Leo’s keeper whispered the glad tidings in his furry ear at noon today. Leo, who was born in a circus tent, and whose father and mother were also born in a circus tent, polished off his little meal of three pounds of raw beef, licked his bewhiskered chops and smiled a most bewitching smile. He never heard tell of Africa.”¹

The ever-industrious young man from the Spectator then sought out a member  of the Hamilton Parks Board to tell him of Magistrate Jelfs’ comments and seek a reaction. The reaction provided was brief. He said, “It is to laugh.”