Louisa’s Baby:

The North-West Mounted Police, its Doctor, and Native-White

Relations at Fort McPherson
1911-1914

Walter Vanast

McGill University

Draft 6

Intellectual Property

Suggestions and Corrections Invited

walter.vanast@mcgill.ca
 In 1911, as part of a system of political patronage, Canada’s prime minister1 assigned Dr.
Charles A. Wilson to the Northwest Mounted Police detachment at Fort McPherson near the
Mackenzie Delta. The posting surely pleased the senator2 who had pushed the doctor's cause, but
Wilson himself replied with anger—he wanted work in a congenial southern setting, not at this
"desolate post." He would go, but needed a thousand dollars to "pay obligations" and buy supplies.
"Wire funds," said his hasty note to the senator, "must not be an absconder, answer immediately."
Arrived at McPherson, Wilson showed the broad range of his medical skills. A native
matron who had severely burned her trunk improved under his care. His skin grafts, “took
beautifully, though her corpulence made it "a difficult case to dress," and delirium, fever, and
kidney problems shadowed her course. By Christmas, she had recovered.
Wilson had less success with a tuberculous Gwich’in woman,3, though her case brought his
knowledge of pathology into play. Deformed by spinal tuberculosis, or Pott's disease, the woman
had not sought help until an abscess had formed, and swollen glands were chronically draining.
Autopsy revealed a track of pus from the necrotic spine via muscles and other soft tissues to the
groin. Amyloidosis, a deposit of complex sugars due to chronic infection, could be seen in kidneys
and liver.
That first year, Wilson developed close ties with the Reverend Charles Whittaker, the
Anglican missionary who had long served the region as amateur physician. While the doctor
visited Herschel Island, the minister cared for Louisa's burns. Despite that initial good will,
however, the surgeon was soon the object of ridicule and ill will from all in the region.
Wilson was obsessed with money. Since his contract only referred to care of police, he
resented seeing Indians. Of the former just a few were usually on site, and needed scant attention,
but of the latter many sought advice. Wet weather caused rheumatic pains, colds, and sore throats.
injuries of various sorts were frequent, and willow branches on the trail often scratched eyes.
When Wilson learned that police surgeons in the Yukon on top of their police salary
received fifty dollars a month from the Department of Indian Affairs, he wanted the same. In less
than half a year in the Territories, he complained, he had seen 293 natives, done 349 initial
consultations, made 321 follow-up visits, dispensed drugs 574 times, and performed 37 minor
surgical procedures. The appeal worked: by April 1912, Wilson, too, was on the DIA payroll.

1
Sir Wilfred Laurier
2
Alberta Senator W.C. Edwards.
3
Jane Austin.
 Money, however, stayed a problem, for Wilson carried long-standing debts. A former lady
acquaintance in England who hoped to recover a loan wrote to the RCMP’s top brass, who sent the
letter on to McPherson. Northern ties, too, turned ugly because the doctor hoarded his funds. Given
his standing as a surgeon, policemen did Wilson's cooking and cleaned his room, and a native
employee,4 brought hot water each morning. The doctor resented paying him for that service, and
instead of giving three dollars a month, did so only yearly.
Also an issue was that of the detachment’s surplus supplies, which reverted to staff and
were sold for furs or cash. Sure he was being cheated, Wilson laid a charge against the sergeant.
As a result, the regional commanding officer stopped further sales: neither the doctor nor the
policemen could now earn extra money. Along with the ruling came the official’s deep enmity
toward the physician.
Wilson's isolation was worsened by dislike of travel. During a trip to Herschel Island he
constantly complained of conditions, though his misery had much to do with his prickly ways.
Constantly sullen, he was considered a “wet-blanket.” His righteous tone, moreover, did not match
his actions, for at Fort McPherson he often slept with an Indian woman, Louisa Teedeehook, who
became pregnant in early 1914. Questioned at length by the sergeant, the doctor “strenuously”
denied any link.
Of the locals who taunted the father-to-be, none took more pleasure than Joseph Jacquot, an
independent trader who lived in the settlement and journeyed widely. A few years before he had
moved in with Sarah, a young Indian woman, and though not legally married she had became
known as Mrs. Jacquot. In early 1914, soon after her husband returned from a bout of excess in
Dawson, he infected her with venereal disease. Angered, she moved out.
Several plots converged at this point. Jacquot, aware that Sergeant Clay had paid his wife
extra attention (sending her liquor, blankets and other goods), became convinced he was her lover
and had ordered her to leave him. Confronting his rival he got into a scuffle, was promptly jailed,
and charged with assault. Then he was handed a harsh sentence (two months’ confinement with
heavy labour) by the doctor, who acted as judge. As Jacquot saw it, Wilson was getting even for the
ribbinh he had given him over Louisa’s child.
Tied to a makeshift ball-and-chain (a log and thirty pounds of birdshot), Jacquot slept
beside the stove in a makeshift cell "no larger than a coffin", and went out no further than the

4
Interpreter Greenland,
woodpile. Then, agreeing before an inspector that his sentence had been just, and promising to
behave, he was let go. The docility, however, was faked, for he planned stiff revenge. While in jail
he and Wilson had realized they could be useful to each other—by working together they could
shame the detachment and ruin the officer’s careers. Leaving at once for Yukon, Jacquot wrote
from there to the police commissioner in Regina, outlining the story of his unjust treatment.
Wilson too, left the North. As soon as Louisa’ s pregnancy became known, he had asked for
transfer to a city close to home in Alberta. "I have or will have had when the summer boat arrives,"
said his letter ,"three years at this post, and it is about all I can stand." Senior officials, aware by
now of his disruptive behaviour, sent his political sponsor a confidential note and decided not to
renew Wilson’s contract..
Though Wilson was unaware of these arrangements, he became more bitter the further he
came south. By the time he reached police headquarters in Northern Alberta he made damning
accusations while painting his own role as one that was uniformly good. When he had first arrived
in the North, the police "were held in contempt by the whole of the population.” His actions had
improved much of that, but issues remained. Inspector Phillips lacked the men's confidence and
Sergeant Clay, chronically depressed, was not suited to a distant post.
As Wilson told it, Clay had contracted gonorrhea from Jacquot’s wife and then to avoid
reinfection had made her stay away from her husband. The latter had attacked the sergeant and
been admitted to prison, where his harsh treatment matched the discomfort in the sergeant’s private
parts: hugely swollen testicles had kept him from properly doing his work.
The doctor’s story had less effect than he had hoped. Commissioner Perry cautiously fumed
that if Phillips and Clay had indeed "betrayed the trust” imposed in them, they should resign. Yet
he put scant credence in Wilson's “sweeping accusations.” which did not match what was known of
these men. Clay had fine reputation.
In Macpherson, Wilson’s charges drew all whites together. Jacquot's Quebec background
(which likely meant he was Catholic) and frequent drunkenness had brought him few friends in the
staunchly Anglican settlement. His unmarried life with a native woman had offended the local
missionary, and his work as an independent trader had made him an enemy of the Hudson's Bay
clerk. Wide knowledge of his venereal illness, imported from elsewhere and transmitted to his wife,
had led to loathing. Wilson’s tattling at police headquarters had made matters worse.
 Whites denied all wrong-doing by the sergeant and in sworn depositions told Inspector
Philips that Wilson had evoked ill feeling the entire time he had been with them. The Reverend
Charles Whittaker "strongly rejected” Wilson’s claims. It was the doctor, not the police, who
lacked people's confidence. Indians had often complained of his "contempt and harshness" when
they sought treatment, and bewailed that he had "grossly neglected many needy and deserving
cases." Another cleric5 labelled Wilson's charges preposterous and spiteful.
A former a member of the police spoke of Wilson's aggression and brooding. The surgeon
was "held in more contempt by the population” than anyone he could think of. John Firth, the
Hudson's Bay trader, backed that up. The sergeant’s qualities were entirely opposite to those
reported by Wilson. Rather than sullen and incompetent, he was "very pleasant, most genial, and
the most efficient officer” ever in charge at McPherson. Wilson, by contrast, was "the only man
who made himself absolutely obnoxious” to others at the detachment and the rest of the population.
A Hudson's Bay Company inspector seconded those sentiments. If Clay had ever been
unpleasant to Wilson, he would merely have been "repaying him in kind." It was absurd for the
doctor to say that he had rescued the police reputation, for no one recalled an act on the doctor’s
part that served that purpose. If there was question of lack of respect, it applied only to the doctor,
whose activities "both socially and professionally," had earned him disdain from Indians, Inuit, and
whites.
The sergeant’s defenders insisted that Jacquot's arrest had been warranted and his sentence
correct. Ball and chain had been worn no more than two days, and after his discharge he had never
been prohibited from seeing his wife. The woman’s many visits to the barracks during Jacquot’s
incarceration had nothing to do with trysts with Sergeant Clay, but related to the needs of a female
prisoner also held at the time. Even had the sergeant wanted to take advantage of Sarah while her
husband was confined, it would have been impossible as he was off on patrol much of that time.
Other policemen confirmed the sergeant’s alibi, as did Sara herself. On returning from
Dawson her husband had asked for her help, as he "was going to make trouble for the police." He
had urged her to support his charges against Clay, but she refused. She had received no goods from
the sergeant, she told the enquiry, nor was there need, as she had "grub and blankets of my own."
The police, she affirmed, had "always treated me good," so she had no cause for complaint.

5
Eldon Merritt.
 Jacquot was not there to counter Sara’s story. A month after he told her of his plan to harm
the sergeant's career, he came to an unexpected end. Traveling on the Mackenzie in early October,
as Clay reported, he "accidentally drowned," That same day, Archdeacon Whittaker took Sarah
aside for a "long talk." Accepting his admonitions, she claimed "to be repentant for her
misdoings." (Her story about the Sergeant and Jacquot was apparently not quite as black and white
as she and McPherson’s whites had painted it in their depositions.)
To some, Jacquot’s drowning may have seemed strange, especially since he was an
experienced traveler, water levels at that time of year were low, and streams ran less quickly. His
canoe and all its contents were recovered intact, as was his hat, but the body was never found.
Rumour suggested that drinking or suicide might have played a role. Other theories received no
attention.
 Appendix 1:

Happy Liaisons

Louisa Teedeehook gave birth in November and at the baptism, conducted by Whittaker,
affirmed the child "belongs to Dr. Wilson." The infant, however, did not stop her from being
courted by others. Within days she received a summons from Pete Peterson, a well-known white
trader who lived in the Mackenzie Delta close to the arctic shore. On Nov. 25 she left to become
his wife, and from time to time thereafter, the two of them returned to pay Whittaker a visit.
Sara Jacquot married a certain Herbert, an Indian, eight months after her husband's death.
Sergeant Clay, by then on furlough in the south, he found the love of his life and, three
years after his alleged tryst with Sara Jacquot, brought her to McPherson. "One of the finest women
who ever lived," according to some northerners, Margaret Clay became the "general favourite" of
the white population along the Mackenzie. She and her husband never had children, suggesting
that the illness Clay had suffered was not a venereal one, but mumps. Indeed, that explains the
sergeant's swollen testicles far better than gonorrhea.
Deeply in love, Mrs. Clay insisted on living with her husband at each posting, even when he
thought it too dangerous. In 1924, his last year in the North, she accompanied him to Chesterfield
Inlet. While the sergeant was away, a pack of sled dogs attacked her, inflicting mortal wounds.
Clay, unaware of the tragedy, came home from his patrol two weeks later.

Appendix 2

Dr. Wilson’s medical successors.

1. Dr. Doyle

Dr. Philip Ernest Doyle, recent McGill graduate and newly appointed police surgeon,
arrived at McPherson in 1916. Over the subsequent year, Whittaker often noted his helpful
presence at the bedside of ailing Indians. The doctor traveled widely, spending much time in the
Mackenzie Delta and on the coast. At Herschel Island, where no medical man had visited since
Wilson's brief sojourn in December 1911, he found the people in a “very sick” state. Tuberculosis,
syphilis, and eye infections were common; children suffered many sores on scalp and face. So the
doctor stayed as long as he could.
In time, the doctor’s devotion faded. He liked alcohol and the attention of native women,
and by 1924, ill health forced his resignation. "Seriously affected in his mind, suffering from
frightful illusions," he believed himself responsible for spreading "a horrible disease," probably
syphilis—his symptoms were of the kind seen in the late cerebral stage of that disorder. Unable to
ship him out until the arrival of the summer steamer, whites at Aklavik wearied of his ranting and
reached the point where they wanted to "put him down through a hole in the ice” or shoot him.
That year, fortunately, saw a start of the Oblate Fathers’ construction of a combined
residential school, orphanage, and medical ward for native people, and that spurred the Anglican
church to put up a small hospital the following year. It also made the police less willing to lay out
the costs for a year-round physician.
Police surgeons spent most of their time caring for native peoples, yet government
departments responsible for Indians and Eskimos paid the smaller fraction of their salaries. Dr.
Doyle’s work at Hershel Island concerned mostly non-police whites and natives, yet the RCMP
paid most of his income. As soon as he retired, it was decided that other arrangements hade to be
made.
It was not that the police disagreed with having a doctor fill multiple functions, for in many
locations in the South they gave part-time work to physicians already engaged in other employ--
the position was known as Acting Assistant Surgeon.
At Fort Smith, the police had hired Dr. Macdonald, employed by the Indian Department
physician, at a significant salary. But the arrangement was no longer justifiable, as care of sick
officers took up but an "infinitesimal" portion of his time. Even a “small salary” would more than
compensate him for his work for the police.
O. S. Finnie, the government’s senior bureaucrat for the North West Territories, made no
effort to respond to RCMP concerns, and doubted RCMP sincerity when they threatened to
withdraw their phsysician. He correctly anticipated that a physician would be sent in to replace
Doyle, and that the the new doctor would be stationed at Aklavik along with the police detachment
when it moved south from Herschel Island to that location. If so, Finnie was prepared to assist only
to the extent of creating a part-time Medical Health Officer position.

2. Dr. Ward

The RCMP replaced Doyle with Acting Assistant Surgeon—with an annual salary of $750
from the Dept. of Indian Affairs and $1750 from the the RCMP. By 1928, however, the latter’s
officials again grumbled that policemen took little of the doctor's time, and let it be known that the
arrangement had become " disappointing and expensive."
Indeed, between 1924 and 1927, the number of police visits to the doctor came to two, and
since the the Catholic and Anglican churches had built hospital wards, schools, and orphanages at
Aklavik, Ward served mostly them. Both here and at Herschel Island, Inuit required much of his
attention. Clearly, it was time that that Finnie, who held responsibility for these people, hire his
own physician.
In an arrangement similar to that at Smith and Simpson, the RCMP was prepared to "pay a
small fee" of $600 to have the doctor care for its men. As well, it would let the new doctor take
over Dr. Ward's quarters, and give him free passage on its boats along the coast. Indian Affairs,
meanwhile, agreed to continue its contribution. However, since it was no longer responsible for
Inuit, and few Indians visited the Delta, the stipend would be halved to $300.

3. “Dr.” Livingstone

Livingston, the next doctor to practice at Aklavik (now almost entirely on a non-police
salary) brought a wife, had children, built a farm (cows and all) and behaved very well—though
worries about his skills, especially in surgery, gradually mounted. The concern was well-founded,
for he had never completed medical-school. But that is another of the North’s surprising medical
stories, and one that will require many pages of its own.
 Citations

Wilfred Laurier, aboard the "Virginian," to Col. Fred White, Comptroller, R.N.W.M.P., 12
May, 1911. RG 18 vol. 463 file 252-254. Compt. to W.C. Edwards, the Senate, 31 March, 1914.
RG 18 vol. 463 file 252-254. C.A. Wilson, telegram from Edmonton to Hon. Wm. C. Edwards,
Sussex St, Ottawa, 18 May. (Wilson lived near Hortonburg, Saskatchewan). RG 18 vol. 463 file
252-254. For police response to Wilson's demands, see Perry to A.R. Cuthbert, Supt. RNWMP,
Edmonton, July 12, 1911. RG 18 vol. 463 file 252-254. Comptroller Fred White to Asst.
Commissioner Z.T. Wood, RNWMP, Regina, July 11, 1911. RG 18 vol. 463 file 252-254. White
to Wilson, July 11, 1911. RG 18 vol. 463 file 252-254.
McPJ15, p.94.
Wilson, Medical Report to Officer Commanding N Division, Jan 21, 1912. NAC RG 18,
vol. 425, file 258.
Wilson to Officer Commanding "N" Division, 16 Feb 1912, NAC RG 18, vol. 463, file
252-254. McPJ15, 4 and 9 Dec. 1911 and 1 Jan 1912.
Wilson to Officer Commanding "N" Division, 16 Feb 1912, NAC RG 18, vol. 463, file 252-
254. Supt. N Division to Commissioner, Regina, 6 April, 1912, NAC RG 18 vol. 463 file 252-254.
L.D. McLean, Assistant Deputy, D.I.A. to Fred White, May 14, 1912, NAC RG 18 vol. 463 file
252-254. The D.I.A.'s practice of paying RNWMP for the care of Indians and Eskimos in the
North West Territories began in 1908, when it awarded Dr. O. Lacroix, at Churchill, $250.00 for
his care of numerous consumptive patients. He was to supply his own medicines and surgical
needs. NAC RG18 vol 357 file 256.
Mrs. Alice Blair Willcocks, Brighton, Sussex, England to Comptroller, RNWMP, Feb. 27,
1913. Comptroller to Willcocks, March 11, 1913. Both RG 18 vol. 463 file 252-254. The letter
was forwarded to the Commissioner in Regina for further action. Phillips to Perry Feb. 10, 1915.
RG 18, vol. 486, file 282.
J.W. Phillips to Sergt. Clay, Fort Macpherson, July 13, 1913. RG 18, vol. 486, file 282.
Arthur N. Blake, "an ex-member of the force" and McPherson resident, sworn statement
before Insp. J.W. Phillips, 8 Feb. 1915. RG 18, vol. 486, file 282. Insp. J.W. Phillips to Perry. 6
Feb, 1915. RG 18, vol. 486, file 282.
 Wilson to Comptroller, Feb. 14, 1914. RG 18 vol. 463 file 252-254. Compt. to W.C.
Edwards, the Senate, 31 March, 1914. RG 18 vol. 463 file 252-254. Commissioner Perry to
White, 30 Mar. 1914. RG 18 vol. 463 file 252-254.
Joseph Jacquot to Commissioner Perry, August 20, 1914.
Joseph Jacquot to Commissioner Perry, RNWM Police, Regina, Aug. 22, 1914. Although
he had lived around McPherson since 1902, Jacquot had fled the hostile police for Dawson, whence
he wrote this missive. RG 18, vol. 486, file 282.
Joseph Jacquot to Commissioner Perry, NWMP, Regina, Aug. 22, 1914. RG 18, vol. 486,
file 282. A.E.C. McDonell, Supt., Commanding "N" Division, RNWMP Athabasca, Sept. 8, 1914
to Commissioner Perry. RG 18, vol. 486, file 282. Wilson to John Firth, from Fort MacMurray,
July 10, 1914. RG 18, vol. 486, file 282.
A.E.C. McDonell, Supt., Commanding "N" Division, RNWMP Athabasca, Sept. 8, 1914
to Commissioner Perry. RG 18, vol. 486, file 282. A. Ross Cuthbert, Asst. Commissioner, to Perry,
19 Nov. 1914. RG 18, vol. 486, file 282.
Perry to Officer Commanding, RNWMP, Athabasca, Sept. 11, 1914. RG 18, vol. 486, file
282. Perry to Laurence Fortescue, Comptroller, RNWMP, Ottawa, Sept. 29, 1914. RG 18, vol.
486, file 282. Perry to the Comptroller, RNW Mounted Police, Ottawa, Nov. 20, 1914. RG 18,
vol. 486, file 282.
C.E. Whittaker, Archdeacon of Mackenzie River, sworn statement before Insp. J.W.
Phillips, 8 Feb. 1915. RG 18, vol. 486, file 282. G. Eldon Merritt, sworn statement before Insp.
J.W. Phillips, 8 Feb. 1915. RG 18, vol. 486, file 282. Merritt was then a lay missionary with the
Anglican Church.
Arthur N. Blake, "an ex-member of the force" and McPherson resident, sworn statement
before Insp. J.W. Phillips, 8 Feb. 1915. RG 18, vol. 486, file 282. John Firth, sworn statement
before Insp. J.W. Phillips, 8 Feb. 1915. RG 18, vol. 486, file 282. Firth had been in charge of the
Hudson's Bay Company store for thirty-two years.
W.G. Phillips, sworn statement before Insp. J.W. Phillips, 8 Feb. 1915. RG 18, vol. 486,
file 282. Phillips was in charge of the Mackenzie district of the Hudson's Bay company.
S.G. Clay, sworn statement before Insp. J.W. Phillips, 6 Feb. 1915. RG 18, vol. 486, file
282.
 F.H. Long, sworn statement before Insp. J.W. Phillips, 6 Feb. 1915. RG 18, vol. 486, file
282. W.A. Doak, sworn statement before Insp. J.W. Phillips, 6 Feb. 1915. RG 18, vol. 486, file
282. Sarah Jacquot, sworn statement before Insp. J.W. Phillips, 6 Feb. 1915, signed with "her X."
RG 18, vol. 486, file 282.
McPJ15: 8 Oct. 1914.
McPh15: 22-25 Nov. 1914. The first stage of Louisa's trip was to the house of Kenneth,
one of the Anglican catechists, where she awaited Reverend Girling. The latter, newly arrived in
the North that summer, planned to conduct the Peterson wedding. See, for example, MacPh. Jrnl.
17 June 1916 [check date] "Peter Petersen and Louisa up, later left for Red River."
Godsell, Jean W, I Was No Lady...I Followed the Call of the Wild: The Autobiography of a
Fur Trader's Wife (Toronto: Ryerson Press, 1959), p. 60-62. Deeply in love, Mrs. Clay insisted on
living with her husband at each posting, even when he thought it too dangerous. In 1924, his last
year in the North, she accompanied him to Chesterfield Inlet. While the sergeant was away, a pack
of sled dogs attacked her, inflicting mortal wounds. Clay, unaware of the tragedy, came home from
his patrol two weeks later.
Fry to Lucas 10 Dec. 1916. AAT, M75-1, box 3, Lucas Papers, file: Fry. "The Dr. from
McPherson arrived at the Island a week before we did and when we saw him he told us that he had
his hands full. This is the first time in years that a medical Dr. has been here, except one visit of
about two weeks by Dr. Wilson four [it was actually five] years ago. Dr. Doyle found the people in
a very sick condition and on this account stayed with us as long as he could not leaving for
MacPherson until two weeks after Mr. W. had already gone. Some of the people died during his
stay with us. The Dr. diagnosed their diseases as -- pneumonia, diphtheria, meningitis, etc. Almost
all the children were suffering with sores on their heads, faces and necks. Others are troubled with
bronchitis and some of that loathsome disease hereditary syphilis. One poor woman eight months
pregnant died of burns aggravated by premature parturition. Another pregnant woman is laid low
with tuberculosis and being extremely weak is rarely out of bed. Yet another little lad is covered
from head to foot with boils. Then, also, quite recently there is a new epidemic of sore eyes when
the flesh around the eyes becomes inflamed and raw. Do our friends know that we receive no
medical supplies either from the government or from our mission except that we can pay for
ourselves? When the doctor left us we tried to carry on his work but he could not spare us any of
his small store of medicines for this purpose. We have depended entirely upon the medical and
surgical supplies which we brought with us, and which we were able to purchase with the monies
given us by the Woman's Auxiliary of Toronto and Friends of Brantford."
"My wife is a great help to me in the work, a good wife, and a true missionary. There are
some things only a woman can do. When our people need help she realizes their need long before I
do and has been of great service where I should have failed utterly. The doctor discovered this
before I left and now the Police Inspector brings many of the cases which come before him to her."
O.S. Finnie to W.W. Cory, 23 Sept. 1924, RG 85 vol. 593, file 735, 1921-27.
Memorandum to O.S. Finnie, signature illegible, 18 Feb. 1928, RG85 vol. 781, file 5878.
By another fulltime police surgeon, a Dr. Scott.
Finnie to Cory, Sept. 23, 1924. NAC RG85, V593, F735.
Cortland Starnes to Director, NWTYB, 13 Feb 1928, RG85 vol. 781, file 5878.
Memorandum to O.S. Finnie, signature illegible, 18 Feb. 1928, RG85 vol. 781, file 5878.
Finnie to Cory, 21 Feb. 1928, RG85 vol. 781, file 5878.