HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Lucknow Sentinel, 2014-04-16, Page 101 0 Lucknow Sentinel • Wednesday, April 16, 2014
A look back at the historic 1896
"mob outrage" in Wingham
David Yates
Special to QMI Agency
The birth of a stillborn child on March 7,
1896 stirred up dark rumours of an incestu-
ous relationship in Wingham's lower town.
Within days, a whiskey -fuelled mob decided
that John Fields, the town butcher, was guilty
of impregnating his own daughter. What the
mob intended as a simple tarring and feath-
ering with a 'sound horsewhipping' thrown
in for good measure ended in Fields'
murder.
John Fields was a 56 -year-old widower
with seven children. He was known as' a
drinking man' with a 'very violent' temper of
whom people said 'used his family with great
severity: In 1891, he had been charged with
attempted assault when he chased a member
of the Salvation Army down a street with a
knife.
The Vingham Times' later called Fields
'an inhuman wretch' and 'everything brutish
and vile:
However, other witnesses later testified
that 'when Fields and his family appeared in
public they seemed to be on the best of
terms.' Mrs. Tamlyn, the wife of Dr. Tamlyn,
whose office was above Fields' butcher shop
said that 'she never heard or saw anything
which would lead her to suspect that Fields
was abusive to his family.'
On the night of March 10, 1896, a mob esti-
mated at 35 men gathered at Wilson's stable
and decided to take action against Fields.
Calling themselves the 'White Caps,' they
marched down Wingham's main street under
the apparent leadership of 24 -year-old Rob-
ert Harrison. Harrison stopped at the Bruns-
wick Hotel and demanded free whiskey for
the crowd because they 'were going to give
Fields a turning over.' The innkeeper told him
to go home to his wife.
At 10 p.m., armed with at least one pistol, a
rope and two horsewhips, the mob, many
with coal -blackened faces to avoid identifi-
cation, attacked the Fields' home. Fields' son,
Thomas, tried to bar the door but Harrison
threatened `to blow his brains out' with a pis-
tol levelled at his head. Charles Manser and
George Phippen forced their way into Rosie
Fields' room. She was still recovering from
childbirth only three days before. They
demanded to know whether her father was
guilty of 'lewd and immoral' conduct. What-
ever answer she gave failed to satisfy her
attackers because she was tossed out of bed.
The drunken intruders ransacked the house,
smashed windows, broke furniture and
upended the stove.
Wearing nothing but a nightshirt, Fields
was dragged outside into the cold and snow.
Harrison, Phippen and Manser threw 'a wire'
around Fields. After a mock trial, Fields was
forced to kneel in deep snow with tempera-
tures of -4 degrees Fahrenheit (-20 Celsius)
and plead for his life. George Phippen then
horsewhipped Fields on the back and legs.
Christopher Jobb and Charles Stewart who
happened to be out for a walk that night
heard pistol shots and someone shout 'he is
naked.' They saw Fields being dragged
through the snow and urged the angry mob
to take Fields home before he froze to death.
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The intervention of Jobb and Stewart was the
excuse needed for the mob to return Fields to
his terrified family.
The next morning, a more sober Robert
Harrison apologized to Thomas Fields and
advised him to get his father out of town.
Young Fields drove his father to Brussels and
put him on a train bound for Lansing, Michi-
gan to live with a daughter.
Whether Fields made it to Michigan is not
known because he was found a few days later
in a delirious state wandering the streets of
London. He was taken to a hospital where he
died on March 18. The coroner ruled that
Fields died of 'inflammation of the brain and
pneumonia, caused by exposure' resulting
from injuries sustained in the attack. In other
words, Fields' death was a direct result of the
mob's actions and, therefore, a murder case.
The local papers called it the `Wingham
Outrage; many local residents were reluctant
to co-operate with a Toronto detective sent to
investigate the case. The 'News -Record' said
that the people of Wingham were 'anything
but anxious to see the case raked up, and
decidedly refuse to unbosom themselves to
the officer:
Eventually, five men, Robert Harrison,
George Phippen, Charles Manser, Thomas
Montgomery and Albert Martin were tried
for manslaughter in the Goderich Court-
house. Local opinion sided with the mob's
actions either to cover up their own complic-
ity or because they actually believed Fields
deserved his punishment.
At trial on May 13, 1896, the Crown argued
that no matter how beastly Fields may have
acted society could not tolerate 'moral
reform stimulated by whiskey: The defence
argued that the accused were all family men
of good character who never meant to kill
Fields. Furthermore, with dozens of others
involved, why were only five men charged?
In the end, the five pleaded guilty to the
lesser charge of assault causing bodily harm.
Phippen and Harrison were sentenced to
three years; Manser and Montgomery were
given two years, and Albert Martin six
months. When their sentences were read, the
'Huron Signal' reported that the 'sorrowful
tear bedewed' wives of the accused was an
affecting sight.
A public campaign was launched to par-
don the convicted men. The wives of the con-
victed men went house to house with a 'big
petition' asking for their husbands' release.
In November 1896, Sir Oliver Mowat, the
Minister of Justice, commuted all of the sen-
tences to one year's imprisonment. In a letter
printed in the `Wingham Times; Mowat cited
that it was the pleas of the prisoners' wives
and children who were left without any
means of support, which moved him to
leniency.
Yet, Mowat must have been troubled in
bowing to public pressure. He warned that
even though Fields may have been 'a wicked
man' whose 'incestuous intercourse with his
own daughter had excited the indignation of
the community, Lynch law and Lynch justice'
could not be tolerated in 'a British country: If
the Fields family said anything about the
mercy shown their father's killers, there is no
record of it.
Huron Health Unit says new
guidelines offers dental care options
to more low income families
Families who do not have dental insurance
and meet the new income requirements may
qualify for free dental care for their children 17
years of age and younger. The Ontario govern-
ment has raised the income cut-off for the
Healthy Smiles Ontario program.
More than 70,000 eligible children and youth
across all of Ontario are now eligible to receive
publicly funded dental services as a result of the
increased income levels.
"The increase to the eligibility criteria is a
great help because more children and youth
will now be able to receive free dental coverage
from their dentists. The increase came into
effect on April lst, which lines up perfectly with
the start of Oral Health Month," said Dental
Hygienist Trina O'Rourke.
The old income level cutoff was $20,000. It's
been raised depending on how many children
you have. If you have questions, call the Huron
County Health Unit at: 519-482-3416 or toll free
at 1-877-837-6143.
O'Rourke goes on to say, "It is important to
have your children visit a dentist regularly to
maintain their oral health. Good oral health
means good overall health."