Well, this is interesting, and to be honest, I’ve never heard of this guy before this morning. Matthew Begbie. Interesting is almost an understatement.
(YouTube & Matthew Baillie Begbie)
Book excerpt: Matthew Begbie was ‘fearless and incorruptible’ as B.C.'s chief justice. But he became the fall guy for our rewritten history
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A circuit judge who brought bandits and outlaws to justice, he travelled the highways, biways and rivers of British Columbia before it joined Confederation. He went on horse, on foot, or by canoe, carriage or steamship, and carried out the law in a log cabin, under an oak tree, or in the open wilderness.
Begbie befriended the Native people and spoke Chinook, their trade language in the Pacific Northwest. In 1860 he declared that the Indians held aboriginal title to their land and this must be recognized by law. He forced legislation to ensure Native women shared in the estates of their white partners, married or not.
(YouTube & The Legendary Judge)
The January 1947 edition of The British Columbia Historical Quarterly ran a piece about Begbie by historian Sydney G. Pettit who described his subject: “Fearless and incorruptible, he made his name a terror to evil-doers who, rather than face his stern and impartial justice in the Queen’s court, abstained from violence or fled the country, never to return.”
(YouTube & Judge Begbie: British Columbia History)
If he was American there would be a movie because Matthew Begbie had hero written all over him. He stood six-five, and when on a horse with his handlebar moustache and van dyke, he looked even bigger. Cutting a commanding figure, he tamed the Old West.
He was known as the “Haranguing Judge” but sometime after his death that changed to the “Hanging Judge.” With the modern rewriting of history, Begbie has been cancelled.
(YouTube & This Week in History Season 2 Episode 10 - Matthew Baillie Begbie)
(or they couldn't; tense machines giving them 'period/pregnancy pain' simulations has been eye opening and hilarious.)
