Brothels

In the early days of Nelson, the brothels were situated at the east end of Baker Street. By the beginning of the 1900s, public discontent led to the relocation of the brothels to Lake Street. The women of Lake Street were rarely seen in public, as they needed special permission from the Chief of Police to go out during the day.

Urban Legend

Historical urban legend has Nelson policemen throwing rocks against the side of the houses on Lake Street, knowing that they would get called, and once their investigation was complete would get invited in for a beer. They conducted regular raids of the Lake Street houses and fines were given to the inhabitants. Further rumour involves reports that one Madame got so tired of the police raids that she went to City Council and offered to buy new uniforms for the Police if they agreed to leave her establishment alone. Apparently, City Council agreed.

Thomas Long

One of Nelson’s longest standing Chiefs was Thomas Long, who served as Chief from 1914 to 1932. He came to Nelson after serving as Chief of Police in Rossland for ten years. Chief Long was involved in many incidents during his time in Nelson, including one in 1922 which involved arresting a one-armed gun carrier named Edmund Ralph. Apparently Gus Stenburg, who had rooms and a restaurant on the north side of Vernon Street, attempted to disarm Ralph, who had been eating in the restaurant and who had been seen with a gun. The two started wrestling and ended up out in the middle of Vernon Street. Ralph shot Stenburg in the chest and temporarily escaped. The Police and Ralph met at the train station as Ralph emerged from the shadows at the last minute to board the train to the Coast. Chief Long fired twice at Ralph’s hand as Ralph fired at Sergeant Stewart. After the gun battle Ralph was taken into custody and charged with the murder of Stenburg.

Robert Harshaw

The longest standing career of a Nelson policeman was that of Robert Harshaw, who joined the force in 1930. He was promoted to Sergeant in 1932 and became the Chief of Police in 1947 when George Bone retired. Harshaw held the Chief’s position until his retirement in 1965. One of his most prominent recollections involved a full melee that broke out in a beer parlour on March 31st, 1934. Chairs flew, glasses broke and the pub was in shambles. Harshaw had been walking the beat for three years and was no stranger to danger. The standard operating procedure when dealing with combatants was to remove the combatants, take them outside and cool them down with a little talk, but this time things were different. One participant walloped Harshaw in the chest and knocked the wind out of him. A battle ensued and ended with the aggressor being handcuffed, but as he was being put into the paddy wagon, two of his followers leapt at Harshaw with the handcuffed prisoner joining in once again. This time the public stepped in to help and more fists flew. Harshaw finally settled the issue and the end result was a fine of $25 and a drunken conviction for the instigator. No other charges were laid, as fighting was a way of life in those days.

Harshaw always believed that the beat officer was a very important position. By being out on the street on foot, the officer was part of the community and the community came to his assistance when needed. The early days of policing in Nelson had beat officers out on Baker Street without today’s radio and computer systems of communication. Two beacon lights were set up in strategic locations - one at the east end of Baker Street, by the hospital, and the other one on Ward Street. These lights were used to warn the patrols of trouble. If the beacons were lit, the patrols would phone the office to find out the trouble. If a vehicle was needed, a taxi was used to get to the location. Taxis were used to transport prisoners to jail, and injured parties to hospital.