"The Graphic: An Illustrated Weekly Newspaper"

The illustrations below appeared in the December 31st, 1881, edition of the London, England, newspaper named in the subject line.  

"Mountie Lifestyle No Picnic"

The article below was published in the Calgary Herald on August 1st of 2000 as Fort Calgary was celebrating its 125th anniversary. It provides a glimpse into the hardships faced by the men at the time, and some general historical data about the fort itself. 

The Mounties Always Fetch Their Man

The brief article below appeared in the Fort Benton (Montana, USA) Weekly Record of April 13th, 1877.

It is unfortunate that I was not able (at least thus far) to locate an undamaged version of the article. It is believed to be the source, or perhaps inspiration is the more accurate term, of the "always get their man" tagline attached to the Mounties. 

Irvine must be Acheson Gosford Irvine, who joined the  NWMP in 1875. He would have been Assistant Commissioner at that time, and became Commissioner in November 1880.

Winder is likely William Winder, who commanded 'C' Troop during the March West in 1873, then through to his discharge in 1881. 

Dixon of the Mounted Splash Page

I mentioned, in the November 24th post, having acquired a number of decades-old publications in digital format. The image below is a treat from one of those acquisitions. 

This is the opening page to the first of five stories in the July 1942 issue of Active Comics. It involves three Nazis being dropped off from a submarine near Nelson River with a mission to destroy a munitions factory and Dixon's relentless chase to prevent them. 

Dixon had front-and-center honours on the cover for this issue, shown below.  

Dixon was a regular feature for the first 20 issues or so. From what I've viewed so far, the art is inconsistent, but it does shine on occasion. I'll be sure to share those occasions as I make my way through the material.

The Mounties At Work

I was recently able to purchase a collection of Zane Grey's King of the Royal Mounted comics from Etsy on the cheap, in cbr (Comic Book Reader, for the uninitiated) format. I'm working through those now and while sharing a 30-or-so-page story here would be awkward, I do plan on adding some of the added features for your viewing pleasure. 

The pages below are from issue number 207, published in 1940. The first image is the cover and I believe the bottom two are the final page and back cover respectively.

I've acquired copies of a number of other publications, some in comic book form and some in short stories, which I look forward to sharing.

NWMP "state of the union" in April 1878.

The data below appeared in the April 5th, 1878, British Whig (Kingston). I thought it was interesting to get a glimpse at the force's coverage at the time.

Never Fire First by James Dorrance

I'm only eight chapters deep into this surprising Amazon find, but have already concluded it is very much worth sharing.

Constable La Marr of the Royal Mounted Police took no chances. A murder had been committed two days before at Armistice, almost within the shadow of the police post. He had not a doubt that the Inuit approaching was his culprit. He wondered if the slogan of the Mounted applied in case one had to deal with an insane native. It would be easy to fire upon the oncomer, undoubtedly unaware of the nearness of a Nemesis. But the training at the Regina school of police that a "Mountie" never fires first is strict. Constable La Marr could not, and did not, take a pot shot even with the intent only to wound the flounderer. This decision, as he came to find out, was wise, for the murder was far from solved.

It's surprising in that most of my search results for "Northerns" involve sappy romance novels, and a helping of homo-erotica. Neither appeals to me a great deal. So landing a hundred-year-old story that I had not come across before was unexpected.

Many Mountie adventures are more about the chase to apprehend a criminal, rather than the work to determine who committed the crime (at least those that I've located). As the teaser above reveals, in this story, the actual perpetrator of the murder may not be as clear as it initially appeared, so a little more investigative work is needed. 

While La Marr is featured in the caption above, at least to the extent that I've read the story so far, he is not actually its primary protagonist. That honour belongs to Staff-Sergeant Russell Seymour, a veteran with rookie La Marr as his only only law-enforcing subordinate. 

Naturally, it isn't long until they are unexpectedly joined by a beautiful young woman. It seems no Mountie story is complete without one. 

The story was written in 1924. You can sample it, or read it in its entirety, here. Perhaps I'm premature in giving it a high grade, but so far so good.