Hugh McKinnon
1895 - Detective, Former Police Chief, Hugh McKinnon Interviewed “Few men in the business in this part of the country have had longer of more remarkable experiences in the detective line than Mr. Hugh McKinnon, the ex-Chief of Police of Hamilton. Dropping in on him at his new office, No. 17 Main street east, yesterday a reporter found him in a mood for chat, and got some real good stories of private cases which he had worked on as Chief of Police. “ ‘Yes, I have handled some very remarkable cases during my experience,’ said the ex-Chief. ‘Any man in my business who takes an interest in his work, and who is adapted to and fitted by nature for it, finds all that is interesting in it. The work is varied; all manner of cases crop up. All sorts of complications and obstacles arise during investigation. The greater the difficulties and the more confusing the complication, the more interesting the work becomes to the exper, and the more determined he is to succeed.
I have rarely, indeed, said much of my work and experience. You have known me a number of years quite intimately, and I believe you will bear me out in this. This was not because I did and do not appreciate praise and credit for anything I may have done, but because I have all my life been secretive in connection with my work. Yes, I will tell you of one case I took in hand and handled in this city. It was a remarkable one, and is another evidence that truth is stranger than fiction.’
“ ‘The parties to do it are living in this city now and I would not like their names to be mentioned, but Mr. J.V. Teetzel knows all the circumstances and can vouch for the facts.
“About four years ago, a lady came to my office in the City Hall and asked if I was Chief McKinnon. Assuring her that I was, she said: ‘Well, Chief McKinnon, I am in trouble and you must help me.’ I replied that I would be pleased to do anything I could if she would kindly tell me what her trouble was. Then came her remarkable story. ‘I am thirty-eight years of age, am married and mother of three children,’ she said. ‘Until I was 23 years of age, I lived and supposed I was born at B—, a place over two hundred miles from here. I suppose my reputed father and mother were my own father and mother. One day a disagreeable neighbor girl cast up to me that they were not. I felt badly, but for some reason I did not speak of it to my supposed parents, and now both are dead.
I did not hear any more about it, but I often thought there was some truth in what was said to me. I did not have a particle of resemblance to either brothers or sisters, father or mother. After a time, I left home and went west to live at Ogdensburg and then married. From there we removed to Chicago, and after a time came to Hamilton, where we now live. From time to time during the past few years I have been thinking of my own mother so much. Could it be possible that she is living? Would I ever see her? To such an extent has that thought worked upon me that I can scarcely rest night or day. I feel that she is living some place. I have heard so much of you, and now I know you will find her for me.
“The woman was so very much in earnest, I became interested, and said I would do my best to unravel the mystery of her parentage. I noted down all the facts she could give me and they were few, indeed, but you know we do not want much for a start. I took the matter up systematically, and it did prove to be a remarkable case. I will now give you the result. The grandfather and grandmother of the woman were living upon a farm and had a daughter, not yet fifteen years of age. With them also lived a woman about thirty years of age. The grandfather was rather fond of the woman. During breakfast one morning, after drinking her tea, the grandmother was suddenly taken ill, and died within a few minutes.
No inquest was held. Doctors were few, and there was not one within twenty miles. A few weeks after the funeral, the widower and the woman were married. This woman had a brother thirty-six years of age, whom she thought would make a husband for her 15 year old stepdaughter. They finally persecuted the child until she married him. Her treatment as a wife was brutal in the extreme. After the birth of her child, the heartlessness continued till finally she was turned out of the house and the babe was taken from her. The babe was given to a person to nurse.
The poor mother discovered where the infant was, entered the room through a window, and carried it off. For three days she slept in barns, and at night she traveled on and on until one morning she came to a farm house where lived a young and then childless couple. The mother gave the couple her baby and promised never again to return to them to claim it. She left, and, by them, was never again seen.
She kept her word. Thirty-eight years and seven months passed and then I was the humble instrument which finally brought them together.
Can you imagine it, and can you not easily understand what a satisfaction it was to me, after all my work to find it was not a work in vain, and that I joined the mother and daughter who were so cruelly parted. The woman was not wealthy, and it was through the kindness of Mr. Teetzel that she obtained funds to carry on the search. She still lives here and at the present time. Her mother is visiting friends not very far west.”
“A Good Detective Story:
The Parties Now Live in Hamilton and Are Well-Known:
Ex-Chief McKinnon’s Work”
Hamilton Times. March 28, 1895.
Courtesy of Local Historian: Brian Henley