On November 20, 1860, the first court was held in Sault Ste. Marie in the old stone house. More than one hundred and fifty years ago, the Old Stone House was the residence of Sheriff Carney, making it an ideal place to ensure that justice is maintained in the growing community.
The Carneys used the second floor for their personal residence and the first floor was used to conduct the sheriff’s business. With some renovations to the Old Stone House, a courtroom and cells were set up to safely lock up prisoners awaiting trial.
The first money entered in court was $ 16 in fines collected by James Bennetts and William Plummer.
Many of the crimes that were brought before the court were minor violations of the law and with the payment of a small fine, the case was concluded without further incident but there are also reports of some more serious crimes.
In the 19th century, without advanced fingerprint scanning technology or DNA testing, proper identification was sometimes difficult to figure out. On June 11, 1861 an unidentified man was charged with a crime. Whether out of fear or ignorance, the man refused to speak throughout the trial and was later found guilty by the jury.
Sentenced to nine years behind bars, the convict was the first person in the Algoma High Court to be transferred to a provincial prison.
Sessions were often held without any prisoners or accused criminals, but juries were still registered, directed, and dismissed by the court independently.
When the magistrates received the bills from the court, an exact total was requested. A particularly interesting bill from Sheriff Carney reached $ 122.12. This bill reflected the use of half a penny (ha’penny) as a unit of currency.
During a winter, Joseph Boissineau was brought before the court. As one of Sault’s most respected citizens, he was surprisingly accused of committing an “annoyance”.
Boissineau swallowed sugar island wood with the help of a young ox. As he approached the Sault, Colonel Prince approached the road in front of him. The colonel shook his baton vigorously at Boissineau, ordering the ox to withdraw from the road. According to the defendant, the colonel was quite “joggy.”
In response, Boissineau ran in front of the ox to get the animal off the road. However, the defiant ox threw his master to one side and headed for the colonel. The animal forced the officer to jump out of danger, causing him to fall into the snow.
Boissineau rushed to help the colonel, but the furious officer retaliated by swearing and turning the baton on the accused. As Boissineau withdrew, the colonel shouted “How do you say?” When no answer was given, the officer roared, “I’ll find out your name, tramp!”
After the trial, Boissineau was fined $ 5, which with inflation would cost more than $ 120 today. He was also warned of more punishments if this incident happened again!
The court continued to be held in the Old Stone House until the first court was built on Queen Street, between Elgin and March Streets in 1866. This building was later demolished in 1919 and replaced by the current Court House.