| Title: | E. Cochrane, Canada to K. Finlay, Co. Down |
|---|---|
| ID | 655 |
| Collection | Irish Emigration Database |
| File | Cochrane, Ernest/40 |
| Year | 1896 |
| Sender | Cochrane, Ernest |
| Sender Gender | male |
| Sender Occupation | provost sergeant |
| Sender Religion | unknown |
| Origin | Calgary, Canada |
| Destination | Co. Down, N.Ireland |
| Recipient | Finlay, Kate |
| Recipient Gender | female |
| Relationship | uncle-niece? |
| Source | T 3504/1/11: Copied by Courtesy of Mr. A.D. Finlay. |
| Archive | Public Record Office, Northern Ireland |
| Doc. No. | 9103146 |
| Date | 25/12/1896 |
| Partial Date | |
| Doc. Type | EMG |
| Log | Action By Date Document added by S.K., 21:01:1994. |
| Word Count | 1012 |
| Genre | |
| Note | |
| Transcript | To: Katie [Finlay?] [Wellesdon, Holywood?] [County Down?] [Ireland?] From: Ernest Cochrane Calgary N.W.T. [North West Territories?] Canada Xmas day 96 [1896?] My dear Katie You must think me very ungrateful in not answering your more than kind letter: but listen to the following I was brought to Hospital the day before your letter came with a broken Knee & my side injured. I lay there over 3 months & when I got out could only hobble round. Thus I was transferred to this Troop. It seems the Troops had gone to the bad owing to a careless officer A Sergt. [Sergeant?] & some constables got imprisonment & a lot transferred 1 & [or?] 2 others were sent up to straighten things out. The Commissioner before sending me, sent for me & paid me the compliment of Telling me, that he believed I would imprison my own brother if I had one!! So much for being a crank! Its hard up here as the men resent a stranger being sent, but I will pull through all right. This place is about 400 miles west of Regina. I was stationed here for 10 months in 1889. And I see a great change in the place. The Town larger & new barracks built My Knee is nearly all right now & I hope I #PAGE 2 will be free from accidents for a while. I am Provost Sergeant here. I have much better quarters than in Regina. When in Hospital reading your letter was a great comfort & I used to have a look at it two or three times a day. Thank you very much for the enclosures No, you have not increased my Sorrow. Time is a wonderful healer: but I often think of her. Isabell, my sister I am a long way off the Stevensons now and dear Knows when I will see them again They gave up hope of saving my leg for about 6 weeks & were going to discharge me as "unfit for service" but I pulled through & re-enlisted for another 3 years. If I had not you to think of & your letter to read during that Time, I dont Know what I would have done So you see little woman how much good you can do. Oh I forgot to tell you how I got hurt, I was on my usual patrol at 10p.m. on an awful dark night. The wooden side walls were being repaired & I pitched into a hole. It was raining hard & I lay stunned for a while before I was found & carried away. Is it not merciful that I am all alone in this world: for if I had anyone careing [caring?] for me or dependant on me, it would come hard on them all these accidents. But as any Forage Cup covers all my family I managed to come through all right. I hope "Lily" is having a happy married life. Give my love to her when you write. I have been so busy here I could not get down town to buy a Xmas #PAGE 3 card. You will have to take my wishes instead. I am on duty every day Sunday, week days & holidays from 6.15 a.m. to 6.30 p.m. I am writing this in the Guard Room & tho' I am surrounded by [crying?] humanity I feel in the spirit of writing a Xmas letter. You are the only one I have written to, so feel proud if you can!! When I left Regina my leg was so painful that I could not pack my kit & I was astonished at the help I got. I left the Barracks just at day light, every Sergt. [Sergeant?] turned up, as well as the men & gave me a parting cheer. It came like a surprise on me & tears began to come but the big collar of my fur coat hid my face & no one saw This is big Cattle Country & between Cattle thieves & the Indians I am busy. So busy that this is the 30th & this letter not finished yet. The Barracks are at the end of the Town & the [larder?] is quite a large place. But it will see little of me for when my day's duty is through, I feel more like turning into my cot, than walking out. We have a good library here & a comfortable reading room supplied with all the English & American, Illustrated papers & Magazines. The place is a Paradise to some quarters I have been in, since I joined this Force. You will get this long after the New Year, but believe me Katie I will be wishing you a bright happy one. I burn all letters, as I dont want strangers to see anything only intended #PAGE 4 for me. I did not make a note of John's address, Will you send it & I will write to him. My correspondence is very limited, with the exception of "official" and of that I have my full share. Reports, Returns of Prisoners, Clothing, property & food give me as much writing as I can well do. And I have the name of being "painfully particular"! I hope the boys are doing well. Give my Kind wishes to your father & mother & to them Its well your friend did not call on me at Regina. A nice old party he would have seen, laid out on an Hospital Cot. Do you Know I cant help laughing when I think of all the little accidents that have happened in the last 2 years The Guard Room here is right along side a favourite walk of the Calgary people & from the windows I can see the throng. Their sisters, & their cousins, & their Aunts are not only plain looking - but they range from ugly to hideous!!! Dont think I am getting frivilous [frivolous?] - but I would give a good deal for the sight of a pretty woman. I wont be so long writing to you again, but you see I had an excuse. With the best of all good wishes Yours Very Sincerely Ernest Cochrane |
