BURST
On May 7, 1902, John Houston shot back “four or five big jorums of Scotch whiskey” and went to work.
Luckily he wasn’t operating any heavy machinery. But he did have an important job – he was the MLA for West Kootenay-Nelson in the B.C. legislature.
The premier at the time was James Dunsmuir, son of the late coal baron Robert Dunsmuir. Houston generally supported the Dunsmuir government, but the previous day had caused “much amazement” in the legislature by voting to adjourn debate on a railway bill.
It was a bit puzzling, because when future premier John Oliver had “vigorously assailed the bill” earlier that day, Houston had vigorously assailed Oliver.
This led to some rancour.
“For ten minutes the two members shouted at the top of their voices,” reported the Vancouver Province.
The next day debate resumed on the railway bill. The Province reported another future premier, Richard McBride, “was in the middle of a tirade against the government when the member for Nelson, with fine scorn on his countenance, rose and objected to the time of the House being wasted.”
There were cries of “Order!,” and the Speaker of the House, Charles Pooley, told Houston to take his seat. But he refused.
“The Speaker insisted. Mr. Houston stoutly resisted, and folding his arms, challenged House or Speaker to move him,” the Province reported.
The Speaker consulted staff while Houston “stood silent and imperturbable,” aside from a couple of moments when “he unbent sufficiently to hurl an anathema at the head of some unlucky member who tried to induce him to desist.”
The Speaker appealed to the government for help, but a proposal to adjourn for the day had to be approved by McBride, who nixed it. Houston finally withdrew after a 20-minute standoff.
On Nov. 2, 1903 the Victoria Times reported Houston defended his actions in a speech, stating he had taken his stand “in the interests of good government.”
He admitted to having swilled four or five glasses of Scotch whiskey, but insisted he was sober. Besides, he said, “if every member who got drunk were excluded from the House, they would not often have a quorum.”
Houston’s strong opinions and distain for his political foes were legendary in the 1890s and early 1900s.
He came to fame as a fiery owner/editor for pioneer newspapers like the New Westminster Truth, Nelson Miner and Nelson Tribune.
His gift for oratory led to a successful career in politics. But his penchant for raising a ruckus and making enemies meant he never got into a provincial cabinet.
On Aug. 6, 1900, he got into another famous incident with Rod Tolmie, the secretary of the mines association in Nelson.
They met on the street in Victoria, and the Nelson Miner said Houston threatened Tolmie: “When you go back to Kootenay, we’ll fix you.”
Tolmie replied “I’ll fix you now!” and after “with a swing on the jaw Tolmie laid (Houston) senseless on the ground.”
Tolmie’s friends then “sent Houston home in a hack, spitting blood.”
Houston fared better in an 1896 brouhaha with Richard Marpole of the Canadian Pacific Railway. Marpole came to Houston’s office at the Nelson Tribune with two other CPR men to complain about an editorial attacking the railway.
“Marpole said the (article) was a lie and the man who wrote it was a liar,” said a Feb. 22, 1896, story in the Nelson Miner.
“Houston said: ‘If you came in here to have a row, get out of my office.’ He had a heavy ruler in his hand, and rising from his seat, struck Marpole across the head, cutting the scalp open.”
The Vancouver World picked up the story. When Marpole’s companions tried to intervene, Houston was “baffled in his blind fury” and “seized Mr. Marpole by the throat, and managed to get his teeth into (Marpole’s) hand, and nearly chewed off the end of his finger.”
Houston was arrested and given a $10 fine. But locals seemed to appreciate his fighting CPR bigwigs: He was elected Nelson’s first mayor in 1897.
Houston died of pneumonia in Quesnel on March 8, 1910, at age 59. His death was prematurely reported four days earlier.
“I didn’t know I was dead until your paper came out,” he wrote in a letter to the Province.