Chambermaid Blues

 

Staff at the Turtleford Hotel, 1917. Source: Turtleford Treasures, 1986.

Chambermaids were essential to the operation of a small-town Saskatchewan hotel back in the early 1900s. The hotel chambermaid worked from morning ‘til night, cleaning guest rooms, doing laundry, and washing dishes for which they were paid $30 per month, plus room and board.

Some aspects of a chambermaid’s work were less than appealing. In the days before hotels had running water, chambermaids’ duties included retrieving chamber pots from under beds and emptying the contents into a receptacle behind the hotel building. And, in the “occupational hazard” department, chambermaids were usually the ones who discovered dead bodies in hotel rooms.

The Story of Pauline Gerring, Chambermaid

The most appalling story I have come across about a chambermaid in a small-town Saskatchewan hotel is the drugging and rape of Pauline Gerring in 1920. At age 19, Pauline applied for a position as a chambermaid at the hotel at Chaplin, located half way between Moose Jaw and Swift Current. When she arrived, she was shown to her room by the hotel manager, a woman of some disrepute named Virginia Paul. 

The Chaplin Hotel, c. 1915. Source

At the end of her first day on the job, Gerring was invited to a drinking party at the hotel proprietor’s house where she met a member of the Saskatchewan Provincial Police (SPP), Constable Harold Dewhirst. Prohibition was in full swing in the province, and it was the job of the SPP to enforce the Temperance Act. Dewhirst had other ideas. On the night of November 10, 1920, Gerring’s second night of work, the policeman and Virginia Paul gave the young girl two drinks of whiskey in the hotel. When the chambermaid refused a third drink of whiskey, Paul held a glass of water to the girl’s lips while she drank. The next thing Gerring remembered was waking up in the morning, partially dressed, with Constable Dewhirst in her bed.

As a result of Pauline Gerring’s complaint, Virginia Paul was charged with unlawfully administering drugs, and, along with Constable Dewhirst, with violating the Temperance Act. Dewhirst was also charged with a breach of the Provincial Police Act, fined, and dismissed from the force. He was later charged with bribing Pauline Gerring to disappear so that she would not testify against him on the rape charge. Gerring ran to Calgary. When she was brought back to Regina to testify, she was so frightened that she ran away a second time. On February 28, 1921, after two trial adjournments, the rape charge against Dewhirst was dropped because Pauline Gerring refused to tell her story.

Government Scandal 

For some reason, the Hon. George Langley, MLA for Cumberland and Minister of Municipal Affairs, decided to get involved in the Gerring case - a decision that ended his political career. When Gerring was brought back from Calgary after her first disappearance, the magistrate in the rape case committed her to jail in Regina until the next trial could take place. Langley felt it was wrong that the victim was being held as a prisoner. He therefore intervened, and on January 28, 1921, arranged for Gerring to be moved to a mental home on Dewdney Avenue in Regina. To read Langley's statement about these events, click here.

Gerring made her second escape from this home the day before the next trial date of February 7th. While Langley claimed that all authorities, including the police, had been notified of the removal of Gerring from jail, Premier Martin was furious. He charged Langley with having stolen the young woman from jail and hiding her from police. The Premier asked for, and received, Langley's resignation. To read the Premier Martin's entire version of the story, click here 

Corruption

Dewhirst told his side of the sordid affair in a letter to the Regina Leader-Post on February 4, 1922. “The whole thing simmers down to a jazz party, such as are carried on every day,” the unemployed former policeman wrote. He went on to blame Pauline Gerring, who “was not used to drinking liquor. She admits herself to two or three drinks. How much liquor will a person take if not used to it?” As for his violation of the Temperance Act, “how many persons holding important positions even of a more exacting nature that a policeman’s have also violated the [Act]?”

This crime against the young chambermaid at the Chaplin Hotel is an example of the negative effects of Prohibition. The growth of the illegal liquor trade in Saskatchewan fostered excessive drinking and made criminals out of many, including policemen.

No Money to Hire Chambermaids

After the decimating effects of Prohibition (1915-1924) on Saskatchewan’s hotels, and the subsequent onset of the Great Depression, there was no money to hire chambermaids or other hotel staff. All members of the hotel owner’s family had to share in the work of running the hotel. For example, Harry Swanson, owner of the Snowden Hotel, married his wife Aster in 1936. “I brought my new bride home to the new venture,” Swanson wrote in Snowden’s local history book. “She became cook, waitress, chambermaid, and did the washing by hand; what a job for my bride!”

©Joan Champ, 2019

A.B.C. Hotels

Ardath

 

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Asquith

 

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The first and only hotel in Asquith was built in 1906 by Andrew Lunn. Named the Arlington Hotel, it had a bar, a barber shop, and a laundry. Once the hotel was established, Lunn moved on to establish more hotels in Saskatchewan, including one at Rosthern. Miss Emma Brown who had worked for Lunn as a chambermaid become the owner of the Arlington Hotel after he left. Emma Brown operated the hotel for over 30 years. She died in 1956 at age 93.

Bladworth

 

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Built in 1906, the Bladworth Hotel was destroyed by fire in 1933. The fire broke out in the old barroom. Tom Anderson, the hotel's proprietor, lost $1500 in cash as a result of the fire -- a lot of money to lose during the Depression.

Brownlee

 

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Jerry MacRoberts built the City Hotel in Brownlee in 1909. It contained a bar, restaurant, bowling alley, and dance hall. In 1911, Jim Conner took over the hotel and operated it until the bar was closed in 1915 due to Prohibition. In 1916, Charlie Yock bought the hotel and ran it as a boarding house. The hotel burned down on June 30, 1929 along with many other businesses along Brownlee's main street.

Carlyle

The Carlyle Hotel and the Del Monte Hotel, 1908. Source

The Arlington Hotel (formerly the Carlyle Hotel), c1916. Source

The stone and brick Carlyle Hotel was built in 1901 by Ben Hollonquist. A year later, a syndicate composed of J & E Abercrombie, Porteous, and others built the Del Monte Hotel across the street from the Carlyle. In 1913, a third storey was added to the Carlyle Hotel. Its name was changed to the Empire Hotel, then to the Arlington Hotel in 1916 by owner James Anderson. Businesses which operated out of the Arlington were the town butcher shop, a harness shop and a hardware store.

Carnduff

 

Working on the balcony of the Avenmore Hotel, 1910. Source

Frank and Harry Crozier built the Avenmore Hotel in Carnduff in 1909. Harry and his wife Jessie operated this hotel for 40 years. They lived in the hotel with their daughters Irene and Laura and their son Lloyd.

Caron

 

Merchant's Hotel, Caron, c. 1912. Source

 

Chaplin

 

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Colonsay

 

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The Colonsay Hotel was built in 1910. In 1917 during Prohibition, the 22-room hotel was turned over - ironically - to the Saskatchewan Brewing Company by the owner, a Mr. Daley, who owed the company $3,300. Peter and Rosalina Pura bought the hotel from the brewing company for $3,000 in February 1920. the hotel was destroyed by fire in October of that same year. The Puras had insured the hotel at a value of $14,500, and were awarded $13,500. The insurance company appealed this payment, claiming that the total amount of insurance was greater than the actual value of the hotel at the time of the fire. The jury agreed, and the insurance companies were awarded $8,000.

Craik

 

Hotel Waldorf, Craik, 1914. Source

Craik Hotel, 1952. Source

The two-storey hotel in Craik was built in 1903. It was destroyed by fire 100 years later in 2003.

Cupar

 

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The Imperial Hotel at Cupar was built in 1906. After the provincial liquor laws allowed women into bars in 1961, the hotel proprietors Henry and Laura Erhart commissioned a mural for the bar from Plains Cree artist Sandford Fisher of the Gordon Reserve.