In the administration of justice the courts of British Columbia treated the Indian as the white man was treated. "When Indians commit offenses," ordered Governor Douglas, "they are to be dealt with impartially and to receive a fair trial before the proper authorities, and not to be treated like the wild beasts of the forest."[65] We get a glimpse of the way in which the law was administered with respect to Indians from the terse records of the old Ft. Hope Police Book. An Indian, for stealing money from another was sentenced to two days in jail. Two Indians, for being drunk and disorderly, were sent to jail for twenty-four hours. Simon B. McClure was charged by an Indian with assaulting him and was fined forty shillings. William Welch, charged by another Indian with the same offense, claimed that the Indian had beaten his dog and attacked him with a knife; Welch was let off, and the Indian was reprimanded. An Indian who struck an Indian woman in the face with a gun had his hair cut off. J. Spencer Thompson, for selling about one pint of liquor to an Indian had to pay a fine of $100, with costs, and lost his license to sell liquor. The sentences, it will be observed, were generally light for minor offenses, but not for selling liquor to Indians. Whites and Chinamen, the records reveal, were treated exactly as the Indians. Of course for grave offenses Indians, as well as others, were bound over to the assizes. In a number of cases Indians were hung for murder. This even-handed, carefully adjusted dealing out of justice to Indians, whites, and Chinese alike, contrasts plainly with the carelessness, ruthlessness, and lack of system in the territories. One could scarcely imagine an event like the following occurring on an American frontier: "May 28, 1862. Chas. Millard, Capt. of the Ft. Hope (steamboat) appeared to answer the complaint of Jim (an Indian) for having on the 16th inst. broken and otherwise damaged his canoe at Union, valued at twenty-five dollars ($25.00). "Ordered to pay four pounds ($20.00) being the damage sustained by the Indian as sworn to by C. C. Craigie & Wm. Yates. Paid. P. O'Reilly, J. P."[66]