Don't You Bully Me... Justice I Want if There Is Justice to Be Had': The Rape of Mary Ann Burton, London, Ontario, 1907

• Author: Constance Backhouse
• Pages: 15-49



E ChapterF

DONTYOUBULLYMEJUSTICE

IWANTIFTHEREISJUSTICETO

BEHADThe Rape of Mary Ann

BurtonLondonOntario

Dwasthedea ntretortofMaryAnnBu rtonherbold

commandi ssuedfromt hewitness boxinthe LondonPoliceCourt on

JulyIwanttospeakjusticeandjusticeIwantifthereisjusticetobe

hadThestirringremarkwaskindledbyasearchingandr uthlesscross

examination asit wasdescribed bythe London Free Press, at the hands

of criminal lawyer Edmund Al len Meredith, KC. Mary Ann Burton, who

hadlauncheda complaintofrapeagainstJosephGrayon Julyhad

withstoodMeredithsmerciless grillingw ithcourageanddign ityAs her

words indicated, she was incensed at both the substance and t he tone of

the interrogation.

WomenwhomadeallegationsofrapeinearlytwentiethcenturyCanada

rarely spoke with such temerity and force. Those who suggested otherwise

were responsible for perpetrating one of the greatest mythologies embed

dedin lawS eventeenthcenturyEnglish juristSir MahewHalehad been

the rstto pronouncethat rapewas anaccusation easilyto be madein

his HistoriaPlacitorumCoronaepublishedposthumouslyin

 This un

substantiated dictum had come to be ensh rined in the texts and judicial

decisionsofc riminaljustice systemsthroughouttheA ngloAmericanlegal

world.Despite theendlessobeisa nceconferreduponHaleshomilyitwas

common knowledge that most rape victims made no public outcry at all.

Women weighed the shame and embarrassment of public disclosure against

ﾅﾊCarnalCrimes

the trauma of dealing with coerc ive sexual assault in private, and voted over

whelmingly for perennial si lence. The few women who did resort to the law

for protection found themselves crushed in t he process, typically tormented

and abused on the witness sta nd by defence lawyers who stopped at nothing

tobesmirchthecredibilit yoftheprosecutrixastherapecomplaina ntwas

anach ronistical lycha racterized What such women thought of their t reat

ment is generally not recorded.

MaryAnnBurtonist heexceptionalthoughfewsawttorecogn izeher

for this in her own time. The w ife of a tanner, Mrs. Burton was a poorly

educatedworkingclass heavyset woman of uncerta in ageShe l ivedin

a dilapidated rental house in a rundown neighbourhood at the fork of the

ThamesRiverinLondonOnta rioWorkingclassar easstuckoutlikeasore

thumbinturnofthecent uryLondontheForestCitythatprideditselfon

the wealthof itsin habitantsthe elaboratebrickandstone structures that

housedmanyoftheprovinceskeynancialbusinessesandtheornateresi

dentialman sionsthatgraced theparklike boulevardsTheselfsatisfact ion

of city burghers was pricked by pockets of unr eclaimed poverty, such as

the ramshackle row house that was home to Mrs. Burton. Like many of her

class, Mary Ann Bur ton cooked and cleaned for a few boarders who paid

tolivein theupstairsofhermodest dwellingHertwostoreyrowhouseat

DundasStreet Westbacked ontothedumpAlongsideitstoodLancaster

Boat Builders, several other shambling residences, and assorted industrial

factories, including the Dennis Wire & I ron Works and the Elec tric Construc

tionCompanyTheforbiddingCity Jailloomedovereverything justdown

the block and across the street.

MaryAn nBurtonsrape trialwouldnotbecome alandmarklegalprec

edent, so far as lawyers and judges were concerned. The records suggest that

hereorts tospeakjustice werebetrayed byherhusband thephysician

whoexaminedherthefriendsandneighbourswhotestiedathertria lthe

lawyersthejudgeandthepressThere waslileherethatwasnoteworthy

to those who parsed cases for legal ruli ngs and precedent. The decision was

notpublished in thelaw reports Itwas anordinar y runofthemill rape

trial. The jury was never asked to deliberate on the evidence. The outcome

wasa nacquial ona directedverdict TheCrown oeredno appealThe

spirited resistance of Mary An n Burton, thrown up in the face of all odds,

has been buried in the a rchives for over a century. Her impassioned words

deserveouraention thismanyyearslaterbec auseshegavevoicetowhat

so many others must have thought, but dared not express.

DontYouBullyMeJusticeIWantifThereIsJusticetoBeHad

London Room, London Public Library, PGO 66

DundasStreetWestcsshowingD undasStreetbridgeand

Dennistee l Ltd., formerly Dennis Iron Works

TheEventsofJulyMrsBurtonsNarrative

WMJulywil lneverbecompletelyrecover

ablefrom thesurviving documentationMary AnnBurtonsdescription of

theeventswas lteredthroughpolice investigatorsprosecutingCrownat

torneys, and the tightly struct ured criminal trial proc ess. Yet hers was the

most detailed version to survive in the records, because it was she who was

the main focus of the judicia l proceeding. Her story, pieced together as fully

as possible from the remaini ng records, follows.

ItwasahotandsultryaernooninsouthwesternOntariowithanomi

nousthreatofthundershowersMrsBurtonhadbeenoutwindowshopping

withafr iendandarrivedhomeattheheightof thehazymiddayheatThe

row house was quiet and empty, her husband and boarders long since de

partedfor work MrsBurtonbegan thetiresome taskofpuing thehouse

to orderShe scrubbed t he two upstairs rooms made the boarders beds

sweptoutthestairs andpassagewayandhada biteofcolddinnerleover

fromSundayThenafriendand formermaleboarderofMrsBurtonswho

now rented just down the street, dropped over. Mrs. Burton interrupted the