Results for ‘CRIMES’
[Welland Tribune, 8 March 1947]
St. Catharines, March 8-Sidney George Chambers, 34-year old heating engineer, was found guilty of the murder of little Marian Rusnak, here yesterday after the jury deliberated an hour. He was sentenced to be hanged June 6.
“I want to thank the jury,” Chambers said, when the verdict was heard and he was asked if he had anything to say. “They will not see any more of me.”
He thanked his counsel and asked if detective James Anderson and Inspector Charles Woods were in the room. When told they were not in the room, Chambers said: “I would like to say that Anderson and Wood and myself are the only three who know what went on in that room. Someday some other things will come up and then you shall know what happened.”
When he was finished speaking, Mr. Justice G. F. McFarland quickly pronounced the death sentence and ordered Chambers to be hanged on June 6.
For perhaps the first time in the history of Canadian jurisprudence, a conviction for murder was registered although the body of the murder victim was never found. In a confession admitted as evidence, Chambers had told court he disposed of Marian Rusnak’s body in a furnace at the canning factory where he worked. Police sifted the ashes of the furnace but found no identifiable trace of human remains.
The disappearance of nine-year-old Marian Rusnak shocked the whole of the Niagara peninsula at the Christmas season. The child was last seen talking to a “tall thin man” on the afternoon of Dec.23 as she clutched a toy drum, a present for her brother.
During the holiday season, volunteer bans of citizens, assisted by Boy Scouts, searched the St. Catharines area in the most complete man-hunt in the history of the city. A week after the girl vanished, Chambers was taken in custody after having attempted suicide. Police said he made other attempts to dispose of himself, five in all, and he became known as the man who couldn’t kill himself.
It was shortly after his arrest that Chambers confessed the crime, police said. He told them he had taken the girl to his room at the canning factory, and when she ran to a window he strangled her. He told of trying to revive her and of leaving her body under his bed for 24 hours while he thought things out.
The he put the body in the furnace.
If the death sentence is carried out it will be the first execution at St. Catharines in 65 years. One other prisoner, William Munchak, was sentenced to hang in 1937, when the presiding judge was also Mr. Justice McFarland, but this sentence was commuted to life imprisonment.
[Welland Telegraph, 30 January 1903]
Two bold burglars operated in Pelham on Monday night and committed several depredations, although they did not get away with much booty. Detective John R. Dowd is on their track and has traced them to Buffalo. According to High Constable Dowd’s deductions, the pair broke in Union S.S. No. 6 of Pelham, early in the evening, and sat around the stove until about midnight. Then they went to Mr. Winfield Beckett’s barn, where they stole a horse and part of a harness. Further down the road they got a cutter and bridle from Mrs. Sutton’s barn, and they drove to Fenwick station, where they broke in and ransacked things generally. They carried off two express parcels, and a coon skin coat which belonged to Mr. Caine, a commercial traveller, which was in the station. Then they drove to Niagara Falls and left the horse and cutter near the convent. The pair were traced over the river, to where they boarded a yellow car.
[Welland Tribune, 13 July 1900]
A general awakening is taking place among the American customs and revenue officials all along the Niagara frontier. Evidence has been procured that certain drugs and chemicals are finding their way across the border without the knowledge of the officers, and Uncle Sam’s revenue is suffering. A number of special revenue officers have been posted at the Falls, Lewiston and Buffalo, to keep a look out for the smugglers who are taking the stuff in. A Buffalo druggist is supposed to have been acting as receiver for a gang of smugglers, but since a watch has been kept on him he has apparently severed his connection with the business.
[13 July 1900. Niagara Falls Town Welland Tribune]
A general awakening is taking place among the American customs and revenue officials all along the Niagara frontier. Evidence has been procured that certain drugs and chemicals are finding their way across the border without the knowledge of the officers, and Uncle Sam’s revenue is suffering. A number of special revenue officers have been posted at the Falls, Lewiston and Buffalo, to keep a look out for the smugglers who are taking the stuff in. A Buffalo druggist is supposed to have been acting as receiver for a gang of smugglers, but since a watch has been kept on him he has apparently severed his connection with the business.
Girl Shot Dead
[People’s Press. 25 September 1900]
A cold-blooded murder was committed in the village of Waterdown about 9.15 Sunday evening, when a young lady named Griffen of Dundas was shot by one of two men who are present unknown. Miss Griffen was riding in a buggy with a young man, George Arthur Pearson, a butcher, of Hamilton. When the shooting occurred the pair having been at Carlisle, were on their way to the city and were driving through Waterdown, when the two men in a rig drove up behind them. The two men drove past Mr. Pearson and Miss Griffen, and as they did so one of them deliberately pointed a revolver at the young man and woman and fired. Two cartridges were emptied from the revolver in rapid succession, and Miss Griffen fell from the rig dead. Her companion escaped injury. In the confusion that followed the terrible deed his horse, which was from a Hamilton livery, got away and was stopped at Anderson’s hotel, just beyond the city limits. Coroner McGregor of Waterdown was notified, and he arranged to hold an inquest. The city police were telephoned to and were informed that the horse the murders were driving was a tall animal. Efforts were at once made to capture the men. Acting Chief Prentice is busy on the case. At midnight the police were still in the dark as to the murderers or the motive of the crime. It was surmised that it was prompted by jealousy.
Pearson Confesses
Pearson, the young man who was with Miss Griffen, has confessed that he was himself her murderer.
Pearson said: “I kissed her good-by, then shot her dead, but the reason no one will ever know.”
[The Welland-Port Colborne Evening Tribune, 28 October 1931]
An expensive hug was bestowed on his girl friend by S. Lancaster, Dundas, who in traffic court at Hamilton was fined $15 with 30 days’ suspension of licence for reckless driving. The young man admitted motoring past a policeman while driving with one arm around a girl. It was the second conviction in Hamilton based on one-arm driving this week.
Two Houses and Cheese Factory Entered-Money, etc., Stolen
[People’s Press, 22 August 1905]
An unusual number of burglaries and thefts have been committed throughout the county lately, and it behooves property owners to be on their guard.
Monday night last week the cheese factory was entered for the second time lately, but on this occasion the thieves failed to make a haul.
The same night Alex Hurst’s house in the same locality was broken into and a watch and razor carried away.
The burglar was heard moving around by the head of the house, who supposed it was a member of the family entering, and called down that he would find a pie in the pantry.
On Tuesday night Mr. H. Egerter’s house near Brookfield Station was entered and a purse containing between $15 and $20 stolen. The burglars secured an entrance by breaking a pane of glass in the parlor, thus enabling them to unfasten the window and raise it. The purse was taken out of the bedroom in which Mr. Egerter was sleeping. Some in the neighborhood have suspected an Italian who recently worked for Mr. Egerter of being the thief, but this Mr. Egerter desires to flatly contradict. He says the Italian was a hard-working, honest man, and the last one he would suspect of the theft.
A few days’ previous two men came to the house, one of whom carried a revolver. Under pretext of wanting to do some mending with a needle they almost forced themselves into the house, and it is now thought possible they were on a prospecting tour, with the burglary in view. Other than this suspicion there is not the slightest clue to the identity of the thieves.
A good dog is about the best protection against night prowlers. They generally find out where dogs are kept and give such places a wide berth.
Abe Jamieson and Dick Arnott Arrested
[Welland Tribune, 19 February 1904]
Welland, Feb. 18-Chief Ford of the Welland police arrested Abe Jamieson and Dick Arnott about 1.40 this morning. They were on Divisions street and were each carrying a 25-lb sack of flour, “Riverside Mills,” brand. Another sack, broken with the contents spilled, was found in the ditch in front of Dr. Hutton’s residence. Jamieson then brought the chief to Riverside mills and wanted a mill hand there to say he purchased 150 lbs. of flour, but the answer was not satisfactory.
R. Cooper, proprietor of Riverside mills, was appraised of the facts this morning. He could not tell how much was missing but estimated it at 150 lbs. Mr. Cooper left the mill a few minutes to ten o’clock last night, and the two prisoners, who were at the mill at the time, walked with him a little way.
About ten o’clock, Pierce Whalley was entering his house in front of the mill, a noise was heard, and in response to a query from someone in the house, he investigate and reported, “It’s only Abe carrying a sack of flour.” About 12.30 another person from a window also saw Abe carrying flour.
It is generally the opinion that three trips were made-about 10, 12.30 and when the arrests were made. The mill was running all night, and there were three millers at work at 10 o’clock and two after midnight. These were at work in the back of the mill and the theft could easily have been committed without their knowledge.
Arnott was recently discharged from the Central where he was serving for vagrancy.
The two prisoners were to be tried today at 2 o’clock, but owing to the ability of Crown Attorney to be present, the hearing was postponed until tomorrow at 2 p.m. Jamieson was allowed his freedom on bail.
[People’s Press, 12 January 1909]
William Price, aged 22, and John Murphy, 19, are in Welland jail. They will remain here until the 15th, when they will be sentenced for stealing from railway cars on the G.T.R. track, at Niagara Falls. The full account appears on our Niagara Falls page.
There are twenty-eight prisoners in Welland jail.
John Murphy, Thorold, has come to Welland to renew acquaintance. He will spend two months in jail.
Prisoners Fight
John Graham and Levi Reiger quarrelled on Sunday morning and squared away and had an old-time fight.
Both are prisoners in Welland jail.
Both the men’s faces were badly bruised, and they are now in cells where they will spend three days on bread and water. They will also go without dinner.
Baseball Outfits and Fishing Tackle Stolen From Ingram & McMaster
[The Welland Tribune and Telegraph, 5 May 1921]
In Welland Juvenile Police Court, on Wednesday, four very young boys appeared before Magistrate Goodwin charged with breaking into Ingram and McMaster Hardware Store, on East Main Street, on Sunday afternoon and stealing baseball mitts, mask, bat, balls, other baseball material, a quantity of fishing tackle and a sum of money, about eighteen dollars. The boys, whose combined ages would not exceed fifty years, all admitted the thefts. They made two trips. First two of the boys went alone and alter they returned with two other boys. They obtained an entry by forcing a rear window. The thefts were not discovered until late on the following day (Monday).
The Magistrate reminded the boys that the thing that they usually do to boys who steal is to send them away to a school in Mimico, where they would not see their parents until they were twenty-one years of age. However he was going to make an acceptance in this case and put the boys in charge of a society of the church in which they belong, Roman Catholic. The boys were put in charge of Rev. Father MacCaffrey and George Lahey, who will give them a close supervision.
Further than this the Magistrate decreed that the boys would have to attend day school regularly and punctually, and Sunday School every Sunday. They would have to present a report from the teacher of the school to Rev. Father MacCaffrey every week end.
The parents of the boys were forced to pay $9.50 each, as court costs.
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