The Hanging BEE

1908 July 28

Young Ah Hing / Yung Ah Hing / Jim Ah Hing 

b.1848 China - 27 July 1908 South Vancouver. age 60.  Jim was a vegetable gardener, killed with an axe by a business partner, his head was almost chopped off.

Thirty-three year old, labourer, Lee Chung / Lee Chong / Lee Ching  b.1875 China - 18 December 1908 New Westminster; was the culprit.  Went to trial on October 30, 1908; the papers were poor on reporting this case, as was typical during this era.

1908 November 7 the District Ledger:
Triple Hanging in Vancouver.
A Chinaman, a Negro and a Mulatto to be executed.

Vancouver, Nov., 4 —  Lee Chung, A Chinaman, charged with killing his partner, Yung Hing in a quarrel in South Vancouver, last July was proved guilty, yesterday afternoon, and sentenced by Justice Clement to be hanged on the 18th of December.

       Lee Chung and Yung Hing were partners in a pig ranch, and the evidence showed they had quarrelled as to the ownership of some of the pigs.

        Yung Hing's body was found in the bush fearfully hacked, and a trail of blood led to the door of Lee's shack and on his clothes were found stains.

           This makes three prisoners to be executed on December 18—Pertella, a negro, for murdering Mrs. Jenkins, a negro woman of Vancouver; Jenkins a mulatto, for murdering Mrs. Morrison of Hazelmere, and also Lee Chung.

Dec16: confessed to the murder.

 

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Mahaly Jenkins / Mahala Jenkins  née  ?    b.1884 USA - 24 August 1908 Vancouver; she is buried apparently in the Mountain View cemetery. Cut throat  was the official cause of her death. 

    On Monday August 24, 1908, shortly after 1:00pm,  24-years-old, Mrs. Mahala Jenkins, a boarding house operator on Prior Street at 740 Westminster Avenue in East Vancouver, was brutally murdered by a tenant after a quarrel over room rent. Multiple stab wounds to the chest and face were delivered with such force that her head was almost severed from the rest of her body.

740 Westminster Avenue; Today: part of 780 Main Street.
  In May of 2015 an empty lot

25 August 1908

26 August 1908  Los Angeles Herald

26 August 1908

28 August 1908

2 September 1908      The Chilliwack Progress

So this fellow Chief Constable Edwin Pope  caught Pertella in Port Hammond.

 photo:   Maple Ridge Museum  P01236

23 October 1908

Judge:  William Henry Pope Clement 1858-1922

23 October 1908
The warden was  James Greenshields Brymner 1861 - 1930

John Pertella / Jack Pertella     b. 1864 ?  —  18 December 1908 New Westminster.; age 44

         Various conflicting reports on this fellows ethnicity, Negro, black, Filipino. All we learn from the media is that he and Mahala’s husband James B. Jenkins were prospecting partners for a short time, and were previously living in the Dalles, Oregon state area.

         Detective David Scott investigated the murder scene. Mrs. Jenkins husband John B. Jenkins, lived at 125 Lansdowne Avenue; today 125 E. 4th Ave. ; and kept a shoeblack stand at The Atlantic Hotel 79 Cordova W; today part of 65 W. Cordova. Witness to the crime was Genevieve Montgomery

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Mary Morrison  née Mary Higgins
b.3 November 1865 Old Luce,  Wigtown, Wigtownshire, Scotland
Killed   9 June 1908  Hall's Prairie.  Age 43. cut throat-haemorrhage; just where the old railway tracks crossed the North Bluff Road.
     Her parents: William Higgins, and Jane"Jean" McCrindle.
8-year-old daughter Mary was a witness to the crime.
Siblings:
Maggie Jane Higgins 16 Oct 1867
Julia Higgins 17 Oct 1869
Elizabeth McCormick Higgins 21 June 1871
Robina McCrindle Higgins 19 April 1873
William (1874-)
Hugh (1876-)
John (1878-)
Annie Sloan Higgins 27 March 1881
Married to John Morrison: 30 December 1887 Elrig Village, Mochrum, Wigtown, Scotland.
The first record of a child (Jane Morrison) appears in 1890 in Minnesota. There may have been another child born between 1887 and 1890 who died in a fire that destroyed Sandstone,  Minnesota in 1894. The child may have been born in Scotland, enroute to the USA or perhaps in Minnesota.
The family immigrated to Canada in 1895, and was captured in the 1901 and 1911 Census: Hall’s Prairie, Surrey:
Husband and Father:  John Morrison ( 1848 – 1925 )
Jane Barton née Jane Morrison ( 1890 – 1964  )
Susan Paulson née Susan Morrison ( 1893 - 1949  )
Matthew Morrison ( 1897- 1966 )
Mary Burden née Mary Morrison ( 1900 – 1985 )
                     Husband: Francis Henry ( 1888 – 1942 )
John Morrison      October 1904
Annie Morrison ( 1906 - 1923  )
So the father John, must have had a very rough time through all of this; the children were roughly in ages 2, 4, 7, 11,15, and 18.

10 June 1908

11 June 1908

12 June 1908

12 June 1908   REWARD

13 June 1908

13 June 1908

18 June 1908

21 June 1908

24 June 1908    Edmonton Bulletin

24 June 1908

14 July 1908

24 October 1908   Pleads Insanity

26 October 1908

26 October 1908   Little Witness Failed

27 October 1908

4 November 1908    Appeal is Granted

4 November 1908

18 November 1908

24 November 1908   Appeal Denied

James Jenkins / Jim Jenkins    b. 1834 USA — 18 December 1908 New Westminster
Age 34, labourer; coloured.
Convicted on circumstantial grounds. He would not admit to the crime of rape and murder.  

Chief Justice: Gordon Hunter ( 1863 - 1929  )
photo: John Savannah (1868-1925) ca.1910.  A-02236 

Prosecutor was, Robert Cassidy, K.C. ( 1857 - 1947 )

William Garland McQuarrie, ( 1876 - 1943  ) was the court-appointed defence lawyer.

W. G. McQuarrie, M.P. ca. 1920
photo: Steffens-Colmer.  B.C.Archives: A-02324

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Seven people were hung in Canada during 1908.  And three of those were on the 18th of December 1908. This would be the only time during Canada’s capital offence years 1860 to 1976 that three people were hung on the same day, and in this case all three at the same time in the same place.

17 December 1908

Provincial Gaol location in New Westminster in 1908
( Excerpt from 1892 New Westminster map)     Vancouver Archives: MAP617

2015 Aerial view. NOTE: The recently built school and that the John Robson Community School is now gone, which is where at least three large buildings have now stood.
 Unknown what will be built on the old buildings footprint.

New Westminster Provincial Goal.  ca.1886
photo: William Thomas Cooksley ( 1857 - 1913  )   A-03353    
Built in 1885, and completed in June 1886, it was used as a gaol until  the 1st of November 1917, when all the prisoners moved to other Provincial institutions.

T.J. Trapp Technical School from Queen's Avenue & Eighth Street.
 BC Manufactories (box factory) in middle right. ca.1927 IHP7096

In 1919, the Provincial government agreed to lease the building and grounds of the old provincial jail to the City. Trapp Technical School opened in 1920 in the old provincial jail building, after an extensive renovation.

        This building proved to be not very adaptable to the school’s needs, so a new school was built on the property in 1928 (see "British Columbian" Dec. 19, 1928). Later, the new building became John Robson School. Both the old and new buildings were used on the same property.
          By the 1950s both Trapp Tech and Duke of Connaught High School were too small for the student population. They were replaced by the larger senior high school, Lester Person. June 24, 1955 was the last day of school for Tech students.

Shows the T.J. Trapp Technical School, formerly the Provincial Gaol.
  ca.192-    IHP1530

  

T.J. Trapp Technical High School which later became John Robson School.
ca.192-     IHP8008-199  

photo ca.1955 Columbian Newspaper, prior to demolition 1576_web

John Robson School, 1960      IHP8008-168

The old Gaol / T.J. Trapp Technical School sites  had  the John Robson Community School
 located upon it until 2015, when it was demolished.

Portions of the property are considered to be part of  Simcoe Park (PDF). Although the map above would disagree with that statement.

18 December 1908    Spokane Press

18 December 1908

18 December 1908   La Grande Evening Observer
HANGING BEE IS WELL ATTENDED

23 December 1908   The Chilliwack Progress

The infamous hangman:  John Radcliffe / John Radclive  was active as a hangman from 1892 until the early 1910's  b. England, lived Toronto, alcoholic he died in 1911 in his late 50’s.
Apparently there was a rule, where prisoners were to be buried inside the prison grounds; and there is numerous references to the warden asking the Government to waive that clause, and allow them to be buried outside the walls. This case was no different and the request was put in. 
         No mention of where the bodies were buried; probably in the Fraser cemetery in unmarked graves.
      They are not buried in the B.C. Penitentiary cemetery, since that cemetery only started in 1912.   The Coroner was Captain George Pittendrigh who led a long and interesting life.
Two Salvation Army staff were present at the hanging:  
Captain Charles Henry Quaife ( 1879 – ? )  and
      Captain Herbert Walter Collier ( 1869 - 1938 )

Probation officer Herbert Walter Collier ca.1914-5
photo: A.J. Selset  A62446

H.W. Collier in 1910 was appointed the first probation officer in British Columbia; and was also the Superintendent of the 3-storey, Detention Home, located on 2532 Pine Street, Vancouver. He lived there in a separate home with his wife
  Amelia Baldwin ( 1868 - 1950 ) who was also the matron there.
Today the address is  1695 W 10th Ave.  I could find no pictures of this home.
In 1930 a newer, larger building was bought from the Children's Aid Society, their 1924 building was on Wall Street, Vancouver, in 1934 it became the Juvenile Detention Centre,  this building was demolished 1976, amid much controversy.  photos: ONE  and TWO  in the second image the building on the right still exists, has been restored and is still used by the community.

The following information is from this PAGE

There is also an even older gaol, still standing on the old Federal Penitentiary grounds, in New Westminster:
Gaol Block Building (1878)
65 Richmond Street,  formerly 81 Columbia Street East

The British Columbia Penitentiary has been a prominent landmark in New Westminster for more than 100 years. Work on the penitentiary began in 1874, and proceeded at full speed. Unexpected delays slowed construction and delayed completion to October of 1877. The first building, known as the 187 Block, had a mansard roof and was constructed of heavy stone. It served as the prison and hospital until 1980 when the federal penitentiary was phased out. The Gaol Block building is now part of the Fraserview lands, including over 800 units of housing and the historic Glenbrooke Ravine as parkland. Also retained are the stately gatehouse with its twin towers, a corner guard house, a commemorative cairn, Royal Engineers survey monument, and the 1878 original Gaol Block.

B.C. Provincial penitentiary, under construction 1878
     photo: Maynard.     BCArchives

I wonder if any folks are buried on this property?

New Westminster Provincial Hospital for the Insane

      I came across some images at Coquitlam Archives, original source of which was the Riverview Hospital Historical Society, RHHS.   The RHHS when Riverview hospital was closed in 2012 had to remove their collection, and the BC Archives removed a considerable amount, probably never to see the light of day ever again.   But portions of the RHS collection are being taken care of by the City of Coquitlam; and some scanning of mostly glass plate images has been placed online for our benefit. 

    Sadly they were poorly documented, the descriptions are frequently wrong, and some of the photos appear cropped which hides any identifying numbers and marks that can greatly aid in determining Who made them, and When.
      Below are eight images that were considered to be of Essondale, only two were properly described as being of the New Westminster Provincial Hospital for the Insane,PHI.

       Actually all of these photographs were taken on the grounds of the New Westminster PHI, which is good since not many images exist that show more of the everyday goings on at the site.

They are all dated: ca.191-  ( my guess is 1911 - 1913 )
       I knew that farming occurred at the the PHI, primarily in the gully area which is part of Glen Creek. So a good look at this IMAGE from the Vancouver Archives, shows the wooden fencing, and tops of the farm buildings in the photos below.

flock of geese with farmer in background  CF.012
 

Chickens in a pen   CF.006

Pigs in outdoor pen   CF.013

Laundry, Public Hospital for the Insane, New Westminster  CF.003

Men working in a farmyard   CF.016
[ Note: appears to be more likely construction involved in the area of the main buildings. ]

Interior Shoe Shop, Public Hospital for the Insane,
New Westminster   EH.011
  [ Note: a real gem of  photo.  The Head cobbler appears to be on the left;
probably:  Daniel McQuarrie 1839 - 1911 ]

Essondale interior lab   EH.006
[ Note: I am 99% certain that the person in this image is:
Claude Hubert Gooding  1887-1920 staff, bacteriologist ]

Essondale interior laboratory  EH.012

[ Note: I am 99% certain that the person in this image is:
Claude Hubert Gooding 1887-1920 staff, bacteriologist ]

Undulant Fever

        Practically exterminated in North America, Brucellosis AKA Undulant Fever  and numerous other names is a disease of animals that can kill humans, and typically causes spontaneous abortions in cattle, sheep, goats... Humans frequently catch it by drinking unpasteurized milk, or less frequently poorly cooked meat.
       Read a PDF fact sheet about it
        Since it was  a disease brought under control many years ago, people have not known the damage that it can cause.  And along comes a new generation that claim that unpasteurized milk is okay; the facts from the past make these claims appear silly.

With a little research I found out that it was this fellow

Ferris Larson Clemens, was a farmer in Chilliwack for seven years, he was born on the 27^th of March 1900 in Day County, South Dakota, and he died on the 9th of February 1954 at Chilliwack General hospital. 
        Cause of death:  gastric haemorrhage, brucellosis.   Not sure if this fellow is the last death in B.C. from this nasty disease, but he must be one of the last.
 
         At the time of his death he was farming on Fairfield Island, Chilliwack, at 209 Prest Road.
His parents: Emory Elson Clemens, and Georgiana "Mary" Larson
Ferris was married to to Alberta Elizabeth Jane Patterson 1901 – 1969

They had one daughter, who eventually became Mrs. Shirley McClure.
Ferris also left a sister behind to mourn his loss: Mrs. Alice Sweet

Daughter Shirley Clemens gets married to Raymond Walter McLure in 1956

Note to self:   Do not drink unpasteurized dairy products

William D. John

Came across this entry in the Order-in-Council’s paperwork.
1914 October 21
The Provincial Secretary and Minister in charge of the Education Department hereby authorise the payment of $145.00 to Wm.D. John, a school teacher, for fare and expenses from Victoria to Plymouth, England.

--------Followed by: 
To his Honour the Lieutenant-Governor:
that authority be granted to the Auditor-General to pass for payment voucher for One hundred and forty-five Dollars ( $145.00 ) in favour of  William D. John for fare and expenses Victoria to Plymouth, England.
Mr. John had several positions in our schools which he was unable to hold owing to his temperament and it was considered advisable to pay his passage to the Old Country than perhaps have to place him in the Lunatic Asylum.

signed by Henry Esson Young  who was the Provincial secretary, and minister of Education during this time.
----------------------------------------
Could not find out much at all about the fellow, he is listed as William D. John, B.A. and just a few references in the Victoria Colonist, that he was involved in the;
Victoria Cymmrodorion Society  (1909-1918? ), and he appears to have had expertise in Welsh recitation, and was frequently involved in the St. David’s day activities; St. David is the Welsh patron saint  

Vancouver’s 1^st Eisteddfod   was in 1912 , and was the first on the Pacific coast; and I would think that William D. John more than likely was a visitor / participant to this event.
  
The Victoria Cymmrodorion Society frequently met in the "Sir William Wallace Hall" / Pioneer Hall 28 1/2 Broad,[ 1128 Broad St. ] Victoria,which is the Central Building   

NOTE: That the Cymmrodorion Society is frequently miss-spelled in the British Columbia newspapers as Cymrodorion   

Prior to the Central Building being built the Society met at the Pioneer Hall, corner of Broad Street and Trounce Alley, Victoria.
A photo exists of this now long gone building,
            but it is not online, BC Archives F-07609   

1910 February 9 The Victoria Colonist

1911 insurance map, The Central Building is outlined in red, this is where the

Sir William Wallace hall, was located, and where the Cymmrodorion Society held its meetings.

       What an interesting  practical solution of saving the taxpayers money in the long run.
Instead of incarcerating the fellow in the asylum, and eventually deporting him back to England the government just pays his way back to his homeland, which was probably somewhere in Wales.

1978 plane crash

          On Tuesday the 15^th of August 1978, in the area of Amai Inlet   A light plane carrying four passengers crashed after reportedly losing a wing, around the 3000 metre elevation of one of the nearby mountains. A fire was spotted locally so the residents knew where to find the crash site.  The bodies were badly burnt, practically unrecognizable,  and probably died almost instantly according to the coroners report.

 Mention in the Prince George Citizen of the 17th of August 1978

 Dead are:

Clifford Peel   born on the 7^th of November 1948 at Vancouver, B.C.
       Death certificate
Home was Surrey, B.C.   Clifford was single. Driller and blaster, Campbell River Construction.    His parents were Hans “Clifford” Friberg Peel ( 1922 – 1949 ), and Jean Marie Janes.   NOTE: I only became interested in this story because his father worked at Essondale hospital, as a Occupational therapist, and I noted that he died when his son was only one year old, also left behind another child to mourn him, and his wife.

William Robert Peter, was born on the 26^th of September 1925 at Vancouver, B.C.
Death Certificate 
Home was in Vancouver, B.C. he was single, and worked as a chef.
  His parents were Robert Johnstone Peter and Marcia Jean Reid. [ Parents Marriage certificate ]

Albert Gurschler, was born on the 27^th of July 1931 in Germany.
Death Certificate
Home was in Vancouver, he was single, and was working as a shovel operator, for the Campbell River Construction Company.    
His parents were: Edward  Gurschler and Philomena Kuen.  Albert had at least two brothers: Engelbert Gurschler and Joseph Wilhelm Gurschler ( 1932 - 1981)   who both appeared to have lived together  at 1454 Denise Place, Port Coquitlam.
NOTE: common to find Gurschler miss-spelled as Gerschler, Girschler..

The pilot was William"Bill" Curtis Merrill, born on the 25^th of September 1951 at Tahsis, B.C.   
Death Certificate
Home was in North Vancouver, he was single, and worked for Tradewinds Aviation, Vancouver, B.C.  His parents were:  Curtis Leroy Merrill  and  Mary Louise Walcott.  


I have not seen many of the papers of the date to see if there is any detailed information about the crash, with the exact location, photographs,etc.  I would guess that they are very sparse, this was and still is a fairly remote location.

Amai Inlet is shown on the Kyuquot 92L/3  1 : 50 000 map sheet 
Adjoining map sheets to the south and east, below
Woss Lake  92L/2
Port Eliza 92E/14
Zeballos 92E/15 
92L/3       92L/2
92E/14     92E/15
also the Provincial government map  092L005  1:20,000  ( PDF download starts immediately )  covers the area well.

Hopefully one day someone will read this and tell us some more about this tragic accident. Did the wing fall off? or did he clip the trees first ?
I will update this page as the events unfold.

UPDATE:   In the comments is the answer from Trevor Merrill :  My uncle William Merrill is one of these persons. I remember hearing some stories about the cause as a child from his father.
The wing did indeed fall off. The plane was purchased from the U.S. as a rebuild and although it passed safety inspections, it was not safe.
   All paper work conserning the plane and all its records quickly disappeared.
The pilot mentioned to his family weeks before that the plane had an odd vibration.

Editor:  What a nightmare, not even a chance once the wing fell off. RIP

The Toothbrush Holder

         Many years ago I worked on a large home in the Shaughnessy area of Vancouver, that was the former home of one of our attorney-generals and in the process many things were removed, most were put back; but this Toothbrush holder found itself lost in one of the many boxes used to store the various hardware, and was not found again until much later.

.

The home was built in 1912 if I remember correctly

I was able to find a catalogue entry for this hardware
Catalog F: Good Manufacturing Company Incorporated brass and rubber plumbing goods (1914)

Which could be ordered with lettering on it, like my Toothbrush holder

An example of Good Manufacturing Company Incorporated,
advertising from the people who plumbed the home.

The story behing the "Good" name of the company

The Toothbrush holder was made by the
Good Manufacturing Company, who have been in business since 1896 and still operate under the
Crest / Good Manufacturing Company, name

J.G. Mortimore & Co., Ltd.  James George Mortimore (1853 - 1911) manager, 540 W. Pender   Married to: Emily M. Griffin (1849 - 1923), both buried in Mountain View Cemetery, Vancouver.

The 1891 census captured a son,  Sidney Charles Mortimore living in Vancouver, and working as a plumber.

Although James G. Mortimore is listed in the directories as being here one year prior to the 1891 census.
There were two other Mortimore’s who appear to be related  to James George Mortimore; and they appear in Vancouver in the 1888 directories, onwards.

1909 August 21 Phoenix Pioneer:

        Peculiar circumstances attended the death of two well known Vancouver citizens last Sunday morning, when the brothers Sidney Charles Mortimore and William Henry Mortimore, aged 60 and 65 respectively, died almost within an hour of each other, at their residence, 1063 Haro street.

Sidney Charles Mortimore d. 15 Aug. 1909.  60 years old, had asthma for several months, prior to his death.
William Henry Mortimore  d. 15 Aug 1909 at 1063 Haro St., Van, 65 years old, of shock, two hours after learning of the death of his brother. Both worked as tailors, for others in the early days here, and later operating as the Mortimore Brothers, tailors, Hastings Street, Vancouver, B.C.

         At least two sons of James George Mortimore, also worked as plumbers, Sidney Charles Mortimore (1881 - 1931) and Alfred James Mortimore (1874 - 1941) and they continued the business after their fathers death for a number of years, later it appears the company stopped operating around 1926 but Sidney and Alfred continued to make a living as plumbers. During 1928-1929 the Mortimore's (Sidney C. Mortimore?) took on a partner, Henry S. Crombe, and the company became known as: Mortimore & Crombe, located at 2906 ranville Street, Van., B.C.; after this Sidney must have retired, and his brother Alfred continued to operate as a plumber for many years.

     James G. Mortimore and Emma M. Griffin also had a daughter.
Rose Emma Mortimore “Tennant” (1886 - 1973)

I wonder how many of these toothbrush holders still exist.
     The simple times just a three-digit phone number.