Morrison Steel & Wire Company

Morrison Steel and Wire Company limited, was founded by Kenneth John Morrison (1866-1915) 

 

  Sadly he was killed with the sinking of the Lusitania in 1915 , Some more information about him here and here.  A more detailed look at K.J. Morrison,  and the early days of Morrison Steel & Wire Co., can be found at Robert Moen's excellant blog about the West End of Vancouver

I primarily posted this post to look at the history of the company when it moved to Granville Island in 1919. A complex journey it has been, still many unknowns. 

But here is a first go...

After K.J. Morrison's abrupt death. Nova Scotian, Henry Havelock McDougall,( 1866-1959 ), appears to have bought company after Morrison's passing. He married to Effie Putnam,( 1868 - 1955 ) in 1895.

Frequently H.H. Mcdougall is mentioned as Havelock McDougall, just to add to the confusion. Havelock had at leat two brothers John Currie McDougall ( 1859 - 1923 Victoria, B.C. ) and Adams McDougall. The following is from the The Daily Colonist, after H.H. McDougall's brother passed away in Victoria.

Transcribed here:   The Daily Colonist,  23 October 1923,  page 5

LATE CAPT. McDOUGALL WELL-KNOWN MARINER
Deceased Was Son of Prominent Ship Builder of Nova Scotia In Days Of Salling Vessels

  
 
Captain J. C. McDougall. whose death took place here recently was son of the late Hon. William McDougall. of Maitland, Hants County, Nova Scotia, who at one time was one of the largest shipbuilders in that locality. Captain McDougall, at the time of his demise was Federal inspector of weights and measures for Vancouver Island, and previous to that was a successful master mariner for some years, sailing  ships built by his father, amongst the number being the Hecla and Launberga. He is survived by his widow, residing here on Irving Road, and one son Mr. Fred McDougall, in Detroit, and five daughters. Mrs. Elliott and Mrs. Jarvis, of Edmonton; Mrs. Mckeddie, of Vanwort, Ohio; Miss Bessie McDougall, of Vancouver, and Miss Doris, of this city, besides four grandchildren and two brothers, Mr. Havelock McDougall, owner and proprietor of the Morrison Steel Works, Vancouver. And Mr Adams McDougall, of Halifax. N.S., provincial inspector of hulls.
  [ Capt. John Currie McDougall was married in 1885 to Margaret "Maggie" Douglas

 Bess McDougall married in 1928 Charles Stewart (Stuart) Lyons( 1865 - 1949 ) ]

Havelock McDougall, is variously listed as a manager, owner, president in the directories, he was an accountant. By 1918  Frank Wilkinson is involved as a managing director; he also had his own company Wilkinson Steel Company Limited, and was involved with U.S. Steel; all three companies used the same office address 846 Beach Avenue, Vancouver.  Frank Wilkinson (1873 - 1949 ) was married to Alice Mary Baker,( 1873 - 1949 ), he would go on to build a large steel distribution company, which was sold in 2013 to  Samuel,Son & Co.   Wilkinson Steel, used many buildings, around Vancouver, and B.C.; one of which is at 190 West 2nd Avenue Today the home of the CITY TV Station.
 

 Frank Wilkinson

 Photo and the following from:  Who's Who in Canada: An Illustrated Biographical Record of men..., Volume 14.
Wilkinson, Frank---- Managing director, Wilkinson & Co., Limited, Steel and Wire Merchants, established 1910, 846 Beach Avenue, Vancouver, B.C. Director of the Morrison Steel & Wire Co., Vancouver, B.C. Born England February 22nd, 1874, son of Joseph and Hannah Wilkinson. Educated in England. Came to Canada in 1893. Was engaged with B. and S.H. Thompson Co., Ltd., Montreal, as correspondent Secretary-Treasurer from 1893; Vice-President and General-Manager to 1910;  established present business 1910. Married Alice Mary Festling Baker, of Montreal, formerly of London, England; has one son and five daughters. Clubs: Terminal City Club of Vancouver. Recreations: Motor-boating and Tennis. Anglican. Residence: 3590 Pine Crescent, Vancouver, B.C.

 ------

The Daily Colonist page 1, July 8, 1949

SEARCHERS FIND BODY ON ROCKS

A search party directed by Sergeant Frank Leslie Jeeves,( 1909 -1978 ) of the Provincial Police, yesterday found the body of Frank Wlkinson, elderly Vancouver manufacturer, on the rocks off Separation Point, near Chemainus.
It is believed the man was drowned when he fell from a 10-foot dinghy while fishing alone near Separation Point Wednesday night.
Wilkinson, who lived at 3290 Granville Street, Vancouver was described by police as being about 73 years old. He was president of Wilkinson Steel & Wire Co. Ltd., Vancouver, one of the province's principal nail manufacturing firms.

DINGHY DRIFTING

Wilkinson's dinghy, rigged with an outboard motor, was found drifting near Separation Point yesterday morning. In it was Mr. Wilkinson's dog Billy.
Police explained that Wilkinson had come into nearby Genoa Bay on his yacht Minona before putting out by himself Wednesday night to fish from his dinghy.
Police said the trip to Genoa Bay was made by two yachts, one skippered by Wilkinson and the other by the drowned man's son-in-law, Dr. Harold Farrar Mitchell, (1891 - 1950).
Last night Provincial Police officials were unable to say whether an inquiry or an inquest would be ordered to investigate the circumstances of Wilkinson's death.
the search party combed the shoreline and waters off Separation Point without let-up yesterday before finding Wilkinson's body late in the afternoon.
-------        So sadly Frank Wilkinson died on the 6th of July 1949, only five weeks after the passing of his wife  Alice Mary Baker, ( 1873 - 29th May 1949 )

1901 Census    Jacques-Cartier, Notre-Dame-de-Grace, Montreal.  The Wilkinson's living with the wife's parents.  
1911 Census   Vancouver :   Frank Wilkinson, (1874 - 1949 ); Alice Mary Baker, ( 1873 - 1949 );
Amy Elizabeth Wilkinson "Mitchell" then "Dobbins", ( 1896 - 1993 ); Joseph William Wilkinson, ( 1898 - 1964 ); Agnes Wilkinson "Dixon", ( 1901 - 1971 );   Nelly Wilkinson "Clarke"( 1903 - 1975 ); Margery Hilda Wilkinson "Watchorn"( 1906 - 1995 ) ; Edith Wilkinson "Hunter" ( 1909 - 2001 )
1921 Census  Vancouver   

----------------------

 Around 1925 Morrison Steel & Wire, was bought by Samuel Jackson Hammitt, ( 1887 - 1974 )

 The company was apparently run on Granville Island up until 1980. (not confirmed though )

S. J. Hammitt, 3688 Marine Drive, Hollyburn, 1945.

Vancouver Archives  CVA 586-5915  

We know a little more about him, because he left behind notes for an autobiography, which was later partially deciphered, and printed into a small book:  Life in Apollo: Pennsylvania in The 1890s
By Samuel J. Hammitt   transcribed and edited by Marion Dewees Gropen

A small part of the book follows...

Samuel Jackson Hammitt was born in Apollo, Pennsylvania on December 31, 1887 to Armand Calincourt Hammitt and Virginia Jackson Hammitt. They had been married for 4 years at the time. His parents later gave him one younger brother, John Kelly.
Armand was the oldest son of Isaac an Hannah Cox Hammitt.
Armand's grandfather (Samuel J. Hammit's great grandfather ) was impressed by the British Navy from an American merchant vessel just before the war of 1812. that Isaac Hammitt fought with and then be-friend his fellow midshipman, John Kelly. Samuel Hammit's younger brother was named fror the midshipman. The name has passed down through several generations of the family. Jack Kelly's children and grandchildren included several Isaac Hammitts in similar fashion.
Both Isaac's ( Samuel/a grandfather and great-grandfather) were boatbuilders. Their specialty seems to have been steamboats, many of which sailed the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. Some of their earlier boats were in Commodore Perry's fleet at the historically important battle in Put-in Bay. Armand worked as a roll-turner in the Apollo stell mills, and a machinist in the McKeesport locomotive works.
Virginia Jackson Hammitt was the daughter of General Samuel McCartney Jackson. He served with distinction in The Northern army during the Civil War (and should not be confused with that other General Jackson, "Stonewall.") He led his regiment in the battles of Gaines' Mills, Second Bull Run, South Mountain, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, Wilderness, Spottsylvannia Court House, and Bethesda Church.
After the war, General Jackson had invested in oil, and then went into the State Legislature, followed by the State Senate, and eventually serves a term as State Treasurer.
Eventually, he was instrumental in founding the apollo Savings Bank, which became the Apollo Trust Company. He also owned a portion of the Laufman and Saltsburg Steel companies, which were eventually purchased by US Steel.
Samuel Jackson Hammitt grew up in Apollo, and attended Yale, graduating in 1909.
In 1911, he married Marion Sherwood Hallock ( 1891 - 1981 ), daughter of Franklin William and Minne ( Minerva ) Adams Hallock, of Derby,Connecticut.
Sam Hammitt worked his way up throught the ranks of the U.S. Steel company and its subsidiaries, with postings in Australia and Japan, before finally settling in to run Morrison Steel and Wire in Vancouver, B.C.
He and his wife Marion, had two children, Virginia (1923- ), who married Thurston Merrill, jr. and Jacqueline (1933- ) who married T. Gerret Dewees. ( Jacqueline was her generation's "Jack Kelly," of course.) 

S.J. Hammitt

S.J. Hammit and his wife Marion Sherwood Hallock

 ------------------

 What follows is various photographs and a map of the Morrison Steel & Wire Company Limited on Granville Island.

 

Cropped section of     A75390  CVA 216-39 - [ Aerial view of Granville Island, looking north with Burrard Bridge, Kitsilano Trestle Bridge and "old" Granville Street Bridge.  1950 ] 

  CVA 59-03 - Aerial photo, oblique, False Creek, Vancouver  1947
( Morrison Steel & Wire Company barely visible in this photo, top right hand side. )

  MAP 1027 - Greater Vancouver 1929 ( this is a cropped image from this map of Granville Island. ) 

 CVA 59-06 - [Aerial view looking north over] Granville Island  1953
(cropped image, showing the Morrison Steel & Wire plant. )

Interior of the Morrison Steel & Wire plant , 22 August 1919    VPL

 

7 January 1921, Dominion Photo Co.   VPL  

Interior scene   1945 Photo by:  King Studio. VPL   

  VanArchives 2019-102.21 - Aerial view of False Creek  3 June 1973
the plant was removed sometime between March -September 2005

 Can just make out a Morrison on building in distant right; Tyee Machinery office just before.
  26 September 1974  Cartwright Street, looking eastward. Track to the right is unusable because the switch towards the right is blocked over. UNBC

  Unused spur leading southward to Morrison Steel and Wire Company Ltd. The spur crosses a disused line running on the south side of Cartwright Street.  6 October 1974 Photo by: David Davies. UNBC

More vague, little further north along bridge.  looking eastward, down Johnston Street.
Morrison Steel & Wire, complex  just below top, centre.
UNBC

2 October 1974  Photo by: David Davies    UNBC

 

March 2005 Google Earth

Google Earth, later in March 2005 partially demollished.

Google Earth 2021, primarily a parking lot;
but the building on the right remains.

Oakalla prison farm & B.C. Penitentiary, 1921 Census

Oakalla Prison farm 1921 Census  
( page 1 )  - ( page 2 ) - ( page 3 ) - ( page 4 ) - ( page 5 )  - ( page 6 ) - ( page 7 )  - ( page 8 ) 

Followed by British Columbia Penitentiary

Staff ( page 1 )  
prisoners: ( page 2 )  -  ( page 3 ) - ( page 4 ) - ( page 5 ) 

Carbon monoxide kills five

On a stormy night on the 20^th of March 1933, an entire family of five, died from asphyxiation, caused by carbon monoxide poisoning
The father and husband, William Cross was born sometime during1890 in Scotland.
The location where they were found was off  the  eastern shore of  Iron Bay, Burrard Inlet. Which at the time was more commonly known as the North Arm.
The death certificates all contain mostly the same information; in saying that the family was living in B.C. for four months, and had lived in Canada for six years. the entire family are buried in the  Ocean View Memorial Park, in Burnaby.  Their home: apartment 2 - 610 Jervis Street,  "Felix Apartments" today is known as  "The Banffshire"  in Vancouver.  Witness on the certificates was a previous neighbour  Elen N. Harvie who lived in apartment #20, same building.
   William Cross’ father:  John R. Cross
Served his country in World War I
British Army, Scottish rifles, private 11304
British Army, army ordnance corps, armourer staff sergeant #A/2653

Picture from the B.C. Archives completed in 1911; how it looks today in 2015  
Wife and mother: Nellie Cross  b.1891 Scotland.  parents: Douglas Plant, and ?
Christine "Cissie" Cross    b.1923 Scotland.
Douglas Cross        b.1925 Scotland
John "Jack" Cross    b.1921 Scotland.

1933 March 20  The Vancouver Sun

FAMILY OF FIVE DEAD IN BOAT
MYSTERY AT BUNTZEN
MAN, WOMAN, 3 CHILDREN

      Five bodies, a man, a woman and three children, a boy and two girls, were discovered late this morning In a gasoline launch named “J.B.,” off Granite Falls, north of Lake Buntzen power house, on the north arm of Burrard Inlet, according to word received at the provincial police office, Vancouver, during the noon hour.
Detective Phipps and Constable Clark left immediately in Police launch No. 3 to investigate the discovery.
The bodies were found by two loggers who reported their find to B. C. Electric employees at Buntzen power house, who Informed police.
The boat was adrift with the cabin door tightly closed.

DEATH BY GAS?
On opening the door to ascertain if anyone was asleep Inside, the loggers found the bodies.
Death is believed due to carbon monoxide poisoning, but no examination has been made pending arrival of the police officers.
The death boat was towed by the loggers to powerhouse wharf, where it is now moored.
BOAT NAME  "J. B."
Records of the office of the Registrar of Shipping at Vancouver show only one boat of the name "J.B." operating in Lower Mainland waters.
It is registered as owned by Thomas James Brady, Burrard Rooms. 324 ½ East Powell Street. His occupation is given as waiter.
The boat, 26 feet in length with 6-foot beam and 2.6 feet, depth, was formerly known as the Blarney but was re-named "J.B." on April 21, 1932.
A second boat of the same name is listed at the customs office but is owned in Prince Rupert by Modin Jensen of that city.

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1933 March21   The Vancouver Sun

 Soldier's dream of sea ended in slumber of death
Bodies of Five in Launch

Tragic end to pleasure cruise

Carrying its sad cargo of five bodies asphyxiated by carbon monoxide, this picture shows the tiny cruiser "J.B." being tied up at the slip, foot of Victoria Drive, Monday evening, after being towed from the North Arm, where the derelict launch was found with W. Cross his wife, two sons and daughter, as death had caught them, wrapped in their blankets as they slept. The launch was brought to the city in tow of a Provincial Police motor launch, in charge of Detective Marcus T. Phipps.
 

CARGO OF DEAD REACHES PORT
ENGINE FUMES KILL FAMILY

By John Hickey

      Three medals graven with the record of a soldier's valour yesterday provided the clue that unfolded a story of a dream come true extinguished in the slumber of death.
       The dream was the dream of William Cross war-time staff sergeant of the Scottish Rifles, who was unable to forget, as he tilled the rolling soil of the Peace River, the rolling sea he had known as a marine engineer.

     Its fulfilment brought the death of William Cross and his wife Nellie and his three blonde-headed children, found dead of carbon monoxide engine fumes in the small launch he had bought to cruise the sea gain in realization of his wish.

CRUISE PLANNED

    The family had started out from Vancouver Saturday noon with cheery goodbyes to acquaintances and a joking remark from the father that "we may get as far as Alaska before were through,"
     Yesterday at dawn their boat was found drifting in the wind and the tide, with its cargo of the dead, on the north arm of Burrard Inlet, 20 minutes away.
Side by side they lay on the floor of the cabin where they had composed themselves for the night. First was the father. Beside him was the wife. Cuddled against the mother was the little daughter Cissie, 10 years old. ... "Pretty as a picture," said the police officers. Then came the two small boys, Douglas 8, and Billie, 12.
A few feet away, forgotten for the night, lay the little girl's doll, decked out in childish finery and a tiny woollen shawl.
      Two Japanese loggers made the discovery as they went to the woods along the shore at dawn, some five miles beyond the Buntzen power plant of the B.C. Electric.
DISCOVER BODIES

Perceiving the drifting boat they knew something was amiss and boarded her. Unable to get an answer from the cabin, they forced the locked door and found the bodies.
The Japanese K. Ono and S. Toda summoned another logger named Larsen living nearby and the three took the boat in tow and proceeded with it to Buntzen. There the Provincial Police were notified by telephone.
When Detective Marcus Theodore Phipps (1892-1961) and Constable William Clark(1889-1972) of the Provincial police arrived by boat at Buntzen, the air in the death ship's cabin was still heavy with the gas fumes.
 ENGINE TROUBLE

Inquiry revealed that the boat had been observed from shore at Buntzen Sunday morning and had appeared to be having engine trouble. When found her anchor was over the side and hanging at the end of 30 feet of line.
From this it was presumed that Cross, having trouble with his boat had put in by shore for the night and dropped anchor. It was a stormy night and the anchor dragged, permitting her to drift away.
The trip to Vancouver with the launch in tow of the police boat P.M.L. 3 was made in weather that at times made the officers fear their charge would capsize and sink with its dead.

DEATH CARGO IN PERIL

     When the Second Narrows was reached, wind and tide, combined to toss the plunging launch around with such force that one of the towropes snapped. Waves swept clean over her, battering open the wheelhouse door some water finding its way inside. Several times it appeared she might roll over completely.

     The difficulty of managing the tow was so great that the police boat finally signalled for the assistance of a tug. The intention of taking the launch down the exposed harbour direct to the Immigration wharf was abandoned. The towboat J. K. McKenzie (pic: One – Two ) took  her over and swerving grotesquely and with broken wheelhouse door swinging on its hinges, she was brought into a landing at the foot of Victoria Road.
     There the bodies were landed, under supervision of Coroner G. P. Curtis.
Staff Sergeant William Cecil Herman Kier (1886-1966) and Corporal Robert Sims and removed to the Nunn & Thompson mortuary. The boat was then towed down harbour to the immigration float.

WAR MEDALS CLUE
 Identification had been established by the discovery of three war medals
In the pockets of the man.
   They were the 1914-15 Star,

the Victory:

and the General Service medal:

Indicating he had had four years of service with the Imperial Army in the war. These emblems, treasured 13 years. bore the inscription: “Staff Sergeant W.Cross 11304, Scottish Rifles "
 HERE THREE MONTHS
 Investigation revealed that the family came to Vancouver three months ago from Dapp, Alberta,  in the Peace River area. They had been farming on the prairies for six years and this winter rented the farm and came to Vancouver.
First occupying a house on Dundas Street, in the East End, they moved on Feb 18 Into the Felix Apartments, 610 Jervis Street.
Nearly a month ago the launch, named the "J.B.", was bought from Robert Swann, Woodland Apartments.
Subsequently Mr. Cross told Frederick Theodore Schooley (1865-1945), owner of the Felix Apartments, that he planned to spend the summer cruising with his family along the B. C. coast. Saturday he checked out of the Felix, settled his account and told Mr. Schooley he was off.

NOTE: F.T. Schooley’s wife:  Mary Ann Rice (1868-1963) was an artist, and an early supporter of the arts in Vancouver.  Biographies: One – Two
 "MAY REACH ALASKA"
        Mr. Schooley himself a yachtsman, discussed the coast with him and asked him where he planned to go.
Mr. Cross laughed and replied “We may get as far as Alaska before we’re through.”
The understanding around the apartments was that Mr. Cross was a marine engineer at one time. He told an acquaintance that he had been chief of the Canadian Pacific liner Montcalm before he look to farming.
      According to Mr. Swann, who helped him get the boat into condition during several days before the trip began. Mr. Cross was a clever engineer with training and experience in many parts of the world.
From remarks made by the couple it was understood that after the summers cruise they Intended to return to Scotland, where Mr. Cross’s father was said to be manager of a large steel company, the Mossend Steel Works
 DEATHS PUZZLED
 In view of Mr. Cross’s engineering experience, some of those who knew him were puzzled by the circumstances of the deaths. It was pointed out, however, that a steam engineer might not have any real appreciation of the dangers of gas engines.
It was a cold and blustery night Sunday and It was conceivable even that the engine might have been run for a while to create warmth.
All members of the family were fully clothed when found yet were lying under blankets, apparently retired for the evening. The doors and windows all were closed.
This was something against which Mr. Swann had warned Mr. Cross. He had cautioned him against closing the doors when inside the cabin, he said.

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1933 March 24

CROSS FAMILY DIED OF “GAS POISONING”
SIMPLE VERDICT IN LAUNCH TRAGEDY—HOW DEATH-DEALING FUMES KILLED FIVE

“Death by carbon-monoxide poisoning” was the simple verdict of a coroner’s Jury on Thursday afternoon In the case of William Cross, his wife and three children, found dead in the cabin of the launch J. B. In the North Arm of Burrard Inlet near Iron Bay last Monday morning.  Death was indubitably due to gas poisoning, according to evidence of the autopsy doctor, Dr. W.D. Kennedy, who said that otherwise the bodies were those of perfectly healthy people and there were no marks of violence.
Evidence as to how the death dealing fumes came to do their work came from Clifford Logan in expert evidence on state of the launch engine and from Robert Swan, also a mechanic, and former owner of the launch.
EXHAUST LOOSE
Logan said he found the exhaust pipe loosened from the engine so that it would not carry away exhaust which would simply pour into the air of the little pilot house in front of the main cabin and separated from it only by a small door.
Swan said the engine was old. He had slept on the boat many times with his family but always took the precaution to leave at least one door and one or two cabin windows open to guard against the danger of gas.

   He had warned Cross specifically about this, Swan testified.
Japanese woodcutters who first boarded the drifting launch on Monday morning and loggers whom they summoned on discovery of the bodies testified that all doors and windows of the cabin were closed and that there was a strong odour, presumably gas.
     Several friends of Cross and his family gave formal evidence establishing identity. They said Cross was in comfortable financial circumstances and the family relations happy. Cross had told them he intended cruising up the coast before returning to his native Scotland for a visit. He had rented his Alberta farm for two years and seemed always to have money for all needs of himself and family and paid cash for everything including the launch.
Evidence of the friends, coupled with that of the Investigating police officer, indicated their belief that when fate overtook the Cross family they were out only for a short preliminary cruise and had not started on their long up-coast Journey.
There was little food on the boat, only $5 In Cross’ pocketbook and only a few cents in silver In Mrs. Cross’ purse. There was no bedding except the blankets In which the victims had apparently laid down to sleep, and few cooking utensils.
 BANK ACCOUNT MYSTERY
 The only apparent mystery In the whole affair is that no papers or bank
book or certain photographs which Cross was known to have were found
on his body or in suitcases In the launch. This led witnesses to the surmise that Cross had some place in the city whore he kept his papers.
The existence of a bank account In Vancouver has not been determined as yet.
Provincial District Coroner G.F.Curtis conducted the Inquest and in instructing the Jury commented on the dangers of gasoline and the necessity of great care in its use.

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1933 March 24  The Vancouver  Sun
Cross---PASSED AWAY SUDDENLY ON  March 20th, 1933. William Cross of 610 Jervis Street, in his 44th year; also his wife, Nellie Cross. In her 43rd year and their two sons, John, aged 12 years, and Douglas, aged 8 years, and one daughter, Christine, aged 10 years.  Survived by relatives In Scotland and South Africa. Joint funeral service will be held on Saturday, March 25th at  2:30 p m. in Nunn & Thomson's funeral  chapeI. 10th Ave and Cambie Street.
Rev. Thomas Wilson officiating. Interment in family plot, Ocean View Burial Park. [ NOTE: the family is not listed on the Find-a-Grave website, but then again very few people are listed, since the cemetery is private. ]
Glasgow, Scotland papers please copy
P.S.—All Scottish societies are kindly invited to attend

Nunn & Thomson's Funeral ChapeI, 2559 Cambie at West 10 ^th

Photo: VPL 4675 ca. 1930  By: Leonard Frank, 
What it looks like in 2015 in Streetview

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.

 

---

   
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

---

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?