From Amusing to Murder

As World War I ended, the citizens of Vancouver watched a political-financial comedy play out. This comedy created one of Vancouver's larger business assets - Granville Island. This 'island' is an artificial mudbank in False Creek, which was first proposed by a city grocery wholesaler and Liberal boss of Vancouver in the pre-war days of the Laurier government, Robert Kelly.

When the Conservatives took office, the project was dropped. However, with a little assistance from H.H. Stevens (A Canadian politician), it was revived.

Originally, the plan was to dredge the creek and fill in the swamp at its head, east of Main Street. Sam McClay, chairman of the Harbor Board, became the leading promoter of the subsidiary fill at the south end of Granville Street Bridge. Under his own initiative, he borrowed $300,000 to build the necessary bulkheads.

The dredging firm took two separate contracts - one, to dredge a channel in the creek 300 feet wide and 21 feet deep. They then disposed of the spoil in deep water. The other contract was to fill in Granville Island. By combining the two contracts, it made a nice profit by disposing of the spoil in the area it was hired to fill.

Once the smoke of the political controversy cleared, the firm had its profits, the city had 50 acres of new industrial sites and the island had an autonomous existence. It only paid city taxes by consent and made a profit of $35,000 a year in rents. It is suspected that there was considerable hanky-panky about the business but nobody was viewed unfavourably in the press and everybody in this easy-going city seemed happy with the results.

Besides, there were more important things to worry about like the evolution of a new species of criminal - the automobile bandit. By January of 1919, gangs of youths roamed the streets at night and they would stage hold-ups. As many as five or six per gang per night! The thefts of automobiles became common and in 1920, about 60 and 70 were being stolen a month.

Crime rose to a climax in 1922. That was when many bank hold-ups occurred. A police court clerk ran off with over $3,000 and bandits held-up the City Paymaster Schooly and Assistant Paymaster Armstrong on the steps of City Hall one September afternoon. They got away with $76,000 meant for the city payroll.

Drug addiction was rampant and during October, a constable and a detective were shot down in a drug squad raid. That winter, Chief Anderson put armed patrols on the main streets to curb the hold-up men. It wasn't until 1925 though that an efficient prowl-car service was finally organized. The helped the police to be on a reasonably even footing in their war with auto thieves.

Thanks to Alan Morley and his book Vancouver, From Milltown to Metropolis for the above information.

I hope you find the beauty around you.

Karen Magill

Fantastic Prosperity and Destitution

Man and two bear cubs, Kitsilano, 1911.

Buffalo in Stanley Park, 1939

A Monday in Vancouver, 1940

Traffic at Robson and Hornby 1907

The girls had their skirts shortened, stockings rolled down and the long tresses were cut short. The boys grew sideburns, wore turtle-neck sweaters and pants 22 inches around the cuffs. Returning veterans of a five-year war were now adults and going back to school. People danced the Charleston, drank bathtub gin and read The Sheik.

The citizens of Vancouver subscribed $15 million to the final Victory Loan, ready to "bring the boys home" and some wondered where the world was headed. The world had finished World War I, the war to end all wars and it was now a time of healing. Of change and progress and celebration. It was the start of a spectacular decade - the 1920's in Vancouver.

Second Beach, 1940

Kits Beach, 1946

Harry Houdini hanging upside down from the Vancouver Sun building, 1923

Kits Beach 1920

The soldiers came home. There was a plan by the government to settle the men on farms but the returning heroes had another plans. They were exposed to places like Paris and the farm life wasn't what they wanted. Many settled in Vancouver, which created other problems.

Vancouver didn't get a lot of help from senior governments and were suddenly dealing with an influx of people. In 1920, there were almost 10,000 people without jobs - 3500 more in the Chinese community. The unemployed held mass meetings, retail stores reported a "buying strike" and married civic employees were getting two days' work a week. This was the "starvation amid plenty" that U.S. President Roosevelt dramatized in the 1930's.

Life got a bit better by the winter of 1925. 1800 men were on relief, receiving 25 cents a day for meals and the same for a bed. 

Logging English Bay in 1890.

Autumn in Stanley Park in the 1890's

Waiting for a streetcar in Mount Pleasant, 1908.

Three room stump house where Queen Elizabeth Park is today. 1910

There was also prosperity. Vancouver shared in the Wall Street frenzy and fortunes were made on the stock market. The province's basic industries - mining, fishing, lumbering - were all bringing in large amounts of money and Vancouver shared in the wealth. Politicians worked with large financial interests to create wealth and almost everyone got some of it. Even if the wealth was unequally and sometimes illegitimately shared.

Some of this prosperity came from rum-running to the States via Ensenada, Mexico. Business and crime were allied in those cases and some Vancouverites gained their wealth by cooperating with smugglers.

This illogical discrepancy between the fantastic prosperity and the never-quite-overcome destitution kept gnawing at the city's subconscious. I think it still does today.

In 1890, this man is leaning on a tree in Stanley Park. The cedar tree has a 50 foot circumference. 

Vancouver from the air, 1932

Foggy morning on Granville Street, 1908.

Thanks to the book Vancouver, From Milltown to Metropolis by Alan Morley for the above information.

The old pictures are from my mother's friend, Wes. Thank you.

I hope you find the beauty around you.

Karen Magill

Justice...Not

On Wednesday, I left off with Mary Brown testifying at the inquest into the death of Julius Levy.She pointed out Michael O'Casey as the man she saw beating Mr. Levy. Now it was time for Shirley Parsons to take the stand.

Three sports coats were shown to Parsons - the coats were found in O'Casey's room - and Shirley pointed to the one she said was identical to the one worn by the attacker that night. Unfortunately, she never saw his face.

The alibi given by O'Casey for the time of the murder was investigated by the detectives. Somehow, O'Casey had gotten the dates mixed up and the alibis provided by his friends were full of discrepancies.

The police were convinced that O'Casey was the killer but they had a problem. With the evidence they had, the police knew it would be difficult to convince a jury of this fact. The prosecution could not inform the jury of the man's criminal past and although Mary Brown identified O'Casey at the inquest, she didn't write his number on the slip of paper during the line up. His questionable alibi might raise doubts but it wasn't enough to warrant a guilty verdict.

What the detectives needed was someone else to identify O'Casey in the store that night. And it would have to be one of the two men who had shown up on the scene that night.

After numerous press appeals, the two men were located. Sadly, both men said they were unable to identify the attacker even though he had left the store and walked right by them as they stood in the doorway.

The day of the trial, prosecutor, Mr. Stewart McMorran, spoke again to the witnesses. The two men were insistent that they could not identify the suspect. McMorran knew the case was weak and there was a strong possibility the jury would not convict O'Casey.

McMorran spoke with the detectives before asked the Judge to grant a Stay of Proceedings. (This means the Crown is not prepared at this time to go to trial but, if further evidence is found, they reserve the right to proceed then.) The defence argued that the Magistrate should dismiss the case outright. The Magistrate refused the defence's argument, a decision which was upheld by the Supreme Court.

No further evidence ever appeared and O'Casey was never brought to trial. The murder of Julius Levy remains unsolved.

The really sad part of this story is that the two strong, healthy men didn't have the courage of Mary Brown and they just 'didn't want to get involved'.

Thanks to Joe Swan and his book, Policebeat, for the above information.

I hope you find the beauty around you.

Karen Magill