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| The funeral of hangman Arthur English at Verdun and Manning, 1938 |
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| Hangman Arthur English |
He had previously worked in England and the Middle East, where he had put another 300-or-so criminals to death.
Prior to coming to Canada English apprenticed under his brother, an English hangman. He brought to Canada by Sir Wilfrid Laurier after serving with the British army in India and is said to have held the British Army Lightweight Boxing crown.
His final hanging took place here in Montreal on March 8, 1935 when he was 71-years-of-age.
He oversaw the 1935 execution of Thomasina Sorao, 46, who was beheaded by the rope, as the weight he was given for the woman was 32 pounds lighter than what she actually was and the force of her body was too strong at the drop, and her head ripped clean off.
One newspaper description only mentioned the fact that Sararo had her head taken clean off in passing. He did not have much of a career after that disaster.
Henceforth hangings were no longer public.
Sorao and insurance-fraud co-conspirators Leone Gagliardi, 30, and Angelo Donofrio, 19, were executed in connection to the crime a few minutes before Sarao, so they didn't get to see the awful moment. Those two had beaten Soraos street-cleaner husband to death near Blue Bonnets in a $4,500 insurance scam.
Arthur Bartholomew Alexander English's wife charged him with beating her in July 1922 but he apparently did not lose his job.
After retirement he denounced hangings as "cruel and antiquated" and said "nobody suffered more than I have when I have had to use antiquated conditions."
English was a jovial character who liked his local pub and once promised to write an autobiography.
Arthur English died at 7 p.m. on July 21, 1938 at the Jeanne d'Arc Hospital. He had been living penniless and alone in a rooming house on Ontario St. while his wife was living at 3452 Lebrun in Montreal.
He said he always smiled at a hanging because his was the last face the murderer would see.
A Canadian crime writers' literary award is named in English's honour.
Never mind where this scene is, what happened to the horse's head?
ReplyDeleteI noticed this, TOO!
ReplyDeleteIt's in the coffin!!
I have a 1938 Montreal Telephone DIRECTORY and was mulling going thru the 'Steinberg's listings for a hint.
Thank You.
Yeah...I noticed the horse!
ReplyDeleteIt's the first Steinberg's store; Monkland & Draper. Now the Jean Coutu, prior to that was Cumberland.
The portion of Draper south of Monkland was razed ages ago is now the Jean Coutu parking lot.
As for what's happeing...I dunno, an at-home funeral?
Can't figure out what exactly is going on in this scene but looks like the corner of manning and verdun to me makes sense there's a funeral home on that corner that is still there today
ReplyDeleteCannot get a GREAT detail view of the Funeral scene as it starts to blur, and cannot identify the location re streetcar tracks or wire.
ReplyDeleteMonkland had streetcars and their TRACKS and Trolley Wire from Girouard to Grand, where the tracks turned North, then, AFTER 1934, thru to Somerled and West to Walkley until 1956.
If NO tracks and wires, it WON'T be Monkland.
I am NOT a car buff, but figure the Funeral Coach is mid to late Thirties.
THEN I REALLY started to look and found out the store pictured is/was at Verdun and Manning as per this link, the building still extant re lower 5 windows on side street as on Google Maps.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ghost_of_steinbergs/2878122181/in/photostream
At this Site.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ghost_of_steinbergs/with/7237603356/#photo_7237603356
On Google Maps there still IS a funeral home on the S.E. corner of Verdun and Manning!
What adds to the Monkland credence, tho', is that, in 1931, Steinberg's DID have a store at 5669 Monkland, WAlnut 4902, as shown on Page 148 of the July 1931 Montreal Telephone DIRECTORY ( before the nude dude with the cables, the round 1930s Bell Crest on the cover, instead. )
http://stopusagebasedbilling.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/bell_canada_logo.gif
No streetcars on Verdun, as served, in 1941, Montreal Tramways Map, Fold Out, by Autobus 8 Verdun-Atwater from the Forum to Riverview where Verdun meets LaSalle Blvd.
Poor horse.
Thank You.
Nice work, MP&I!
ReplyDeleteAs 1937-38 Lovell's lists 22 Steinberg stores, the process of elimination would have cleared up the "mystery", so late last night I began checking each store's address and comparing them to current intersections but didn't complete the search before shutting off the computer. Good thing Flickr had a photo of the store in question, though.
No way it was Monkland Avenue as the buildings look decidedly "east end" or in the poorer districts.
The aforementioned Lovell's lists 5667 as "Steinberg's Service Stores Ltd." and in 1938-39 edition as "Steinberg, Max". Currently it is "Mini-Marche Manning", newly-addressed as 5811 Verdun Avenue, the entrance also having been changed from its original location.
I wonder how much a quart of milk cost back then, and how many of today's merchants even know who their premises' original occupant was? It would be fun--almost a project worthy of making video news clips--to make them aware of what had gone before.
Now, about that photo with the smashed cars. Need more information to track its location. Is there a print available showing the sign clearly?
Oh, and the "headless horse":
ReplyDeleteIt has simply turned its head to the right, possibly looking a child offering it something to eat.
In the mid-80s, the residential portion above the store was occupied by Norah Smith, the widow of famed artist H. Leslie Smith (passed away in 1974, taught at Sir George Williams, works commissioned by Canadian Pacific for their hotels in Toronto and Quebec City, and for the Mural Lounges of their Budd-built Park-series cars for "The Canadian")
ReplyDeleteHere's the google map URL looking in the exact direction the photo was taken:
ReplyDeletehttp://goo.gl/maps/7TMsD
I'm a latecomer, but it's definitely Verdun, thanks to the typically Verdun recessed balcony...
ReplyDeleteMrs. Sorao and her accomplises placed the beaten, murdered body on the railway tracks near Blue Bonnets with the expectation that police would think it had been run over by a train.
ReplyDeleteThe only problem with that was the tracks in question were on a siding and because no trains had recently used it, the body could not have been killed that way.
Stupid woman!
Recognized it right away. This Steinberg's is the site of my childhood depanneur, where I earned the nickname New Kid by the dep's Caribbean owner for buying an obscene number of NKOTB cards. (The gum inside the packs was always stale.) Manning Marché (as we called it; its official, Bill 101-friendly name is Mini Marché Manning) moved to this location in the early 90s from a smaller storefront half a block away, in a section of businesses that was constantly being firebombed for whatever sketchy Verdun reasons businesses got firebombed. There used to be a post office inside Manning Marché, which was great because it was so close by for when I'd have to go pick up my packages, but somehow the Jean Coutu further down Verdun Avenue stole it away. The counter clerk was a guy named Marty who had a Marvin the Martian tattoo on his forearm, and he always let us sneak more than our quarter's worth of 25 swedish berry jujubes into our small brown-paper candy bags. He now works at the Costco on Bridge, in my mom's old stomping grounds of Goose Village, clearing shopping carts from the parking lot, but he doesn't remember me.
ReplyDeleteBefore Manning Marché moved in—but after Steinberg's vacated, I guess—it was a bakery owned by a reclusive Italian man with reputed connections to the mob. No one knew his name, but he still lives in a fortress on the corner of Richard and LaSalle Blvd. with a gated front entrance and a cinderblock-enclosed back yard surrounded by 15-foot walls graced with little lion and owl statues. Even as kids we knew there was something sketchy about that house, but he never gave out Hallowe'en candy so we never got to sneak a look inside.
I love how UrbanLegend says the pic has the look of one of Montreal's "poorer districts." Ha. And it was neat to read Wayne Dayton's post about who used to live upstairs. I wonder who lives there now? I bet it's a nice space. Oh, and there used to be a gay sauna on the other side of the street, but now it's being sold as a condo. Something tells me the realtor is leaving out that stain (nudge, nudge) on the building's history.
The funeral parlour is still there. Your blog, as always, Kristian, is intoxicating.