This photo reconstitutes a real gang of four thieves who would sneak up on trucks at the Atwater Market and steal racks of food and run off with them to Point St. Charles just after World War II.
The gang would case out the market for days, then show up at the crack of dawn and descend on unsuspecting merchants.
One part of their modus operandi was to pull a tuque over the eyes of the victim and light his beard on fire and flee during the distraction.
The gang included included one man who became a hardened, oft-jailed criminal and his girlfriend named Wilma.
Yes, Wilma.
Why were they so keen on doing this?
Mostly because Wilma enjoyed the cakes that the vendors brought to market.
According to the story she was eventually imprisoned and sadly, she killed herself in prison.
She was still a teenager.
(Keep in mind that this story comes from one family's passed down oral history in which all characters seem to either go blind or commit suicide.)
That story reminds me of a friend who, as a child, lived in the Plateau and who said that he and his bratty friends would sometimes lift trays of goodies from the rear of bakery trucks, the doors of which had been left unlocked by the deliveryman.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, the pretty girl in the photo looks a lot like Martha Vickers.