Lilian Herscovitch and Sylvia Duffy - pretty brunettes became armed robbers in 1963

 

 Sylvia Duffy, 28 of 6420 Somerled apt 401 and Lillian Hearn Herscovitch, 30, of 5300 Walkley apt 203 considered themselves in great need of cash after a restaurant they were involved with went broke.
   So on August 10, 1963 at 3 a.m. they showed up at the old Cavalier Motel at 6951 Upper Lachine* and pulled out a small black gun and robbed night clerk Walter Ben Bond, 41, of $20.
   He told told them sure go ahead just take the cash and go.
   Neither had a criminal record at that time but that wasn't a status they were working hard to maintain because five days later they pulled the same stunt at the Cadillac Motel on 5800 Sherbrooke E. Aug 15.
   They waltzed in together at 3 a.m and used the same modus operandi to rob motel boss Irene Arseanault who was talking to a cleaning lady when hit. This time the duo go away with  $91.
   Duffy and Herscovitch also robbed the Laurier Motel on Taschereau Boulevard on the South Shore of $50.
   Police eventually got wise to their tricks and arrested them and locked them up in the Fullum Street womens prison.
   They were charged with a total of four hold ups when they appeared in court in front of judge Armand Sylvestre on 29 August 1963.
   A representative of the John Howard Society pleaded for leniency for the pair, arguing that they were in a state of extreme anxiety when they went on their heists due to the bankruptcy of a restaurant they were somehow connected to.
   Even the prosecutor recommended they get psychiatric treatment .
   Sentencing was delayed for a few days until a McGill psychiatry expert could submit a report on the two.
  Their punishment is lost to history however it appears to have been lenient because 18 months later they were back to their old ways robbing a hotel known as the Auberge de la Coline at St. Nicolas Station on 6 January 1965, getting away with $25 before they were tracked down and caught once again.
  By this time they were both listed as sharing the same address at Somerled, which might tell you that they were pretty friendly with each other.
  What became of them after is anybody's guess although our abacus suggests that they'd be in their mid-to-late 80s if still alive.

Photoshop re-enactment

For more great stories about Montreal motels from the past as well as many other things, get a copy of my book Montreal 375 Tales. 

*Upper Lachine at that stretch is now St. James Street W. while the Cavalier is now known as The Chabrol