News from the Archives v17-3

• Created by: Albert Fulton
• Date: 2008-09-01
• Provenance: Collected by members of Toronto Island Connections group, scanned by Edward English, OCR by Eric Zhelka, PDF by Eric Light
• Notes: v17-3

Vol. 17 No.3 September 1, 2008 One Dollar
Judy Whiskin, Betty Cutting, and Alf Whiskin at
Perce Millar’s hardware store on Manitou Road.
The sign reads GET KEY AT FIRE HALL AND
HELP YOURSELF. The Whiskins lived at 6 St.
Andrew’s. Betty Cutting lived in a house behind
the filtration plant, where her father worked.
CENTRE ISLAND MEMORIES 1930-1957 by
Joan (Whiskin) Bishop
In my early years I spent part of the summer
months at Killarney, a large rooming house on
Lakeshore Avenue [#342]. My grandmother, Edith
Cox, was the caretaker for part of those years, and
then it was taken over by my aunt and uncle, Alan and
Kewpie Cox. Each unit had a large room and a
verandah. The bathroom was down the hall and shared
by one and all.
In the spring of 1936 my parents, A1f and Ruth
Whiskin, purchased 6 St. Andrew’ s Avenue to be our
new summer home. In 1938 it became our permanent
home. There were sixteen houses on St. Andrew’s, all
clapboard, with the street lined with big trees, mostly
cottonwoods. St. Andrew’s was the last street to the
west that was part of Centre Island.
In 1936 when I was 6 I learned to swim, first at
Olympic Island, then graduating to the deep water of
Long Pond in front of the Island Aquatic Club. I also
learned to ride a two-wheeler, adult size, by pushing
myself off the red box in front of our house. That red
box, which housed fire hoses, was the starting point for
many a game of hide ‘n’ seek, or red-light-green-light.
My friends were Noreen and Carol Fraser, Beverley
and Barbara Norrie, and Joan Cation and we spent the
summer on the beach, riding our bikes, roller skating,
and playing with our cutouts.
My Dad was very handy at building and
renovating. He set out right away to make our new
summer home one of the prettiest and most up-to-date
on the Island. He built a badminton court in the
backyard, which faced a field by the filtration plant.
Tournaments were held between our court, the one at
the Pierson Hotel, and Mrs. Roddy’s [3 20 Lakeshore].
Our badminton court was also where St. Andrew’s
people celebrated Victoria Day. Everyone contributed
fireworks. The big finale was the Roman candle shot
out of a glass milk bottle! My brother Peter and twin
sisters Jan and Judy had summer birthdays which were
celebrated with games on the badminton court.
During the winters of 1936 and 1937 we lived in
a rented home in North Toronto, moving back to 6 St.
Andrew’s in the spring. To finish grade one in 1936, I
traveled from the Island by ferry, boarded the Bay
streetcar, transferred to the Yonge streetcar, all at the
tender age of6 – unthinkable in this day and age!
The weather was so warm during the fall of 1938
that, instead of returning to the city for the winter, my
ISLAND ARCHIVES, c/o Albert Fulton, 5 Ojibway Avenue, Toronto, MSJ 2C9, 416-203-0921, [email protected]
Hours: Sunday afternoons, 1-5 pm, or other times by appointment
winterized Island house. We became true
Islanders. I was my brother was and the twins
were 3. were 90 families on the Island that
winter.
Our home was heated with an oil space My
would roll oil drums home the
filtration plant, they were delivered barge. If
snowy enough, would pull a on the toboggan.
As soon as formed, we would start skating
from foot of St. and down the
lagoons as far as Ward’s only going home when
it dark, crawling street with toes and
fingers and to walk! My and their
friends had parties at When the bay froze
solid we skated there as well. We also
across the bay to go to high or to shop or to see
a Saturday afternoon
was
In the Island ~”‘HVVI two rooms were by Miss
Mr. Haynes,
the third room
and Sunday school.
HLUU’;:,.,…,A came over from James Anglican ‘-”””cu … , ….
Christmas we Sunday school kids would entertain
with a concert.
when I was about 1 0 or 12, I headed to
the dock with my wagon on Saturdays to earn
some money pulling for people to
Island for the summer. The going rate was cents
per trip. Iflucky, you could eam a whole dollar on a
Saturday.
When the war began September 1 the
l1’rllITtl”l.n plant, which provided water to the whole city,
was fortified. and wire
surrounded the plant, while guards walked the
grounds. Since was only a field
path between our and the plant,
day for six years we with the situation
walking to school or the tugboat from
filtration plant to during
Everyone was involved in the war The kids
collected tin cans, and bottles to raise
money, and junior and red crosses were
I knitted scarves
“pr’lll”,:rn”’n We had a “Victory Garden”,
own vegetables. My Dad was the 11,,,t1″11″1’
the ARP . Precautionary]. and other
volunteers would call for a complete blackout of all
AVAU…,.., once a week. masks and u,-,J.j,U,-“.:}.
went all over making sure
lights could seen anywhere. The
German family, upstairs at 1
a
Andrew’s. Mr.
was taken away by the military police
thought was spYIng on the
filtration plant from windows. It was a scary
After war the popUlation of the Island
exploded. city had a shortage
were asked to their homes year-round,
apartments in ones, winterize
them. The Inter-Island Council was formed to deal with
lssues the whole Island. ferry and
freight more street lights, shoreline protection,
were just a few of the My Dad headed
In the fall of the Centre Island Association
to acquire a building and land
to put it on. worked at fund-raising with
a membership drive, card dances, and to
monies needed to purchase a UULJlUIU15.
also headed committee. An old air force
building was brought across the bay on a
barge. [It was placed between Avenue and
Long Pond.] CTA clubhouse the centre
activities – making sandwiches for 500 paddlers in
Dominion Day the Ferryboat Follies, New
Year’s Eve hosting a for City of
Toronto and the events such as
me,etlIllgs, basketball games, and bingos. In 1
OJ …. “,….., •• ‘” the first of the Centre Islander
newspaper.
In my teens I played on a girls’ team on
Olympic called the Some of my
teanImates were Nancy Wilde, Waddell,
Norma Hughes, Johnson, and
We had a favourite hangout in winter – the
Manitou Hotel a booth drinking
playing music on the jukebox. In summer we spent a
lot of time on beach getting a tan talking to the
lifeguards.
1944 I worked at Wayside Inn
during the summer. It was owned by
Mrs. WetzeL For summers that, I worked
as a waitress at Pierson Hotel, with Fern
McFarlane, Bill Weriy, and Ron It was owned
by Mr. and Mrs. Weir. I in an outside bowling
LV … ,,,, … ,,, in summer and at the in winter.
Other mernon
Harry the baker Canada on a bicycle
with a box in front. If no one was home Harry
would the bread in the breadbox for you. No one
locked doors.
on a bike Poore deposited 6 of paintings by
Kathleen Roe (14 an original oil portrait
vvu:;.vudown St. Andrew’s (28″x20′) by Kathleen (2 Ojibway).
and may be
Mr. McIver, the
his bicycle.
In 1 1 I met and
summer Islander from
love with Ron Bishop, a
William. We married two
years later in St. Andrew’s church, with the reception
being held at 6 My aunt, Kewpie Cox,
made the traditional wedding cake,
bringing it from her home on Shiawassie in her bike
carrier delivery Next our daughter
Sharon came hospital with me in the
lifesaving boat!
We
RECENT
cement
trees, we
Anonymous a videotape of
the 1989 Shadowland entry in the Caribana Parade,
Trees ‘R’ Us filmed by Gary Farmer was
King and Jana was Queen. Shown being
raised and lowered parade on University
accompanied by poems by
Group which were n”r”r~’f1
tree fortunately the
on tape is a 15-
1990 entry, For the
blue heron, on
Gail’s paintings are Bill McKenna (7
Willow), via Cridland, donated about 50 photos
of the Island cubs and scouts Bill presently
lives Massey, Ontario and is Friends of
the Spanish River, the
He can be contacted at
These items are
hattoells to you. But, ifit does, it
a front row
centre seat, if you are “‘VJlA”””·’v …. ., and one is available.
After my 1 snooze on the 4th of July, I
woke up in the care unit at St. Michael’s
Hospital I was 1, out of 24, which
happened to -the
station. They asked
truthfully told
was much more
as least during
not slow
I was greatly Irrl1nrp’ …….. “·rl
of the with
nurses, technical and
young doctors were on a
a teaching hospital, and
daily rounds to
conditions. One felt somewhat
serious faces gathered
as if it were a rare
Many adventures ‘””””’ …. ”””’
after having been
days, the most beautiful
if an apparition.
permission to l11a.”””,,1″,'”
she was a
that this occupation
a bachelor’s degree, …. ,”,’;UUJl5
The patients,
many of the
basis. S1. Mike’s is
and experts on their
interested in our
celebrity with 12-15
“‘ • .,”‘ …. ,:,.,lU’M the specimen
following a
applesauce, scooped up a small portion
spatula, and asked permission to it on
Yes! As I swallowed, her were all over my
throat. With her sweetly scented blond hair
hanging in my face, that was the that I
could imagine. She followed with treats of
fruit and cracked ice and ended with a small
dry bread, with which I had “”U’,1′-”””
offered a sip of water. I was delighted to
reappear a week later in my room to about my
swallowing and to remind me to 15
minutes after eating. She was
seemed darker.
That evening I was my
although every meal during my II-day stay at St. have to give the OK and that she would ask if a bed
Mike’s was labeled SOFT and tasted BLAND. My was available ‘on the floor’. The doctor later gave
weakened motor skills made it impossible to use thumbs up, but no bed had opened up. I asked the same
cutlery, but I managed to get most of it down. After question and got the same answer on the fifth morning,
sitting up for the requisite 15 minutes, I lowered the but on the sixth the news came from above that there
head of the bed and dropped off into another deep was a bed for FULTON on the 14th floor. Since I was
slumber. scheduled for four hours of tests in the basement, I
About 14 hours later I awoke to a big shock. I pleaded with the nurses not to give my bed to someone
had been dreaming that I was at the Ward’s Island else in my absence.
Clubhouse, probably a carryover from Talent Night. After the tests, I was taken by two nurses directly
When my eyes opened, I soon figured out that I was to the 14th floor and wheeled into room 68, a
not in the WIA, but where was I? The curtains around PRIVATE ROOM! One ofthe nurses looked confused.
my bed had been pulled aside and I was viewing a “Sir, did you order a private room?” “No, but it’s so
large brightly-lit space peopled by zombies sitting beautiful. Please, please let me stay.” So, they gave me
motionless around me. It did not resemble my memory a badly needed sponge bath and shampoo and got me
of the small ICU space of the previous day. I felt the settled into the comfortable, QUIET room with big
need for a morning bathroom visit and tried to get out windows overlooking Massey Hall, the Elgin and
of bed. Suddenly, strong hands grabbed both arms, Winter Garden Theatres, and the old bank building with
jerking me back into bed. A small-but-mighty female the dome, formerly’ used by Heritage Toronto. The
nurse on one side bellowed, “Where do you think sunsets were almost as spectacular as those from
you’re going?” “To the bathroom.” “You do not leave Seneca or Bayview.
this bed. Is that clear?” “I guess so.” “OK. I trust you, For the first time I was able to get out of bed and
but not completely. I am going to use restraints.” move about, within the radius determined by the length
With that, she tied my arms to the bed-rails. She of my catheter tube – not long enough to go into the
could have been a bit more subtle by pointing out that bathroom without carrying the bottle. I had a look at
being attached to 3 IV s, a cable to the blood pressure the calibrated bottle for the first time and it was almost
monitor, an oxygen line, another mysterious cable, and full. I dumped it in the toilet, rehung it at the end of the
a catheter tube, it was unwise to try to get out of bed. bed, and blissfully dropped off to sleep on my first quiet
I asked the time and she said 9 0′ clock. I asked for a night. Half an hour later a female nurse with a flashlight
phone, which she brought, and tried to call Emily. checked the catheter bottle. “What’s going on here,
However, my hands were tied too tightly to be able to sir?” “It was almost full so I dumped it.” “There’s a big
use it. She loosened one of the restraints and asked if bag attached to it.” “Oh.” “Were you planning ongoing
I wanted a bedpan. I told her I had changed my mind. to the pub, sir?” “You mean there’s a pub in the
Emily seemed glad to hear from me but declined my hospital?” I’d heard about a Tim Horton’s downstairs,
request for a visit. “How come?” “It’s too late. I’ve but not a pub. “It’s across the street. The guys dump
already been to see you. The hospital closes at 9. I’ll their bottles before they head over and they come back
be there tomorrow.” “It’s 9 o’clock at night??” “Yes, with bags this full!” I imagined a bunch of men in blue
dear.” gowns lined up on the bar stools with their bare bums
After three days in the ICU, my only ambition in hanging out, but I guess they were probably wearing
life was to get out of there. My sleep during the street clothes!
previous night had been frequently interrupted by Epilogue: The parade of characters from
automatic cuff tightening and alarms from the BP Toronto’s downtown was fascinating to watch – the
monitor, beeping and chirping from other monitors guy who was adamant that visits by two of his
throughout the ward that sounded like loud girlfriends not overlap, the beating victim who made a
cellphones, the head nurse shouting at her underlings big fuss about his clothes being removed (what was in
and their patients, trying to get comfortable with all his pockets?), the guy who tried to refuse to have a
the attached tubes, and various other disturbances. chest x-ray taken (which he thought would have
The nursing shifts are 7-7. So, next morning at 7 included a photo of his face?), the cop who had
when my beautiful new brunette nurse with the- , vomited in his cruiser and pleaded for one more
bedroom eyes introduced herself, I asked about how nicoderm patch, the doctor in the wildly-coloured shirt
to escape from the ICU. She said the doctor would who stuck his face in mine, opened his mouth wide and
asked me to
metal
etc., etc.
the same of his lower were
they were not braces!), lovely
to discuss their
weekend
Mundane activities became major events. The
highlight of day was the menus for the
next day. All choices and I salivated as I made
my selections. It never to me my
meals-on-wheels customers would possibly as
much making up weekly frozen selections.
Soon I had in room vending
lUU.vHj’l1′-‘ in patients’ lounge where I had been
cal~:::;mIlg the 11 pm news down. I had been
substituting a bag of potato chips
snack and and of sherry. My
nurse told me that the nearest machine was on the 6th
Shortly before 11 I ventured out with my walker
$1.25. At elevator a custodian my
ro, but let me pass. I spent so much time
looking at a display of historical photos, admiring the
nighttime view, trying to figure out which building was
which, and much needed leg exercise, that I
missed the news but the chips had never so
good!
Enjoy the small a
READERS
After 17
MURDER ON THE ISLAND
pursuing one of my favourite retirement activities, it is
to tum computer.
Your support over the has been amazing.
mailbox, answering door knocker or
telephone, opening the email, have yielding an ongoing
series of – the like in this issue,
the ‘recent acquisitions’, willingness to
your stories to my tape recorder, and, best all, the
old photographs!
One of my chief incentives in putting out News
was to provide the of whom I “The Island
Heros”, who fought so tenaciously, especially
during the years 1973-80, to SAVE
ISLAND Newcomers move to our paradise
and I want them to know that this wonderful
neighbourhood did not just happen whom to
while the with us. In a recent G&M
credited the yacht clubs with
nro,” ……. ‘ .. the In the are
AUI’C … ,,, … articles from the in which certain
QCYC members Metro to extend their
lands to Had I not flat on back
ICU, I would have fired a letter to the editor for
Subscription mailed with issue.
Islanders may pick up theirs on any Sunday afternoon.
Please recording stories, dropping off papers
and photos at the Archives, above all, telling
the heros how much we owe them and how much we
love them.
This was suggested by Jimmy Jones, who remembered Frank Jones relation) had written an
article about it the Star. I contacted who very mailed me his only ofthe newsprint,
which the following has photocopied. The article appeared on November 22, 1981. Mentioned is Harry
…… “‘lJl1Vll (5 Pawnee), Parks gardener who operated lagoon weed-cutting machine. He and family
later moved to 4 Fourth. Jimmy that Harry was even considered a at some Also lU’-‘U” .. JU,,”‘-”
are Charles and Marion Maynes. anyone know where they lived?
The blood-red twigs of the dogwoods tore and scratched at our clothes as we pushed our way through bush as wild and rtvp,.<1,.,rrum
it was on the September
when Bill Newell
to Centre Island.
Jones, chief caretaker at
School and Jim Brennan,
Metro (island division) supervisor, have been arguing for
just where the murder ha~)pelled.
NoW, with photographs the
.trial, we were going to settle it once . ~nd for all.
; Few mainland remember ~he of Bill but to oldtIme he is a talking
point: make escape by . -Qole-vaulting {I barbed wire fence?
bid he transport the body to a sespot ina eanoe~ The rumors on.
certain he was one of the most
striking characters who ever stood
pharged with murder in Toronto
courtroom. Powerfully with ~iercing, unforgettable turn-
‘ his three trials into frequentlY shouting at witnesses,
liers, and even judges, and
;put of the prisoner’s box on more than one occasion to physically attack witnesses. He must be the
only prisoner in Canadian history
who, while being held on a murder
charge, was strapped by the prison
authorities for his obstreperous
behavior.
.. Newell “r”””,,,,,,, himself as
‘,,”””,UI’ hero of a great drama and in was strikingly similar
the Quebec city jeup a Canadian
DC-3 all 23 on board in
in order to kill his wife, Rita.
… Both men saw themselves as larg- er than life, and if others in the
way of that splendid they re- moved them – even if meant
murder.
,: Newell was an outstanding pole
vaulter when he attended Searbor- ~,Ugh Collegiate Institute in the early
1930s. but there was no school trophy
t:or that event One day a new silver
c.up arrived from an anonymous
donor to be presented for pole vaultipg. Newell finally admitted· he’d
dlJ).ated it himSfdf, knowing he
woUld.surely win it. . .
Bill Newell: The powerfully built airman saw himself as a dashing hero
and was wil!ing to remove anyone who got in the way of his vision. He
married his first wife when he was. 20, and by the time he divorced her
four years Ia.ter, he had been living with Aune for a year.
. Women were fascinated by the
fast-talking exhibitionist, and in
1934, when he was 20, he married
Whmifred Moores: By the time they
were divorced four years later, New.ell had been living for a year with
Aune Paavola, an’ attractive, sffm
F:innish girl whose prowess at the
shot put had first attracted him, and
they already had a’ 6-month-old son,
Billie . . Only two years later Newell’s roving eye fell on anothetpretty Finnish
girl, Elna Lehto, and when she rejected his advances he saw a dramatic means of winning her over: He
would become a Finnish war hero.
Tiny Finland was being swallowed
up by the Russian Army and in January, 1940, Newell joined a force of
Canadian-Finnish patriots going
home to fight th~ R~ss@ns .
-How could poor Elna refuse to
comfort a man who might soon be
dead defending her CQuntry? A week
after she succumbed, Toronto news- papers published a photograph of
brave Bill Newell leaving for Finland
being embraced by ‘ Elna who was identified as “Mrs. Newell.”
The Finns soon found he was nothing but a troublemaker, and he was shipped home fast, but ever after Newell would tell stories of his bravery
at the front and how they’d grafted a new eye into his head to replace the one he’d lost when he was wounded.
In August, 1940, he joined the
Royal Canadian Air Force and shipped 0 u t for training at Brandon,
Man. But one awkward detail of his
messy love life continued to trouble
him: As his legal wife, Aune Newell
would collect his dependents” allow- ance for herself and little Billie. A divorce was in the offing but,
.without Aune’s agreement, Newell
for the time being could do nothing
to have his pay sent to Elna. In the
third week of September he got himself transferred to an air base at St.
Thomas so that he could settle his
personal affairs, and immediately
got leave to come home to Toronto.
That week Aune, who was living in a room with a friend, Orvokki Hakamies, at 15 Grange Ave., just west of
the Toronto Art Gallery, found Bill. once again the ardent, plausible suit-‘ or he had been when she first met
him. .
Although living with Elna at her
apartment on Howland Ave., he
went to see Aune nearly every day,
took her out, and was generally as sweet as honey. He even talked of a reconciliation.
On Sunday, Sept. 29, he called for
her around 1.30 p.m. at Grange Ave ..
“I’m just going out for lunch with
Bill. I’ll be back in about an hour,”
Aune told her room-mate, Orvokki.
“Yeah, maybe we could all go to
the concert, at. the Active Service
Canteen tonight,” Bill said.
The couple walked south on Beverley St., had lunch at the canteen on Adelaide St., then, it being a warm,
sunny day, Newell apparently suggested they go to Centre Island for a
walk. And that’s where his bad luck
began:
As they walked down Bay St., Mrs.
Wilhelmiina Markhanen, who had
employed Aune in her sewing business, stopped her car for a light and
spotted Aune who, walking beside
the airman in blue uniform, turned
and waved to her. A few minutes later,as he wai.ted
to board the ferry Sam McBride,
Constable John Agnew saw an air- man he thought was an old friend of
his. He started forward then, 10 feet
awaY,realized he was mistaken. The
airman standing beside the young woman in a long, dark coat, was someone else. R.gnew was later to
identify Newell in a police lineup as the man he mistook for his friend.
The young coujJle, enjoying the
early fall sunshine, walked past the
closed-up cottages on Centre Island, over the Manitou Bridge then, with
Newell guiding their footsteps, to a
wild, overgrown spot northeast of
the filtration plant.
Between 3 o’clock and 4 o’clock
that afternoon Charles and Marion
Maynes, residents of the island, went
canoeing, and as they paddled along
the St. Andrew’s Cut near the filtration plant, Mrs. Maynes saw a sight
she’d never forget.
There was a young woman sitting on the bank with her feet straight
out in front of her. “She was staring
straight out into space, just sitting,
staring. . “When I first looked at her I
thought, well, I would not want to be
sitting on that cold, damp ground.
And as I came along in line of her vision her eyes seemed to look directly
into mine, and I said to myself, why,
what is the matter?” Mrs. Maynes
was to testify. Her hat, she said, “seemed to be
just jammed on her head Without any
style. . . . A strange feeling went
through me. I felt if I stared another second I would see something under
the surface which was very shadowy
and mean, so I looked away.”
A few feet away Mrs. Maynes noticed a man in Air Force uniform
standing on the bank fishing with a short branch and a piece orsUing.
Police suspected, when they heard
her story later, that the Maynes had come upon the murder scene before
Newell had had time to hide the
body.
Newell returned to the mainland,
checked in at the military depot at
the Canadian National Exhibition soon after 5 p.m., making s~re to
chat with the gateman so he :would
be remembered. Later in the
evening he met Orvokki on the
street, and expressed surprise when
she said Aune had not come home. Aline Newell’s body, carefully concealed under dead brush in that re- mote spot, probably would have re- mained undiscovered until spring
except for Newell’s carelessness. A week after her disappearance,
and with police looking for her,
Harry Lemon, a parks employee, was walking through the brush near S1. Andrew’s Cut on a blustery, rain threatening day looking for mush- rooms when he saw a woman’s black
Aune Newell: She and Bill Newell were separated, but she went out
with him when he talked of reconciliation. She wasn’t seen alive after
their date on Centre Island Sept. 29, 1940.
Elna Lehto: Bill Newell wanted to
divorce Aune for her, and her testimony helped convict him.
Marlon Maynes: A resident of
the island, she was canoeing when
she came upon the murder scene.
shoe.
He parted the bushes; and saw another shoe a few feet further on.
The trail led him to a woman’s shiny
penCil, then part of a garter, a purse
and a stocking. Jhe weeds and long
grass had been pressed down as if
something had been dragged. Lemon
needed no further confirmation: He
hurried to the Island police station
and fetched Constable Agnew.
The body was lying on its side
where the bush was thickest’ and
with the dark coat thrown over it. A
stocking had been tied around the
,throat with such force that the neck
was constricted to half its normal
size although, the pathologist was to
conclude, it probably had not been
the instrument of murder.
A piece of hemp rope found nearby
and identical to rope found in the
basement of the Howland Ave. home
where Newell lived, was thought to
have been used.
How had she actually been killed?
Newell, just theorizing to a .fellow
airman, said the killer might have
slipped his arm around her waist,
and pressed with his knuckles between the ribs at a point near the
heart, rendering her unconscious before strangling her. Newell twisted
and flexed his strong ¥.Tists to show
what he meant.
Newell’s mistake had been to scatter Aune’s dothing and possessions,
leading/to the discovery of the body,
and police ~couring the bush now
found woollen fibres, some of them
similar to those used in Newell’s uniform, clinging to twigs nea r the
murder scene. They also found
scraps of a torn-up envelope bearing
Ule YMCA insignia, the significance
of which did not emerge until the
third trial.
Questioned by police, Newell seem- ‘
ed uncommonly anxious that they
should come with him to Aune’s
room to recover a letter he’d written
her two days after she disappeared.
The letter, a not-very-convincing
plea that Aune should sign Billie over
to him, was the first he had written
her and Newell’s determination to
get it into police hands soon eonvinced officers the letter was merely
a blind.
More convincing was a bunch of
letters Newell had written to Elna in
which he spoke of his .frustration at
the prospect.of Aune getting most of
his pay. “I told them (Air Force
offiCials) they could discharge me beforel i’d give Aune anything,” he
wrote.
One of the envelopes, significantly,
was empty, and, in response to the
missing leiter, Elna had written urging him to “try and control your
temper,” and telling him to “banish
those ugly thoughts from your
mind.”
Toronto police had secured several
convictions in, the previous decade
by bringing to beaT all.the.paraphe:–
nalia of the forenSIC SCIentists. Agam
pathologists, fibre experts, botanists
and other scientists paraded through
the courtroom, but this time science
failed to persuade the jury.
There were legitimate doubts
about the dampness of a pair of boots
and woman’s gloves found in Newell’s basement and the origin of the
mud and seeds found sticking to
them. The experts also disagreed on
whether the fibres were from Newell’s uniform.
And the trial was clouded by defence charges that Newell, who at
different times went on a rampage
in the Don Jail hospital and tried to
strangle himself, had been bullied by
tile police. The Star at one point published an editorial criticizing the police for holding Elna for several
weeks as a material witness during
which she was questioned night and
day. In this atmosphere of doubt and
recrimination two juries,after
lengthy trials, failed to agree on a
verdict. The Crown fully expected
that after his upcoming third trial
Newell would go free.
“The girl – Elna – is the key to it
all,” Inspector Arcbi~ McCathie told
Sergeant-Major Fred-White of the
RCAF in his office one day. In the
first two trials E:lna Lehto had testified as a defence witness, denying
that Newell had ever discussed murdering Aune.
“If you could get Elna to testify for
us, it would make all the difference,”
McCathie told White, an HCAF se- curity man who had been helping police all along with the case. White, today a jUstice of the peace,
needed no encouragement. Newell
had charged that White had rigged
an identification lineup early on in
the investigation. “If Newell ever
goes free he’ll kill me and he’ll kill
Elna,” he said.
White discovered that Elna had
fallen in love with another airman
and, working through him, he got
Elna to agree to talk to him. “I walked up and down Bathurst S1. from
Tip Top Tailors to Bloor S1. three
times one morning with her trying
to persuade her,” White told me last
week. “I told her if Newell got out
she was as good as dead. She was
scared all right. It took three days,
but at last she agreed.”
T. J. Rigney, the crack Kingston
prosecutor had been brought in for
the third trial, and he planned Elna’s
entry into the courtroom as c’lreful-,
Iy as a Broadway first night Mcause
at that point the defence had no idea
she had changed sides.
White would pick her up in a taxi
and drive,her to City Hall toarrive a
couple of minutes before 11 a.m. They’d walk up the steps and enter
the courtroom precisely as the City,
Hall clock struck the last stroke of
eleven.
White and RIgney even rehearsed
the entry, timing a cab from Elna’s:
place to the courtroom. On the day;·,
exactly as the clock Chimed the last’
note, Rigney looked up and called;
“Elna Lehto.” The door swung open,’
and Elna walked in on White’s arm. ‘
Newell’s face went deep red; b\f,
went as if to lunge forward, then:·
realized that four police detectives
had been stationE~d right behind him’
to grab him if necessary. ,
Looking only into her friend Fred
White’s face while she testified, not:,
daring to let her eyes move towards
the glowering Newell, Elna admitted,
that in the missing letter Newell had.’
written her he had talked of murder·;
ing Aune. As they were being taken;;
to a police ‘Car the day of their ar-:
rest, Newell had told her in Finnish’
that he had destroyed the letter. :,
The day of the murder he had ar-‘
rived home with scratches on his.
face which she had filled with cold
ereil,m, she told the deathly stilI
courtroom; ‘,’ .:”
Mrs. Maynes and Mrs, Markhanen, both of whom ‘had failed to testi-,
fy in the earlier trials, perhaps out of
fear of Newell, now came forward,
with their evidence placing Newell:
on the waito and at the sCene of the
murder. ”
Then a bonus for the crown: A
man who’d erected the fences;
around tlje filtration plant was able~
to identify the diagram on the torn’:
envelope found near the body as the,
layout of the murder area. The en- velope bore Newell’s handwriting
and it became clear he’d used if to:
plot the murder.
, After ,a record 42-day trial Newell
was found guilty and was sentenced
to death.
Newell had heard that if he survived the rope he would be spared.
Tirelessly exerCising to improve his,
already powerful neck muscles, he ‘
prepared himself for the ordeal. On
the morning of Feb. 12, 1942; in the,
Don Jail, showing surprising cool;,
ness and after writing a reasoned
and eloquent letter of thanks to his
counsel, he climbed the steps to the
gallows.
But his final feat of strength only
prolonged his suffering: Instead of
dying right away of a broken neck,
he survived the fall and slowly
choked to death.
On Centre Island the other day,
using those old court documents, the ,’,
three of us paced out the distances to
settle the argument, finally placing
the murder spot near a clump of
black willow and poplar.
“Well Jimmy, we’ve got it nailed
down at’ last,” Brennan said as we’
headed back to the truck. “And we were both wrong.”
A few days later fall had turned to
winter as, under leaden clouds with a
cold wind stirring the pines, 1 found
my way to Aune’s grave in Mount
Pleasant Cemetery. Here, on Oct. 8,
1940, Newell, not yet charged with
murder, stood with head bowed, a
police escort standing by, and sang
“Abide With Me” along with her Finnish family and friends as she was buried. ‘
I kneeled down and brushed
bronze-;:;olored oak leaves from the”
stone. “Aune” was engraved in large,
letters – her parents would not
allow the name of her murderer husband to mar her tombstone as he had
man’ed her life. “Aune Maria Paavola, our dear daughter … sadly missed and lovingly remembered.”
PROGRESSIVE C.I.A. PARTY· NEWS
We Want Him Back as President OUR PLATFORM
If elQcted to a working majority of
the Executive Committee we pledge
ourselves:
(a) To support our President and
other executive members; first, in
determining through discussion wi~h
the public at large, then with other
executiv-es, what is best for the Island; and second, in doing everything
to carry majority opinions through to
a successful conclusion.
(b) To revive the progressiveness
of the Association that prevailed during the first three years of its existence.
(c) To invite general members t o
all executive meetings, to urge them I to express themselves, to make them
feel that they are a part of the association; and if they can’t be there
to .make public what goes on at such
meetings. We will not be a clique.
(d) To organize the work ahead, to
delegate responsibility to the necessary committees. wJ\.o will be allowed to go ahead without interference,
arguing or petty criticism of their
volimtary efforts. We will not claim
to “ha …. e all the brains” on the Isla.nd
-‘-we’ll need the thinking of everybody.
(e) To divide the local t asks on the
hland among ourselves so that our
higher officers may be freer to secure
the outside help we need. We will
not leave eyerything on the shoulders
of one man, whether he be the President or otherwise.
(f) To support all constituent
to I clubs, such as Paddling, Tennis, Badminton, Reereation, and to sponsor
new oncs with direct representation
on the Executive.
AI. Whiskin, 1944, 45, 46 President, 1947 Past President, House
and Property t!:hairman, 1944, 45 and 47 Editor, is the
Progressive CIA Party’s Choice for 1948 President
“Get the Show on the Road”.
During his three years’ tenure of .trong community association. (g) We will not let our personal
convictions obstrul!t progress when a
majority of the. Executive or the
membership votes for some course of
action divergent with our views. ‘We
will bow to such majority.
dfice as Pregident, the Centre Island When “his” newspaper exhorted us
,,~ ociation was born and flourished . . to “Go after Big Things~-to “Get
He~d nq an enthusiastic working the Show .on the ROll-d,” and seemed
bndy, he upervi ed the raiging of to be fall ~ng on deaf ea:s :ve were
,;ome ;:15000 to build our unfinished not surpnsed to reaa IllS ‘Do you
(“111hh;n”~. “C'”e r:errotiated in Ottawa Want U, To Quit” headline a few. th I tf il’ _ m epa orm that is published n 1′(1 )Iontreal fnr the purchase of the weeks ago. herein a re our ideas for “Getting th”
building; he n.rrange!J. the lease of Petitioned by ovoc two hundr~ Show on the Road.”
tile club grounds from the City. As members to permit his nomination for . He is on t)Je Executive of the Comn. member of the Building Committee the Presidency, he flatly refused if munity Council’s Co-ordinating Comhe diel yeoman work during transmis- there was going to be a lethargic elec- mittee; Liaison Officer on the Wel-
,ion to and re-erection on the Island. tion which would ‘ only indicate a lack fare Council’s Youth League, Honor.
The actual layout of the building is of confidence in the association idea. ary President of Island Recreation
hi” own blueprint, officially on filE He said that if sufficient interest Club and member of the City of Towith the Building CommissionQr. could be aroused to develop a good ronto’s Civic D.ominion Day Regatta
He has been the Island’s contact “working board” he would cORsider Committee.
Illan with Municipal, Provincial and leading it. In voting for AI. Whjskin and those
Dominion authorities and through Accordingly the Progressive CIA who have promised to work during
friendg in the p,’ess brought a great Party was formed . Meetings of key 1948, you will place in power a group
deal of favorable Island publicity. people on the Island were held and of ambitious people who are deterThe Centre Islander has heen largely all pledged themselves to revive the mined to carry the loa.d and let him
the creation and work of his own former progressiveness of the associa- “Go after the Big Things” our leader
har'” and nobody knows the count- tion. It is, from that party that the should be seeking for us. In his slate
Ie, .ITS ‘he has devoted during the list of cand’idates was ch6sen-they are possibly folk who, for some reapar,_ ,ew years to the building of a Rre acceptable to him and to us, for J son or other, may not seem to warVote for These Progressiv~ CIA Part, Candic’:- ~.
President-A}. W. Whiskin.
Vice-President-Tom McCullough.
VlCe-President-Joe Entwistle.
Treasurer-Fred Rose.
S”ecretAry-C1eo Bain..
Gentlemenruwood Butler, Murray Bayliss.
LadiesMary Hodgson, Mrs. Dinsmore.
J unior-Joan Whiskin.
Our Candidates
Tom McCullough is half of th e
working team of Bobby ThompsonMcCullough, who staged the mo~t
.successful dance in Isiund history,
netting over $400.00 on a night last
May. He would a,; ume tile tusk of
raising money in 1948.
Joe Entwistle is the man who by
himself, sold more than a quarte;’ o’f
the memberships and wt.o wag drafted by the Executive late this yenr
to stem the tiele of falling memberships in 1947. He would haH full
charge of membership campaign in
1948.
Fred Rose is a lifelong Centre hlander, wit.h accounting experience,
progressive in li1s thought and anxious to. help.
cleo Bain is the e1ridng for,_
hind the’ LitHe THeatre Movement,
very community-minded and willing
to give her time and efIort to being
an effieient 2ecretary a.~ weiL
Elwood Butler 1ti known t.o most
everybody, as Past President of Com ..
munity Tennis and an acti,’c worker
in all events.
Murray Bayliss has been maintenance man at the building a ll summer
and so considers it his “baby” that
he gives countless ho.urs in vohmtary work, particnlar1y on street
fairs, the Ferryboat Follies, etc.
:Mary Hodgson Wfi 5 a sterling member of the Executive for three years
and only stepped down to give somebody else a chance. We need her
back.
Mrs: Dinsmore, mother of Diuu)’, is
very anxious to oe of help ill organ –
izing the ladies of the Eland-and
working in addition tQ that, too.
Joan Whiskin, Executive member
of the Island Recreation Club, has
designs on getting the Kitch en of the
Clubhouse in wOI’ka ble shnpc.
rRnt your “ote as ,veIl a s somebody
that you might know better-but be
assurecl. that we are a “working crew”
-anxious only to further the intercsts of the Island through tIl e C ~
Island Association.
This Handbill Donated in Interest of Centre Island
— Get the Show on the . Road —
Albert William Fulton was born in Truro, on 8, 1938. Toronto on July
17,2008.
Albert was the eldest child of Neil Fulton (1900-1944) and (nee
Wood) (1906-1985)’ is survived by his of46 years, van der Vaart),
AlI~xanac~r of Toronto Nathaniel ofMargaretsville, N.S., his brother of Truro,
tviildred, and their children and grandchildren. He was predeceased by Laurel (1941-
1986).
Albert hi.s schooling in Stewiacke and Amherst, and graduated McGill
.,,”‘ ……. ” .. r in 1958. high school and science Place and Russell, near
Ottawa, where he met the of his life in . After they married and moved to Toronto
1962, boys were born in 1 and 1965. Albert taught mostly math at Weston Collegiate
Institute, in 1988 to interests. was delighted to attend the 150th
anniversary at the school October. During summers, until Albert
enjoyed riding his bike down the hill to UoIT to mark the grade 13 departmental an
“‘VT’\”‘rli”””’-”’ which resulted own students better prepared to write the exams.
was the mounting of an exhibition by past and present
Wychwood artists to the lOOth anniversary of the founding Park in 1888.
The subsequent half year was spent researching and with Keith Miller, the 300·page
book, The Art ofWychwood, copies of which are in the Toronto Public Library “‘”,,,.”” …..
Albert’s next involved to· Maritimes New England to his
own family history. Two direct ancestors had arrived at Plymouth, Mass. in 1620 on the
Mayflower. research eventually to an library of Mayflower and VEL
descendants binders on ancestors, mostly through about 1 0 O”PTl,,,,,-,:,ft”‘l”
Albert was proud of his paternal grandfather namesake, Albert David Fulton
the Town Stewiacke voluntary photographer and historian who published the
aeIIDltlve history of the town in 1907. Some of Albert’s most prized possessions were
photography equipment and and A W strove to AD’s footsteps,
albeit in a location.
Aside wife and sons, Albert’s two passions were collecting and “1””””’Y”\I1I1,O
of the two Toronto neighbourhoods which he considered to be the most nt””r”,,;zt·Yno
most beautiful- Toronto Island and Wychwood Park. After considerable effort, he and
were in acqumng a on Algonquin in 1980 and a duplex in the Park in
1982. For years Albert opened the Toronto Archives to on Sunday
afternoons and Wychwood Park on Wednesday evenings, and published an 8-10
historical newsletter for both neighbourhoods. Albert hoped that both of the vast
-.,v •• …, ……. v,,, .. would find homes the proposed of Toronto J..””,~.””,.”,,,.
A funeral was If interested making a donation Albert’s memory,
please send a cheque to McGill c/o The Scholarship Fund.