THE CORPSE GOT OUT OF THE HEARSE TOO SOON - THE GOOD CITIZEN, MR. BROWNING
IN THE WORDS OF REDMOND THOMAS Q.C. - A FOLK HISTORIAN WHO TOLD A GREAT STORY, WITH LIFE INFUSED
IT HAS BEEN A HUGELY BUSY DAY AT THE ANTIQUE AND VINTAGE MUSIC SHOP, HERE ON MUSKOKA ROAD, IN UPTOWN GRAVENHURST; THIS ON TOP OF THE BUSIEST JUNE AND JULY IN OUR 16 YEAR SHOP HISTORY. AND DESPITE THE COVID LOCKDOWN AND ONGOING RESTRICTIONS, BUSINESS HAS BOUNCED BACK SO MUCH, IN FACT, THAT OUR INVENTORY ISN’T AT OUR USUAL COMFORTABLE LEVEL. IF YOU HAVE ANY STORED-UP COLLECTABLES OR GUITARS, VINTAGE VINYL, OLD BOOKS OR MEMORABILIA IN GENERAL, YOU MIGHT WISH TO PART WITH, PLEASE SEND US A MESSAGE VIA OUR FACEBOOK PAGE, AND WE WILL GET BACK TO YOU AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. WE DID EXPECT A BOOM BUT THIS WAS A BAH-BOOM, AND WE HAVE BEEN SCRAMBLING TO FIND REPLACEMENT INVENTORY. NORMALLY WE CAN GET INTO THE FALL SEASON WITHOUT PANIC REQUESTS FOR MORE INVENTORY. SO, WE’RE ABOUT A MONTH EARLY THIS YEAR. WE HOPE OTHER RETAILERS ARE ALSO ENJOYING THE POST-SHUTDOWN ECONOMIC JOLT. IF WE CAN KEEP COVID NUMBERS DOWN, WITH PROPER CARE AND VACCINES, WE WILL BE LOOKING AT A RECORD YEAR, DESPITE HAVING BEEN CLOSED DOWN FOR MORE THAN SIX MONTHS.
AS YOU KNOW BY NOW, I'M A SUCKER FOR A GOOD STORY; A GRAND TALE, SOMETHING SPUN RIPE WITH EMOTION, AND EXCITEMENT, WHILE NOT SURRENDERING THE STANDARDS OF A TRUE HISTORIAN. BUT REDMOND THOMAS, Q.C. WAS BOTH A STORY SPINNER, A TALL TALE WEAVER, AND A PRETTY FAIR HISTORIAN AT THE SAME TIME. NOT EXACTLY A CHARLES DICKENS TYPE, OR WASHINGTON IRVING MODEL, OF THE SHORT STORY, REDMOND THOMAS, WAS HOWEVER, AN HISTORIAN OF DISTINCTION AND CHARACTER. HE CAREFULLY APPLIED, AS IF HAND TINTING A VINTAGE PHOTOGRAPH, THE COLOR ONTO THE BLACK AND WHITE OF ACCEPTED HISTORY. AND WHY NOT? WE CAN'T POSSIBLY GET BORED BY STORIES, HE WROTE, LIKE THE ONE I WISH TO PROFILE TODAY, ENTITLED "CORPSE GOT OUT OF HEARSE TOO SOON." IT'S A BRACEBRIDGE CLASSIC. IT'S ONE OF THE STORIES, IN COLUMN FORMAT, HE WROTE FOR THE BRACEBRIDGE HERALD-GAZETTE, IN THE LATE 1960'S, AFTER RETIRING AS A MAGISTRATE. HIS FRIEND, ROBERT BOYER, CONVINCED HIM TO TURN SOME OF THIS COLUMNS INTO A BOOK, "REMINISCENCES," PUBLISHED BY THE HERALD-GAZETTE IN 1969. IT WAS AN IMMEDIATE HIT, AND WHAT SOLD FOR ABOUT FIVE BUCKS, IN THE EARLY 1970'S, CAN NOW SELL FROM BETWEEN FORTY TO SEVENTY-FIVE DOLLARS, DEPENDING ON CONDITION. I JUST ACQUIRED THE TEXT, FROM A RARE AND ANTIQUE BOOK DEALER IN OTTAWA, FOR FORTY DOLLARS PLUS SHIPPING. TO ME, WELL, IT'S A BARGAIN, BECAUSE IN THIS CASE, CONTENT IS WORTH DOUBLE TO TRIPLE, AS A MUSKOKA RESOURCE. THAT'S OUR BUSINESS AFTERALL. AND AS MUCH, I SUPPOSE, OUR ENDURING HOBBY!
"NOT YET MR. BROWNING!"
A few years back, Suzanne and I decided to do some local cemetery research but not on anything specific, other than to photograph interesting tombstone graphics and “angels” in all the diverse presentations, including statuaries, that family and friends of the deceased have adorned grave sites. From our years poking through the archives of local history, and having been voyeurs of actuality since we were both born back in the 1950’s, we not only recognized many of the names on the tombstones, but had known the individuals in real time in Suzanne’s home village of Windermere, and my years growing up in Bracebridge. While cemeteries can be unsettling to some, Suzanne and I share a comfortable relationship with the deceased and where they have come to reside after death. I can remember one beautiful spring afternoon, visiting the Anglican Church Cemetery, north on Manitoba Street, (now a neighbor of a typical higher density urban subdivision that seems overly intrusive upon this sanctuary), communing in a most sincere way with the deceased; so many in a cluster who I had known as a young writer working in the local media; and others who I have become intimate with through these many years of historical research and heritage promotion. I stood at the foot of Redmond Thomas’ grave, and then went to his father G.H.O. Thomas’s plot, who was also another fine writer of local history, and former publisher of the Bracebridge Gazette. Then I turned to pay my respects to the Boyer family, my former employers at the Bracebridge Herald-Gazette, being my Associate Editor, Robert Boyer, his wife Patricia, Bob’s father George and his wife Victoria, all being active writers and historians in their day; and all of which are firmly attached to my heritage psyche working here in South Muskoka. All their stories told about the old days growing up and working in Bracebridge have given Suzanne and I such an enduring foundation from which to base just about everything else when it comes to fully appreciating all the history that unfolded here, that’d had provincial and national implications. As for Redmond Thomas, today’s platform belongs solely to him, as one of my favorite folk historians, who fully appreciated that fact doesn’t always trump a good story; and he knew a good story when he found one as a community news sleuth. He had a fascination for death and its resulting send-offs, and he was one of few local writers who made it a point to document it all, because it too deserved its place in local history.
Is it a macabre story? Not really! But it does have a macabre element for sure, depending on the nitty gritty, of what actually spooked the horses, on that day, just as they were set to pull the hearse onward to the Anglican Church Cemetery, north, on the extension of Manitoba Street. Young lads with a sling-shot? A voice from the great beyond, unsettling the steeds? Please read on!
"Very few of the Bracebridge people who see the R.M. Browning Memorial Hall (now gone), or hear the Anglican Church bell, have ever heard about (let alone known), the gentleman to whom both are memorials, which were presented to that church by his widow, who herself, is now dead 56 years." Redmond's column was published on August 10th, 1967, in The Herald-Gazette.
"He was Mr. Robert Mortimer Glover Browning, who was known as R.M. Browning. The family, of whom he was one of the members, was a promimant Muskoka pioneer one. Among them was A.H. Browning, who owned the island in Lake Muskoka, still called Browning Island. Also among them was J.B. Browning, lawyer, Anglican lay reader, and amateur astronomer, who lived on the west side of Manitoba Street, just north of the Queen's Hill, at the location of the present federal building (current post office), and of whom my father was friend. (Within the Browning family connection there was no love lost between Mr. J.B. Browning, and his sister-in-law, Mrs. R.M. Browning.)" writes Mr. Thomas.
"Mr. R.M. Browning was survived by no child of his own, but left one step-child, Harriet Louise (Louie) Mitchell, who when I knew her, was the wife of the Rev. J.A. McClearly, Rector of a Protestant Episcopal Church in Paterson, New Jersey. Now dead 47 years (as of the date 1967), she lies beside her mother and step-father in the Browning family plot. Her only child Jeanette, who on visits to Bracebridge, used to play with a group of kids of whom I was one, died tragically in childhood, at Paterson, when her dress ignited from a bonfire."
Redmond recalls, "Though my recollection of Mr. R.M. Browning is confined to one occasion, I have often heard of him from oldtimers (including my parents), who were among his friends. As far back as the village days of 1879, he was a member of the Bracebridge Council. Partly by his own achievements, but chiefly through inheritance he became the richest man in Bracebridge. He had a big income from investments, and also, he was a notary public and fire insurance agent. He owned the land stretching along the south side of Ida Street, from James Street, to Manitoba Street. His fine brick residence (since remodeled and somewhat enlarged) still stands on Ida Street, at the corner of James Street. His office was at the opposite end of his land, and was a wooden building which faced Manitoba Street, and to the door of it, some steps led from the wooden sidewalk, along the east side of that street. The place where it stood, forms part of the site of the present Wells Motel.
"My clear recollection of him relates to a Saturday, in the spring, in which he died. I had waded too far into a puddle of snow water, in front of his offices, and my rubber boots filled. Mr. Browning was standing on the office steps, enjoying the mild, sunny day, and with his thumbs in the arm-holes of his vest, which I have been told was a characteristic stance. Chuckling, he said, 'Come here Redmond,' and when I went over, he pulled off and emptied my boots, and then took me into the office where the box stove was burning, and beside which I sat until dried out. On Monday night, April 27th, 1903, when he was aged 58, he died suddenly, at his home, from an injury received in the bathroom, where he slipped, and in falling, struck his head on the wash basin. He was placed in a folding casket, which opened out in such a manner, that the deceased seemed to be reclining on a couch, a style then favored among some affluent families. He is buried in Bracebridge Anglican Cemetery, in a plot (near its front and a short distance south of the entrance driveway) on which stands the largest monument in that graveyard. The plot was the site of the pioneer Holden cabin, on the homestead, of which the cemetery had originally been part."
As Redmond continues about Mr. Browning, he notes that, "when he died, the present brick Anglican Church was in use, but the old wooden one was still standing, on the north side of Mary Street, at the west corner of James Street. It was used for some church activities, but in daytime, of every week day (except Saturday) was used by Miss Wollard's Private School, of which most of the pupils were just a trifle, under the public school minimum admission age (which was higher than now, and there was no kindergarten). Private School pupils (of whom I was one) were kept steadily at the basics of the '3 R's' and there was a tall conical dunce-cap for inattention. With money donated by Mrs. Browning, for a memorial to her husband, the old church was pulled down and replaced by the handsome R.M. Browning Memorial Hall, which was designed by an architect, and built by Mr. H.O. (Hank) Appleby, a contractor whose residence, was almost across Mary Street, from the east end of the new building. As a further memorial, Mrs. Browning gave to the Anglican Church its present fine big bell, to house; which the congregation replaced the brick porch, by building the present (bell) tower."
I lived in the former home / medical office, of Dr. Peter McGibbon, on Manitoba Street, and I could see the bell tower clearly from my second floor balcony. The church was on the corner, one building removed from the former McGibbon property. It's another of the heritage buildings in the community, which add that rich, small town character, thanks to the architects and builders of past times. And of course, the generosity of such families as the Brownings.
"The old white-painted wooden church (built in 1872 to supersede the original one at the cemetery) faced east with its length paralleling Mary Street. It had a sharply pitched roof. All the windows, regardless of size, were narrow in proportion to height, and were peaked. At the west end was a square tower, in which was the main door. High in the front, and each side of the tower, was a small window. The tower was crowned by an arched belfry, surmounted by a graceful spire. (The bell was still there in my time, but no longer used, as it had broken). From the east end of the building, the vestry jutted south, and its outside door was close to the wall of the main building. (In this description, memory is sharpened, by a picture which hangs in my home, because of family association with the old church in its heyday)
"Mr. Browning's funeral was large and impressive, as befitted his standing,' wrote Redmond Thomas. "But that it was also spectacular was quite unintentional. After the service had been conducted, in the present brick church, by its Rector, Canon (later Archdeacon) Burt, the pallbearers placed the casket in its place, and closed the (then) glass doors. Then suddenly the horses hitched to the hearse, plunged with such violence, that the casket broke loose from the fastenings, and crashed through the glass doors. The pallbearers had not yet turned away, and they and Mr. Yeoman grabbed the casket, and saved it from falling to the crushed-stone road. All those present could see that. But only the small group of gentlemen, close behind the hearse, could hear what was said in a low voice, by one of the pallbearers; Mr. J. Ewart Lount, Registrar of Deeds, a noted wit, 'Oh no, Robert - You don't get out yet'!"
You might remember the young Mr. Lount, from a previous blog, when he was first staying at the pioneer hotel, known as the Victoria, on Methodist Church Hill. The story was "The Tale of the First Tail's Worn in Bracebridge." To refresh your memory, the young man, coming to Bracebridge, to work with his father, C.W. Lount, was invited by the hotel proprietor, to enjoy a party in the parlor that night. When the younger Lount, figured that must have meant a society-event, he donned his finest formal attire, with tails. When he heard the fiddle music, that night, and decided he would make a formal entry, down the hotel stairs, he was met with the glares of the lumberjacks, and their ladies, and immediately lifted from the stairs onto their shoulders, and brought to the center of the room, where he was stripped down to his underwear, to more suitably join the party. Then the fiddles caught fire with this new electricity in the room.
AND THEN, THE STORY OF "SKELETONS NOT IN A GRAVEYARD"
Redmond Thomas had an anecdotal way of dealing with death and its aftermath. While other historians prefer not to delve into the funerary side of our heritage, Redmond found it quite fascinating, and figured a way of handling these stories without committing any disrespect to the departed. In his May 18th, 1967 column, headed "Skeletons Not in a Graveyard," he handles the matter of some loose bones, in the community, with some historical explanations.
"A couple of Bracebridge skeletons are not in a closet - or in a graveyard either. One lies behind the Legion Hall, the other behind the Court House. The land on the west side of Muskoka Road, in the Fourth Ward, where stands the Legion hall), built in 1907 as the Fourth Ward School, was originally the Primitive Methodist Cemetery, belonging to the church of that denomination, on the north side of Quebec Street, which now in remodeled form, is the First Baptist Church. About 1896 the bodies were removed to the Methodist (now United Church) Cemetery. The late Joshua Yeoman, who for many years was in charge of the undertaking part of the W.W. Kinsey business, has told me that when the removal was in progress, one coffin was fond to be so extremely heavy, that the workmen and Mr. Yeoman, thought the body must be petrified; but the deceased's relatives refused permission to have the coffin opened, and hence the correctness of the belief, could not be checked. (Mr. Yeoman told me, of one Muskoka cemetery, in which a body was definitely known to have petrified, but I cannot recall where it is, except that it is not near Bracebridge.)
"However, at least one body was missed, in the removal, as was proven by the fact, that while digging for waterworks, for the (then) Fourth Ward School, workmen grazed the edge of a coffin, which they left undisturbed and which is there yet, its occupant unknown."
Redmond writes, "The other skeleton is that of George Cyr, a young man of Chaffey Township, who was buried in the yard of the old District Jail, after having been hanged in that yard in 1922, following conviction of having, at that township, in 1921, murdered (with a revolver), a farm labourer, while Cyr was fleeing from the farmhouse, which he had burglarized. (After that conviction, on a charge of having, during the burglary, murdered the farm owner's wife, (Lena Solave), was not proceeded with). The old District Jail is now long gone (and the Ontario Provincial Police building, which replaced it, is gone too) but the Warden's residence, which was attached to the front of the jail, remained until pulled down, to make way for a new addition to the Court House, which at the time of writing, in 1967, is not yet completed. As long as that residence served as a landmark, I could pretty well pinpoint the location of the skeleton (of poor George), or whatever was left of it, as the corpse was put into a rough box, which was then filled-in with quick-lime), but now all I know about the location, is that it must be very close to the northeast corner of the new addition to the Court House."
"George Cyr had no money, and when he asked me to be his counsel, I took on the very hard task, as a charity case. (That was before the Province began to pay a moderate fee to a barrister, defending a poor person, if the charge was murder - the first step which led up to the present widespread 'legal aid.' From the accused's point of view, the trial was the law equivalent of what people unfairly kid medical doctors about, as being called a successful operation, even though the patient later dies. After the jury of the Assizes had deliberated three hours, but returned with a verdict of guilty, the presiding High Court Judge (the Honorable Mr. Justice Middleton, whom lawyers reckon one of the greatest in the history of this province), thanked me for having given free to the penniless accused, what His Lordship termed a thorough and able defence, and then the judge proceeded to sentence the accused to be hanged. No appeal was entered, as the only disputed point of law, which was one as to admissibility of a dying declaration, by the victim, had been decided by the judge in favour of the defence."
Cyr's counsel, Mr. Thomas, reports that, "after the trial, I continued to visit George at Castle Dunc (as the District Jail, was commonly called, because it was governed by Warden Duncan MacDonald) and take him presents of cigarettes. The evening before the execution, I happened to meet the hangman, who always went by the alias, 'Ellis', but even then was still using a different alias under which he posed here as the expert, sent to build the scaffold, and have it ready for the hangman; whom he said would not arrive until the midnight train just just before the execution. The hangman invited me to go with him to see the scaffold, so we went into the jail yard, which was permanently surrounded by a white-washed high wooden wall. Within the yard, stood the wooden scaffold, which had been specially built for the execution, and the hangman took me up the steps to its floor, and gave me an expert explanation of how a hanging is carried out. But I was not there to see poor George meet his fate, early next morning." It was known, that Cyr could hear the construction work on the gallows that would herald his demise. There are also conflicting facts, about where George was jailed, prior to the execution. It is stated in some newspaper accounts, that he was under police guard, in the rock basement of The Herald-Gazette building, at 27 Dominion Street. Redmond Thomas refers to the civic lock-up, or Castle Dunc as it was known.
In another newspaper column, not published in the book, Redmond Thomas indicated that before Cyr was executed, he had confessed to him, that he was indeed guilty of the crime of murder. He also gave Redmond directions to find the murder weapon, the handgun, Cyr had hidden after the shootings. I'm not sure whether Redmond retrieved it or not, following his client's execution.
There were two hangings, in Bracebridge, the first being the execution of another murderer, by the name of Hammond, many years prior to the 1922 hanging of George Cyr. It has long been rumored, without substantial fact, that Mr. Hammond's body was buried in the courthouse basement, under a thick layer of poured cement.
Later, on June 22, 1967, Redmond Thomas added some details to his earlier column about "skeletons not in cemeteries," under the heading, "More Rattling of Bones."
He adds to the story, by noting that, "In The Herald-Gazette, of May 18th, an article by me, dealt with two skeletons lying buried in Bracebridge, but not in a graveyard; one being that of an unknown person, which still lies behind the Legion Hall. As to it, I am able to give some additional information. The information has come to me in a letter from Viola Thompson (now Mrs. Reynolds, of Talbot Drive, Oakville) who is the younger daughter of the late Robert Thompson. He is well remembered by me, and many other Bracebridge residents, as having been a prominent citizen of this town, who served many terms in the town council. So far as it concerns the skeleton, her letter is as follows." 'Dear Redmond: I read one of your articles in the Bracebridge paper. I was quite interested in the fact of the skeleton, still in the Fourth Ward School grounds. My father was putting in the septic tank for the school at the time, and came across it. I remember dad going up town for the Coroner, and when he came to the school, the doctor decided to put the legs back in what was left of the coffin, and dad cemented the wall, and closed the opening. I do hope you keep on with your articles."
Thanks so much for joining today's blog. It's always nice to have you drop in for a visit; and today, I've been visiting with Redmond Thomas, Bracebridge's well known story teller.
No comments:
Post a Comment