Blog
Lorna shares her thoughts on a range of subjects here in her blog.
From escapes, to botched hangings, to stories of important historical events, Lorna finds unqiue and engaging topics to write about.
The Kingston Connection
This originally appeared as a blog post on the Dundurn Press website. Kingston, Ontario, is an historic city located at the meeting point of the St. Lawrence and Cataraqui rivers on the northern shore of Lake Ontario. Kingston is a vibrant cultural hub, known for its...
The Dime Novel
The first chapter of my upcoming true crime book On the Lam: Great (and Not So Great) Escapes from Prison describes the exploits of Ernest Cashel, a fugitive from United States justice who terrorized the North-West Territories (now Alberta) at the turn of the...
What’s the Toronto-est street in Toronto?
This super-old, super-long, superfamous one, of course! In 1793, the British established a small settlement in Upper Canada on the northern shore of Lake Ontario. This was the garrison town of “muddy” York — now Toronto — neatly arranged in a little 10-block grid. To...
Sixty years after Canada’s last execution, the discussion about capital punishment has not gone away
Originally published in The Globe and Mail - December 11, 2022 At two minutes past midnight on Dec. 11, 1962, while a small band of demonstrators circled outside in the bitter cold with placards protesting in bold black letters that “hanging is also murder” and that...
‘MURDER?’: How a pioneering investigative journalist shone a light on justice denied
According to some reports, Arthur Lucas, a gangster from Detroit, came to Toronto in November 1961 with murderous intent. Some of his associates, and the police, fingered him for the gangland-style slaying of Therland Crater, who’d been scheduled to give...
‘Loud, lazy hoodlums’: The rise and fall of Toronto’s infamous Beanery Gang
Chaos descended on Wasaga Beach on August 21, 1948. At around 11 p.m., close to a hundred belligerent young people, believed to be members of rival Toronto gangs, piled into one another with fists and boots near Davie’s Dancing Club, breaking bones and leaving...
How architect William Thomas helped build Ontario
He designed St. Michael’s Cathedral, St. Lawrence Hall, and the Don Jail — that last one might have signed his death warrant After his death in Toronto in 1860, William Thomas was lauded by the Globe as having created “some of the most tasteful buildings of which our...
“GRAVE DOUBT”: A tale of two murders in Prince Edward County
An 1883 crime led to a dubious conviction and botched execution. Twenty years later, would another suspected killer hang? The Picton Gazette of May 9, 1884, called it “this Tragedy — one of the worst that has ever stained the criminal record of this law abiding...
FARE AND FOUL: A Christmas Nightmare in Six Parts – Part 6
Part 6: Next Christmas On Tuesday, December 21, 1982, after a series of 10 abortive court appearances due to ongoing congestion within the court system, Leslie Sheppard finally had his moment of truth before York County Court Judge Ted Wren. Sheppard faced a...
FARE AND FOUL: A Christmas Nightmare in Six Parts – Part 5
Part 5: Last Man (Out)standing On September 24, 1982, Staff-Sergeant Julian Fantino and Sergeant Robert Montrose of Metro Toronto Police flew to Los Angeles. This was no pleasure trip — their purpose was to pick up two fugitive murder suspects and escort them back to...