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.
FARE AND FOUL: A Christmas Nightmare in Six Parts – Part 4
Part 4: The Third Man By December 28, 1981, Don Jail escapees Terry Musgrave and Randy Garrison were both safely behind bars. On January 3, 1982, by pure accident, the next fugitive was ushered back into the fold. That Sunday, the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP)...
FARE AND FOUL: A Christmas Nightmare in Six Parts – Part 3
Part 3: Two Down, Two to Go Unquestionably the baddest of the jail-breaking bunch was the first to be picked up by Metro police. Convicted murderer Terry Musgrave, that “cold-blooded killer,” was spotted by two uniformed policemen outside a shopping plaza on Jane...
FARE AND FOUL: A Christmas Nightmare in Six Parts – Part 2
Part 2: The Rogues’ Gallery (Dec 26) Ranked from bad to worst, the four criminals who scaled the wall of Toronto’s Don Jail and hopped into a conveniently idling cab on the night of December 25, 1981, were Randolph “Randy” Garrison, Brian William Bush, Andre Hirsh,...
FARE AND FOUL: A Christmas Nightmare in Six Parts – Part 1
Part 1: The Wrong Place at the Wrong Time? The front page of Toronto’s Saturday Star on December 26, 1981, recorded the heartwarming story of a Rexdale couple who received the Christmas gift of twin boys. The new parents were understandably overjoyed, as the article...
CANADIAN EH?
Following the publication of The Don, I was pleased to receive an invitation for an interview from Craig Baird, host of Canadian History EhX, one of the top podcasts on Apple Podcasts Canada. After a few days’ delay (“thanks” to the effects on Craig’s internet...
THE DYING DAYS OF THE DEATH PENALTY IN CANADA
THE COP KILLER AND HIS LAWYER A recent obituary in the Globe and Mail highlighted the many facets of the career of Clare Elvet Lewis, who died in Toronto on October 24, 2020, at the age of 83. One of the various (and earliest) hats he wore in the course of his...
Drop Dead: The Puzzle
“Puzzles flying off the shelves as COVID-19 keeps people at home,” announced CTV News. And a jigsaw puzzle maker joked: “It’s almost like it’s the next toilet paper.” Have you been bitten by the jigsaw bug, and can’t wait to start your next one? The good news is that...
MEMORABLE MAY MOMENTS
To mark the May rollout of my new website, here are a few memorable May moments from my Horrible History of Hanging in Canada: May 3, 1867: Ten thousand people turned up at the public hanging of Modiste Villebrun of St-Zephirin, Quebec, convicted of poisoning his...
THE CIRCUS COMES TO TOWN
BLACK HISTORY AND CAPITAL PUNISHMENT IN CANADA On July 22, 1903, the townsfolk of Picton, Ontario, were enchanted. The circus was in town! The Great Pan American two-ring circus, museum and menagerie had transformed the main thoroughfare into a grand street parade....
MARY CAMPBELL AND CANADA’S NEW DEATH PENALTY
“Canada’s New Death Penalty” was the provocative title of Mary Campbell’s presentation on Sunday, October 21, 2018, as part 1 of the Eglinton St. George’s Compassionate Justice Speaker Series. Campbell, retired director general Corrections and Criminal Justice, began...