#lonely shack

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"Laurila Acquitted On Murder Charge," Kingston Whig-Standard. October 25, 1933. Page 2. ---- Judge Says Jury at Cobourg Took Merciful View of Case ---- COBOURG, Oct. 25 - Yrgo Laurila, Finish transient, yesterday was acquitted of the murder of Fred McLaren, 52-year-old Cavan Township farmer, whose frozen body was found in his shack last February with the head battered.

"Prisoner, the jury has taken a merciful view of your case," said Mr. Justice J. M. McEvoy when the jury had returned its verdict. "However right the verdict may be, you know. Perhaps in their wisdom they have realized you are a stranger in a strange land, and we desire to show you and the world at large we try to deal out even-handed justice to every one within our borders."

It was announced later Laurila would be held pending deportation proceedings.

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"MAN HUNT ENDS WITH CAPTURE," Brantford Expositor. April 20, 1934. Page 2. ---- Sergt. A. R. Knight "Got His Man" in Distant North ---- SUDBURY, Ont., April 20 - Terminating a man hunt that reads like a chapter in the annals of the Royal Northwest Mounted, Sergeant A. R. Knight of the provincial police arrived yesterday afternoon in Sudbury with his man, Kusti Nisula, a Finlander whom early yesterday in a shack by the shore of White Water Lake he arrested on a charge of murder.

With him he brought through a treacherous trail in the wilds, Jack Hapiavuari, a friend of Nisula who is held as a material witness.

Nisula, according to the police, clubbed a fellow country man, Otto Hietarinne, to death Wednesday afternoon about 4 o'clock. Outside Nisula's cabin they found his body. There was a gash on the top of his forehead. Clutched in his left hand, was a strip of yellow cloth. It had been torn, police claim, from Nisula's shirt.

With a number of other acquaintances who have been eking out an existence by the lake, hunting and fishing. Hitearinne was drinking moonshine when a fight occurred.

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“Starved To Death In His Lonely Hut,” Toronto Star. January 19, 1931. Page 1. ----- Tragedy of Wilds Revealed in Police Report --- Edmonton, Jan. 18 (CP). - ‘The sun is shining, mother, but I feel so cold. I can still walk a little, but that’s about all. There is no blood in me, because I haven’t eaten for so long. I haven’t seen another human being for 40 days now. There are some magazines here, but the stories are so silly. I have some cards but I don’t care for solitaire. The only thing I worry about if God will forgive me for my sins.’

James Eldon Michael, 25, wrote this letter to his mother, Mrs. L. A. Williams, Albany, Cal., shortly before he died in a lonely hut at Long Rapids, Hay River, last spring, it was revealed in the annual report of Royal Canadian Mounted Police detachments to ‘G’ division headquarters in Edmonton.

Michael attempted to make the same trip along the Hay which Kurt Faber, German writer, his life the winter before. His letter was found only recently, near his skeleton hand.

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“Police Care For Recluse; Burn Rude Home On Rock,” Toronto Globe. July 13, 1931. Page 01. ---- Aged Wanderer, Twice Ousted as Trespasser, Lives in Shack on Lake Nipissing Island Until Overtaken by Illness ---- (Special Despatch to The Globe.)  North Bay, Ont., June 15. - When city and Provincial police city officials and the Crown Attorney were unable to decide who should look after George Aubert, aged wanderer, who was reported ill as he lay in his shack perched on a rock in Lake Nipissing. George himself cut the Gordian knot by coming to the mainland. He was picked up in a city street as he rested, gathering strength to make his way homeward. The old man, in weakened condition, was taken to the district jail for attention.

Aubert had gain publicity last winter. Twice, the police forced him to move, once out of a shack on Canadian Pacific Railway property and also out of a building owned by the Warren Paving Company. He decided to build a home of his own and hauled old lumber out to the rock, where he built a shack. He was marooned on his rock for some time after the lee went out, until he built a raft. Later, he obtained an old punt, which he has been using since to transport himself back and forth.

This morning, it was reported that he was ill. The Provincial police called the Crown Attorney, who said the case was one for the ity police. Chief Clark said ‘No.’ The Works Department was called. City Engineer Mackie said it was a Provincial matter. City Clerk Snyder agreed. The Relief Officer, A. Tandy, was non-committal. Alderman W. G. Bullbrook, Chairman of the committee under whose jurisdiction such cases come, said: ‘Bring him in; we’ll settle the argument later.’

The city police were en route to the hermit’s isle when they came across Aubert. Tonight his shack is a pile of embers. Police burned it this afternoon.

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“Defaulter Sentenced to a Lengthy Term,” Toronto Globe. December 6, 1918. Page 09. ---- Finlay Stonehouse, a military service defaulter, was sentenced to five years, three years and two years on two charges of shooting and on a charge of obstructing the Dominion police, at the Criminal Assizes at Bracebridge, which is being presided over by Mr. Justice Clute. The sentences run concurrently. In the affray with him were his two brothers, who were found guilty of obstructing, and Walter Stonehouse was sentenced to 18 months and Elias Stonehouse to 6 months. The man shot was James Elliott, a civilian, whose aid had been invoked by officers of the Dominion police. The evidence disclosed an exciting hour in the Stonehouse shanty, which is remotely situated in the township of Oakley. Four loaded rifles and two loaded revolvers were found in the house. Elliott’s left arm was broken and his side grazed by the shot. Mr. N. F. Davidson, K.C., acted as Crown counsel.

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“Beating Is Alleged After Trip in Auto,” Toronto Globe. September 25, 1930. Page 03. --- Charges Laid by A. . Wilson in St. Thomas Lead to Three Arrests ---- (Special Despatch to The Globe.) St. Thomas, Sept. 24. - Declaring that he had been ‘taken for a ride’ in the country, in course of which he was attacked, A. G. Wilson early this morning laid charges that led to the arrest of Edward and Robert McGuire, brothers, of this city, and George Anderson of London, Ont. garage employes. They were remanded until Friday for hearings of assault charges. A warrant has been issued for the arrest of  a fourth young man, a resident of Union, five miles south of the city. Wilson was in a rather serious condition when he reached Chief of Police Gunson’s office. His face was bruised and swollen, and his eyes were inflamed and nearly closed. His mouth also was bruised and swollen. He said that after throwing him to the ground his assailants had beaten him. He told of tearing the shorty partly from one assailant’s body. The sleeve of a blood-stained shirt was found in a sedan near the McGuire home, according to the police. The two McGuires and Anderson were found in the house.

Wilson said that he had been taken about ten miles east of the city to a lonely place and attacked. He said two or three London and St. Thomas young woman accompanied his assailants in the car.

An investigation is being made by the Provincial Police. Robert McGuire has been on parole from Stony Mountain Penitentiary, Manitoba, about a year. He was serving a long sentence for breaking and entering a local residence and assaulting the owner’s wife when he was paroled.

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“Shots Kill Pair In Lonely Shack,” Toronto Globe. September 6, 1930. Page 03. ---- Police Investigate Peace River Slaying of Three Weeks Ago ---- BODIES JUST DISCOVERED ---- (Canadian Press Despatch.) Victoria, Sept. 5. - Provincial Police are investigating what is believed to be the double murder of Mr. and Mrs. Babchuck, Polish settlers, in their lonely cabin on the North Pine River, north of Fort St. John, in the Peace River district.

The victims had been shot to death, according to meagre reports from Provincial Constable Delvin at Fort St. John, who told of finding the two bodies. Further investigation by Sergeant Greenwood, in charge of the district, followed, and let to the belief that the crime was committed three weeks ago. The bodies remained undiscovered until early this week.

Provincial Police officials here are awaiting further information.

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“Robbery By Violence Charged,” The Globe and Mail. August 1, 1938. Page 04. ---- Kitchener, July 31 (Staff). - Victor Williams and Lloyd Fischer, both of Bridgeport, were charged with robbery by violence here yesterday by Provincial Policce. It is alleged they took $115 in cash from William Kreitzweiser, aged 76, of Hepworth, after beating him. Kreitzweiser was found in a shack in Bridgeport with a badly gashed head and a torn ear. Police allege that the stolen money was found in Fischer’s sock, as well as the watch, chain and knife said to belong to Kreitzweiser, when Fischer was searched at the County Jail. Fischer and Williams were lodged in the jail on a vagrancy count and will appear in court here on the robbery charge on Friday.