“To be foully murdered in her own home, in broad daylight, by a man who emptied the contents of a .38 caliber, five-chambered revolver into her body before making good his escape, was the cruel fate that befell Ethel Kinrade, twenty-three years of age, second eldest daughter of T.L. Kinrade, principal of the Cannon street school, yesterday afternoon. The deed was perhaps that of an insane man or a coward crazed by the fear of being captured.”
Hamilton Times. February 26, 1909.
It started as a rather ordinary late February afternoon, By late afternoon, citizens all over the city and beyond had learned of a fatal shooting inside a residence on Herkimer street.
All three Hamilton newspapers were soon to print ‘extras’ to contain as much information about the incident as could be hurriedly learned
“No crime in recent years has created such a tremendous sensation as this brutal murder. The news swept like wildfire over the town and the tragedy was on every lip. The extras issued by the newspapers were eagerly purchased by the big crowds that thronged the streets between the hours of five and six, and in every house in Hamilton the members of families read with horror the details of the crime.”
. Hamilton Times. February 26, 1909.
. All on duty members of the Hamilton police department were assigned to help with a dragnet of southwest Hamilton in hopes of capturing the man who supposedly shot Ethel Kinrade
One member of the police was not on duty that afternoon and was at his home :
“A patrol wagon called at the house of Constable Robert Lentz yesterday afternoon shortly after Coroner McNichol issued the precept, and he was called out of his bed to summon the jury, all other officers being out after the murderer. He got the following jury together at once: Willoughby Ellis, John Work, Fred Skerrett, John Wells, H.F. Stenabaugh, John Hunter, R.B. Spera, H.S. Hooper, William Powell, E.B. Turnbull, John Guy, John Wilson, James Reding, James Byrne and J. Noble.”
Hamilton Times. February 26, 1909.
As it was the duty of the police to assemble enough people to make up a coroner’s jury, Mr. McNicol, the city coroner, was immediately hard at work in anticipation of a hastily called gathering of the jurors later that evening:
“The jurors met at the City Hospital last night and viewed the body in the morgue. It was fully dressed and the hat was still on the dead girl’s head. Coroner McNichol showed the wounds to the jurors. There were three in the left breast. Two of these pierced the heart, and the third one is likely to have done so, too, said the Coroner. The wounds were quite large, and looked as if they might have been caused by a .38 caliber or higher than that. There was a wound in the side of the head, on the left side, in front of the ear, and from the direction of the wound the ball must have passed through the jawbone and back into the neck or lower part of the skull. The wounds in the chest were laid bare by the burning of the clothing which was set smoldering by the close proximity of the gun when the shots were fired.
“After being sworn, the jurors decided to adjourn till next Wednesday night, to meet at No. 3 Police Station at 8:15 o’clock.
“After the adjournment of the inquest, Coroner McNichol stated that the crime was a terrible one. ‘This is a thing that ought to be cleared up,’ he said. Many of the jurors remarked on the brutality of the murder.”
Hamilton Times. February 26, 1909.
The murder of Ethel Kinrade was a sensation, not only in Hamilton but elsewhere. The next day, the Toronto Globe carried the following :
“That such a terrible thing could happen on one of the principal streets in the city in the middle of the afternoon has thrown the people in that district into a panic and has caused a feeling of horror all over the city, and that he could, with only half an hour’s start on the police, who had two hours’ daylight in which to work, elude all their efforts , has done much to create a feeling of fear, especially among women, and has furnished an element of mystery to the sad affair that is positively baffling to the police.”
“The following description of the man who did the shooting has been furnished the police by Miss Florence Kinrade, and it is all the police have to guide them min their search:-
‘Age about 35 years; height about five feet seven or eight inches; pretty stout; medium dark complexion; long, wavy, dark-brown moustache, drooping over mouth; wore a dark suit and dark overcoat; a black slouch hat, pulled down over the eyes.’
“Miss Florence was terribly unstrung after her experience, and had only confused recollection of the tragedy, and more than one story is consequently being told about it.”
Toronto Globe. February 26, 1909.
The behavior of the dead young lady’s sister was a cause for comment among those trying to understand exactly what happened :
“Flossie Kinrade was too exhausted, after being examined for an hour by detectives this morning, to be interviewed again by newspapermen. Detective Bleakley this morning examined her for an hour in the room where her sister was murdered, in an endeavor to build up a clear story out of the fragments that have been collected by different interviewers, and at different times.
‘ ‘Of course, we must allow for hysteria,’ said the officer.”
Hamilton Times. February 26, 1909
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