1909 Kinrade Murder Part 10

 

 “Light will pierce the pall of mystery that envelops Hamilton’s most sensational murder tonight or never. That is the honest opinion of the police.”

Hamilton Times.    March 10, 1909.

During the day before the inquest into the death of Ethel Kinrade, the Hamilton police were changing their story about the case. The repeated statements of the Police Chief that the case would soon be solved were no longer being made:

“If Ethel Kinrade’s slayer is not made know at the investigation tonight, this shocking tragedy will be chalked up in police ledgers with the other sensational mysteries the records of which are stored away in musty vaults, with no hope of ever solving them.

“The state may surprise the public which has been led to believe that the authorities have trump cards up their sleeves and will play them tonight, but it is a fact. The police have no surprises to spring. They admit it. They have a chain of circumstantial evidence, but one good tug may break it. They have a theory but it will practically take a confession to sustain it.”¹

¹ Hamilton Times. March 10, 1909.

There was a new player in the Kinrade Investigation, a man brought in to relieve Hamilton Coroner of all the extra work in preparing for the inquest. The new man came with a sterling reputation in his ability in court rooms to bring out the truth from those called to the witness stand:

“The authorities are practically pinning their faith on George Tate Blackstock, , the lion of the Ontario criminal bar, as he is called at times, to bring out the facts with which the police hope to solve this crime.”

Florence Kinrade, sister of the deceased was scheduled to be the first witness:

“Although she will not be compelled to face the stares of the backbenchers who usually pack the court room when a case of importance is being probed, she will be obliged to tell her story in the presence of a staff of newspaper correspondents, witnesses and officials, numbering in all about 100 people.

“She has an ordeal to go through tonight which may cause her to break down in the witness box, although the authorities have been assured by eminent physicians who have examined her that tonight she will be prepared to tell her story. She will be closely examined as to the minutest details in connection with the shooting of her sister, a subject that threw hyer into hysterics every time the detectives approached it while she remained in Hamilton.”¹

Readers of the Hamilton Times as well of the Spectator and Herald were surprised at a decision which had been made in connection with the choice of a coroner for the case and the jury. The Times claimed to have published the news first;

 “As announced  by the Times yesterday afternoon in a special edition issued immediately after the application had been made at  Crown Attorney Washington’s office by the Provincial authorities, the order was issued to have the body of Ethel Kinrade exhumed and a new jury empaneled  to conduct the inquest.”¹

Soon after the shooting on Herkimer street, Coroner W.J. McNichol had been called to scene of the tragedy. He had some conversation with Florence Kinrade, and had observed Ethel Kinrade’s body and its location well before any other authorities had arrived.

McNichol’s  testimony was much desired by the Crown but technically he could not testify and still remain the coroner in charge of the inquest. So another coroner had to be picked, and a new coroner’s jury assembled.  The same individuals on the original jury had to be technically dismissed, as a “new’ jury, they had to be sworn in again. Also it was necessary for the ‘new’ jury to examine the body of the deceased, Hence exhumation of Ethel Kinrade’s body was necessary :.

“Shortly after four o’clock yesterday afternoon, the undertaker who buried the remains of Miss Ethel Kinrade got an order to exhume the body, and within an hour his men had opened the grave and lifted out the coffin. The body was taken at once to the City Morgue at the Hospital. It was once more laid out on the marble slab.

“Constable Lentz was called to Crown Attorney Washington’s office. It was he who summoned  the jury previously, and he was instructed to notify the same jury to attend the new inquest. Doctor Anderson was retained as coroner by the Crown .

“After being sworn again, the jurors adjourned to the morgue to see the body again. An order was made to have Doctors Balfe and Edgar perform a second post mortem, more complete than their last one, and they did so immediately.

“The body of the victim was reinterred this morning, and the grave filled in for the last time. There were no services in connection with the reinternment, and none of the relatives were present.

          In another development, Earl KInrade, brother of Ethel and Florence. gave a signed statement to the Toronto Star for publication. He went over the evidence and tried to defend his family from all the rumours that were swirling:

“From my knowledge of our family affairs, I am quite positive that there was no situation which could lead to anyone wanting to get into the house and shoot any member of the family. Not only was there no quarrel, or any jealousy between my sisters, but they got along all the time much better with each other than do most girl chums. Neither was in the least quarrelsome.

“The case so far seems, as far as securing the murderer is concerned, is a deep mystery. My great hope is that the number of police on the case and the great publicity that has been given it, will soon lead to the detection and apprehension of the man that committed such a foul and wanton deed.

“A New Inquest”

In an editorial published during the afternoon before the inquest, the Times urged everyone to be patient:

 “Speculation is still rife as to detective theories of the crime. Much of this is doubtless very wide of the mark; some of it is quite unwarranted. At this time, when developments of the inquest are on the eve of being made, it is hardly worth discussing the guesses and deductions that have been presented. The public can afford to wait till it gets the facts, as far as known, stated under oath.”

“The Inquest”

Editorial   March 10, 1909.

Also on the editorial page selections of comments on the Kinrade case made by other newspapers were published. Hamilton had had a terrible time recently, a unsolved murder, a shooting of a Hamilton policeman during a robbery investigation and the suicide of a young lady by jumping off the High Level Bridge:

                             A CHEAPER PLAN

                          (St. Thomas Journal)

“Hamilton citizens keep their houses lighted at night. Ample police protection would be cheaper.

                             NOTHING DOING

                          (London Free Press)

“Another whole day has elapsed without a fresh outbreak of personal violence in the City of Hamilton, Ont.

                             PRETTY CUTTING

                               (Toronto Star)

“Hamilton people are much annoyed because their police have made no arrests in connection with the recent shootings. Hamilton has a set of officers who would not even arrest attention.

                             WHAT WE NEED

                      (KINGSTON STANDARD)

“A murder, a murderous assault that may prove to be murder, and the suicide of a woman – that is Hamilton’s record in the last week or ten days. Hamilton is clearly in need of a violent emetic.

                             SARCASM

                   (Belleville Intelligencer)

“That Hamilton constable who was shot in the brains is better off than some of the sleuths in the Ambitious City. It has been proven conclusively that he has a brain anyhow.

                             A LONG TIME

                        (Brantford Courier)

“Something must be wrong. Twenty-four hours have elapsed since the perpetration of anything startling in Hamilton.”³

³“Our Exchanges”

Hamilton Times   March 10, 1909

The Times also carried an article noting the interest taken in the Kinrade murder in cities across Canada and The United States, with emphasis on reaction in the city of London Ontario:

 

“The widespread attention the case has attracted is shown by the interest newspapers from coast to coast in Canada and across the border have taken in it. Many of them have their own men on the spot and others keep in touch with developments through their local correspondents. There will be a small army of newspaper men at the inquest tonight.

“That Hamilton’s sensational crimes have got on the nerves of people in the surrounding country is shown by the following dispatch from London:

‘The murder at Hamilton of Ethel Kinrade has had a very decided effect upon the nerves of the women of London.

“It is said that a remarkable feeling of dread to go to their doors has seized upon many of the feminine portion of the community..

“ ‘We have difficulty in pursuing our work,’ said Assessment Commissioner Grant yesterday, ‘because the women do not answer their doors when we call.’

“He laid the cause to the Hamilton tragedy.

“The police report having several calls of late from women who fancied that they saw suspicious characters hanging about their neighborhood.

“ ‘They have no cause for fear whatever,’ said an officer of the force, ‘This city does not harbor the characters which appear to infest Hamilton.’

“What the officer said is very probably true. It is well understood  that no suspicious character remains for any time in this city without the police ascertaining  just what for and why he is here.

“Nevertheless, stories are told of timid women left alone in the evening who quake with fear at every sound, and severe cases of nervous prostration are reported to be directly traceable to the slaying of Ethel Kinrade.

“ No topic occupies the same position in the public mind as does the tragedy in the sister city. It is spoken of and discussed everywhere, and as time proceeds , in place of a decrease of interest the opposite is the fact"

Hamilton Times . March 10, 1909