Saturday, 17 April 2021

1909 Kinrade Murder Part 14

 

Another five hours’ probing of the Kinrade tragedy before the Coroner’s jury last night failed to reveal anything new in the way of sensational evidence that might help in clearing away the mystery and the prospects of the public of ever knowing who murdered Ethel Kinrade are still most uncertain.”

Hamilton Times. March 12, 1909.

For the Hamilton papers which hit the streets and neighborhoods after the second session of the Kinrade Inquest, there was certainly enough public interest in the case, that all three covered all things Kinrade with extensive coverage.

Included in the Times’ coverage was a considerable amount of speculation as to where the police authorities were in their Investigations:

“There is one chance. The Coroner’s investigation, it is intended, will be brought to a close tonight. If this afternoon or evening the authorities can establish their theory by the evidences of the witnesses who remain to be heard the public may be treated to startling developments. If they fail, the Kinrade case will be checked up in the criminal records with the other unsolvable mysteries that have defied the efforts of the shrewdest detectives to explain, for the authorities are depending on the inquest to clear the tragedy.

“It is pretty evident now that the police have no sensations to spring. What they are endeavoring to do is buttress up the theories on which they are working.”

Hamilton Times March 12 1909

Within the police court room at No. 3 Police station, the scene was one of the most memorable in that room’s history:

“The court room was again packed almost to suffocation with newspaper correspondents, illustrators, doctors, lawyers and spectators, who managed to get past the guard on the door. While perhaps less dramatic than the previous session, when Florence Kinrade, the girl in black, the chief figure in the case, went the stand and told her story, excitement was intense every minute of the five hours George Tate Blackstock, K.C., and Crown Attorney Washington were questioning the witnesses.”

The Kinrade case was a focus of interest not only in Hamilton, but beyond.  People had various theories as to who committed the shooting death of Ethel Kinrade.

Florence Kinrade was the object of stated suspicion by many, while she also had her defenders:

“To the Editor of the Globe:

If Magistrate Denison considers three hours’ work on the Bench as nerve-exhausting, what must be the three hours’ ordeal at the Hamilton Inquest have been to Florence Kinrade? I do not know a single participant in the proceedings, neither Mr. Kinrade nor Mr. Blackstock, but whatever the object of the inquisition may be, are the methods strictly in accordance with twentieth century enlightenment? Here is a young woman, whose nervous system has necessarily been under a terrible strain during the past fortnight. She travels forty miles to attend the inquest, arrives at supper time, and is under suspense for four more hours before she is called to the stand. Then, at 10:30 p.m., when most people are in bed, tired even with the routine of commonplace days, she is called to the stand to tell what she knows about the murder of her sister. The anticipations of the ordeal have been added to the wakefulness of a long day. Then she is kept on the stand three hours – until 1:30 a.m. – and faints under the final question.

“During the three hours she is listening to Police Court testimony in a judicial capacity, but she is catechized about the most vital and strategic events of her life. The little flirtations and love affairs are aired before two hundred folks, most of whom, it is safe to say had no business to be present under the announcement of the jury to exclude the public. Then, after an hour of this, she is expected to give a clear description of what happened at the scene of the tragedy. And if her story differed from that she had previously told detectives, in the slightest detail, the veracity of all her stories might be fatally impeached. All this from a nervous girl at 1:30 in the morning.

This is not a medieval torture of the body, but a modern torture of the mind. Should we not give Florence at least the benefit of a clear brain and a rested body?

                                                                   Byron H. Stauffer,

Toronto, March 11

“Miss Kinrade and the Inquest”

Toronto Globe.    March 12, 1909

(To Be Continued)

        Coroner - Dr. W.J. McNichol


 

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