Edward Butts - Bandits & Renegades: Historical True Crime Stories

Bandits & Renegades:

Historical True Crime Stories

A CRIMES CANADA SPECIAL EDITION

~ Volume 14 ~

by Edward Butts

www.CrimesCanada.com

ISBN-13: 978-1533344045

ISBN-10: 1533344043

Copyright and Published (2016)

VP Publications an imprint of

RJ Parker Publishing, Inc.

Published in Canada

Copyrights

This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. All rights reserved. No part of this publication can be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior written authorization from Peter Vronsky or RJ Parker of VP Publications and RJ Parker Publishing, Inc . The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of a copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by fines and federal imprisonment.

This is a work of nonfiction. No names have been changed, no characters invented, no events fabricated.

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To the memory of the late, great newspaper, the Guelph Mercury : 1867 2016

The author would like to thank Bill Kelly, Robert Livesey, Library and Archives Canada, the Public Archives of Ontario, the British Columbia Archives, and as always the staff of the Guelph Public Library.

Introduction

Infamy, like fame, can be fickle and fleeting. Given the right circumstances and publicity, a criminal can become an iconic figure, even if others have committed more frequent and more heinous acts of lawlessness. Captain William Kidd committed a single albeit spectacular act of piracy, for which he was subsequently hanged. Nonetheless, he lives on in the lore of the sea as the ultimate swashbuckling rogue, the most feared pirate who ever wielded a cutlass. The American Wild West had gunslingers who killed more men than Billy the Kid actually did, yet he became the most notorious outlaw of them all. Such characters pass beyond the scrutiny of history, and into the realm of legend.

In some cases a crime becomes front page news, and the criminal achieves the sort of status usually given celebrities, perhaps even hailed as a Robin Hood type folk hero. Sometimes the story endures the test of time, as it happened with the likes of bank robber John Dillinger. But very often the notoriety melts away after the press coverage stops, and the once-famous criminal fades into obscurity.

The book presents the accounts of criminals who were Canadian, or were in some way connected to Canada. As with so many of those who walked historys dark side, the extent of their notoriety is as immeasurable as passing shadows. Patty Cannon was a nightmarish figure for black people in Maryland and Delaware, but her story is little-known today. Eddie Guerin was a career criminal who stunned the world with a sensational robbery, and then made international headlines with his story of an equally incredible escape. Guerin was a legend in his own time, but is now largely forgotten.

The Clan-Na-Gael attack on the Welland Canal was a big news event in 1900, especially since the Fenian invasion of Canada in 1866 was still within living memory. But today few people know about this act of terrorism. Henry Wagners crime spree in early 20 th century British Columbia brought him infamy almost equal to that of the train robber Bill Miner. But Miner is now a legendary figure in Canadian outlaw lore, and Wagner isnt.

As a member of Depression-era Americas Barker Gang, Canadian-born gunman Alvin Karpis was certainly a high profile criminal. After his release from a long prison term, he again became a publicized figure thanks to biographical books on which he collaborated (separately) with authors Bill Trent and Robert Livesey. But since that time, even though American true crime buffs are familiar with Karpiss outlaw career, his name is not widely recognized in Canada.

From the time of Georges Lemays masterminding of a major bank burglary in 1961, until his imprisonment in 1969, Lemays name was often on the front pages of the newspapers. His notoriety was further coloured by the mysterious disappearance of his beautiful wife. However, he died in relative obscurity.

This book does not attempt in any way to glorify criminals, or excuse or condone their deeds. It simply tells their stories as impartially and factually as possible, given available documentation. The individuals presented in these chapters represent historys darker regions, and for that very reason we cannot afford to ignore them.

Patty Cannon: Devil Woman

This woman is now between 60 and 70 years of age, and looks more like a man than a woman; but old as she is, she is believed to be as heedless and heartless as the most abandoned wretch that lives.

The subject of this passage from the April 17, 1829, edition of the Delaware Gazette was Martha Patty Cannon, who at the time was being held in jail on murder charges. She had for years been the leader of a criminal gang that operated with impunity in the states of Delaware and Maryland. She and her henchmen had been able to get away with their crimes for so long because most of their victims were black. It was only the discovery of the remains of a white victim that brought about her arrest. Much about this diabolical womans early life is shrouded in mystery but, according to nineteenth century chroniclers who tried to piece together a biographical account, Patty Cannon was Canadian.

Patty Cannon was one of those larger-than-life historical figures whose deeds make them the stuff of legends, making it difficult to separate facts from tall tales. According to one yarn, Patty was a Gypsy (people now called Roma). She was more or less robust, had a wealth of black hair, and her face, while showing the effects of her evil passions and dissipations, was more or less good to look upon. The Gypsy blood that was in her seemed to be dominant, for she coveted wealth with a passion that brooked no interference.

That description really says more about the bigotry of the time than it does about the historical Patty Cannon. A more credible account, published in New York in 1841, claims that Patty was the daughter of an English couple named Hanly. Pattys father was a hard-drinking wastrel who had been disowned by his family, so he and his wife immigrated to Montreal. Patty was born there, probably in the 1770s. The Hanly family moved to St. Jean, a town on the Richelieu River near the American border. It was a notorious hot spot for smuggling. Gangs operating on both sides of the international line either bribed, duped, or intimidated customs agents as they smuggled everything from rum and whiskey, to shoes, silk, and potash over the border. Pattys father joined one of the gangs engaged in smuggling contraband merchandise between Montreal and Plattsburg, New York, by way of Lake Champlain. If factual, this account of exposure to crime at an early age could explain Pattys lawlessness to at least some degree.

Sometime around the year 1800, Patty married a man named Jesse Cannon. One story says they met in St. Jean. In another, Patty left her home in Canada and went to Buffalo, New York, and it was there that Jesse found her working as a waitress in a tavern. Jesse took Patty to his farm in Sussex County, Delaware, near a village called Johnsons Corners (now Reliance). This location would prove to be strategic during Pattys outlaw years.