Canada Newspaper Reports of Crimes and Accidents (National Institute)

Crime and Newspapers
Crime, always of newspaper interest, is a rich resource if researchers have relatives involved, either as perpetrators or as victims.

Robbery
In the earliest Edmonton Bulletin, with its lack of local personal news, there is a theft given in some detail. It begins with a short item on the first page:

The odd wording of this news item is confusing to the reader, as if we had stumbled into the middle of an article. When we reach an inside page (they are unnumbered), we find that is true.

Here we find a lengthy account of what happened, clearly written before the short item on page one:

Elsewhere in the same issue is an advertisement for C. W. Sutter, gentleman’s outfitter, ready made clothing and fancy goods. There being less concern in those days lest a newspaper account affect the trial outcome, the accused is assumed to be guilty and a full description of the crime given. In true old newspaper style, the miscreant’s name is spelled differently on page one than inside the paper.

From this newspaper notice, a researcher with an interest in any of the participants could access the relevant court records to see what the official version would be, and what sentence, if any, was passed on the two men.

Accidental Deaths
Newspapers and court records of many different kinds work in tandem to provide researchers with very detailed materials on legal matters. The sometimes undetailed record in the governmental archives can be supplemented by the juicier version in the newspaper account.

An accidental death resulting from a car running into a horse-drawn wagon near Highland Creek, Ontario, in 1926 led to a court case with a man convicted of leaving the scene of the accident, among other things.

It starts on page one and continues inside the paper in great detail as this snippet illustrates:

Looking at the index to an archival finding aid (an easy task) produces a court case, which will include a previously unknown date of the event. Once the date is known, it is a simple matter to consult local newspapers.

In the case above, which took place at West Hill and Highland Creek, some distance from Oshawa, the trial took place at the county seat (Whitby, next to Oshawa). Keep these jurisdictions in mind when linking court cases to newspaper reports.

Murders
Newspapers have always loved murders, because of the sensational reports they generate:

This excited narrative, with its shaky grammar, was published a long way from the events it describes. It probably derived from a telegraphed wire story which was published across North America because of the quality of the story. Nonetheless, it can represent murders as they have always been reported, emphasising the gore and dramatic quality of everyone’s reaction. There will certainly be more detail in the local newspaper at the time of the trial, and court records in the archives.

Most people do not have a murder in the family, but it is a rare thing when there are no relations who have gone to jail at some point, or at least faced a judge in court.

Domestic Disputes
One of the commonest of these is the domestic dispute.

Although finding this sort of event in one’s family history is not pleasant, it cannot be ignored. In larger cities, this routine domestic occurrence would not merit newspaper coverage. In earlier days, wife beating seemed to be the occasion of levity.

Fires
A common news item reported local fires. In the days of open hearths, or of wood-burning stoves, house fires happened regularly. Descriptions of fires are often vividly detailed, and can be copied directly into a family history.

Information about fires can be used in conjunction with fire insurance maps, which are widely available, to obtain a good idea of a relative’s house (size and construction). For more details about using fire insurance maps in this way, see Fire insurance maps: their history and applications, by Diane L. Oswald (Lacewing Press, 1997).

Some idea of the extent of Canadian fire insurances maps can be gained by consulting Robert J. Hayward’sFire insurance plans in the national map collection (National Archives of Canada, 1977). Many fire insurance maps, either in the original paper format or on microfiche, are available in local archives.

There may also be local guides, such as Canadian fire insurance plans in Ontario collections, 1876-1973, by Marcel Fortin, Lorraine Dubreil and Cheryl A. Woods (Association of Canadian Map Libraries and Archives, 1995).

Legal Notices
Newspapers have always been a means of conveying legal notices to the public. These might be governmental in origin, announcing public appointments, for instance, or personal.

Husbands giving notice that they would not be responsible for a wife’s debts can be found in many pioneer newspapers. This indication of a breakdown in family relations may be the only independent record a genealogist can find that the pair has parted.

Divorces were so difficult to obtain in Canada that couples would separate but not divorce, but without the newspaper notice a researcher several generations later has no way of knowing this. Even the earliest newspapers have these legal notices in them.

A variation of this kind of notice is that regarding missing people. These are more rare, and information about runaways might be found more profitably in news items, but the data in the notices can be useful.

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