Practically Perfect
Page 26
January 1952
Childhood friend tells police of Kelsey’s confession.
January 31, 1952
Brothers arrested and charged with murder.
March 10, 1952
At his preliminary hearing Kelsey confesses to the murder.
September 18, 1952
Kelsey convicted; to hang January 6, 1953; jury does not recommend mercy.
December 1952
Court of Appeal dismisses appeal; stays execution to March 10.
January 13, 1953
Brother of Kelsey found not guilty at his murder trial.
February 19, 1953
Supreme Court of Canada reserves judgment on Kelsey’s appeal.
March 16, 1953
Supreme Court dismisses Kelsey’s request for a new trial.
April 9, 1953
Federal cabinet commutes Kelsey’s sentence to life imprisonment.
8: Killers on the Run
Henry Séguin:
From Ontario to British Columbia
July 30, 1925
Henry Séguin born in Cornwall, Ontario.
March 16, 1935
Séguin’s first arrest; he was ten years old.
March 25, 1939
Séguin released from reformatory; returns home to his parents.
September 27, 1939
Convicted of theft; returned to reformatory.
January 28, 1942
Convicted of break and enter; sentenced as adult to seven months in jail.
December 16, 1942
Sentenced to six months in jail for theft.
July 12, 1943
Convicted escaping lawful custody and other offences; given two more years.
August 25, 1944
Escapes from jail and goes on crime spree.
September 29, 1944
Joins Canadian Armed Forces to avoid being recaptured.
November 1, 1944
Séguin recaptured and sentenced to two years more.
January 22, 1945
Séguin dishonourably discharged from the Canadian Armed Forces.
December 7, 1946
Released from Kingston Penitentiary.
May 29, 1947
Convicted of break and enter; sentenced to two years in penitentiary.
February 8, 1952
Released from Kingston Penitentiary.
April 12, 1952
Burns house trailer; steals some of its contents, including a .22 calibre rifle.
August 16, 1952
Séguin murders Leonard Hurd.
August 22, 1952
Warrant issued for arrest of Séguin.
August 28, 1952
Séguin hired by lumber company; near Williams Lake, British Columbia.
October 2, 1952
Séguin, calling himself Henry Godin, meets Fred and Jean Labie.
October 25, 1952
Séguin’s unusual looking car found in a bush near Quebec border.
November 3, 1952
Jean leaves Fred.
November 7, 1952
Police begin questioning people around Williams Lake about Séguin.
November 8, 1952
Séguin, a.k.a. Godin, leaves Williams Lake with Labie for Kamloops.
November 14, 1952
Séguin and the Labies move into a duplex together.
November 17, 1952
Last time the Labies seen alive.
December 13, 1952
Séguins packs up and leaves Kamloops.
December 15, 1952
Séguin arrives in Williams Lake; robs bank.
December 16, 1952
Séguin shot and captured.
December 22, 1952
Police in B. C. learn than man in custody is Henry Séguin, not Godin.
January 8, 1953
Séguin released from hospital; placed in police cell.
January 12, 1953
Séguin appears at preliminary hearing.
January 17, 1953
Pleads guilty to three charges related to robbery; sentenced to five years.
March 16, 1953
British Columbia Court of Appeal dismisses Séguin’s appeal.
April 26, 1953
Transferred from B.C. to Kingston Penitentiary to appear on murder charge.
August 19, 1953
Preliminary hearing; bound over for trial.
October 26, 1953
Murder trial begins in Cornwall.
October 28, 1953
Found guilty and sentenced to hang on January 19, 1954.
December 15, 1953
Ontario Court of Appeal rejects Séguins appeal.
January 6, 1954
Asks Supreme Court for permission to appeal; justice of that court says no.
January 16, 1954
Stay sought; denied; B.C. officer questions Séguin about the missing Labies.
January 18, 1954
Federal government rejects application for clemency.
January 19, 1954
Minutes before being taken to scaffold Séguins commits suicide.
September 18, 1955
Remains of Labies and their dog found in British Columbia by worker.
February 15, 1956
Inquest into deaths of the Labies held; Séguin held to be their killer.
April 9, 1956
Remains of Fred and Jean Labie buried in Kamloops.
Walter Pavlukoff:
From British Columbia to Ontario
1929
Pavlukoff’s father dies.
1933
Nineteen-year-old Pavlukoff commits first crime.
1938
Twin sisters die of tuberculosis after long illnesses.
July 11, 1938
Arrested in Chicago on five counts of robbery; deported to Canada.
August 2, 1938
commits armed assault in Vancouver; sent to prison.
1940
Paroled; almost immediately commits robbery; sent to jail for three years.
March 9, 1944
Arrested with holster, mask, ammunition; gun found within a few days.
1945
Pavlukoff sentenced by Vancouver court to three years on gun charge.
August 25, 1947
Vancouver bank manager shot during bank robbery.
August 25, 1947
Clothes worn by Pavlukoff during robbery found; hat found in a different location.
August 26, 1947
Police find tailor who made suit; Pavlukoff charged with murder; warrant issued.
August 27, 1947
Pavlukoff shows up unannounced at shack near rural C.P.R. right of way.
August 28, 1947
Reward of $5,000 for arrest of Pavlukoff offered by bankers association.
August 29, 1947
Largest manhunt in history of British Columbia underway.
August 31, 1947
Revolver found on beach; a hotel key found in a different location.
September 2, 1947
Search comes up empty; authorities locate room occupied before bank robbery.
January 1, 1952
Sick and hungry, Pavlukoff taken to hospital; known as Ralph McRae.
May 23, 1952
Magazine runs photo of Pavlukoff; Toronto police receive tip he is in the city.
June 1952
Anonymous tipster tells police he has seen Pavlukoff on a Toronto street.
January 8, 1953
Pavlukoff Canada’s second most wanted man; arrested on Toronto street.
January 9, 1953
Killer breaks down in tears when advised he was being charged with murder.
January 11, 1953
Arrives in Vancouver; allowed to speak with his mother and sister.
January 12, 1953
Makes first appearance in Vancouver courtroom; remanded one week.
January 24, 1953
Pavlukoff identified in police lineup by a witness to the r
obbery.
January 26, 1953
Preliminary hearing begins; defence lawyer agrees to holding him for trial.
April 1, 1953
Pavlukoff found guilty of murder; sentenced to hang June 23, 1953.
July 8, 1953
British Columbia Court of Appeal denies Pavlukoff’s appeal.
July 8, 1953
Pavlukoff stabs himself to death after being advised; appeal rejected.
July 14, 1953
Inquest into Pavlukoff’s suicide adjourned for one week.
July 28, 1953
Pavlukoff’s execution date.
9: Pictures on the Dash
Owen “Mickey” Feener
1926
Cathy Essers born in Belgium.
1934
Kay Chouinor born.
1937
Mickey Feener born in Bridgewater, Nova Scotia.
1942
Dolly Woods born.
1945
Feener shot in the head; three months in hospital; given up by his parents.
1957
Twenty-year-old Feener marries a fifteen-year-old young woman.
1958
Cathy Essers immigrates; establishes a dress business in Nova Scotia.
March 26, 1959
Feener becomes father to a baby girl.
April 14, 1959
Dolly Woods disappears from Kirkland Lake rooming house.
October 1959
Feener receives careless driving ticket, which he does not pay.
October 1959
Feener’s wife charges him with not supporting her and their daughter.
June 1960
Skeleton of Woods discovered near Ontario-Quebec border; not identified.
July 1960
Essers moves to Toronto, where she meets Conrad Walther.
September 20, 1960
Thirty-four-year-old Essers disappears on way from Toronto to New Glasgow, Nova Scotia.
October 1, 1960
Essers reported missing by fiancé, Conrad Walther of Bradford.
October 1, 1960
Unidentified person attempted to cash a cheque drawn Esser’s account.
October 4, 1960
Feener appears at home of Kay Chouinor; she agrees to go out that evening.
October 4, 1960
Last time red-haired twenty-six-year-old Kay Chouinor seen alive.
October 5, 1960
Unidentified body (Essers) found in ditch near Fredericton.
October 5, 1960
Chouinor’s employers reports her missing.
October 5, 1960
Feener arrested in Kirkland Lake for failing to pay careless driving fine.
October 1960
Police reopen missing person investigation of Dolly Woods.
October 8, 1960
Investigators from Timmins interview Feener in his cell in Kirkland Lake.
October 8, 1960
RCMP in Fredericton charge Feener with offering an indignity to a body.
October 9, 1960
Badly beaten body of Kay Chouinor found near Timmins.
October 9, 1960
Feener charged with murdering Chouinor.
October 12, 1960
Feener remanded to October 26, 1960, for a preliminary hearing.
October 26, 1960
Feener remanded to trial in spring 1961.
December 1960
Feener granted a new preliminary hearing.
January 20, 1961
Feener remanded to trial at second preliminary hearing.
March 6, 1961
Feener’s trial in Cochrane, Ontario gets under way.
March 8, 1961
Jury convicts Feener of murder after deliberating fifteen minutes.
March 9, 1961
Two local newspapers found in contempt for coverage of trial.
May 15, 1961
Ontario Court of Appeal dismisses appeal from Feener’s conviction.
June 12, 1961
Feener confesses to murdering Dolly Woods.
June 13, 1961
Feener hanged at Haileybury Jail.
June 13, 1961
Police begin searching for the body of Dolly Woods.
June 14, 1961
Body of Dolly woods located on Quebec side of Ontario-Quebec border.
10: Skeletons Resurface
John Munroe:
Nobody Asked About Mother and Daughter
1839
John Munroe born in Ireland.
1840s
Munroes arrive in Canada, where father operates a lumberyard.
1849
Sarah Margaret Vail born.
1849
Mother of Sarah Margaret Vail dies.
1862
Munroe marries Annie Potts.
1862
Munroe and Annie become parents of their first child, a son.
1865
Munroe meets Vail at a community event near Vail’s home in Caledon.
1866
Munroe and his wife have their second child.
1867
Sarah Margaret Vail’s father dies; leaves her the family home.
1867
Munroe’s affair with Sarah Margaret Vail commonly acknowledged.
February 4, 1868
Sarah Margaret Vail gives birth to a baby girl, Ella May Munroe.
Summer 1868
Munroe visits Vail every Sunday in her home, remaining one hour each time.
Fall 1868
Munroe purchases a .22 calibre revolver.
early October 1868
Vail sells family home for $500; gives some of the money to Munroe.
late October 1868
Sarah travels with Munroe to Boston.
October 23, 1868
Vail checks into Brunswick Hotel as Mrs. Clarke; trunks arrive.
October 26, 1868
Vail goes for drive with Munroe; on return checks into the Union Hotel.
October 29, 1868
Vail and her baby scheduled to depart on a steamer for Boston.
October 30, 1868
Munroe and wife travel to Fredericton; begins planning murder of Vail.
October 31, 1868
Vail goes for drive with Munroe; Munroe murders Vail and their baby.
November 2, 1868
Munroe checks Vail’s trunks onto New England, a Boston-bound steamer.
September 12, 1869
Berry-pickers discover skeletons of Sarah Vail and her baby.
September 21, 1869
Munroe sentenced to hang for the murder of Vail and her baby.
September 29, 1869
Steamer New York returns Vail’s trunks to Saint John; were unclaimed in Boston.
late fall 1869
Munroe arrested and charged with Vail’s murder.
December 7, 1869
Munroe’s murder trial gets underway.
February 14, 1870
Munroe confesses to committing the two murders.
February 15, 1870
Munroe executed.
1870s
Annie Munroe changes her surname and that of her children to Potts.
1878
Annie remarries.
1924
Munroe’s son Frank Potts elected mayor of Saint John; dies in office.
Maurice Ryan:
Bones of a Brother
October 1, 1907
Nora McKeown agrees to manage brothel in North Bay for Francis Ryan.
October 1907
Francis refuses to loan $5 to brother Maurice.
November 17, 1907
Francis charged with keeping bawdy house; decides to leave North Bay.
November 1907
Francis closes one of his bank accounts; receives $550.
November 18, 1907
Maurice Ryan murders his brother Francis.
November 24, 1907
Ryan pays off debts in North Bay; no one know
s where money came from.
1908
James Ryan receives letters from brother Francis; but Francis cannot write.
1908
Farmer clearing bush discovers skeleton.
1909
Inquest finds Maurice killed his brother; Ryan committed to stand trial.
March 28, 1909
Maurice Ryan found guilty of murdering brother; to hang June 3, 1909.
May 20, 1909
Federal cabinet turns down Ryan’s request for clemency.