The Depression era of the 1930s was a difficult time to live through, and a different kind of epidemic, one of the earliest forms of domestic terrorism, was putting fear in everyone across North America. A major wave of kidnappings rocked the continent, as petty thieves and organized crime syndicates alike found opportunity in the money to be made in the game of extortion.
This dangerous game even found its way to Wellington Village in 1937.
The famous case was that of the Charles Lindbergh baby, whose 1932 kidnapping became part of an explosion of cases, with a reported 3,000 cases that year alone. The rich and famous took out kidnapping insurance, hired bodyguards, and carried loaded weapons. “Recent Kidnappings in America” was published as a regular feature in the New York Times, and other publications began listing kidnappings in their pages alongside birth and death announcements.
The situation forced the federal government to act and create new federal laws, including the Federal Kidnapping Act. President Franklin D. Roosevelt championed the fight, working with J. Edgar Hoover, who was happy to give sensational public exposure to the work the FBI was doing.
On Dec. 27, 1936, 10-year old Charles Mattson was kidnapped from his living room in Tacoma, Washington, by a masked man with a handgun. The kidnapper left behind a ransom note seeking $28,000. The kidnapper was declared “Public Enemy Number One” and Hoover sent 40 agents to Tacoma to lead the investigation. Fifteen days later, on Jan. 11, 1937, the boy was tragically found by a hunter over an hour north near Everett. The kidnapping was never solved and remains an open FBI case.
New victims understandably held a growing fear that going to the police, or the media, could be catastrophic. Many felt that simply and quietly giving in to the demands of the captors would be easiest. Thus, a window of opportunity existed for those seeking to take advantage.
Such was the case in the west end of Ottawa, where in early 1937, residents began falling victim to this worrisome crime. Multiple cases were emerging in depression-era Kitchissippi, where a letter was received through the mail, threatening harm to a family member, unless a stated amount of money was paid. In many cases, the sums being demanded — as little as between $10 and $25 — were small enough that the receiver felt compelled to simply pay the money, and ensure their family member’s safety.
When the threats reached Kitchissippi
One such case occurred in Wellington Village on the heels of the Mattson case. On Jan. 13, two days after Mattson’s body was discovered, Gordon M. Andrews, of 66 Gilchrist Avenue, manager of the credit department of Bryson-Graham Ltd., received the first of three letters which stated: “If you don’t have the $100.00 by Thursday night, you won’t see your daughter Verna any more. Don’t show this to the police. I don’t fool. Will hear from me later. – K.K.K.X.”
Gordon’s daughter Verna was 19, and worked as a clerk at Parker’s Dye Works — where one could bring garments, rugs or drapes to be dyed a new colour for a new look or to fit a new colour scheme — at 716 Somerset Street West.
The next day, a second letter arrived stating: “Here are your orders, meet me at the corner of Bayview and Wellington at 8 p.m. Friday, and have the money with you. Have it in tens and twentys. If the police are there, you won’t see your daughter Verna after Saturday. I don’t fool. – K.K.K.X.”
As with the other cases that had been happening in the west end, the Andrews’ did not go to the police immediately. Gordon showed up at Bayview and Wellington at the prescribed time, but the letter writer did not appear. Meanwhile, through all this, Verna was kept at home under family watch.
On Jan. 17, at 4 p.m., Gordon Andrews received a phone call. The caller admitted to being the one who had written the notes, and asked Andrews “why the appointment for Friday night was not kept.” Andrews stated he had shown up. The caller then asked what about the money, to which Andrews replied: “I am on the spot and naturally I will pay the $100. But what guarantee will I have that Verna will be all right?”
The caller stated, “All I need is the money. You don’t need to worry about Verna if the money is paid” and suggested the money be put in an envelope and hidden next to a telephone post at the corner of Holland and Armstrong. The call ended suddenly when the caller hung up, “as though afraid of detection,” reported the Ottawa Journal. Gordon then decided the police needed to be involved.
The police were baffled. Inspector Mortimer Culver was put in charge of the investigation. Though Chief Inspector George McLeod felt it was likely kids behind the whole thing, the department was taking the threats seriously and began a hunt to find out who was behind the extortion.
The police had the phone company track the call coming into the Andrews’ home. Amazingly, they were able to trace the call as having originated at the Columbia Tea Room at 1041 Wellington Street, a short-lived coffee shop that was located across from St. Francois D’Assise Church. Officers were immediately sent to investigate, where employee Rene Caya gave details of two men who had recently used the phone.
The next day, a third letter was received by Andrews, which stated, “Last letter. Here are your last orders, and you better obey them. You know what happened to Mattson. Have a boy sixteen years of age at the same corner of Bayview and Wellington. If you let police know of this, God help your daughter.” The letter further indicated that the money was to be wrapped in paper, and placed under a large stone near a telephone pole on the lot, and was signed with the same “K.K.K.X.” signature.
Later that day, money was placed in the spot indicated, in the snow under a rock. Police detectives secretly watched the lot carefully all Monday night, but no one approached.
The local news media got wind of the story and wished to make a big deal out of it, splashing the story in Tuesday’s paper, which eventually became front page news by the end of the week.
Later that week, the police – following multiple leads – were able to identify a suspect. On Thursday afternoon, 20-year old Arthur Matthews of 103 Grange Avenue was arrested by Detective Albert Ouimet and Constable Modeste Desjardins. He was held without bail and charged with “demanding money by threat.”
There was a connection
As it turned out, Matthews was quite familiar with Verna Andrews. Not only had the pair attended school together, he had been put behind bars five years prior for auto theft after Verna testified against him in court.
Matthews had been in trouble with the law as far back as May 1928, when at age 11, Arthur was reported as running away from his home at 50 Clarendon Avenue. He stole two cars in 1932 at age 16 to go joy-riding at night. At his trial, the judge “remarked to the boy’s father that he did not appear to have much control over him.” By July 1934, he was out on probation and back living with his parents \, whereupon he stole a car and a bicycle, and was sent back to Reformatory.
He hadn’t been out long when he decided to take up extortion and threats of kidnapping as his new source of income. Whether he was involved in the other west end cases in late 1936 was never determined, but in the Andrews case, the evidence at his trial was damning.
A handwriting expert was called in and demonstrated there was “absolutely no doubt” the letters matched samples of Matthews’ own handwriting. The clerk at the Columbia Tea Room identified him. And his own friend, who had accompanied him to the Tea Room, squealed, perhaps upset he wasn’t going to profit from the illegal activity.
“The money was to be divided, but not with me,” William Kerr, the friend, stated in court.
Kerr witnessed him mail the third letter and also testified to giving Matthews “slugs” (fake coins) to use in the pay phone at the Tea Room. A Bell Telephone employee was called to court and testified to taking four slugs out of that telephone that week.
The defense attempted to present character evidence in an attempt to soften the sentencing blow. Matthews’ father blamed his son’s friends and the reading of too many detective story magazines which “were none too good for him” for getting him in trouble. The Judge agreed.
Meanwhile, Crown Attorney Raoul Mercier said “it was impossible to look upon the offences lightly. A stop had to be made to this type of crime in Canada as there was no desire here to follow the example of the United States.”
On the afternoon of March 22, Judge Francis L. Smiley in County Court sentenced Matthews to three years at Kingston Penitentiary on each of the two charges, to run concurrently. “Canada is no place for the emulation of criminals of the caliber who did the Mattson kidnap-murder in the United States,” stated Smiley at his sentencing.