John Alexander Renton

John A. Renton was the son of John Renton AKA Jack Renton 
He was apparently murdered, still unsolved.

Found these Vancouver Sun newspaper articles from the time

1932 September 20

The S.Bowell & Sons information card

1932 September 21

After this date nothing appears to be mentioned.

Philip Windsor

Mentioned in an Order-in-Council dated the 7^th of August, 1951.

    Philip Windsor,( 12 June 1916 — 12 June 1952 )  Philip attempted suicide, while at Port Alberni; he was sentenced to six months at Oakalla prison, in Burnaby. While there he was classified as possibly mentally ill and sent to Essondale for investigation.
       Philip’s parents were: Philip Pellow Windsor ( 1892  —  1966  ), and Elizabeth Johnston,( 1893 — 1949 )
          Philip was determined, and it appears that about five months after his release,
he hung himself in a room  at the Dunsmuir Hotel in New Westminster, B.C., on his birthday.


ca.1910 Thompson's Livery "First Cars for Hire". Building was converted by Sam Thompson and became Dunsmuir Hotel. On 8^th Street. Below on 8^th and Columbia is the Central Hotel (with flag), the C.P.R. station and (left) no sign of the B.C.E.R. depot which was extended to the corner c.1911. According to John Thompson of White Rock, who is the grandnephew of Samuel Hevelock Thompson, these vehicles and buggies all belonged to Samuel Thompson. Sam Thompson is seated in the buggy drawn by one horse.   photo: NWPL 1839
 

Dunsmuir Hotel, ca.1950 42 Eighth Street. 
   photo: Croton Studio.  NW Archives: IHP10162-001

Eighth Street and Front Street. - ca. 1982.
Photograph shows a view of Eighth Street looking up towards Columbia. This photo was taken before the construction of the Skytrain station. Wosk's Department Store (former BCER depot) is on the right and the Hotel Dunsmuir (demolished in 1982) is visible on the left.
photo: NW Archives IHP9212

 4 June 1952  The Vancouver Sun

Windsor, Phillip, late of 324 Richmond Street, Steveston. Passed away June 12, 1952, age 36 years.
Survived by his father P.P. Windsor; 2 brothers, Norman Windsor and George Windsor ; 1 sister, Mrs. Grace Elizabeth Sturgeon, neé Grace Elizabeth Windsor ( 1918 ― marriage ― 1983 ) all of Steveston. Funeral services will be held in Columbia Funeral Chapel, New Westminster, Monday June 16 at 3:30 p.m. Rev. J.H. Armitage officiating. Internment at Fraser Cemetery, New Westminster, B.C.

William Morris Freeman

Order-in-Council 17^th of February 1958 William Morris Freeman, charged with two counts murder, Burnaby, remanded to Oakalla prison. Sent from there to Essondale for a psychiatric evaluation.

He murdered his wife, Audrey Mae Freeman and daughter Pauline Anne Freeman, at their home on 4421 Darwin Avenue, in Burnaby

Audrey Mae Freeman neé Audrey Mae Hearn ( Vancouver, B.C. 12 February 1925 - 29 January1958 )    parents: James Francis Hearn,( 1897-1981 ) and Dorothy Lillian Jones, ⁽¹⁾Dorothy Lillian Hearn ⁽²⁾Dorothy Lillian Jackson ( 1899 – 1985 ) who were married from 1923  until 1940 when they divorced.         
Pauline Anne Freeman ( Vancouver, B.C. 6 February 1953 – 29 January 1958 Burnaby, B.C. )   

William Morris Freeman ( Vancouver, B.C. 25 November 1924 – 22 April 1958 Essondale, B.C. ) parents: James Freeman, and Hilda Pearl Russell.  Two and half months later he hung himself with a sheet from the top step of a ladder while washing windows.

29 January 1958  The Vancouver sun
Mother, Tot Slain in Bloody Affray

      A four-year-old girl and her mother are dead following a bloody knife-axe affray in a neat Burnaby home early today. The father and a second daughter, eight are in hospital suffering from stab wounds.
RCMP said the husband went berserk, attacking his wife and children and then tried to kill himself.

Dead are: Mrs. Audrey Freeman, about 32.
Pauline Freeman, 4.
In hospital are William Freeman, about 36, and Doreen Freeman, 8.

HIT WITH AXE

Police said circumstances indicated Freeman's stab wounds were self-inflicted.
He was forced into a strait-jacket to be taken to hospital.
Mrs. Freeman was reported to have been struck several times with an axe.
Pauline was stabbed through the heart.
Doreen suffered several stab wounds but none were serious, police said.

CHILD FLEES

    Investigators believe the family was eating breakfast in the kitchen of their home at 4421 Darwin, when the grim attack broke out.
The wife apparently was attacked first with an axe, followed by the knifing of the two girls.

Mother, Girl, 4, Slain in Burnaby

Doreen ran out of her home to that of a neighbour, Robert Gatter, 4415 Darwin. She was taken from there to Burnaby General Hospital in the same ambulance in which her father lay strapped into the jacket.

Discovery of the tragedy was made by Freeman's partners in Crest Painting Contractors, Norman Thompson, 1106 Cottonwood, Burquitlam, and George Farquhar, 432 Third Street, New Westminster.
Thompson and Farquhar heard screaming and raced upstairs to find the grisly scene, police said.

Police said that Pauline appeared to have been stabbed while she was in bed in a back bedroom.
Mrs. Freeman was found lying in the front bedroom in a semi-conscious condition and moaning.

HELP SOUGHT

Freeman, when police arrived on the scene, was standing in the front hall.
Mrs. Robert Lang, 4275 Moscrop Street, two doors from the Freeman home, said that Mr. Gatter came to the back door of her home and said" You better come quick. "I think Mrs. Freeman is ill."
Mrs. Lang told Mr. Gatter to call a doctor, who lived nearby.
Mr. Gatter said "I went into the kitchen of the freeman home. "I saw Bill standing in the doorway of the kitchen.
"Blood was streaming from a wound in his neck.
" I asked what's the trouble, Bill?"
"He replied, I've had it. I've had it."
" I heard a girl screaming in the bedroom.
"I saw Doreen siting on her mother's bed, holding her side.
"She appeared to be hurt.
"Mrs. Freeman was lying on the floor. She was covered with blood. I was certain that she was dead.
"the smaller Freeman child was also lying on the floor.
"I was quite certain that she was dead."
Mr. Gatter said that Freeman had driven off his partners with a knife when they burst into the house from the basement.
Police said Pauline was pronounced dead on arrival at Burnaby General Hospital.

HEAD WOUND

    Freeman was reported to have a stab wound in the head and three other wounds in the chest. They said that they expected him to survive
the Freeman home, a neat stucco bungalow with green trim was built by Freeman himself. The family had lived in it for about a year.
Mrs. Lang said that Freeman worked late at night to finish the house for his family
Mrs. Freeman died in Burnaby General Hospital at 10:15 a.m., just about two hours after the tragedy was discovered.
Mrs. Lang said Mr. Gatter came out of the Freeman house and one of Freeman's partners was weeping as he sat on the steps.
Carl King 4445 Darwin Ave., said that Freeman had painted his home about six weeks ago.
Mr. King said that at that time Freeman appeared to be worried about financial matters and business troubles.

 

25 April 1958 The Vancouver Sun
Man charged in Slayings, Suicides

New Westminster ― A 34-year-old man charged earlier this year with the murder of his wife and daughter, hanged himself at the Provincial Mental Hospital at Essondale.
He was William Morris Freeman, formerly of 4421 Darwin Ave., Burnaby, scene of the double slaying on January 29.

NOTE: a very sad story all around. No idea what happened to Doreen Freeman, who must have been permanently affected by all of this trauma.

Czeslaw Pupkowski AKA Chester Pupkowski

Order-in-Council of the 28^th of May 1956 Czeslaw Pupkowski, charged with murder, committed to trial at Victoria 19^th of April 1956. Sent to Essondale from Oakalla prison, since he is possibly mentally ill.

26 March 1956 The Vancouver Sun
Victoria Man Charged With Murder

Victoria (CP) --- Chester Pupkowski, 48, was charged Saturday night with the murder of  his wife.
Police found the battered, slashed body of Cecilia Pupkowski on the kitchen floor of the family home.
While one group of police investigated at the house a second detachment was pulling Pupkowski from the sea nearby.
Neighbours reported screams coming from the Pupkowski home Saturday afternoon.
then Pupkowski, smeared with blood, hurried from the house stumbled down the steep path to the Holland Point beach,(561 Dallas Road) and waded out to sea, police said.
A neighbour, George Warwick,(122 Clarence St. ) told police he was standing with a friend in his driveway when he heard screams from the Pupkowski house.
"Mrs. Pupkowski screamed blue murder for five seconds but then everything was quiet," Warwick said.
" I called the police when I saw Pupkowski come out of the house and hurry down the street.
"He was half running and half walking, and he kept looking straight in front of him."
The Pupkowski's only child Milo Pupkowski, 8, was not at home at the time of the slaying; police later took him for shelter to a private home.

So Czeslaw Pupkowski AKA Chester Pupkowski murdered his wife, Cecylia Pupkowski AKA Cecilia Pupkowski nee Cecylia  Rzepnikowska( Poland 1917 - 24 March 1956 Victoria, B.C.  inside their home at 129 Clarence Street, Victoria, B.C. she is buried at Colwood Cemetery, Victoria. She was working as a vegetable cook at the Empress Hotel prior to her death. Her parents were: John Rzepnikowska and Wladyslawa Zbonkovska.
The family had only lived in Canada for five years, and three of those in the Victoria area. 

Found online: 

My grandparents, Czeslaw and Cecylia Pupkowski, were married in Dabrowice Kuto Poland in 1939. They had two sons (one died in Poland or Germany - unknown) the second of which was born in the Polish camp in Boblingen in Germany in 1948. The three of them moved from Germany to Australia for a short time then to Canada by approximately 1952. My grandfather's parents were Aleksandr Pupkowski and Veronika Chojnacka. My grandmother's parents were John Rzepnikowska and Wladyslawa Zbonkovska. I am seeking any and all information including, but not limited to, my family history and possible living relatives. I never met my grandparents and know nothing of my family other than that what is shared here. Any information or direction is greatly appreciated.
Sincerely, Neva P

      So I guess that the child born in Boblingen, Germany in 1948 is Milo Pupkowski, whereabouts unknown, possibly adopted; the adoptive parents changing his name.

Another Order-in-Council dated the 15^th of January 1976 mentions that the government needs to prove once and for all that he is insane, since he was never tried in court.

NOTE: So the hospital had him for twenty years, before they realized that something needs to be done.  No idea what happened to Czeslaw Pupkowski, could not find him in the BC Archives, unless he died after 1993, since the records are still private after 1993. I will probably find him in the Essondale cemetery, eventually.   Milo where are you?

Thomas William Trowsdale

Found this incident in the Order-in-Council records; and followed the story along

On Sunday the 19^th of February 1950 a female patient escaped ran into river, Mr. Thomas William Trowsdale,( Matsqui, B.C. 17^th of April 1926 –10th of September 1950 ) hospital attendant followed and rescued her. Trowsdale ruined his clothes in the process, and the business manager recommends that the government pay $75 to replace his clothes. The Bureaucrats reply :  NO authority to do so.

He had been a Attendant for a year; his parents were Nelson William Trowsdale (1899 - 1948   ) and Miriam Austin . Their marriage certificate 

The Vancouver Sun,  September 12th, 1950

  Pilot's error blamed for surrey crash.

   Cloverdale, Sept. 12.--- Death by misadventure due to pilot's error was the verdict here Monday into the death of student pilot Thomas Trowsdale, 24, of 1790 Cassie Street, Burnaby, who was killed while flying his light plane in Surrey Sunday.

         The dead pilot's prospective father-in-law Russell Mitchell, on whose farm the plane crashed, testified the plane was about 350 feet above the house when it banked and "seemed to flip over" and dived into the ground.
The plane which was owned by Skyway air Services Thomas had taken off from Langley airport and had circled the Mitchell home at 112 Johnson Road [ Johnston Road today is 152^nd Street, Surrey.   ] before the crash.

Thomas is buried at Ocean View Burial Park, Burnaby. The death certificate states that his wife was, Faye Osrowe; also that the plane crashed near the corner of Johnston and Hjorth  [which today is 104^th Ave. ] which is the general area of todays Guildford mall area in Surrey.
Conflicting information about his marital state, is it this Faye Osrowe [ which appears to be a typo ] or was he engaged to  unknown Mitchell ?

Robert Amos

Searching through the Order-in-Council records I came across an entry for a staff member who died.

Order-in-Council 30^th of July 1954  Robert Amos,( Denholm, Hawick Scotland 19th of May 1894 – 21st of July 1954  Colony Farm, Coquitlam, B.C.  ) Bob Amos was a psychiatric nurse who worked for 10 ½ years at Essondale .  Upon his death his widow, Amy Amos nee Oliver (1897 - 1983  )  gets the typical three months salary.

         But at the bottom of the letter it mentions that Robert Amos died immediately after being struck by a patient.

The official death certificate does not mention this mitigating factor at all.

The death certificate states that after an autopsy these were the findings: Acute Cardiac dilatation; coronary thrombosis, myocardial infarction, coronary arteriosclerosis with stenosis; myocardial fibrosis.

Robert Amos, parents were, William Amos, and Janet unknown, both from Scotland.  He signed up to serve his adopted country in World War One, at Edmonton in 1915, No.: 433009 where you will find his complete WWI record.  Robert married Amy Oliver on the 27^th of February 1919 at Barton Upon Irwell, Lancashire, England.   He is buried in Mountain View Cemetery in Vancouver, B.C.

22 July 1954 The Vancouver sun
DEATHS
Amos — Passed away suddenly on July 21^st, 1954, Robert Amos, late of Pipe Line Road, Coquitlam, age 60 years. He leaves to mourn his loving wife, Amy. He served as a corporal in the original 49^th Edmonton regiment, 1915-1918 and as Sergeant 6^th Field Co., R.C.E., Vancouver 1940-1944. Funeral service on Friday July 23^rd in the Garden Hill Chapel, Port Coquitlam at 2:00 p.m. Rev. H. Harris, officiating. Internment Soldiers' Plot, Mountain View Cemetery.

January 1955, No.59 Forty-Niner

Amos, Robert — Robert Amos of Coquitlam, B.C., suffered a heart attack July 21^st, at the age of 60. Sid Rowden and A.G. Rowland, assisted be Legionnaires from Coquitlam, acted as Pallbearers. He is survived by his wife, Amy. Bob will be best remembered as one of those stalwart boys of the Transport Section where he held the rank of Corporal — and what a grand bunch of fellows they were. He also served as Sergeant in the 6^th Field Company, R.C.E., in Vancouver from 1940 to 1944. The large number of friends and neighbours attending the funeral testified to the high esteem in which Bob was held in the community. Hec Stevenson, Jack Swanson, and Mrs. Geordie Swanson represented the Association.

NOTE: I have frequently found that the death certificates, do not tell the complete story of the cause of death, this is a prime example.

As far as I could find out, Robert Amos and Amy Oliver, had no children.

Nurse Little and her dissolving ring

Sometimes the day in the life of a nurse can be interesting.

     Order-in-Council 20^th of January 1955
On December 8^th, 1954, Mrs. L. Little, psychiatric nurse, at the Provincial Mental Hospital, Essondale, during the normal course of her duties was taking the blood pressure of a patient when the mercury escaped from the sphygmomanometer  into her left hand. Whilst endeavouring to confine the mercury to the table the mercury came into contact with the wedding ring being worn by Mrs. L. Little.
Approximately one hour later the ring fractured and was completely ruined.
Mrs. L. Little has submitted a claim in the sum of $21.00 being the value of the ring so destroyed.
We recommend that Mrs. L. Little be paid the sum of $21.00 in full settlement of the aforementioned claim.

    The council agreed and paid up.

Made me think that there must have been other mercury spills, from thermometers, medical equipment and industrial controls through the years, and I wondered if they were cleaned up properly?  It is amazing to watch mercury dissolve gold, and other metals

Samuel Hayes Williams

Samuel Hayes Williams ( England 1867? -  3 October 1940 Essondale, Coquitlam, B.C., buried at Woodlands cemetery, New Westminster, B.C. )

The Directories for Vancouver give some hints about Samuel’s life

Nothing in the Vancouver directories prior to 1918, makes me wonder if he came here from England after the war; or possibly elsewhere in the country

1919-1922 janitor for the McLaughlin Motor Car Co., Ltd., residing in the  Central Park area of Burnaby

Two views of McLaughlin Motor Car Co. Ltd., 1219 Georgia Street, Vancouver, B.C.
photo by: W.J. Moore ca.1920-1921    Vancouver Archives A09826

McLaughlin Carriage Company Ltd. B.C. Branch 1219 Georgia St.
Photo by: S. Thomson 1918     Vancouver Archives A17673

So it appears that he kept the above building clean.

1923    engineer  home was on 4219 Irmin Street, Burnaby
1924 – 1925    painter and decorator
1926    engineer
1927         retired
1928 – 1929    labourer for Burnaby municipality
1930 – 1934      gardener
1935 – 1940        Samuel is retired, still living at 4219 Irmin Street in Burnaby

      5^th of June 1940 Order-in-Council  Samuel Hayes Williams on the 25^th of December 1939 shot and wounded Edwin Simpson with a shotgun in Burnaby. Samuel was held at Oakalla prison; and a jury found Samuel unfit to stand trial because of insanity, so the Order-in-Council was to send him to Essondale hospital for evaluation.

Edwin Simpson,( Leeds, Yorkshire 1880 - 1959 )  worked as a coremaker/ mouldmaker, at the Terminal City Iron Works. He lived at 4255 Rumble Street, in Burnaby. Edwin’s parents were Robert Simpson, and Eliza Inman
Samuel Hayes Williams and Edwin Simpson’s backyards would have adjoined each other.  
Edwin was married in 1913 to Maude Pavitt? (Parett?) ( 1891 – 1937 ) his second marriage was to Marjorie Lief McGuiness,( 1884 – 1970 ) neé Marjorie Lief Laing.  Marjorie was a widow of Charles McGuiness ( 1881 – 1941 )

       After being held at Oakalla prison for nearly six months Samuel Hayes Williams was sent to Essondale hospital where he spent the last four months of his life, he died on the 3^rd of October 1940 at Essondale, an autopsy was done and cause of death was coronary sclerosis; arteriosclerosis, and arteriosclerotic dementia

He was prepared for burial by Bowell and Sons, funeral parlour in New Westminster, Samuel Hayes Williams was finally buried in the Woodlands cemetery, at New Westminster, B.C.

The death certificate states that he was here for 40 years, single, and Church of England, was his faith.

Constance Moody

Constance Moody was born on the 17^th of June 1917 at Prince Rupert, B.C.
Her parents were Adam Moody and Harriet ?

The 1911 Canada census, finds the family living at  Kitkatla
Adam Moody born in 1888  was a fisherman
Wife: Harriet Moody 1881
Eliza Moody, born in 1901 married in 1919  Jacob Astes (which is probably wrong, his last names appears to be frequently miss-spelled as Astes, Aster, Astor. Jacob Astor 1885 – 1962 )
Reuben Moody, born at Kitkatla 1903 - 1971 Prince Rupert, B.C. 
Lizzy Moody , born in 1907
Constance was not born yet, but from this census list I would assume that there are more siblings in the family.

      On the 29^th of March 1940 and Order-in-Council, states that Constance Moody was
convicted at Prince Rupert, B.C. the 3^rd of January 1940 of attempted suicide, sentenced by Thomas McClymont, police Magistrate to one year, at Oakalla prison.  The Order-in-Council was done so that under section 970 of the Criminal Code, Constance Moody, could be sent to Essondale hospital, since she was deemed to be insane.

Fours years latter on the 11^th of April 1944  Constance Moody died at Essondale, with the primary cause being Tuberculosis, and a secondary cause of being considered an imbecile. Constance was a single, native woman of the Anglican faith, and she is buried at the Woodlands cemetery, at New Westminster, B.C.

Violet Mary Mulwain

 Violet Mary Mulwain neé Violet Mary Hudson    ( 1909 – 1944 )
Violet used her middle name Mary Hudson / Mary Mulwain throughout her short life.
Born in 1909 at New Kitselas

Parents were  Harriet Hudson neé  Harriet Edgar ( Port Simpson 1870 - 1968 Terrace  )
    and Joseph Hudson ( 1879 - 1956 TB at the Miller Bay Indian hospital, Prince Rupert )

The 1911 Canada census finds the family living at Kitselas, and listing her father Joseph Hudson was working as a fisherman.

In 1929 at Terrace, B.C. Violet Mary Hudson, married Alfred Moses Mulwain  the marriage certificate states that a William Tait and Bertha Tait are her parents, which is wrong. Both were 21 years old, and could read and write.

On the 25^th of November 1941 an Order-in-Council was signed moving Mary from Oakalla prison to Essondale Hospital
Prior to that on the 15^th of September 1941, Mary was convicted of vagrancy, by W.D. Vance, Esq., Police Magistrate Prince Rupert, to six months in Oakalla prison and an additional one month if a fine of $50 not paid.
     The Order-in-Council moved her to Essondale where Mary would die 35 months later of Tuberculosis.

Mary died on the 13^th of November 1944 at Essondale hospital. the death certificate states that home was at Kitselas, and that she was Not a registered Indian ( even though her parents were both native )  tuberculosis was the primary cause of her death, but the secondary cause states that she was, feeble minded and a moron. Something that she must not have been earlier in her life since she was married and could read and write.

Violet Mary Hudson is buried at the Woodlands cemetery, in New Westminster, B.C.

NOTE: Tuberculosis ravaged the natives in this area, it was a frequent cause of death.  Apparently some of the worse cases were frequently moved south to the Lower Mainland and taken care of.