HAMILTON SPECTATOR NEWSPAPER
Hamilton, Barton
Twp., Wentworth Co., Ontario, Canada
(found on microfilm
at the Hamilton Public Library, 44 York Street, Hamilton, Ontario)
UNDER CONSTRUCTION
Below
are some of the Newspaper Articles I have come across while researching my
family tree. Some
items were difficult to read, even with a magnifying glass, so I have added a
“( )” or “?” around the letter, word or date that I am unsure of and have added
what I think it looks like. If you see
in brackets (rest was cut off) that just means, that when I was copying the
page, I didn’t copy the whole thing, and cut off that particular item. You will have to check the microfilm, for the
remainder of the information. I have
highlighted the families (the ones that I know of), which are connected to ours
by using Bold
Type. Good luck in your search.
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NEWSPAPER ARTICLES…
GUN, MURDER, SUICIDE BY FORMER POLICEMAN - (photo's and illustrations
included) A 33 year old ex
Hamilton policeman shot and killed his estranged
wife before several witnesses yesterday, then drove several blocks away where
he put the muzzle of a shotgun into his mouth and killed himself. Ironically, Mrs. Ruby Brady, 30 year old
mother of two had telephoned Central Police Station late Monday afternoon and
reported that her husband, Bill, had threatened to kill her. She was told that police could not act on a
threat received by telephone, that witnesses were required before police could
take action. YESTERDAY in the service
department office of East - West Motors at the Greater Hamilton Shopping
Centre, the threat was carried out. Mrs.
Brady died instantly before the blast from a 12-gauge shotgun. Police said Brady, a husky ex-footballer and
a former Hamilton and Stoney Creek policeman from 1952 until 1956, walked
calmly into the East - West Motors office, stood at the counter amid several
employees and spectators, and called softly, "Ruby". Before anyone could move, Brady fired one
shell from the double barrelled shotgun into her neck. His wife slumped to the floor in a pool of
blood. THAT'LL FIX YOU, RUBY," he
said. Then he fired another shell into
the ceiling, turned around and walked outside.
He was followed outside by an unidentified salesman. Brady re-loaded his shotgun, and fired a
shot into the air, warning the salesman not to come any closer. Brady climbed into his father's 1955 auto,
drove out of the Centre along Vansitmart Street, and turned right onto
Strathearne Street. He drove along
Strathearne to Barton Street. He
stopped, and backed into a paved parking lot beside an apartment building at
315 Strathearn. HE PULLED the car into
a parking space, its nose against the red brick building, put the gun muzzle
into his mouth and pulled the trigger.
Detective Sergeant James Campbell, who headed the investigation, said
the action was definitely murder and suicide, but there was no suicide note
left. But inside a dresser drawer in
Brady's bedroom, detectives found a letter addressed to his two sons, telling
them of the family's troubles. It was
signed, "Daddy." Full
contents of the letter were not released.
A close family friend said Brady and his wife had been seperated for
about a year. He lived with his father,
William of 157 Albany Street. She and
the two sons, Billy, 8, and Michael, 5, shared an apartment with another woman
in a large apartment building about 500 feet from her office at East – West
Motors. THE TWO CHILDREN were happily
playing tag with other children in the small playground at the building when
their mother was shot. A priest broke
the news to them. The family friend,
who asked not to be identified, said Brady had tried to see his wife
continually during their seperation, but she didn't want to see him. She had taken him to Family Court several
times, he said, and Brady was warned to stay away from her. The friend said Mrs. Brady was becoming worried
about her husband's actions. IN HER
PURSE, detectives found a serrated steak knife with a 4 1/4 inch blade. Several people saw the crime, but police
would not release their names until full statements could be obtained. ONE WITNESS, who would not give his name to
reporters, said there were two female employees, three male employees, and one
or two customers in the office when Brady walked in. "He called his wife's name and fired before anyone knew what
was happening," the witness said.
"Then he banged the gun butt on the counter, fired into the
ceiling, turned around and walked out."
The witness said one customer saw Brady walk into the office holding a
gun, "but he thought it was a sales gimmick of some sort and didn't say
anything." The auto salesman who
walked outside after Brady, stopped in his tracks when the gunman fired a blast
into the air. "DISCRETION proved
the better part of valor," Sgt. Campbell said later. Brady's last drive was tracked by another
customer at East - West Motors, who had just had his car serviced. He saw Brady fire into the air, then get
into the car, so he decided to follow him.
The customer told police Brady drove very fast between the Centre and
the Strathearne Street parking lot.
"I realized when he stopped and backed into the parking lot that I
had acted on impulse in following him," he said. The customer said he jumped out of his car and ran to telephone
police when Brady stopped his car.
CONSTABLES Paul Skinulus and Thomas Cairns, aware that Brady was wanted
in connection with a shooting, approached his parked car with revolvers drawn,
but he was already dead. he was slumped
over the steering wheel, the shotgun cradled in his arms. Due to confusion, the two bodies remained in
their death position for close to an hour before being removed. On Strathearne Street, more than 100
morbidly curious spectators gave police a hard time as they strained for a
closer look at Brady's shattered head.
At East - West Motors, the office, with Mrs. Brady lying on the floor,
was sealed off to all but detectives.
THE CORONER, Dr. Harold Bulford, was in Winona when notified that he was
to handle the case. he said he told
police he would see the bodies at the morgue, but his orders were apparently
misunderstood. Mrs. Harvey Hignell, 156
Albany Street, was one of the last persons to see Brady alive. "Just a little after noon hour, I saw
him take a long case out of the car...I thought it looked like a gun,' she
said. "He got into his dad's
car. His was parked across the street." James Brady, the dead man's brother, said
Brady had been "upset' recently.
"HE WAS WORKING at Stelco, but got laid off," he said. "So he was working for an old football
chum." The old football chum was
Bud Guay, part owner of Guay and Lakeman Roofing. Brady and Guay played on the Hamilton football team which won
four Canadian championships. Brady's
father got an inkling of the tragedy when he heard of a shooting at East - West
Motors on a radio broadcast. He rushed
to the auto agency, where he almost collapsed after being told what had
happened. Mr. Brady told reporters his
son had lived with him for about a year, "but I hadn't seen him this
afternoon." Two full detective
teams were assigned to the investigation.
One, including Acting Det. Sgt. Claude Barrett, and Dets. Ron Barby and
Vern Cummings, worked from East - West Motors.
The other, including Det. Sgt. Campbell, and Dets. Keith Farraway and
Cyril Sullivan, worked from Strathearne Street. (17 Apr 1963)
HEARD MURDERERS' GUN BLAST CHASED VEHICLE ACROSS CITY - A 29 year old
steelworker, Hans herres, who was "too mad" to think of the danger,
pursued Bill Brady of 1941 Upper Gage Avenue through rushhour traffic after the
murder of Mrs. Brady and tried to cut off the Brady vehicle with his own small
foreign car. A mechanic had just
finished fixing Herres' car when Mr. Herres heard that Mrs. Brady had been
killed. "I WAS MAD, so I chased
him," said Mr. Herres. Dective
Sergeant James Campbell, in charge of the murder-suicide investigation, praised
Mr. Herres for his courage. Unable to
shake off the steelworker who stayed yeard behind him, Mr. Brady pulled off of
Strathearne Avenue and parked. MOMENTS
LATER he shot himself. "I knew
Bill Brady, he was a good officer on the force. If he had been in a house, with that shotgun, we would have had
trouble," said Dective Campbell.
Fleeing from East - West Motors after shooting his wife, Bill Brady sped
across the Centre crowded with rush-hour shoppers and cars. "He swerved south and then east again,
trying to shake me off." said Mr. Herres.
"I could see him watching me in his mirror." At the Kenilworth exit, the Brady car nearly
struck a black car across its path as it darted onto Vansitmart Street. "I WAS FIVE or six yards behind. I took a chance and drove through a gap
between two stopped cars,' recalled Mr. Herres. The cars turned South on Strathearne Avenue where, blocked by a
red light and a stream of traffic, Brady raced backward and swung into an
apartment parking lot. "I tried to
pull along side of him on Strathearne but he sped away," said Mr. Herres,
who said he was close enough to see the gun propped up against the front seat
of the Brady car, he added. While Brady
parked, Mr. Herres jumped from his car and warned a man standing on the
sidewalk: "Watch out, he's got a rifle and he's killed a man," he
said. "THE MAN smiled at me as if
he didn't believe it," he said. He
rushed to a house to the north of the parking lot and asked a man to call
police. "He didn't seem to believe
me either." "But he called
and his wife came to the door. I told
her to get back. We heard a muffled
explosion from the car which was just out of sight around the
corner." WITHIN TWO minutes of the
call, he said, a motorcycle officer and a cruiser constable arrived. (The officers were Constables Paul Skinulus
and Thomas Cairns,) "One approached hugging the wall of the apartment, the
other crept up on the passenger side of the car," he added. However, Brady was dead. (17 Apr 1963)
WILL HOLD INQUEST - SHE EXPECTED TO BE KILLED - Authorities decided today
that an inquest will be held into the murder-suicide deaths of Ruby Brady and
her husband, Bill. It is believed that
the Crown will call morality officers who dealt with Mrs. Brady in the period
between her seperation from her husband last fall and her death two days
ago. Inspector Arthur Robson, said
today that he expects the mortality officers to be called to tell of their
visits to Mrs. Brady. MRS. BRADY
telephoned to the morality department on the day before her death saying that
her husband had threatened to kill
her. A close family friend told
reporters that Mrs. Brady had turned her insurance policies over to relatives
in the belief that she would be killed.
When she died, Mrs. Brady was carrying a 4 1/2 inch steak knife in her
purse. A SENIOR POLICE officer pointed
out today that there is a great body of special law dealing with family
troubles. Police officers are limited
in what they can do to interfere between a husband and wife, he said. "Charges against members of a family
laid by other members must come through the family court before police can
act," said Inspector Robson. MEANWHILE,
Dective Sergeant James Campbell, in charge of the murder-suicide investigation,
appealed to the public for help in finding a missing witness, believed to have
been watching William Brady's car at the time he shot himself. "This witness can clarify for the
inquest the question of whether a second party could have come anywhere near the
Brady car," he said. He stressed
the fact that police do not believe a second party did approach the car before
Mr. Brady shot himself. "IT'S JUST
that we must prove through the testimony of witnesses and other evidence, to
the best of our ability, that there can be no other explanation for Bill
Brady's death than suicide," he said.
The witness was seen by Hans Herres, a 29 year old steelworker who
chased Brady from the murder scene to the place of his death. As Mr. Herres was running from his small foreign
car to a nearbye house to phone police concerning the whereabouts of the
killer, he saw a man standing on the sidewalk.
"I WARNED HIM that the man in the car was armed and a killer but he
just smiled...I don't think he believed me," said Mr. Herres. After police arrived, the missing witness
was still at the scene, Mr. Herres told police. Detectives armed with a partial description are looking for this
man to help with the inquest, they said."
(18 Apr 1963)
POOR LAWS ARE CITED IN KILLING - The death of Mrs. Ruby Brady, who was shot
by her husband Tuesday, was termed an "unnecessary tragedy"
today. Mrs. Brady's husband, William,
committed suicide shortly after killing his wife. Mrs. Dawna Sloan, president of Parents Without Partners, offered
this opinion about Mrs. Brady's death as a reflection of what the members of
the organization felt. Mrs. Brady
belonged to Parents Without Partners, a city group made up of single partners
of marriages, who happen to be alone because of divorce, seperation or the
death of a partner. "We feel
someone should speak out and name what happened as an unnecessary tragedy and
not a sordid sensation," Mrs. Sloan said.
Mrs. Brady had joined Parents Without Partners last summer when told of
the organization's benefits for single parents who wished their children to
share outings with others living with a mother or father alone. "We knew Ruby Brady and her boys and we
knew how hard she tried to make life bearable for her sons," said Mrs.
Sloan. "We know also how little
help authorities were able to five her.
It is a fact our courts are hampered by inadequate laws to cover these
things." MRS. SLOAN said there
were others in the group who lived in fear because their lives were threatened
by husbands from whom they were seperated.
Mrs. Brady had telephoned police Monday to report her 33 year old
husband had threatened to kill her. She
was told police could not act on a threat received by telephone and that
witnesses were required before police action could be taken. "Ruby was afraid to turn out to the
last couple of meetings because she was afraid to go out at night," Mrs.
Sloan said. (18 Apr 1963)
WITNESS TO SUICIDE REPORTS TO POLICE - The missing witness to the suicide
of William Brady has been located.
Detective Keith Farraway said today "This will complete the
investigation into the suiide of Bill Brady." Police have asked that the name of the witness be withheld until
a formal statement for a forthcoming inquest has been completed. SERGEANT of Detectives John Wade received a
phone call from the witness last night.
"He read in the Spectator that they were looking for a man who was
watching the car from the time it parked until the time police arrived,"
the witness' wife told Spectator reporters.
"He was jus coming home from work when the two cars came up
Strathearne Street," she said.
POLICE HAD appealed through the press to the missing witness after
learning that a man had watched the Brady car during the time when he is
believed to have died. A 29 year old steelworker,
who chased Brady from the scene of his wife's death to the place of his
suicide, told police that he saw a man standing on the sidewalk in view of the
Brady car. No date has been set for the
inquest into the deaths of William Brady and his wife, Ruby. (19 Apr 1963)
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THAT’S ALL FOLKS!