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Chapter Nine
King George VI Versus
Herbert Joseph McAuliffe
"Have been advised by Under-Secretary of State Governor General in Council will not interfere with sentence of death passed upon Joseph Herbert McAuliffe. Stop. Please acknowledge receipt by wire." W.B. Common, Director, Public Prosecutors. Canadian Pacific Telegraph – December 18, 1950, 12:22 pm to D.E.W. Tisdale, Crown Attorney, Simcoe. With receipt of this telegram, Herbert Joseph or Joseph Herbert McAuliffe, an inmate of the Norfolk county Jail, had less than twelve hours to live. If one wanted to contrast the way the man died with the way he lived, McAuliffe would be an interesting study. As tumultuous as was his life, so peacefully did he step on to the trap door only to fall victim to himself to an inept executioner. With McAuliffe, we come perilously close to the present day when events are not yet pure history but linger on in the life experiences of those families and friends who still live. Literary license has no place here. Because as real as the events described were, brought closer to our senses by photographs and memories, they were no less real to those who cared about the individuals involved than was a Sovereene or a Shelley. On June 17, 1950, Mr. John Dippel and family, residents of the City of Windsor, went to a move. Mr. Dippel parked his black '49 Meteor on Victoria Street returning at around eleven p.m. to discover it stolen. Four days later, Wednesday June 21st, the car with a heavily armed Herbert McAuliffe at the wheel, entered Langton, Ontario. The bank staff, Mr. H. Thompson, Mr. E. Stewart, Miss L. Leedham, Miss J. Plez and Mr. G. Gamble were present. One customer, Frank Hall, was also there waiting for his passbook. Miss Leedham, a teller, noticed a man get out of a car parked in front wearing a hat and dark sunglasses. He quickly entered and announced: "This is a stick up. Everyone get over in the corner and face the wall." He had a long barreled revolver. The teller cooly tripped the alarm which ran to Van Hooren's Garage down the street. The robber ordered Frank Hall to put the money in a paper shopping bag. Hall understandable nervous, dropped the bag which broke. Starting over, the robber produced another handgun. This time, it was a automatic pistol. What was to be a quick robbery was taking more time than McAuliffe anticipated. Time was running out. At Van Hooren's Garage, the ringing alarm caused the owner to come down the street to the bank. There had been earlier false alarms and he thought his was another one. Arriving at the bank, he looked in the window. What he saw, was the muzzle of a gun as was motioned inside. Hall, Van Hooren and another customer who had unwittingly arrived, were ordered into the bank's vault. With all the money he obtained from the vault the thief had too much cash to carry, so he ordered Frank Hall to carry it for him. Now the manager, who before the robbery had gone upstairs to his apartment, arrive and he too was ordered into the vault. By now sufficient time had gone by so all would later give a good description of the thief's appearance. Burdened with $22,575.00 (most of which would be recovered), the felon went out to the vehicle. But, the constant ringing of the bell had generated witnesses, a great number of witnesses outside the bank. The bags broke! Cash fell to the ground. The robber hurriedly threw the bags in the car but paused to pick up loose cash. He drove away speeding southbound and turned west on the 12th Concession. Witnesses had obtained a partial license plate number and had called the Police. The bank staff and customers exited, for upon closing the vault, the hurried robber had neglected to lock the door. Arthur Lierman and William Godden decided to give chase in Lierman's car. If they could have known what would happen, they never would have gotten in. Armed with a .22 caliber rifle, their initiative and courage would be no match for the heavily armed McAuliffe. In the countryside, Jerome Baecke had seen a car drive by and when Lierman and Godden stopped, he gave them directions. Godden took over driving and Lierman put the .22 caliber rifle in the front seat. The chase continued to King Lake Road. Lierman was seen by witnesses to be gaining on McAuliffe. A local farmer named Kyle, saw the cars race by with the barrel of the .22 rifle projecting from the passing vehicle. As the cars went around a curve, two shots were heard to ring out and McAuliffe's car went into the ditch. The Plymouth with Lierman and Godden inside, pulled up behind it and, there it would be found. A boy working in a field, heard shooting and saw cards slow. He then heard an "awful burst" of shooting. McCauliffe approached the Plymouth and raised a Thompson Submachine gun. He emptied the clip into Lierman and Godden's vehicle where they sat. The boy ran home and told his parents who called the Police. Over 30 rounds had been fired. Provincial Constable Rogers was first on the scene and found Godden and Lierman dead in the front seat. In the Meter was a great deal of cash. The hunt for the killer began. It would prove to be one of the largest in Ontario history with estimates of up to five hundred Police and civilians scouring the countryside for a man who was obviously, "armed and dangerous". McAuliffe was no Emerson Shelly. He was in unfamiliar territory and didn't know the ravines or woods so as to make his escape. The hue and cry had been raised throughout the community and McAuliffe was now on foot. On June 24th, it fell to a volunteer Graham Haggerty of Staffordville, to find McAuliffe holed up in a shack like a modern day John Wilkes Booth. The accused was arrested "in an extreme state of exhaustion, clothes torn, badly bruised and minus a shirt of any kind". Held at gun-point by Haggerty until Police arrived, McAuliffe's plan of daring robbery and unearned wealth, had come to an end. With the publication of his photograph in Southern Ontario newspapers, it was learned that the ex-Canadian Army Sergeant had told his landlady in Windsor that he was leaving town briefly to help a friend. The car theft from the Windsor cinema and the robbery were in fact, what followed. The evidence against McAuliffe would be overwhelming. Fingerprints of the accused matched those in the Meteor and on the guns and bullet casings. McAuliffe was picked out of a photo line-up. It was quickly established that McAuliffe's criminal career had begun shortly after the Second War with among other things, counterfeiting. What occurred was speedy justice by any standards. In an era before the fax machine, computer or four-lane highways, Canadian justice moved very swiftly. The Preliminary Inquiry was over before the end of August. McAuliffe remained in the Norfolk County Jail. The trial began in September at the Simcoe Court House with D.E.W. Tisdale appearing for the Crown and a young trial lawyer, Mr. Ed Ross for the accused. The trial ended after Jury deliberations of less than three hours when the foreman announced the guilt of the accused on two counts of murder. Mr. Justice R.W. Treleaven of the Supreme Court of Ontario intoned these words: "You are to be taken from here to the place from whence you came and there to be kept in close confinement until December 19, 1950. On that day, you will be taken to the place of execution and there be hanged by your neck until dead. And may God have mercy on your soul." McAuliffe was reported as calm throughout the entire proceeding. He appealed. With the highly respected Arthur Maloney, Q.C. of Toronto as his counsel, he argued before the Ontario Court of Appeal that the Trial Judge had made errors of law in his instructions to the Jury. Unsuccessful there, he filed an appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada but this also, was to no avail. The Supreme Court of Canada refused to hear his appeal in early December. Norfolk County Sherrif, R.M. Hamilton, watched over the condemned man. In his weeks, last days, and then last hours, he sought comfort in religion (as did Sovereene and Shelley). Father Bayer of St. Mary's Parish was with him. A few family members visited. The accused expressed his belief in an after life which, no doubt, he was soon to experience. On December 18, 1950, as midnight and the dawn of a new day approached, a crowd of two hundred people stood outside the Jail on Lot Street in Simcoe expecting to see something. They would be disappointed as the drama unfolded entirely indoors and out of view of the public eye. The hanging was botched. Dr. Keith MacIntosh (son of the Coroner who had presided over Shelley's execution in 1915), as the local Coroner saw the Dominion hangman miscalculate the drop and instead of the supposed scientific and painless death anticipated, the accused slowly strangled for over fifteen minutes. The only thing the waiting crowds would see would be the departure of the hearse. Time had run out for Herbert Joseph McAuliffe. He was buried the same day in an unmarked grave in St. Mary's Cemetery. |
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©
2005 Norfolk Law Association. All Rights Reserved. Last Updated: December
30th, 2006
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