Edwin Alonzo Boyd

Edwin Alonzo Boyd, 1952

Edwin Alonzo Boyd (born April 2, 1914 in Toronto , Ontario , Canada , † May 17, 2002 in Victoria , British Columbia , Canada) was a Canadian bank robber and leader of the Boyd gang. His career made him a well-known Canadian folk hero.

Childhood and youth

Edwin Alonzo Boyd was born on April 2, 1914. Four months after Edwin was born, the British Empire, of which Canada was a part, declared war on Germany . His father, Glover Boyd, joined the army in August 1915. It would be a few years before Glover returned. When the father got home the apartment became too small and the family moved to Bee Street in Todmorden , an area across the Don Valley in East York . Soon after, Edwin's mother, Eleanor, became pregnant again, and Glover Boyd took a job with the Toronto Police Department . Edwin started school for the period 1921–1922. Before the first year of school was over, the family moved again and he switched to Gledhill Public School until the end of the semester. In September 1923, the Glover family moved a few blocks north and Edwin moved to Secord Public School for a brief period before going back to Gledhill Public School. The Boyds soon moved on, this time on Glebemount Avenue. Ed changed schools again, this time to the Earl Beatty Public School and it was here that Ed could develop. He became a soccer player on the school team and for years his picture hung in school. At that time he became a member of the YMCA brass band. At the YMCA, Boyd learned to master the harmonica so well that he accompanied the YMCA band when they won a championship at the Canadian National Exhibition .

In the early 1930s, siblings Gord and Norm Boyd developed scarlet fever , and while Eleanor Boyd was caring for them, she developed it herself and died. Edwin first came into conflict with the law in 1933 when he was apprehended by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police for vagrancy .

Military time

A few years later he joined the Royal Canadian Regiment , First Division, and in June 1940 his regiment crossed the English Channel into France . After his regiment was transferred to Reigate , Boyd met his future wife, Doreen Mary Frances Thompson. On August 20, 1941, almost nine months after Edwin and Doreen's wedding, she gave birth to a son, Edwin Alonzo Boyd, Jr. The baby was two days old when it died of a cerebral haemorrhage during an air raid . Edwin Jr. was buried in a York cemetery on August 30th.

In early 1941 his wife went to York and joined the Army Territorial Service to be close to her husband in the war , but she was too small to drive a truck and therefore became a motorcyclist . On July 27, 1942, Eddie Alonzo Boyd was transferred to the Provost Corps (then Canadian Military Police ) because he was dissatisfied in the army. Shortly afterwards, Doreen became pregnant with twins, who were born on December 21, 1943. Two weeks after the end of the war in Europe, on May 24, 1945, Boyd was officially discharged from the army.

First crime

After he was fired, Boyd couldn't find a suitable permanent job and he started robbing banks. On September 9, 1949, Boyd robbed a North York branch of the Bank of Montreal . Between September 1949 and October 1951, Boyd committed at least six bank robberies.

The gang is born

Boyd teamed up with another robber and together they carried out several bank robberies. He had a reputation for jumping over the counter, moving quickly, and handling the pistol . His partner, Howard Gault, was caught and testified. Both were sent to Don Prison in Toronto. At the same time that Boyd and his partner were robbing banks, another gang was doing the same. Lennie Jackson, a member of this gang, was jailed at the same time as Boyd, and they quickly began to socialize. Soon another seasoned bank robber, Willie Jackson (unrelated to Lennie Jackson), aka The Clown , was arrested in Don Prison waiting to be transported to Kingston Penitentiary , where he was sentenced to seven years. Lennie Jackson had lost a foot in a train wreck and had a wooden prosthetic foot in which he had hidden several saw blades .

Escape over the wall

On November 4, 1951, Boyd and the Jacksons sawed through the bars and fled over the wall. They met a friend, Valent Lesso of Cochrane, one of Lennie Jackson's gang, and the four became a team. Lesso was actually a talented musician, but he couldn't find a job, so he changed his name to Steve Suchan and became a bank robber. They soon committed a number of robberies, including the largest in Toronto's history to date. The newspapers called the new group "Boyd Gang" and saw Boyd as the head behind the operations. Willie The Clown Jackson was arrested and taken to Don Prison. Boyd went into hiding with his wife Doreen.

On March 6, 1952, Detective Sergeant Edmund Tong, aka The Chinese, and his colleagues stopped a suspicious car at an intersection in Toronto. In the car were Steve Suchan and Lennie Jackson, who worked on their own. A shootout ensued in which Suchan killed Detective Tong. You yourself were later wounded and caught in a shootout and ended up in Don Jail again, this time on charges of murder. Eddie Boyd was tracked down and arrested in bed next to a briefcase full of money and five loaded pistols. Boyd was put in a prison cell with his two cronies at the Don. You became familiar with one of the senior guards. As if joking, one of the gang members grabbed the guard's key ring while they fooled and joked with the guard. After letting go of the key, an imprint remained on his hand and in a short time they used it to make a matching duplicate key for the cell door. When the guards weren't there, they sawed up a window grille to prepare for escape. To make sure they all fit through the small opening, everyone was on a diet. Shortly before Steve Suchan and Lennie Jackson were tried on September 8, 1952, they escaped the Don a second time. The largest manhunt in Canadian history ensued, with a large reward - CAD $ 26,000 - for information leading to their capture. Several prison workers have been released and a Royal Commission has been set up to review the circumstances of their escape.

The Canadian newspapers were embroiled in an uphill battle among themselves in 1952, and every detail of Boyd Gang's activities and attempts to capture them made headlines across the country. There have been reports of the gang sighting in Ontario and Québec . Police only traveled in pairs and were always well armed.

Arrest and dissolution

Police received numerous calls from residents in West Ferris and Powassan , Ontario, as well as from a North Bay pharmacist . None of them brought anything. Ten days later, men were observed in a barn in Don Valley 15 miles from the prison. The Boyd gang was captured without incident.

Now Boyd himself was the only member of the gang who could not be caught. Detective Adolphus Dolph Payne had kept Eddie Boyd's brother Norman under surveillance and discovered that he had rented an apartment on Heath Street but had not yet moved into. He got a key for the back door from the owner. Payne then watched from a neighboring house as Boyd moved into the apartment. To avoid an exchange of fire, he waited until he was sure everyone was asleep. At dawn, the police snuck inside and arrested Boyd and his wife while they were still in bed. Boyd's brother, who slept in another room, was also arrested. The Toronto Nugget newspaper reported on the incident: Edwin Alonzo Boyd, Canada's Public Enemy Number One, humbly surrenders to two suburban cops in the most serious criminal hunt in Dominion history . One of those detectives was Kenneth Craven.

Steve Suchan and Lennie Jackson were for the murder of Detective Tong to death by hanging convicted. On December 16, 1952, after a brief visit to his mother, Steve Suchan and Lennie Jackson and his wife received the final rites and awaited their execution at around 8:00 a.m. To their surprise, the executioner arrived at midnight and by 0.14 a.m. they were both dead, hung back to back.

Boyd was sentenced to eight life imprisonment and Willie Jackson was given thirty years. Willie Jackson and Eddie Boyd were both paroled in 1962.

Ex-bandit calls the police

"Ex Bandit Boyd Calls For Police. Edwin Alonzo Boyd, who has spent much of his life dodging police, asked for their assistance last night- to arrest his wife and her companion. Boyd was paroled Oct. 3 after serving 10 years in Kingston penitentiary for bank robbery. He set up housekeeping in a west-central house for himself and his children. Last night Boyd sent a hurried call for help to Markham St. station when a man and woman arrived at his home and battered down the front door. The woman said she wanted to pick up clothing. Booked on charges of being drunk were Doreen Boyd and Kenneth Caustan, 40. In court today she pleaded guilty and was fined $ 5. She was returned to the cells until she could raise the money. "

- Toronto Star : December 14, 1962

Edwin Alonzo Boyd, who has spent much of his life running away from the police, sought their help last night to arrest his wife and companion. Boyd was paroled on October 3rd after spending 10 years in Kingston Prison for bank robbery. He moved into an apartment for himself and his children in a west-central house. Last night Boyd was sending an urgent cry for help to Markham St. Station when a man and woman came to his house and smashed the front door. The woman said she wanted to get clothes. Doreen Boyd and Kenneth Caustan were arrested on charges of drunkenness and pleaded guilty in court today, fined $ 5. She was taken back to the cell until she could raise the money.
Toronto Star, December 14, 1962

Boyd went to Victoria , British Columbia under the new name John , where he drove disabled people as a bus driver. He married a disabled woman whom he met on the bus. He took care of her for the next 35 years until she was moved to a home.

death

Two months before his death, Boyd told a CBC producer that he once killed a couple and left their bodies in the trunk of a car in High Park , Toronto. This would have happened years before he was known as a bank robber. The crime fits in with the murders of Iris Scott and George Vigus on September 11, 1947.

On May 17, 2002, before a formal investigation into his confession could begin, Edwin Alonzo Boyd died at the age of 88 after a visit from his wife and son, and after a phone call from his ex-wife and mother of his three children.

legacy

Two books have been written about the Boyd gang and one has been turned into a hit movie. Girls in the Gang , a musical by Raymond Storey and Jon Roby , made reference to the story of the Boyd gang. It premiered in Toronto in 1987 and won a Dora Mavor Moore Award for Best Musical. In 1998, Boyd was interviewed in a documentary by CBC Television Life and Times , in which he admitted significantly more than what he was charged and convicted of. Another fictional film about the life Boyds, Edwin Boyd: Citizen Gangster in the Scott Speedman plays the role of Boyd, was published in the 2011th

media

• Edwin Alonzo Boyd: The Story Of The Notorious Boyd Gang, Brian Vallee, Doubleday Canada (October 13, 1997), English, ISBN 978-0-385-25657-5 .
• Edwin Alonzo Boyd: The Life and Crimes of Canada's Master Bank Robber (Amazing Stories (Altitude Publishing)), Altitude Publishing (Canada) (August 26, 2003), English, ISBN 978-1-55153-968-3 .
• The Encyclopedia of Canadian Organized Crime: From Captain Kidd to Mom Boucher, Peter Edwards, Michel Auger, McClelland & Stewart (July 31, 2012), English, ISBN 978-0-7710-3049-9 .

Web links

• CBC Digital Archives - Toronto's Infamous 'Boyd Gang'
• The Life and Times of Edwin Alonzo Boyd in the Internet Movie Database (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Kathleen Doyle, “Gentleman” Bank Robber Edwin Alonzo Boyd (Suite 101: 2009). Retrieved on Jan 20, 2010
2. ^ Brian Valée, Edwin Alonzo Boyd: the story of the notorious Boyd gang (Doubleday Canada Limited: 1997) 11.
3. ^ Brian Valée, Jan.
4. ^ Brian Valée, Jan.
5. ^ Brian Valée, 15-16.
6. ^ Brian Valée, Jan.
7. ^ Brian Valée, Jan.
8. ^ Marjorie Lamb and Barry Pearson, The Boyd Gang (Peter Marin Associates Limited: 1949) 8.
9. ^ Marjorie Lamb and Barry Pearson, The Boyd Gang (Peter Marin Associates Limited: 1949) 8.
10. ^ Brian Valée, April 26.
11. ^ Marjorie Lamb and Barry Pearson, 9.
12. ^ Marjorie Lamb and Barry Pearson, 12-13.
13. ^ Marjorie Lamb and Barry Pearson, 14.
14. ^ Brian Valée, 61.
15. ^ Brian Valée, 61
16. ^ Brian Valée, 62
17. ^ Brian Valée, 62
18. ^ Brian Valée, 65.
19. ^ Brian Valée, 73.
20. ^ Edwin Alonzo Boyd ( English, French ) In: The Canadian Encyclopedia .
21. ↑ Kevin Plumer, Historicist: titillating and Terrorizing Toronto (Torontoist: September 2007). Retrieved on January 20, 2010 from archive link ( Memento of the original from May 28, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , 2. 
22. ↑ Kevin Plumer, Historicist: titillating and Terrorizing Toronto (Torontoist: September 2007). Retrieved on January 20, 2010 from archive link ( Memento of the original from May 28, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , 2. 
23. ^ CBS News
24. ^ [1] , The Fifth Estate, Sept. 21, 2012
25. ↑ CBC News of September 7, 2011, accessed August 31, 2011.