The hidden former bakery on Henry Avenue

© 2023, Christian Cassidy

I was walking down Henry Street a few weeks back when I noticed this old facade sandwiched in between two sections of modern wall. Initially, I thought the old building may have been part of Manitoba Cartage and Storage that had a huge presence in the area at one time. This included an office at Henry Avenue near Lizzie Street and a huge stable along Fountain Street stretching from Higgins Avenue back to Henry Avenue.

After more research, I found that this was not part of Manitoba Cartage at all. It was a long-standing bakery owned by George J. Timms that pre-dated the stable. This modern version of that bakery opened in 1907.

Here's a look back at Timms and his bakery.

1891 Census of Canada (Library and Archives Canada)

George Timms came from England with his wife Isabella and three children around 1883.

The 1891 census shows George living with what was by then five children at 375 Common Street, (which was renamed Henry Avenue around 1890). The address becomes 411 Henry in the 1895 street directory and it is unclear if this is just change was due to a renumbering of the street as more development took place or a move to a new house.

For many years, street directories do not list a place of work for Timms which could mean he ran a small operation from the home. In 1897, he goes to work at the bakery of J. T. Speirs located at Higgins Avenue and Maple Street.

December 11, 1903, The Voice

Ads for Union Bakery at 411 Henry Avenue began appearing in the local labour newspaper The Voice in April 1900. Initially, it was a partnership between Timms and William Milton, who was likely a co-worker of his at J. T. Speirs. The partnership dissolved in June 1901 when Milton left to take over a bakery on Ross Street.

Timms was an active member of the local labour movement. He was on the 1899 Labour Day organizing committee and held committee roles in other labour organizations.

Business appears to have been good at Union Bakery and it was expanded in August 1902 with the addition of a second brick oven.

Source: TokenCatalogue.com

The building seen now at 411 Henry Avenue was built in 1907.

Construction got underway in April on two structures. The first was a brick building on a stone foundation measuring 66 x 45 feet. Out back was a shed measuring 45 x 20 feet to house horses and wagons. J. T. Hunter was both designer and builder for the $9,000 project.

The new facility opened later that year under the name Henry Avenue Bakery with G. J. Timms as proprietor. It had a capacity of 3,000 loaves per day, 1000 more than the old bakery.

This was a busy time for construction in the neighbourhood as a permit was granted that same month to Manitoba Cartage to build a 145 x 40 foot extension to its stable across the street that would bring its capacity to 240 horses.

February 18, 1913, Winnipeg Free Press

Timms' business continued to grow with the addition of a retail store at 402 Logan Avenue around 1911 and the addition of four new "baking machines" to the bakery in 1912.

In June 1913, when the bakery was at its peak in terms of production, Timms sold out to Toronto-based Canada Bread Company.

Canada Bread was created in 1911 when George Weston Ltd. merged with four other Ontario bakeries. Within weeks, it announced an expansion to Winnipeg and Montreal on its quest to become Canada's first national bakery.

Before it constructed its main bakery on Burnell Street in 1912, Canada Bread bought up several independent local bakeries such as Perfection, Western, Germain, and Richardson's. It faced criticism for the move as all it did wit the businesses was close them down to eliminate competition.

Canada Bread also bought a large stake in Speirs-Parnell Bakery on Elgin Avenue, one of the city's largest. It provided the bakery with a list of baked goods and quantities it required but allowed the firm to continue to bake and market products locally under its own name as long as the items didn't compete directly with Canada Bread's line-up.

It is unclear if Canada Bread had a previous connection to Timms. Perhaps, like Speirs-Parnell, it had invested in his company in 1912 so that it could use the additional capacity created at Henry Avenue Bakery for its national products. It could also be that Canada Bread simply bought out a growing competitor to shut it down.

Canada Bread likely sold off the property as the building can be found for lease in June 1915 as a bakery or warehouse. (If Canada Bread still owned it, it is unlikely that the company would allow a competing bakery to go back into the space.)

February 17, 1916, Winnipeg Tribune

What did George Timms do with the spare time he now had on his hands? He went off to war.

After the sale of their house/business, George and Isabella moved to 188 Maryland Street and he enlisted with the 90th Battalion in February 1916.

According to Timms' attestation papers, he was 44 years and ten months old, which was just a couple of months shy of the age cutoff for infantry enlistment. This age, however, was a lie. Census documents and his obituary show that he was actually 54 years of age!

It is unclear why a man of 54 would volunteer to go to war. He was born and raised in England, so it could have been a desire to go fight for King and Country or perhaps to get an extended visit back home knowing that he likely would not be sent off to the front lines.

A brief February 1916 Tribune mention of Timms' enlistment noted that he was "already hard at work providing appetizing fare for the men", which suggests he may have been taken on specifically for his baking skills.

Despite his age, Timms was described as "fit" after his military medical checkup and went to England aboard the S. S. Olympic on May 31, 1916. As expected, he did not go off to France. Instead, he was transferred to the 11th Battalion and assigned to Shornecliffe military base where he presumably baked for the tens of thousands of Canadian soldiers who passed through for their final training before they went off to war.

Timms' military file indicates that he began to have health issues, particularly acute back pain, not long after arriving. In mid-June 1917, he was sent to the Buxton Hospital, a Canadian Red Cross convalescent hospital. He was then discharged for being "No longer physically fit for war service" and was shipped back to Canada on July 10, 1917 .

August 16, 1917, Winnipeg Tribune

Back in Winnipeg, Timms was sent to the Military Convalescent Hospital in Tuxedo, Manitoba, (now the Jewish Asper Campus).  He died there on August 14, 1917 after suffering a stroke at the age of 55 and is buried St. John's Cemetery in Winnipeg.

Oliver Timms, a son who also served in the war, was severely wounded in the shoulder and was invalided back to Canada in June 1917.

Soon after George's death, Isabella relocated to Victoria, B. C..

What happened to 411 Henry Avenue?

Matt Thomson, baker and confectionery manufacturer, called it home from around 1915 to 1917. The building then wasn't listed in street directories for many years which suggests it sat empty or was used as storage. In the 1930s, the freight delivery company Western Truck Terminal was located there.

Around 1944, 411 Henry became home to the Paul Sigurdson Construction Company which specialized in road and highway construction. The building was badly damaged by two fires in 1945. A newspaper article described the interior of the building as "gutted" after one of them. Sigurdson made repairs and remained there until around 1953.

Lögberg November 24, 1955

This address disappears from street directories after the departure of Sigurdson and the building was soon absorbed by Manitoba Cartage and Storage.

In 1955, the company opened a new office building and warehouse called Manitoba House at 354 Lizzie Street. The long, 40,000 square foot warehouse portion of the building extends along Henry Avenue and incorporates this building.

Urban Legends: Is Portage and Main Winnipeg's windiest corner?

© 2023, Christian Cassidy

Portage and Main by Frank Arbuckle, Macleans, May 1, 1947

I was asked on Twitter about Portage and Main's reputation as Winnipeg's (or the country's, or North America's, or the British Empire's) windiest corner. When did it get that title and was it backed by scientific research?

The first mention I can find of "the windiest" intersection comes in a brief Tribune article from April 1946 during a particularly windy spring. A great deal of debris had built up at the intersection and was creating a vortex of trash that swirled around whenever a storm hit. The story starts: "'The windiest spot in Canada', the corner of Portage Avenue and Main Street, has the city's scavenging and street cleaning division worried."

This suggests to me that the 'windiest corner' moniker was already in use and the quotation marks around it indicate that it wasn't a statement of fact. For decades, many stories that referenced the windiest intersection title are preceded by things like "generally known as", “the old joke about”, "its reputation as", or "dubbed as."

January 5, 1954, Winnipeg Free Press

What probably helped reinforce the intersection's reputation was media coverage. Just as a reporters today will head to the Forks to help illustrate a story about high water levels in spring, reporters used to head to Portage and Main to get photos to help illustrate a wind or snow storm.

Over time, particularly from the mid 1970s into the 1980s, newspaper stories largely dropped the "old joke about" and began calling the intersection Winnipeg's (or Canada's) windiest as if it was fact.

January 28, 1980, Winnipeg Tribune

There have been some stories that looked into the merits of the windiest corner reputation.

In January 1980, Environment Canada set up a series of wind measuring devices in Winnipeg for a general wind study, not specifically to prove or disprove the Portage and Main theory.

It found that on average Portage and Smith was the windiest place downtown with an average wind speed of 0.1 kilometres more than Portage and Main. The latter did, however, record the largest single wind gust that month and did have the highest overall wind speeds when there was a northerly wind blowing.

A 1987 Free Press story interviewed a supervising climatologist with Environment Canada to look into the claim.

According to its data, Winnipeg was unofficially the third windiest city in Canada behind Regina and St. John's, Newfoundland. The scientist said that it made sense that Winnipeg ranked as one of the windiest downtowns because of its design: "The wind rushes in from the West down Portage Avenue kind of like a garden hose. When it gets to the nozzle or opening (Portage and Main) the nozzle is released and it comes out with greater force."

An architecture professor from the U of M also interviewed for the 1987 story said that what made Portage and Main a particularly windy place was this steady flow of air from the West swirling and churning when it hit the Richardson Building. He noted that his students had done some wind tests around buildings in the downtown and found by far the windiest place encountered was at the base of that tower.

February 17, 1968, Winnipeg Tribune

For the most part, people had fun with the reputation of Portage and Main even if there wasn't scientific evidence to back it up.

It appeared in a series of cheeky ads in 1968 run by the provincial Department of Industry and Commerce to promote investment the province that proclaimed the Richardson Building / Lombard Place development to be the "World's only $40m windbreak". (Another ad featured piles of ore outside the INCO mine at Thompson with the caption "Dig our Manitoba mountains".)

When a U of W prof released data in 1971 to show Portage and Main didn't record the coldest temperatures in the city over the winter, a Free Press editorial replied tongue-in-cheek: "No longer can we pose as hardy types who take winter in their stride with hardly a thought for frozen noses. The impression will quickly be abroad that palm trees and hula girls flourish at our most famous corner."

In December 1975, a 19-year-old from West Kildonan raised over $500 for the Christmas Cheer Board by walking around Portage and Main in a bathing suite and snow boots.

As one Winnipeg Tribune editorial noted, even if Portage and Maiin, records or not: "However frigid or blustery, we love it and respect it as a vital and essential feature of our city".

Other urban legends I explore:
Did Charlie Chaplin really stay at the Windsor Hotel?
Did Bob Hope really play his first game of golf in Winnipeg?
Who had the label longer - Standard or Budweiser?
Was the Arlington Bridge really built to span the Nile?

Manitoba Cartage's Logan Avenue Horse Palace

© 2023, Christian Cassidy

This nondescript, mostly vacant lot at the corner of Higgins Avenue and Fountain Street was once home to one of the city's largest stables. It ran all the way back to Henry Avenue and could hold almost 250 horses.

It was built for the Manitoba Cartage and Storage Company which operated from 1882 to about 1976 and for most of its existence had a strong presence in this neighbourhood.

April 1, 1905, Winnipeg Free Press

In 1904, the city sold a large piece of land along Fountain Street between Higgins and Henry avenues to the Manitoba Cartage and Storage Company on which to build a new stable. It hired architect James Chisholm to design the structure.

Chisholm was a prolific architect at the time with hundreds of buildings to his credit. Today, his best-known work is likely the original Olympia Hotel which was later expanded (by another architect) and rechristened the Marlborough Hotel.

The stable measured 100 feet by 293 feet, was two storeys in height, and built with steel beams finished in brick with stone accents. The ground floor was reserved for nearly 200 horses while the upper level was for hay storage.

William Grace and Company was awarded the $50,000 contract to build the stable in April 1905.

A planned extension measuring 154 feet by 40 feet, enough to hold another 50 horses, was added to the side in 1907.

Winning team, 1929 Royal Winter Fair, Toronto, (Source: Int'l Museum of the Horse)

Horses, of course, were the backbone of many companies during this era and several prided themselves on the quality of their stock and showed them at competitions. Different companies had their preferred breed of horse. Eaton's and Crescent Creamery used Hackneys while Manitoba Cartage and Shea's Brewery preferred Clydesdales.     

For decades, Shea's and Manitoba Cartage went head-to-head in the heavy draft category at important horse shows throughout Western Canada and beyond. 

In December 1924, two of Manitoba Cartage's most prized horses, Chief and King, won first place for heavy draft team at the International Livestock Show in Chicago. In the singles showing, Chief took first place and King took fourth. In 1929, the company took best in show for its heavy draft team at the Royal Winter Fair in Toronto, (see above.)

Most of the accolades for Manitoba Cartage's horses belonged to Scottish-born William McFadyen. The reputable horse breeder came to Manitoba around 1911 and began working for Manitoba Cartage as their stable foreman and had his own business.

McFadyen soon became an esteemed member of the Manitoba Horse Breeders Association and the success of his horses at high-profile events earned him an international reputation.

When he died in 1937 at the age of 71, T. P. Devlin, agricultural superintendent of the  CNR, said "Mr. McFadyen had done more to aid producers of commercial horses than any other man in Manitoba".

August 25, 1926, Winnipeg Tribune

The risk of fire was a major concern for any company operating a stable. Despite shelling out top dollar for theirs to be constructed of fireproof material, Manitoba Cartage's burned to the ground.

The fire started around 10:30 p.m. on the night of August 24, 1926 at the southwest corner of the building. Fortunately, it was noticed quickly enough by McFadyen that he, the night staff, firemen, and neighbours in what was still a fairly residential neighbourhood, were able to rescue the 200 horses inside, including champions like Chief and King. Some made it loose into the neighbourhood and had to be rounded up through the night.

The cause of the fire was believed to be faulty wiring and there was no stopping the blaze once the tons of hay stored there caught fire. Firefighters from six fire halls were called out and three of them plus a police officer had to go to hospital to be treated for minor injuries.

The following month, Manitoba Cartage took out a building permit for a new stable at 345 Higgins Avenue. The building was constructed in stages over the next couple of years to include a vehicle garage and central warehouse.

The McPhillips Street Subway

© 2023, Christian Cassidy

Source: Global News Winnipeg

On Friday, there was a derailment of about a dozen rail cars partially above the McPhillips Street subway. Initially, it was thought the street could be closed for days and that there could be serious damage to the structure. Fortunately, that was not the case and it reopened the following day.

With attention being briefly focused on the subway, I thought this would be a good time to look back at its history. Opened in 1911, It serves a link between the CPR yards and its Weston shops, still one of the largest in North America. It has also been the lifeline of CPR traffic to and from Western Canada.

McPhillips at CPR Crossing in 1881 (G. McPhillips' Map of Winnipeg)

As Winnipeg's commercial and residential development in Winnipeg stretched further West in the early 1900s, it came into conflict with the level rail crossing at McPhillips Street. Once a lonely prairie road with a single track, the street was becoming a thoroughfare and the crossing had grown to five tracks connecting the sprawling CPR works yards to its massive Weston Shops.

The city and CPR announced in February 1909 that they had reached an agreement that would see the railway build a subway under the tracks and provide basic lighting and drainage. The city would be responsible for the surface of the approaches and roadway that ran beneath it.

CPR engineer Frank Lee and city engineer Henry Ruttan worked out the final details over the coming months and the final plan was approved by city council on March 22, 1910.

March 31, 1910, Winnipeg Free Press

Tenders for the construction of the subway were advertised in late March and John Gunn and Sons won the bid. It required them to excavate around 35,000 cubic yards of earth and then build thirteen concrete pedestals with steel girders over them to hold up the bed for the five tracks. Paved, sloping approaches would extend about 400 feet in each direction.

The Winnipeg Tribune reported in late June that Gunn was "making good progress" on the excavation and that the project was expected to be completed by autumn.

Overhead of McPhillips Street Subway, 9147 and 2020

The project missed the deadline of an autumn opening. It appears that the structure was ready by the end of the year, but there was not enough time to lay the streetcar tracks and pave the approaches before winter.

Things got back underway in the spring of 1911 with the May 12 edition of the Winnipeg Free Press reporting that "The McPhillips subway will be open for traffic in the course of a few days. A large force is at work paving the roadway between the street car tracks." It also noted that the intersection of McPhillips and the tracks, which had been diverted to the east side of McPhillips Street during construction, was more dangerous than ever due to the large volume of train traffic.

McPhillips at CPR Crossing in 1911 (Hathaway's map of Winnipeg)

For the amount of media attention the project received through its planning and early construction stages, there was no official opening for the subway or newspaper story announcing its first day in operation. This is likely in part because it was a CPR construction project "under the authority of the city", not the city itself. The CPR had so many projects going on in Winnipeg, don't mind across Western Canada, that the completion of a single urban subway would not have warranted much attention on their part.

It also appears that the opening may have been done fits and starts. Street travel through the subway likely started in late May once the paving around the subway tracks was done, the full paving of the approaches in both directions didn't begin until later in the summer which likely meant lane closures until the late autumn.

April 2, 1913, Winnipeg Tribune

A problem that has plagued the McPhillips Street subway is flooding and this started even before it opened.

The Winnipeg Free Press reported that at a March 1911 meeting of the city's board of control, "Controller McArthur sprung something in the nature of a surprise when he reported that the McPhillips Street subway under the CPR tracks which is nearing completion is completely blocked with from three to four feet of water on the floor of the subway..." This was because it had not yet been hooked up to the storm sewer system.

By the next meeting on April 7, it appears that the sewer connection had been made and the CPR also installed a pump as a back up measure which made the subway passable.

John Gunn, the contractor who built the structure, happened to be in the board room to speak to a different agenda item, was called on to speak to the matter. As reported by the Free Press, Gunn "Disturbed the equilibrium of the controllers somewhat when he delivered himself of the opinion that there will be trouble keeping the subway free from water until the present sewer is enlarged. He holds that it is already altogether inadequate for the demands on it."

Flooding in the subway in the spring or after a heavy rainfall became a long-standing sore point between the city and railway.

The matter came up at a public works committee meeting in December 1919 when a motion was made by one councillor to do whatever was necessary to make sure that the subway was kept free from spring flooding. It was pointed out by more senior members of the committee that "some time ago" a special committee took up the matter of drainage in the subway with the CPR but the company refused to do anything.

Flooded Subway, 1964 (Wpg Tribune Photo Collection, U of M Archives)

Fast forward to July 1964, after yet another bad year of flooding, Metro Winnipeg council announced that it would go in and fix the drainage issues itself then start legal action against the railway to recoup the costs. The situation was made all the more urgent by preliminary engineering studies that suggested that Arlington Street Bridge, the next closest crossing, may have to be closed permanently. 

Alderman Leonard Claydon, chair of Winnipeg's public works committee, told the Free Press, "There's been a stain put on the reputation of the city when people try to make it look like the drainage is our responsibility. They make it look like we've been holding back from repairs. We're just not going to take this sort of nonsense."

Tenders for the repairs, which only came to around $30,000 were let in early 1966 and the repairs were made in the fall. The CPR agreed to pay part of the bill.

The repairs were a definite improvement but did not eliminate flooding in the subway which still happen from time to time to this day.

The sad state of housing in Winnipeg in 1905

December 14, 1905, Winnipeg Tribune

This is just one of many examples of the sad state of housing in Winnipeg in the early 1900s as it struggled to absorb the massive influx of new immigrants to the city. The worst offender in this round of prosecution was a house on Barber Street with 31 men living in two rooms.

The 1908 Diamond Robbery of Winnipeg's Porte and Markle

© 2008, 2023 Christian Cassidy

December 13, 1908, Salt Lake City Herald
(Believed to be Winnipeg police mugshots)

On December 5, 1908, “...the most notorious and dangerous diamond robbers on the continent” walked into Porte and Markle Jewellers at 300 Portage Avenue and attempted to steal a diamond ring.

Newspaper headlines may have exaggerated the characteristics of the gang and at one point it appeared that they weren't even a gang at all. It was a case with a number of twists and turns that got coverage in several cities around North America.

Here's a look back at events that one Tribune reporter wrote "would be a matter of much difficulty to find the exact truth".

Porte and Markle was a well-known Winnipeg jeweller established in 1897 when watchmaker Thomas Jeffares Porte arrived here from Picton, ON and opened shop on Main Street. In January 1907, he joined forces with George Markle who also came from Ontario and operated an optometrists practise since around 1902.

The men decided that their new enterprise required a new, larger retail store on Portage Avenue in addition to the Main Street shop. The location they chose was in the newly constructed "New Aikins Block" at 298 - 302 Portage Avenue, (which was rechristened the Somerset Block soon after opening.)

Portage Avenue ca. 1915. Somerset Block on right.
Winterbos on Flickr.com

The store opened on Friday, April 5, 1907 with members of the Royal Alexandra Hotel Orchestra playing selections from Strauss, Schubert, Beethoven and Mozart. The store expanded to take up the neighbouring storefront in 1910.

A Free Press story said, "Finished throughout in mahogany, the interior of the store presents a very rich and attractive appearance which is greatly enhanced by the superb display of diamonds and other stones." The goods were displayed in glass cases throughout the store.

This was in a bustling section of Portage Avenue with the Lyceum Theatre on one side and the massive T. Eaton Co. store on the other. The above photo shows the streetscape in 1915, though this was the year after Porte and Markle moved further up Portage and their sign is no longer visible on the Somerset block (right).

Porte and Markle ca. 1910
R. McInnes Postcard Collection

The store attracted more than just shoppers on the afternoon of Saturday, December 5, 1908. The details of exactly what happened that day vary from newspaper to newspaper, but this is an accurate account based on several stories.

A well-dressed man with a thick accent and limited English entered the store and told Markle he wanted to buy a ring for a young lady. He was shown to the diamond room and spent 45 minutes browsing before choosing a stone that cost $325. He asked Markle to hold the ring so that he could bring the lady around after she got off work at Robinson's store to make the final decision.

The couple visited the store just after 6 p.m. and were shown to the diamond room. She was cool about the ring and asked to look at some other items such as diamond earrings.

Their attention soon turned back to the ring and the two seemed uncertain if they would buy anything at all. The man put the ring back on the tray in an "irritable manner" which made Markle suspicious. He examined it right away and saw that it did not have the Porte and Markle mark inside - the ring had been switched for one with what Markle later admitted was a very good quality fake diamond.

When Markle called the man out, he said he got it mixed up with another ring he was carrying and tried to put the real one back. When he looked towards the door and saw that the security lock was on, Markle exclaimed that he had a gun and would shoot if he did not surrender. (Markle didn't have a gun, he just grabbed at a wad of keys under his jacket.)

According to Markle, the man put his hands up and was "bowing and whining" to be let go. The woman then called the man a "dirty creep" for bringing her out to pull such a stunt and began crying.

Thomas Porte was working in the front of the store and heard the commotion. Through the window of the diamond room he saw Markle give him their signal to call police.

December 7, 1908, Winnipeg Tribune

When questioned at the police station, the woman told police her name was Sadie Copeland, 26, and that the key in her purse was for an apartment on Elgin Avenue near Princess Street.

Police went to the address and found a case containing a great deal of new and used jewellery, a number of high-quality fake diamonds and rubies, pawn tickets for jewellery shops in Chicago, and a lump of gold likely made from melted down objects. There was also a mink coat and some silk dresses.

Also in the apartment was 18-year-old Alfred Morris Copeland, Sadie's brother. On his person they found two diamond rings, one later identified as having been stolen from Dingwall's Jewellers on Portage Avenue days before.

Police also arrested a man named Alexander Matthews at an address on Garry Street.

After further confessions, police discovered that the ringleader of the gang was a Russian-born 31-year-old named Philip Greenbaum. He was apparently an international jewel thief who had worked his way through Europe and Hong Kong before taking up residence in various cities in the U.S..

Newspaper stories spoke of "the switching game" that jewellery theft gangs like to use. There was a lookout who stayed near the entrance, the protagonist who wanted to purchase the item, and the decoy who would distract the shop clerk whilst the protagonist switched the real items for fakes.

In the Dingwall robbery, it was reported that all three were believed to be in the store at the time but staff didn't realize that the ring shown to Greenbaum had been switched until later in the day. Greenbaum was the only one staff could positively identify.

December 7, 1908, The New York Times

How the gang ended up together in Winnipeg came out at their trial on December 22nd at the police court. They faced charges related to the robbery of Dingwall's and the attempted robbery of Porte and Markle. Again, the information provided in the two daily papers doesn't always match and there were several holes and contradictions in the testimonies of the three accused.

One thing all three made clear was that they didn't intentionally assemble in Winnipeg to commit robberies.

Sadie had been married to Greenbaum in the U.S. but left him, (some reports say divorced him), after a few weeks because he did not provide for her and she found out he was a gambler. Months later, she was involved with Matthews, a black man from Minneapolis, and in August 1906 they relocated to Winnipeg and rented a room above a Chinese-owned laundry on Garry Street. (Matthews was released soon after his arrest as police determined that he had no involvement in the robberies.)

Meanwhile, Sadie's brother connected with Greenabum in the U.S.. Alfred testified that he unexpectedly bumped into him in Salt Lake City and the two hung around together visiting different cities with Greenbaum covering their expenses. Greenbaum asked Alfred to go to Winnipeg about a week before the Dingwall robbery to try to play "peacemaker" between him and Sadie.

Greenbaum came to Winnipeg days later at the request of Alfred who thought there was a chance of a reunification with his sister. The trio met outside the general post office and Greenbaum presented Sadie with a diamond ring, (likely the one stolen from Dingwall's.)

The three then moved in together to a furnished apartment on Elgin Avenue.

There was no mention at the trial of hatching a plan to rob Porte and Markle or any other jewellers. If Sadie and or Alfred knew of it, or even knew how Greenbaum made his money, they played ignorant and it appears that Greenbaum didn't implicate them.

December 22, 1908, Winnipeg Tribune

Greenbaum was found guilty of both the robbery of Dingwall's and attempted robbery of Porte and Markle. Magistrate Thomas Daly said to him "the public must be protected against men of your class" before sentencing him to five years and three years respectively.

A Free Press reporter noted that "Greenbaum's face took on a frightened expression as he realized the full import of the sentence and seem dazed".

What happened to Greenbaum is not known as he is never mentioned in local newspapers again. Even if he served his full sentence, he would have been just 39 at the time of his release.

Greenbaum's status as an international jewel thief trumpeted by the police and newspapers in the days after his arrest doesn't seem to have come up at his trial and may have been sensationalized by police and / or the media. If another jurisdiction did want Greenbaum, they could have applied for his extradition but in those days Manitoba would not have let him go until he served out his sentence here first.

As for Sadie and Alfred Copeland, their charges had already been reduced to receiving stolen goods by the time the trial started and Magistrate Daly believed that they played no role in Greenbaum's crimes. A Tribune reporter concluded that they were "persons who appear to be weak-minded rather than vicious."

When Daly dismissed them, Sadie called out: "Thank you, sir, thank you and may God bless you all." The two left court with their father who had travelled from the U.S. to attend the trial.

December 8, 1908, Salt Lake City Herald

There is a final twist to this story.

Back at the time of the initial arrests, newspapers in Salt Lake City took an interest in the case. The Salt Lake City Herald noted that "Alfred Copland and Alex Matthews are well-known to local police. Copland operated here a few years ago and was arrested for the switch game." (In Salt Lake City, Sophie and Alfred seemed to have used a variation of their last name - Copland instead of Copeland. Sophie also appears to have used the last name Wilson at times.)

A further story in the Salt Lake Tribune quoted the Salt Lake City chief of detectives as saying there were no outstanding warrants for any of them but confirmed that Alfred had been arrested in 1904 and was banned from the city. He turned up again in 1907 and was arrested and driven to the city limits.

Another story days later in the Herald sated that Greenbaum and the Copelands had previously been arrested In Salt Lake City for doing the switch game. They offered to return the merchandise and instead of a trial opted to be driven out of town and banned from returning to the city.

The story went on to say, "Previous to this trick, Sadie Copland and Alfred Copland, who claim to be brother and sister, were arrested on a charge of assault with a deadly weapon" in a dispute with the owner of a Salt Lake City laundry.

The Salt Lake Intermountain Republican referred to Philip Greenbaum in one of its stories as a "one-time notorious Salt Lake diamond crook".

December 23, 1908, Salt Lake City Herald

What exactly happened in Salt Lake City and Winnipeg will forever remain a mystery. It  appears, though, that the four arrested after the attempted Porte and Markle robbery had criminal connections to each other and Sadie and Matthews may have come to Winnipeg as an advance team to be joined later by the other two to begin a robbery spree.

Perhaps Winnipeg police weren't interested in conducting a lengthy international investigation for what amounted to $500 in merchandise where both victims got their property back. Salt Lake City police repeatedly said they had no outstanding warrants and no other police departments appear to have come forward looking for them.

The antics at the trial may have been pre-planned by the gang. If they ever got caught, they knew to plead ignorance and would either get a slap on the wrist after returning the goods, or, worst-case scenario, the only one to face a serious penalty would be the protagonist and they could regroup again in the future.

There may have been more to Sophie's willingness to confess after her arrest and pleading ignorance to Greenbaum's crimes. Perhaps she did get mixed up in a life that she no longer wanted for herself or her brother.

Someone in the gang certainly spilled the beans about Greenbaum - and maybe even exaggerated the scale of his crimes - as Winnipeg police couldn't have known so much about his criminal background the day after his arrest if there were no outstanding warrants on file.

Rolling over on Greenbaum could have lead to the lesser charges she and Alfred faced at trial and their eventual release. With Greenbaum incarcerated, they were free to get on with their lives.

The Tribune reporter who wrote that there "would be a matter of much difficulty to find the exact truth" in this case likely didn't know how true that statement would end up being.

March 5, 1914, Winnipeg Tribune

As for Porte and Markle, the firm continued on at their Portage Avenue store and were well-known watch and clock makers. A large example of their work is their clock in the Wainright AB train station and their smaller timepieces can still be found on antique websites around the world.

In 1913, the firm amalgamated with the local division of Henry Birks and Sons and they became the managing partners of the combined store. This arrangement lasted until 1921 when Markle retired from the business and moved to Vancouver. Porte stayed on as vice-president of Winnipeg's Birks store until he left around 1925 to become president of Winnipeg's Tourist and Convention Bureau.

For more about Birks' Winnipeg history.

This is an update of a much shorter blog post about the robbery written back in 2008.

From Bishop Grandin to Abinojii Mikanah

Grandin School, September 9, 1922, Winnipeg Tribune

My latest History of Winnipeg Street Names column in the Free Press Community Review looks at how Route 165 became Bishop Grandin Boulevard. Its renaming to Abinojii Mikanah is just one of many hundreds of street name changes in the city’s history.