MISSION IMPOSSIBLE NUMBER 2? SEEKING LETHBRIDGE JAIL EX-PRISONERS OR EX- STAFF WHO MAY HAVE KNOWN DR ROBERT HENRY MACLAUCHLAN

Upon his conviction for procuring abortions in early January 1955, Dr Robert Henry MacLauchlan served his one year term in Lethbridge Provincial Jail (at that time called Lethbridge Provincial Gaol). It is likely he would have served only about eight months before he was released. Upon his release he came to British Columbia and, as we have reported before, by 1955 he was receiving his mail at 660 Howe Street in Vancouver but living with Margaret Anne “Nan” Cunningham at 912 5^th Street in New Westminster.

We have noticed that people in Canada, USA, Germany, South Korea, Russia, Brazil, Australia, Czech Republic, France and Indonesia have been following our progress. The greatest numbers have come from Canada. It would be great if some of those Canadians are from Alberta – especially from Lethbridge!

Now – and this may be a second Mission Impossible! – we are wondering if we have any Lethbridge readers with some connection to the Lethbridge penal institution. Perhaps they are former guards, families of former guards or other corrections staff. Maybe they are even former prisoners or offspring of former prisoners. In any case, we would like to hear from anyone who has some knowledge – even second or third hand – of MacLauchlan when he was imprisoned.   

If at all possible, we want to know all sides of this rather enigmatic man. We would welcome stories or comments, and all submissions will remain confidential unless the sender desires otherwise. Please use our contact information on the home page of this website.

MISSION IMPOSSIBLE? SEEKING ABORTION PATIENTS OF DR ROBERT HENRY MACLAUCHLAN

Following his arrest in Calgary on October 16, 1954, along with his associates druggist John Dixon and two women, Mrs. Anne Gregor, and Audrey Ekiss, Dr Robert Henry MacLauchlan’s preliminary hearing took place November 1, 2 and 4, 1954 before Magistrate Royal Verne Read. All were charged with conspiring to procure an abortion. The case went before the Alberta Superior Court in mid-January 1955: MacLauchlan got one year in jail plus a $2500 fine; Dixon received a $2500 fine plus one day; the two women, Anne Gregor and Audrey Ekiss received $1000 and one day each.

MacLauchlan served his time in Lethbridge Provincial Jail. Upon his release he came to British Columbia and, as we have reported before, by 1955 he was receiving his mail at 660 Howe Street in Vancouver but living with Margaret Anne “Nan” Cunningham at 912 5^th Street in New Westminster. Police at the time suspected he might have been performing abortions in Vancouver. In our search for more information on both MacLauchlan and Cunningham (who later became MacLauchlan’s wife following their arrest for trafficking in narcotics in December 1965), we have received a few tips from New Westminster residents (including former neighbours) and elsewhere.

Now – and this may be Mission Impossible given the very nature of the procedures and the length of time that has elapsed since they were carried out – we would like to hear from some of MacLauchlan’s former patients. 

Although it is hard to quantify the numbers before abortion became legal in Canada in the early 1970s, speaking very approximately the abortion rate since then has tended on average, to be about 15 per 1000 for women aged 15-44. (Source Abortion statistics and other data--Johnston`s Archive at http://www.johnstonsarchive.net/policy/abortion/ab-canada.html). 

However, given the social and religious stigmas attaching to abortion previous to its legalization, it may be possible to safely assume that the rate was perhaps only 1/10 of that figure before the early 1970s. Some calculations are in order: The female population of Canada in 1951 aged 15 to 44 was 22% of the total population. The Alberta population was 940,000 in 1951. If the age and gender breakdown of the Albertan population was similar to that of the Canadian population as a whole, this means that there were approximately 207,000 women aged 15 to 44 in Alberta. Taking Johnston’s ratio (that the abortion rate was 15 per thousand) and plugging it into 207,000 gives us 3100 abortions in Alberta in the early 1970s.

If we return to our starting point -- that abortion rates (i.e. illegal abortions – the only kind possible during MacLauchlan’s era of operation) were 1/10 of the early 1970s figure -- then that may mean there were about 300 abortions annually in Alberta in the 1950s. Since the Pecover sisters have told the authors that every week there were a few girls (let us assume two or three) sneaking up to MacLauchlan’s house, this would put his potential abortion total at about 100 per year. 

The point of all this calculation is to suggest that there may have been a sufficient number of abortions performed in the 1950s in Alberta that there are women still living who were among those seeking that service from MacLauchlan. However, even if that is not the case, there may still be other people – i.e. husbands, fathers, boyfriends, mothers, brothers, sisters – who are aware of these women and their situations. There may be family memories of such events.

And here’s the kicker: we would like to hear of such stories. Not for the names but more for what their teller may remember of Dr MacLauchlan himself – or have heard tell of him. Remember: our valued correspondent, Albertan author Jack Pecover, who knew MacLauchlan personally (though not well), says the consensus of Calgary neighbourhood opinion was that the doctor was fulfilling a valuable community service. If at all possible, we want to know all sides of this rather enigmatic man. We would welcome stories or comments, and all submissions will remain confidential unless the sender desires otherwise. Please use our contact information on the home page of this website.

DR ROBERT MACLAUCHLAN VIA LT COL DONALD G MACLAUCHLAN: KNOWING A MAN THROUGH HIS BROTHER?

One of the most memorable lines in the famous movie Dr Zhivago is spoken by the title character’s half-brother, a Bolshevik policeman.

“I’ve always thought,” he says with a somewhat cynical smirk, “If you want to get enough on a man to arrest him, interview his brother.” That’s not the exact speech but it’s close enough for our purposes in our never-ending search to find out more information on Dr Robert Henry MacLauchlan, convicted Calgary abortionist from the 1950s and 1966 murder victim of a Mafia-linked Vancouver drug organization.

We have just found a book of about 300 pages, of which a good one-quarter have information on MacLauchlan’s younger brother, Lt Colonel Donald George MacLauchlan. Professor David Bercusson, long associated with the University of Calgary and a respected historian of Canada’s military, wrote a 1994 book called Battalion of Heroes: The Calgary Highlanders in World War II. Lt Colonel MacLauchlan, who won the DSO for some brilliant tactics during the 1944 Normandy campaign, commanded the Highlanders for much of that period.

Battalion of Heroes has much information on the military MacLauchlan and we fully expect to cultivate it to gain further sources relevant to his older – and somewhat less respectable – medical brother by a close perusal of these sources. Readers, stay tuned!

DREAMING OF DOGS AND DR MACLAUCHLAN

Few subjects interest me as much as Dr Robert Henry MacLauchlan, his life and his murder. Another topic of interest to me is that of dreams. Several mornings ago these two primary fascinations came together when I had the following dream:

I have some trouble getting on a bus because there are two guys standing in the doorway. Irritated by this obstruction, I look at them angrily and yell, “Why the Hell do you people insist on standing in the doorway?” and grab them, throwing them out of the bus. The driver is surprised and says, “Hey, you can’t do that!” Ignoring him, I go nearly to the back of the bus and sit down opposite a tall fellow with brown hair who is wearing a blue T-shirt. On his lap, he is also holding an animal carrying case in which he has a small dog. Striking up a conversation with me he says, “You know that doctor with all the dogs, the guy you’re writing about? Well, he bought a lot of land.”

Now, aside from the fact, that I am definitely not in the habit of throwing people out of buses and have never done so, the dream does refer to the research that my colleague Ken McIntosh and I have done on Dr MacLauchlan (and each of his three wives). One of the things we have learned about him is that he seemed fond of dogs. In the case of his second and third wives, Evelyn Hambly and Margaret Anne Cunningham, respectively, he always had at least one canine around.

We have noted this before but, in light of the above dream, it is worth repeating: In the several years before his death (along with Margaret Anne) on March 21, 1966, his habit of walking Pogo, a small dachshund, was often noted by his Fifth Street neighbours. Intriguing always to Ken and me, within the whole story of the MacLauchlan Murders, is Pogo’s behavior during and after the murders. The little Dachshund, regular readers of this blog will recall, must have been in the house when Dr Robert Henry and Margaret Anne MacLauchlan were shot to death. Yet no one heard the dog bark around the time of the murder.

Is it reasonable that Pogo would not have barked? A little research on the Internet among websites dedicated to dogs in general and Dachshunds in particular confirms indeed that the breed is very “yappy.” Press reports of Pogo’s behavior on March 22^nd (the day after the murder) indicate that the dog was out on the sidewalk in front of 912 Fifth Street – you guessed it -- yapping. However we have covered that conundrum before and have concluded that Pogo knew the MacLauchlans’ murderer. In turn that indicates that the MacLauchlans knew their murderer – or at least one of them did.

The dream figure’s concluding comment, “You know that doctor with all the dogs, the guy you’re writing about? Well, he bought a lot of land,” raises the question of whether MacLauchlan might have in fact been reinvesting his money from his role in the drug trade. Remember, when he and Margaret Anne were arrested and charged with trafficking in narcotics on December 22, 1965, he was found to have $200,000 worth of heroin in his possession at a time when houses in New Westminster were selling for between $8700 and $12,700.

If the doctor was investing his ill-gotten gains in land and that land was in the Vancouver area, where might it have been located? This is one of the avenues we are looking into at present. More information may be forthcoming. Visit this site often to keep updated.

THE ORIGIN OF DR ROBERT HENRY MACLAUCHLAN’S OLD INJURY TO HIS RIGHT FEMUR?

Alert readers of this blog will recall that, on occasion, Ken McIntosh and I have relied very heavily on the memories of Alberta author and retired criminal defense lawyer Jack Pecover, and his sisters, Jean Hunter and Helen O’Connor, to achieve a more complete picture of Dr Robert Henry MacLauchlan and his second wife, Evelyn Dee Hambly, one of the stars of the Calgary stage between 1922 and 1925. Jack has been especially helpful in providing us with information that demonstrates that the doctor had a kindly, if somewhat taciturn, side. For example, Jack has shared with us his reminiscences, from the late 1940s or early 1950s, of the doctor pulling a stripped-down Model T (the object of what might be termed “an automotive reconstruction effort” by Jack and his teenage friends) behind his brand new Cadillac and of the day the doctor put his medical skills to work for an equine patient, Jack’s mare, which had injured her postern.

Another memory of Jack’s which we found interesting was one that recalled how the doctor wore a leg brace which fit over his shoe. Although Jack could not recall which leg the brace was involved with, we have found that it must have been the right one, given information appearing in the autopsy report done after MacLauchlan’s 1966 death. The report, done by New Westminster’s Dr Frederick Lindsay Sturrock, mentions that a post-mortem examination found that:

“There is evidence of old disease in the right femur which could be an old fracture or osteomy elitis. There is some shortening of the right leg in consequence and some swelling of the right ankle.”

Of interest also in the autopsy was Dr Sturrock’s note that Dr MacLauchlan’s upper front incisors were all artificial and were gold-coloured. These dental and skeletal abnormalities make one wonder. Was the doctor involved in a fight when he was incarcerated in Lethbridge Jail during 1955? Did he have some teeth knocked out? Jack Pecover and his sisters, three very observant individuals, have never mentioned that MacLauchlan had “gold” front teeth. So far as the old injury to his femur, Ken and I have found out through our research that the doctor had skeletal tuberculosis as a young man. Thus it may be possible that that particular anomaly was the result of illness rather than injury.

We are always interested in hearing from our readers (who we have noted come from all over Canada and the US, and even Australia, South America and Asia) and welcome comments and suggestions for further research directions.

NEW WESTMINSTER’S HERRINGS: THE PROSPEROUS AND RESPECTABLE FAMILY FROM WHICH MARGARET ANNE CUNNINGHAM WAS DESCENDED.

Sapper George Herring, Margaret Anne Cunningham’s great grandfather and Royal Engineer ancestor of the New Westminster Herrings, was part of that persistent red line of British imperial authority that in the mid- and late 19th Century ran around the world. From Shanghai and Hong Kong in China, through India, Africa and the Middle East via the Suez Canal, to North America, London held sway over a quarter of the globe’s continental surface. As the saying went, the sun never set on the British Empire. It was a world system based on British guns, grit, persistence and virtue; and the life and achievements of George’s son, Arthur May Herring, exemplified the application of the first three.

Education ran heavy in the Herring family, perhaps prompted by the example of Arthur May Herring, Margaret Anne’s grandfather who took a degree in chemistry and electricity in San Francisco. Of his three sons who survived to adulthood two of them gained a post-secondary degree: Arthur Francis Charles became a doctor and John Victor Paul became an engineer.

Margaret Anne, as did her sister Frances, achieved her certification as a teacher at Calgary Normal School during the 1930s. Two decades later she attended UBC where she upgraded to her bachelor of education in 1964. By that year, or shortly after, she had become principal of Woodlands School in New Westminster. In the following year she was arrested and charged (along with Robert Henry MacLauchlan) with trafficking in narcotics. The year after that she was dead, killed in a drug-related murder along with MacLauchlan, her erstwhile “uncle” and later her husband.

Go here for more information on this enigmatic and interesting woman, descendant of an accomplished and old New Westminster family, and her relatives. http://archivesnewwest.com/html/MAC.htm#herring

PROSECUTOR WILFRED HEFFERNAN: THE SCOURGE OF CANADIAN DRUG TRAFFICKERS IN THE 1950s & 60s?

Does anyone out there among our internet audience know anything about Wilfred Heffernan?

One of the most active prosecutors in the fight against the drug trade in Canada during the 1950s and 1960s was Saskatchewan lawyer Wilfred Heffernan. Hired by the federal government to prosecute all drug cases in western Canada, it was Heffernan who, at their first appearance in New Westminster court on December 23, 1965, read the charges to Dr Robert Henry MacLauchlan, Margaret Anne Cunningham (who married the doctor several weeks later) and their associate, long time criminal Joseph Sperling. All had been charged with trafficking in narcotics. As the Columbian (New Westminster’s paper of record at that time) reported:

After a 15-minute recess, while the court waited for special RCMP prosecutor Wilfred Heffernan, the three were crowded into the tiny witness box to hear the charge laid against them.

During the whole of his half-hour court appearance, MacLauchlan, wearing a grey suit without a tie, and Sperling, a thin man wearing a dark overcoat, appeared unmoved.

After reading of the charge Heffernan asked Magistrate Holmes to set bail for MacLauchlan and Sperling at $25,000 each and bail for Mrs. Cunningham at $2000.

Lawyers Nick Mussallem and Raymond Westaway, on behalf of the accused, objected to such heavy bail being set for MacLauchlan and Sperling.

In July 1971, Nick Mussallem was appointed to the BC Provincial Court, where he acquired a reputation for demonstrating first and foremost that the presumption of innocence was not some tiresome legal fiction to which lip-service must be paid but was the golden rule in his court.

In contrast, such an attitude apparently did not come naturally to Wilfred Heffernan. According to the memoirs of former BC Supreme Court Judge Thomas Berger, who as a young lawyer crossed swords on occasion with Heffernan, the prosecutor “[was] nettled whenever I was successful. He seemed to think it was a failure of justice whenever an accused person was acquitted.”

 

During the 1950s Heffernan prosecuted many of the eastern Canadian criminals who were members of the Montreal-based drug trafficking gangs. For example, on June 20, 1956, Heffernan led the prosecuting side in the case against Jean Paul Chevrier, Vincent Valois, Robert Tremblay, Marcel Frenette, James Malgren and Lucien Mayer – all of whom had been included in a 34 person police roundup the year before. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On occasion Heffernan received death threats from the criminal organizations he was doing legal battle with. Following his career with the federal Department of Justice, he joined the prestigious Vancouver law firm of Russell and DuMoulin, now known as Fasken Martineau.  

Wilfred Heffernan died August 16, 1973 in Vancouver at the age of 70. Ken and I are eager for contact with any of Wilfred Heffernan’s family, friends or legal associates who might have anecdotes they are willing to share about this crusading prosecutor. Just check out our contact information on the home page of this website.

 

Wilfred Heffernan was an avid hockey player in his youth. In the photo above, which is courtesy of the Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame, Heffernan is the fourth player from the left.