Herbert
J. McAuliffe, convicted slayer of Arthur Lierman, died on the gallows at
12.31 a.m. Tuesday to end the most violent chapter of Norfolk County's
crime history.
McAuliffe was
hanged for the machine-gun slaying of Arthur Lierman, 31-year-old South
Middleton tobacco farmer and insurance agent, who pursued him after the
Imperial Bank at Langton was robbed on June 21. William Goddyn, 34,
Lierman's sharegrower, was also killed by the fleeing bank bandit.
Dr. Keith McIntosh,
Jail Surgeon, pronounced McAuliffe dead 17 minutes after the trap was
sprung for the first hanging in Norfolk County in 35 years.
A coroner's jury
under the direction of Dr. E. S. Copeman, Norfolk County coroner, viewed
the body at 12.52 a.m. and adjourned until 9 a.m. when an inquest was
held. Jurors were Douglas Edge, Jack Hoover, Jessie Rook, Leonard Tye
and John Pingle.
Witnesses to the
execution were Sgt. John Clark of Ontario Provincial District No. 3 at
Dundas, representing Sheriff R. M. Hamilton; Deputy-Sheriff E. A. Pratt;
Jail Governor James Dickson; Rev. Father D. Boyer of St. Mary's Roman
Catholic Church; Provincial Constable Leonard Chambers of Simcoe; and
Jail Surgeon Dr. Keith McIntosh.
At the only other
hanging to take place in Norfolk County, that of Emerson Shelley on
December 23, 1915, Dr. McIntosh's father, Dr. W. A. McIntosh, was in
attendance as Jail Surgeon.
McAuliffe was
buried in St. Mary's Cemetery at 1.15 a.m. with Father Boyer
officiating. Others present were Father Spencer of Tillsonburg, the
undertaker and two assistants, Deputy-Sheriff Pratt and two police
officers.
Interest in Simcoe
and district mounted as the end drew near for the sandy-haired ex-army
sergeant and by 11.30 p.m. Monday a crowd if 200 was shivering in the
cold outside the Norfolk County courthouse. They saw nothing until after
the execution when a large part of the throng moved around to the rear
of the courthouse to watch the hearse leave. A stream of cars joined the
procession but no one was allowed to enter the cemetery.
After he was found
guilty and sentenced to hang by Mr. Justice R. W. Treleaven here last
September, the condemned man made several attempts to escape the
gallows. Through Arthur Maloney, Toronto lawyer, he launched an appeal
to the Supreme Court of Ontario on the grounds that Justice Treleaven
had misdirected the jury in instructing them that could not bring in a
verdict of manslaughter. The appeal was dismissed as was a later
application for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada.
McAuliffe's last
chance of survival was wiped out on Monday when the federal cabinet
turned down his plea for clemeny. Along with the pleas a petition was
sent to Ottawa signed by a number of local residents and asking for a
reprieve for McAuliffe.
Feeling was strong
in Simcoe as the time for the hanging approached. Many people here
though that the system of execution, including instructions for bells to
be tolled, were barbaric and unnecessary. As late as Monday night,
Simcoe town council voiced a protest against :antiquainted"
practice of holding executions in communities were some citizens were
forced to take part. Council suggested a central place of execution.
Besides Father
Boyer who offered mass, McAuliffe had only one visitor during his last
few hours. She was Mrs. Edward [.]uinn, an aunt who raised him after his
mother died.
When the time came
for the execution, McAuliffe went quietly with the same composure that
marked his behavior throughout the trial and during his confinement in
Norfolk County jail.
Crime Reviewed
. The bank robbery and subsequent double slaying on the afternoon of
June 21 touched off one of the greatest manhunts in Canadian crime
annals, plunging the peaceful tobacco farmers of Norfolk into a feverish
search for the killer. Three days later with hopes of a capture waning,
a last ditch push into the woods north of Straffordville cornered
McAuliffe in a shack.
Ordered by Graham
Haggarty, a courageous 19-year old civilian to give himself up,
McAuliffe called it quits and was quickly bundled off to jail. The
machine-gun, feared by everyone during the search, was not found until
several days later by a bloy near the scene of the killings 10 miles
from where the capture was made.
At the trial bank
employees identified McAuliffe and finder print expects testified that
the accused prints matched those on the black Meteor he ditched before
cutting down Lierman and Goddyn. A steady stream of witnesses, ranging
from technical authorities to a 10-year-old boy filled in the details of
the brutal crime. Crown Attorney D. E. W. Tisdale, K.C., prosecuted,
while a young Simcoe lawyer, W. E. Ross, defended the accused.
McAuliffe was
granite-faced and unemotional throughout the trial, even when Judge
Treleazen passed the death sentence upon him. His sister, Mrs. Irene
Reynolds, visited him several times and remained hopeful that he would
not be hanged. Ed McAuliffe Sr. and Ed McAuliffe Jr., father and
half-brother of the condemned man came down from North Bay three times
to talk to him. They said "goodbye" to him a week ago today.
