Edwin Alonzo Boyd by Brian Vallee

Author:Brian Vallee [Vallee, Brian]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-385-67439-3
Publisher: Doubleday Canada
Published: 1998-10-20T04:00:00+00:00

Waldimar Weisman parked his 1950 black Ford sedan behind the College Theatre at College and Dovercourt about 11 p.m. on January 24, planning to leave it there until morning. But during the night Boyd hot-wired the car and drove it to a rented garage, where he replaced the licence plates with a set stolen from an auto wrecker.

About 11 a.m. the next day, Boyd was whistling softly as he entered the Bank of Toronto, on Kingston Road near Warden, with Suchan and Joe Jackson. Teller Beverly Machesney was standing at the rear of the bank facing the front door when Boyd came in and walked towards him. Beverly, the teller, was about to ask, “What can I do for you?” when Boyd produced a revolver. “It’s a stick-up!” he shouted. The manager, Robert Chambers, was standing near Machesney and turned when he heard the words. Boyd ordered them and the other employees to face the wall and lie face down on the floor.

Mrs. Murray Finlay, who lived across the street from the bank, dropped in to make a deposit and was confronted by Boyd. “Get over to the wall,” he said, waving his gun at her. She stood frozen. He nudged her with the barrel. “Face the wall!” he ordered. “It’s a stick-up.” She went to the wall but stood facing the interior of the bank, and saw Boyd leave the main cashier’s cage and move to the north end of the bank to empty the cash drawers there. Then he vaulted the counter and went through the manager’s office to the accountant’s desk, where Mrs. Finlay watched as he pried open the drawers. “At this time he was looking directly at me and grinning,” she said.

David Forgie, a Scarborough fireman, was standing in the doorway of the bank talking to a friend when the three gunmen came out of the bank, one of them carrying a cloth bag. Forgie heard someone shout that there had been a hold-up, and he started after them until Suchan turned and pointed a revolver at him. Forgie retreated to the doorway as the gunmen jumped into the stolen Ford and sped off. Forgie was able to get the licence number. The getaway car headed west on Kingston Road and then north on Cornell Avenue. They drove about four blocks to a Dominion Store parking lot, where Mary was waiting in another car. She drove through the city while they lay on the floor out of sight.

The robbery netted $10,000 and a .38 calibre Ivor Johnson revolver. The newspapers gave the story the usual dramatic play, with photos and screaming headlines, and the police had no doubt the Boyd Gang was at work again. Later, one witness would make a lukewarm identification of Joe Jackson, and charges against him would be dropped at a preliminary hearing. Several witnesses would identify Boyd and Suchan, but defence lawyers would raise enough doubts that they too were eventually acquitted.

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