The Last to Die: Ronald Turpin, Arthur Lucas, and the End of Capital Punishment in Canada

234 Pages·2007·1.27 MB·English

by  Robert J. Hoshowsky

— THE LAST TO DIE —
— THE LAST TO DIE —
RONALD TURPIN, ARTHUR LUCAS,
AND THE END OF
CAPITAL PUNISHMENT IN CANADA
ROBERT J. HOSHOWSKY
FOREWORD BY PETER C. NEWMAN
Copyright © Robert J. Hoshowsky, 2007
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a
retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise (except for brief passages for
purposes of review) without the prior permission of Dundurn Press. Permission
to photocopy should be requested from Access Copyright.
Editor: Tony Hawke
Copy-editor: Andrea Waters
Designer: Jennifer Scott
Printer: Tri-Graphic Printing Ltd.
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication Hoshowsky, Robert J
The last to die : Ronald Turpin, Arthur Lucas, and the end of capital
punishment in Canada / Robert J. Hoshowsky.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-1-55002672-6
1. Turpin, Ronald, 1933-1962. 2. Lucas, Arthur, d. 1962. 3. Hanging--Ontario-
-History--20th century. 4. Capital punishment--Canada--History--20th century.
5. Murderers--Ontario--Biography. I. Title.
HV8700.H68 2007 364.66092'271 C2007-900084-3
1 2 3 4 5 11 10 09 08 07
We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts and the
Ontario Arts Council for our publishing program. We also acknowledge the
financial support of the Government of Canada through the Book Publishing
Industry Development Program and The Association for the Export of
Canadian Books, and the Government of Ontario through the Ontario Book
Publishers Tax Credit program and the Ontario Media Development
Corporation.
Care has been taken to trace the ownership of copyright material used in this
book. The author and the publisher welcome any information enabling them to
rectify any references or credits in subsequent editions.
J. Kirk Howard, President
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Table of Contents
Foreword by Peter C. Newman Acknowledgements
List of Major Characters
A Brief Overview of Capital Punishment in Canada
Introduction
Chapter 1: Salvation
Chapter 2: Ronald Turpin and Arthur Lucas: Two of a Kind
Chapter 3: The Cop Meets His Killer
Chapter 4: Things That Go Bump in the Morning
Chapter 5: The Trial of Arthur Lucas
Chapter 6: The Trial of Ronald Turpin
Chapter 7: Spare Their Lives
Chapter 8: The Last to Hang
Chapter 9: The Aftermath
Bibliography
Endnotes
Illustrations
FOREWORD
BY PETER C. NEWMAN THERE’S REALLY ONLY ONE
GOOD REASON TO READ THIS BOOK: IT’S A
FASCINATING STORY TOLD BY A GREAT
STORYTELLER. ROBERT HOSHOWSKY HAS
MASTERFULLY RECONSTRUCTED THE LURID TALE OF
THE TWO LOW-LIFES WHO BECAME THE LAST TWO
CRIMINALS HANGED IN CANADA. THE DEVIL IS IN THE
DETAILS, AND HE DIGS THEM OUT FEARLESSLY,
INCLUDING MUCH NEW INFORMATION THAT REVEALS
NEW AND UNEXPECTED NUANCES ABOUT THE CRIMES.
Ronald Turpin’s murder of Toronto police officer Fred Nash is minutely
reconstructed, as is the double slaying by Arthur Lucas of a key witness due to
testify against American drug runners and his prostitute common-law wife. The
author has not only interviewed all of the survivors but dug deep into hitherto
unseen archives on the case, which brought to an end nearly one hundred years
of capital punishment in this country. Their double hanging on December 11,
1962, at the Don Jail was an epochal event that deserves book-length recognition
— and this is it. My hesitation in investing valuable reading time in such a
gruesome subject soon dissipated. Not only is this a dramatic retelling of the
actual events, but Hoshowsky has demonstrated the rare ability of writing a book
that is more than the sum of its parts. I wish I could forget his hard-ass
description of the details of the hangman’s art, but it will never leave me …
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The last hangings in Canada remains a sensitive subject for many, especially
those connected to Ronald Turpin and Arthur Lucas, and to their victims,
Toronto police officer Frederick John Nash, Therland Crater, and Carolyn
Newman.
I would like to express my deepest gratitude to those who granted me
interviews, sometimes resurrecting painful memories in the process. I remain
especially grateful to members of the Nash/Kryskow family for sharing their
stories about Frederick Nash, their late father, husband, and brother. Individuals
I interviewed for this for this book include: Donald Bitter, Jackie Clausen, Ron
Clifford, John Costello, Jim Crawford, Karen E. Davis, Bram Everitt, Dorothy
Kryskow, Alison MacKay, Jim Majury, Nancy Morrison, Harold Nash, Julian
Porter, Stephen Posen, Judy Ring, and Gwyn “Jocko” Thomas.
In preparing The Last to Die: Ronald Turpin, Arthur Lucas, and The End of
Capital Punishment in Canada, I consulted primary source material whenever
possible, beginning with the trial transcripts of Regina vs. Arthur Lucas and
Regina vs. Ronald Turpin. While they remain an invaluable source of
information, they remain factual and colourless by their very nature. Newspaper
accounts from the Toronto Star, the Globe and Mail, and the Telegram helped
add necessary emotions and detail.
No work of non-fiction is possible without extensive research, and I wish to
thank the following for their assistance and encouragement: Peter C. Newman,
staff at the Toronto Public Library, the City of Toronto Archives, the Archives
of Ontario, Library and Archives Canada, the Ontario Realty Corporation, Major
David Pitcher (retired) and Karl Larson at the Salvation Army Archives, Canada
and Bermuda Territory, Sharyn Devine from Don Heights Unitarian
Congregation, Jenny Seeman at the Anglican Church of Canada, Susan
Lewthwaite from the Law Society of Upper Canada, the Tennessee Department
of Correction, the Mount Pleasant Group of Cemeteries, Jack Batten, Edward
McGill, Gary and Lisa Cripps, the Metro Toronto Police Pensioners’
Association, and Norina D’Agostini at the Toronto Police Museum.
Special thanks to my friend of twenty-five years, George Serhijczuk, for his
invaluable research and suggestions on this and other projects.
A work like this is not possible without access to protected files. A number of
documents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation on Arthur Lucas were made
available through the U.S. Freedom of Information/Privacy Acts, while other
materials on Lucas and Turpin — such as psychiatric reports, Don Jail log
books, and appeal notes — were obtained through Canada’s Freedom of
Information and Protection of Privacy Act. Other materials consulted in
preparation for this book include archival television footage, documentaries,
radio transcripts, and photos and documents from privately held collections.
I wish to thank my wife, Elizabeth, for her love and patience, and my parents,
Ann and Morris Hoshowsky, for teaching me never to be afraid to ask a
question, no matter how strange it might be. I dedicate this book to them.
One final note: a number of people I contacted asked that their names not be
used in the book, and I have abided by their requests. I thank them for their time
nonetheless, and respect their wishes to remain private, and for their past actions
to remain in the past.