Tom Thomson's Friends? Murderer Got Away.

TOM THOMSON WAS MURDERED - SO WHY DID HIS FRIENDS AND COLLEAGUES LET A CRIME GO UNPUNISHED?

CORONER'S INQUEST ASKED FOR ARGUMENTS TO "ACCIDENTAL DROWNING" THEORY - SILENCE GREETED THE REQUEST

     COMING UP TO THE 95TH ANNIVERSARY OF CANADIAN PAINTER, TOM THOMSON'S DEATH, IN JULY 1917, ON ALGONQUIN PARK'S CANOE LAKE, THE MYSTERY, MORESO THAN TWO GRAVES AND ONE ARTIST, IS THE NAGGING REALITY, THAT NO ONE WISHED TO AVENGE HIS DEATH. OF COURSE, THIS DEPENDS ON WHETHER OR NOT YOU BELIEVE THOMSON WAS MURDERED, VERSUS THE ACCIDENTAL DROWNING CONCLUSION, REACHED BY THE CORONER'S INQUEST, HELD SHORTLY AFTER THE BODY WAS FOUND FLOATING IN CANOE LAKE.

     THERE ARE MANY TWISTS AND TURNS IN THE EXAMINATION OF EVENTS FOLLOWING THOMSON'S DISAPPEARANCE, IN EARLY JULY THAT YEAR. THOMSON HAD BEEN EXPERIENCING ONE OF HIS MOST PROLIFIC AND AMBITIOUS PERIODS OF HIS YOUNG PAINTING CAREER. HE HAD BEEN PRODUCING A SKETCH A DAY, FOR MOST OF THAT SPRING, AS HE ATTEMPTED TO CAPTURE THE SEASONS OF THE ALGONQUIN LAKELAND. IT IS KNOWN THAT HE WAS INVOLVED WITH WINNIE TRAINOR, THE DAUGHTER OF A WELL KNOWN AND RESPECTED COTTAGER, ON CANOE LAKE (AND PROMINENT HUNTSVILLE AREA BUSINESSMAN), AND THAT THEY WERE POTENTIALLY TO WED SOMETIME THAT YEAR. THERE HAVE BEEN MANY STORIES TOLD OVER THE DECADES, THAT SHE WAS PREGNANT WITH THOMSON'S CHILD. IT IS ALSO KNOWN THAT MOWAT HOTELIER SHANNON FRASER OWED THE ARTIST MONEY, AND IT HAS BEEN SUGGESTED, THE TWO HAD A FIGHT ON THE EVENING, AFTER BOTH MEN HAD BEEN CONSUMING STRONG DRINK. THE DEATH-BED CONFESSION BY FRASER'S DAUGHTER, THAT THIS HAD BEEN THE CASE, DOES CARRY CONSIDERABLE WEIGHT. FRASER KNOCKED THOMSON OUT, THE ARTIST POTENTIALLY HITTING HIS HEAD ON THE WAY DOWN, AND THEN BEING DUMPED IN THE LAKE STILL ALIVE, UNDER THE BELIEF, "DEAD MEN TELL NO TALES." THE MURDER THEORY HAS FAR MORE CORROBORATING EVIDENCE THAN ANY OTHER CAUSE OF DEATH, INCLUDING ACCIDENTAL DROWNING. BOTH FRASER AND THOMSON WERE LARGE, AGGRESSIVE MEN, WHO WERE KNOWN FOR THEIR TEMPERS. THOMSON HAD ALREADY THAT SAME NIGHT, HAD A SERIOUS RUN-IN WITH COTTAGER MARTIN BLETCHER JR., AND IT WAS KNOWN, THE AMERICAN THREATENED THE ARTIST TO STAY AWAY FROM HIM…..OR ELSE.

     THE CORONER'S INQUEST WAS ACTUALLY HELD AT THE BLETCHER FAMILY COTTAGE. OTHER PARTIES HAD HEARD THE YOUNGER BLETCHER THREATEN THOMSON, THE NIGHT BEFORE THE PAINTER WENT MISSING. YET WHEN THE CORONER ASKED FOR ANY REASONS TO CHALLENGE THE ASSESSMENT OF ACCIDENTAL DROWNING, NONE OF THESE WITNESSES SAID A WORD ABOUT THE INCIDENT WITH BLETCHER. HOW COULD THEY HAVE MISSED THE OPPORTUNITY TO RAISE NEWS ABOUT THIS EVENT, WHICH WOULD HAVE OPENED A HUGE AVENUE OF INQUIRY AT THE CORONER'S INQUEST? WAS THERE A MURDERER IN THAT COTTAGE ROOM? WERE THESE PEOPLE THOMSON'S FRIENDS? HOW IS IT EVEN POSSIBLE, THAT KNOWING THOMSON WAS A REASONABLY COMPETENT CANOEIST, AND ADEQUATE SWIMMER, WITH LOCAL ENVIRONMENTAL WISDOM, DROWN BY MISADVENTURE IN BROAD DAYLIGHT……AND IN CALM WEATHER. THIS IS WHAT WAS LISTED AS THE CAUSE OF DEATH, ALTHOUGH MANY IN THAT ROOM DISAGREED. THEY APPARENTLY SAVED THEIR COMMENTS FOR THE HOURS AND DAYS FOLLOWING THE INQUEST. WHEN THEY HAD THE LEGAL RESPONSIBILITY TO ANSWER THE CORONER'S QUESTIONING, THE ROOM FELL SILENT, AND MANY OF THOSE IN ATTENDANCE, KNEW FULL WELL THERE WAS MUCH MORE TO THIS STORY. EVEN IF THEY DIDN'T LIKE THOMSON, THEY HAD AN OBLIGATION TO CONFESS WHAT THEY KNEW HAD ACTUALLY HAPPENED. 

     I HAVE LONG BELIEVED THOMSON WASN'T AS POPULAR IN THE CANOE LAKE VICINITY, AS WE MIGHT HAVE THOUGHT PREVIOUSLY. HE HAD BEEN A COLORFUL CHARACTER IN HIS DAY, AND THERE ARE MANY NOW HISTORIC INNUENDOS ABOUT HIM HAVING FATHERED A CHILD IN SEATTLE, WHILE WORKING IN THE GRAPHICS BUSINESS. IN A TORONTO ART FIRM, THERE IS A WRITTEN OBSERVATION, ABOUT HIM PHYSICALLY REMOVING A DRUNKEN GENTLEMAN, WHO HAD COME INTO THE WORKSHOP AND BECOME BELLIGERENT. HE WAS KNOWN AS A SUBSTANTIAL DRINKER AND WAS GENERALLY MOODY AND DISTANT, ACCORDING TO THOSE WHO KNEW HIM BEST. WHAT MAY HAVE HAPPENED BETWEEN HIM AND MARTIN BLETCHER, OR LATER, WITH SHANNON FRASER, HISTORIANS AND RESEARCHERS CAN ONLY SPECULATE. THE FACT THAT FRASER'S DAUGHTER IMPLICATED HER MOTHER AND FATHER IN THOMSON'S DEMISE, IS PRETTY SIGNIFICANT, BECAUSE IT DOES TIE UP SOME LOOSE ENDS THAT HAVEN'T CONNECTED PREVIOUSLY. THOMSON MAY HAVE EVEN BEEN TRYING TO BEAT A HASTY RETREAT, FROM MS TRAINOR, AND AS ROY MACGREGOR, PRESENTED IN HIS MOST RECENT BOOK, IT MAY HAVE BEEN THE CASE, FRASER, ACTING ON HIS OWN, BUT ON BEHALF OF THE FAMILY, CONFRONTED THOMSON ABOUT RUMORS HE WAS PLANNING TO TAKE-OFF TO WESTERN CANADA……INSTEAD OF DOING THE RIGHT THING. MARRYING WINNIE TRAINOR.

     IT STILL ARRIVES BACK AT THE POINT, WHEN THE CORONER THAT NIGHT, ASKED FOR COMMENTS FROM THE AUDIENCE IN ATTENDANCE, IF ANY INFORMATION SHOULD BE CONSIDERED BEFORE THE INQUIRY WAS OFFICIALLY CLOSED. THEY HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO PRESENT THEIR SUSPICIONS, OR TO RELATE WHAT THEY KNEW ABOUT THE CONFLICT BETWEEN BLETCHER AND THOMSON, WHICH WAS AN ALMOST INCREDIBLE AND CRIMINAL SUPPRESSION OF EVIDENCE KEY TO THE CASE AT HAND. THE THREAT OF BODILY HARM SHOULD HAVE BEEN ENOUGH TO CHALLENGE, AT LEAST TEMPORARILY, THE ACCIDENTAL DROWNING THEORY.  BUT WHAT DIDN'T COME OUT DURING THE CORONER'S INQUEST, WAS EXACTLY WHAT MOTIVATED THOMSON BIOGRAPHER, BLODWEN DAVIES, TO CONTACT THE ONTARIO PROVINCIAL POLICE IN THE LATE 1920'S, TO SUGGEST INFORMATION HAD BEEN PURPOSELY SUPPRESSED DURING THE INQUEST. A NUMBER OF THE PEOPLE IN THE CANOE LAKE COMMUNITY, EVEN A DECADE AFTER THOMSON'S DEATH, WERE AGITATED BY THE FACT A MURDERER HAD NOT BEEN PUNISHED. THE POLICE DECIDED AGAINST RE-OPENING THE CASE.

     TO SUGGEST THERE WAS A COVER-UP AT THE INQUEST, IS FAIRLY OBVIOUS, ESPECIALLY BY THE FACT THE BLETCHER INCIDENT HADN'T BEEN MENTIONED. IT WAS RELEVANT AND A NECESSARY POINT FOR THE CORONER TO CONSIDER. IF THEY COVERED THIS INCIDENT UP, THEN WHAT ELSE SHOULD HAVE BEEN OFFERED TO THE CORONER, BUT WAS CO-OPERATIVELY BURIED FROM COURT SCRUTINY. I'M ALWAYS AMUSED WHEN I HEAR OR READ ABOUT HOW MUCH THOMSON WAS REVERED IN THE CANOE LAKE COMMUNITY, AND HOW MANY FRIENDS HE HAD, AS AN ARTIST, AND FELLOW RESIDENT OF THIS ALGONQUIN HAMLET…..OF MOWAT. IF HE HAD FRIENDS AND CLOSE COLLEAGUES WHO RESPECTED HIM, HOW COME IT TOOK A DECADE AND A BIOGRAPHER TO TURN UP THE DISSENSION AND SUSPICION OF A DECADE EARLIER? DO FRIENDS ACT LIKE THIS? MANY RESEARCHERS IN THE PAST, HAVE UNCOVERED THESE TRUTHS AS WELL; THAT THOMSON WAS NOT PARTICULARLY WELL LIKED. EVEN THOSE WHO CONFESSED THEIR FRIENDSHIP, SPOKE DIFFERENTLY WHEN THERE WAS NO DANGER OF BEING QUOTED. WHILE IT WASN'T IMPERATIVE THAT THOMSON BE LIKED, OR HAVE HAD SCORES OF CLOSE FRIENDS, WHEN HE NEEDED THEIR HELP, TO BRING A MURDERER TO JUSTICE, NO ONE STOOD UP FOR HIS HONOR. YET ONCE THE INQUEST WAS OVER, AND THE DOCUMENT OFFICIALLY SIGNED, THE RUMORS BEGAN IN EARNEST. THE QUESTIONS THEN, WERE NOT ABOUT HIS TRAGIC DROWNING. THEY WERE POINTING FINGERS. NONE OF THEM, DESPITE THEIR INFORMATION TO THE CONTRARY, EVER CHALLENGED THE VERDICT OF THE COURT OF INQUIRY. THEY JUST THREW-OUT DOUBT WHEN OPPORTUNITY AROSE, SUCH AS WHEN BLODWEN DAVIES STARTED TO NOSE AROUND, AND TOOK HER SUSPICIONS TO THE AUTHORITIES.

     ROY MACGREGOR'S NEWEST BOOK, "NORTHERN LIGHT", JUDGE WILLIAM LITTLE'S 1970'S "TOM THOMSON MYSTERY," AND "TOM THOMSON; THE SILENCE AND THE STORM," BY DAVID SILCOX AND HAROLD TOWN, ARE THREE OUTSTANDING BOOKS TO CONSULT, IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO READ MORE ABOUT THE STRANGE COLD CASE, OF A LEGENDARY CANADIAN ARTIST.

     THE MATERIAL BELOW HAS BEEN PUBLISHED ELSEWHERE, AND EARLIER, BUT I WOULD LIKE TO SHARE IT AGAIN WITH READERS, IN THIS SHORT SERIES OF ARTICLES, TO ACKNOWLEDGE THE COMING 95TH ANNIVERSARY OF TOM THOMSON'S DEATH. HOPE YOU ENJOY.

Accidental drowning or a case of murder?

The Tom Thomson mystery officially began on July 8th, 1917

By Ted Currie

The water on Canoe Lake this morning mirrors the August sky. There is a deep and limitless blue over silver, wavering in the reflection of paradise on earth. A canoe and paddler silhouettes against the rising sun, as its route crosses a thick background of lush evergreens. It is a haunted lakeland. It’s no wonder Canadian landscape artist Tom Thomson adored this place.

"Mark Robinson (Algonquin Park Ranger) stated that as soon as he heard of the discovery of Tom’s (Thomson) canoe from Charlie Scrim, he began searching the shores of Canoe Lake from Tea Lake dam in the south, up through log-jammed Bonito Lake, a connecting water link between Canoe and Tea Lakes," wrote Judge William Little, in his book, "The Tom Thomson Mystery," published in 1970 by McGraw-Hill.

"The search began the morning of July 11th, and continued during the next four days without the discovery of a single clue. A number of local citizens took part in this time-consuming and intense investigation of every bay, inlet, and portage on Canoe Lake. Mark (Robinson), accompanied by his twelve year old son, Jack, traveled miles through the bush as well as back and forth on the portage to Gill Lake, a few miles to the west of Canoe Lake’s southern shoreline," Little notes of the full scale search for Tom Thomson.

"On July 12th George Thomson arrived at Canoe Lake on the evening train. After discussing his brother’s disappearance with Mark (Robinson), who met him at the station, George examined his brother’s canoe and talked with guides and residents of the area. He came to share the general view that it was hardly likely that Tom had come to any grief while on the water, and thought his brother might have left his canoe at a portage while he went to the other side to fish or paint. The mystery was why he would have stayed for so long a period unless he had been hurt or otherwise incapacitated while in the bush."

Judge Little, who had long suspected foul play leading to Thomson’s disappearance, paid attention to the following important details of the failed search: "The guides, particularly George Rowe and Charlie Scrim, were quick to note that Tom’s own working paddle was missing when his canoe was found, and the spare or portaging paddle had been found lashed in a position to portage but had been knotted in a most unorthodox way, as if a much less experienced canoeist than Thomson had tied it. When the guides searched the shoreline they were looking for the working paddle, as well as the artist himself. The paddle was never found which in itself is unusual in view of the concentrated efforts made by the many people working over specific areas. Paddles float."

In the words of Mark Robinson, regarding the failings of the search, "I traveled every day that week in the woods down to the south of us and west of the lake. I covered all that country along with my eldest boy and found no trace of him. I couldn’t find any track or sign of his having crossed Gill Lake. I returned each night and reported to Mr. Bartlett (Park Superintendent). He sent three or four rangers over to help and they traveled the east side of the lake here and the south side, as well as Tea Lake and Tea Lake dam areas. They found no trace of him. Saturday night I’d return late and he (Mr. Bartlett) said; ‘Look Mark, you must be tired traveling so much.’ I said I am but I can still travel more; I’d like to find Thomson. He must have broken a leg or a limb, maybe fallen and injured himself. I have walked all over the bush, I’ve fired shots and I’ve blown my whistle, and he knows my signal with the whistle as well as anyone does, and I have not been able to find him."

In the July 13th issue of the Toronto Globe the headline read, "Toronto Artist Missing In North – Tom Thomson missing from Canoe Lake since Sunday – A Talented Landscapist." The article reads as follows: "Toronto art circles were shocked yesterday at the news received from Algonquin Park that Tom Thomson, one of the most talented of the younger artists in the city, had been missing since Sunday and was thought to have been drowned or the victim of foul play. Mr. Thomson was last seen at Canoe Lake at noon on Sunday (July 8th), and at 3:30 in the afternoon his canoe was found adrift in the lake, upside down. There was no storm, only a light wind prevailing, and the fact that both paddles were in place in the canoe as if for a portage, adds to the mystery… Mr. Thomson carried a light fishing rod and this and his dunnage bag were missing." This contradicts earlier evidence that only one paddle was found awkwardly lashed to the thwart of the canoe.

"On July 14th, George Thomson, in preparation for departure on the evening train, gathered up a number of Tom’s sketches that were among his few belongings," noted Judge Little of the elder brother’s decision to leave before the search had concluded. George Thomson’s departure and removal of some of his brother’s art work continued to be a curiosity to writers such as William Little. It didn’t seem right that he had left Canoe Lake without absolute news regarding the disappearance. George Thomson was fully aware that if his brother had drowned, the body would surface sooner or later, considering the water temperature and conditions of the key waterways. It was one day later in fact, that Dr. Howland, on Little Wapomeo Island, in Canoe Lake, had snagged something or other while fishing, which was most likely Thomson’s submerged body. The next day Dr. Howland spotted something floating in the water in the same general location as his snagged fishing line the evening before. Two local guides passing in a canoe at the time, George Rowe and Lowrie Dickson, were asked by the doctor to check out the object floating in a direct line with Hayhurst Point. It turned out to be the bloated body of Tom Thomson.

What would follow is an impromptu medical examination which would determine that Thomson had been bleeding after falling in the water, meaning it was most likely he had sustained a severe blow to the head but still had a heart beat when he hit the water. There was no water found in the lungs. Yet by Dr. Howland’s autopsy report, the artist had died of drowning. The mystery broadens.

What would be a pivotal decision in the case, was Mark Robinson’s chagrin about leaving Thomson’s badly decomposing body tied to the Canoe Lake shore awaiting the coroner. He paddled to see his superior, Bartlett, and it was agreed an examination and burial that same day, July 17th, should be conducted in respect for the dead. What this did was deny the official coroner, who would come later, the opportunity to examine the body, rather than accepting the autopsy report from Dr. Howland, who had determined the cause of death as accidental drowning. By time the coroner, Dr. Ranney did arrive that same day, July 17, 1917, Thomson had already been buried in the Canoe Lake Cemetery.

Instead of ordering the body be exhumed which he had ever right to insist, he accepted the report of Dr. Howland, and the observations of witnesses at an inquest.

It has long been my own contention, that when those in attendance refused to speak up, after the coroner invited anyone who had suspicions of foul play to present their concerns, the seed of mystery was deeply and profoundly planted in the Canoe Lake community. Many in attendance knew that Thomson was a capable canoeist and the weather of the day had offered no challenge out of the ordinary for such an experienced paddler. They also knew there had been heated words exchanged with cottager Martin Bletcher Jr., the night before his disappearance, at a mutual friend’s cabin; Bletcher suggesting that Thomson should stay out of his way if he knew what was good for him. In fact, the inquest was held in the Bletcher cottager. And no one raised even one concern Thomson could have been the victim of foul play, even though there is evidence some participants in the inquest talked freely of murder once the official part of the meeting had concluded.

If you think the Tom Thomson Mystery is at its end, you’re mistaken. You won’t believe what comes next.

In the meantime, enjoy your travels throughout this beautiful province. Take a drive up to Algonquin Park, and witness for yourself, why the Group of Seven artists found this landscape such a great source of inspiration. But drive carefully and watch for the moose.

Who killed Canadian artist Tom Thomson?

By Ted Currie

The bustle of a summer season in Algonquin Park has become a gentler enterprise around this Canoe Lake community, with the arrival of these first cool days of September. Before the end of this month, the hardwood colors will contrast brilliantly against the evergreens, beneath the calming canopy of azure sky.....beside the tranquil, mirroring water of a legendary Canadian lake, lapping at the bow of a traversing canoe. It is a beautiful time to visit Algonquin.

At this time of year it’s easy to see why Tom Thomson and the Group of Seven artists found Algonquin such a perfect location to paint. Some say that on moonlit autumn nights you can still see Thomson paddling his ghost canoe in those places he haunted during his years living in the community of Mowat. One of his painting colleagues, in a boat crossing an expanse of bay, (sometime after Thomson’s death), claimed he had witnessed his familiar grey-green canoe, and the artist’s silhouette against the last light along the horizon of Canoe Lake. It wasn’t the last sighting either. There have been many since.

It is alleged that Tom Thomson drowned on this lake some time between July 7th and 8th. His body was discovered on July 16th. He was prepared for burial right on the island, and as it turned out, he was buried almost immediately after, on July 17th without a coroner’s inspection of the body.

"The undertakers, Dixon and Flaville, transported the closed casket and rough box to the mainland, where it was placed on an improvised hearse – the Mowat Lodge team-drawn stage that served as transportation for the guests of the Lodge, to and from Canoe Lake Station. It was much more than an open horse-drawn wagon," wrote Judge William Little, author of "The Tom Thomson Mystery."(1970, McGraw-Hill, of Canada, page 61-62). "Due to the rapidity of events and the urgency of an early burial, just over a dozen people attended the interment on the hillside overlooking Canoe Lake, a quarter of a mile to the northwest of Mowat Lodge."

"A hastily organized funeral cortege was headed by the horse-drawn hearse, followed by Martin Bletcher Sr., who was assigned to act as lay minister and read the funeral rites at the graveside; Mark Robinson, Martin Bletcher Jr., his sister Bessie, Mrs. Bletcher, Mrs. Trainor, Mr. Trainor and his daughter, Winnifred, Mr. and Mrs. Ed Colson, a number of Tom’s guide friends, Mr. Charles Plewman of Toronto, and several Lodge guests who were invited to attend. This little funeral party wended its way up the hillside to the tiny Canoe Lake Cemetery. One of the graves dated back to 1897, and contained the remains of a young millhand, James Watson, from Parry Sound, Ontario, who had been killed at the mill on his first day of work. The other grave was that of the young child of a local family, Alexander Hayhurst, buried in 1905 at the age of eight years, a victim of diphtheria. A small picket fence around both plots marked the graves, the only ones known in this area of the Canoe Lake settlement," notes William Little.

It should be noted that Winnifred Trainor was Tom’s girlfriend and it is alleged she was pregnant at the time of Tom’s death. It is also rumored a park cabin had been booked by Thomson for the fall of 1917 as an alleged honeymoon retreat.

One of the sparks of this mystery has always been Little’s contention the body had been hastily buried, possibly to get rid of evidence before the coroner arrived by train to conduct the formal inquest into the artist’s death. He writes, "It has been noted that only a little over 24 hours elapsed between the time Tom’s body was found on July 16, and his burial. The reason for such undue haste is well understood and explained: the state of decomposition was so advanced that the body could not remain unburied any longer than was absolutely necessary. In seeking immediate burial of a friend in such a condition, (Ranger) Mark Robinson did what a sensitive and humane individual might reasonably be expected to do. From a distinctly legal-medical position, the body should not have been buried, however, until a coroner had determined the cause of death, when it occurred and how it occurred.

"The investigation into the death of Tom Thomson was anything but professional or procedural in terms of accepted practice, either at that time or the present. The coroner never saw Tom’s body. No member of his family ever identified or saw his body after his death; although Tom’s brother George, had spent some four days in the area during the search, he did not get to Algonquin Park, nor did any other member of the family before the funeral. Under the circumstances, this was understandable but in no way assists in any appropriate deduction of facts based on accepted practices of normal inquest procedures."

In the words of Dr. Ranney, following the coroner’s report, (keep in mind he didn’t have a body to examine), "There was only one bruise on the right side of the head (as observed by Dr. Howland, who had examined the body after it was discovered), temple region about four inches long. This, no doubt, was caused by striking some obstacle, like a stone, when the body drowned. Dr. Howland swore that death was caused from drowning; also evidence from the other six witnesses points that the cause of death was accidental drowning." Dr. Ranney said at the conclusion of the inquest, "I always like to see a body before making official decisions. However, sometimes it is not possible. This has been one of those occasions."

Those in attendance at the inquest were not unanimous in agreement with the findings of Dr. Howland or Dr. Ranney. When they were invited to speak to the matter however, the room was silent. They openly disagreed with the "drowning" conclusion but let the matter stand, believing they didn’t have enough expertise to overturn the decision of a trained doctor. They were wrong. They most certainly should have noted that Thomson had been in a serious argument the night before he went missing, with Martin Bletcher Jr., and he had warned the artist to keep out of his way if he knew what was good for him." If this had been revealed to the coroner at the time of the inquest, the matter would surely have necessitated exhumation of the Canoe Lake grave. As a matter of some irony the inquest was held in the living room of Martin Bletcher Sr.s’ cottage.

For years there was serious speculation Thomson had been the victim of foul play and most researchers, including Thomson biographer Blodwen Davies, and William Little maintained a focus on several other potential suspects beyond the threats uttered by Martin Bletcher. It is now known that Mowat hotelier Shannon Fraser had several spats with Thomson about money owing the artist, and that because of his pending marriage to Winnifred Trainor, the necessity to pool money exacerbated the frayed relationship.

In the next blog in this series, we will examine the circumstances surrounding the mystery-clad exhumation of Thomson’s grave at Canoe Lake, as requested by his brother George, announced on July 18, and conducted by a Huntsville undertaker named Churchill, on July 19th. Churchill was delivered to the site by Shannon Fraser and was left on his own all that night to dig and raise the coffin without assistance. In the 1950’s this same grave was re-opened during an impromptu exhumation by William Little and companions, and the coffin was found exactly as it had been buried with skeleton inside. What had Mr. Churchill removed for reburial at Leith, Ontario (near Owen Sound)?

September is a beautiful month to visit Algonquin Park, the Visitor’s Centre, and of course Canoe Lake. Watch for the moose. Thanks for participating in this latest chapter of the ongoing Tom Thomson mystery.

Frederick Banting and Blodwen Davies researching death of Thomson

Note: As a sidebar to the story of Tom Thomson’s mysterious demise, I would like to include a passage from the biography, "The Side Door - Twenty-six Years in My Book Room," by well known Toronto bookseller, Dora Hood; 1958, The Ryerson Press. In her reminiscences of her many years catering the needs of readers, collectors, philosophers and historians, she notes of one particularly significant researcher and companion, in the following paragraph:

"Fame came, as everyone knows, to Sir Frederick Banting at a very early age. With the perfecting of the discovery of insulin by him in association with Dr. C.H. Best, he emerged from the sheltered life of the laboratory into the turmoil of publicity. When I met him this phase was so overwhelming to one of his nature, had passed an he, through his new friends, the artists of the Group of Seven, had discovered another talent. He revelled in his ability to paint the wild scenery of Northern Ontario and Quebec and this led him to begin his collection of books on exploration. I believe he was happier then than at any time in his short life. Among the friends who influenced his taste was Miss Blodwen Davies. At that time, about the early 1930's, she had won a reputation as a writer on the Canadian scene and was engaged in the task of collecting material for a life of Tom Thomson, the artist who had lately met a tragic end in the northern woods. Many years after Miss Davies told me Banting had helped her in establishing her theory of how Thomson met his death."

What is interesting about this, and the ongoing relationship Davies had with other prominent members of the Group of Seven, throughout her life, including with Thoreau Macdonald, son of J.E.H. Macdonald, was that the "murder" theory she dredged up had apparently upset the same artists she companioned with, including A.Y. Jackson, who never doubted Thomson’s death was accidental.....but the dismay must not have remained for long, as the friendship between historian and artists continued for the rest of her life. Thoreau illustrated some of her books following the release of her controversial biography on Thomson. Thoreau as a boy, had spent many hours with Thomson in his Toronto "shack" where the artist returned each winter to enlarge and improve upon what work he had completed during the spring, summer and autumn season in Algonquin. It was Thoreau and his father who were responsible for the memorial rock cairn to Thomson, situated on Canoe Lake’s Hayhurst Point, overlooking the former community of Mowat. They created the inscription that details the artist’s passion for the Canadian wilds.

Canada’s ninety year old cold case –

Was Tom Thomson a victim of foul play?

"A four-inch bruise or gash on the right side of the temple had been used to support theories that Tom Thomson had been struck with a canoe paddle by an unknown assailant. The fact that one of Thomson’s paddles was missing was put forward as further evidence of foul play. When the body was recovered on July 17, 1917, eight days after Thomson had been last seen, it was reported that fishing line had been tied many times around his left leg and that were was no water in his lungs. To make matters worse, there was also a controversy about Thomson’s true place of burial." page 192, "One Man’s Obsession," by Robert McMichael, (1986 Prentice-Hall, Canada), one of the legendary founders of the McMichael Canadian Collection (Art Gallery) at Kleinburg, Ontario. The co-founder was his wife Signe.

"Thomson was not yet forty years old and apparently in good health, an expert woodsman and canoeist, and a good swimmer. Inevitably, his death on the lake he knew so well gave rise to considerable suspicion and speculation. It had all the ingredients for a mystery which would eventually become part of the country’s folklore."

Robert McMichael notes on page 195 of his biography, in a small section on the life and death of Thomson, that on the night prior to the funeral for the artist, his coffin was "placed in the family parlor by an Owen Sound undertaker. In addition to Tom’s parents and four of his sisters and brothers, Elizabeth, Margaret, George and Fraser, a neighbour and close friend, John McKeen, was present. John Thomson, Tom’s father, asked that the coffin be opened. Although the undertaker was reluctant to do so because the body had been in the water for eight days, Mr. Thomson insisted. A solder seal was broken and the coffin was opened in the presence of Tom’s father and his friend John McKeen. Both men readily identified the body, and, although shaken, John Thomsom expressed relief that Tom’s body had come home. From the time the casket had been opened briefly, Margaret (Tom’s sister) recalled, an unmistakable musty odour pervaded the room."

According to McMichael, "Had William Little (author of " Tom Thomson Mystery") attempted to interview any of Thomson’s surviving sisters or brothers on the subject of the long ago interments, he would have undoubtedly have met the same stoical silence and distaste that Signe and I sensed whenever conversation threatened to approach the painful subject."

Late Autumn, Canoe Lake

At this very moment, it appears as if Tom Thomson’s own poignant brush strokes are creating this powerful clash of wind and current, the ominous bank of dark clouds rolling across the Algonquin landscape, here now in the early hours of this fledgling November. Whitecaps sweep up and along the rising swells, violently consumed again by the frothing, spinning cauldron, restoring itself in the succession of conflicting currents below. When the wind pounds its fury like a fist across this lakeland, it seems to the folklorist, as if Thomson has unleashed revenge for his death unresolved.

The eerie moan of wind etching harshly down over this haunted shore, is the glimpse of Canoe Lake few observe. There are no watchers here now, from this pinnacle above the lake, to witness the rapidly moving storm unclench on this inspirational place on earth. Yet, to this observer, as I expect it was to Thomson, the true measure of storm front, was as beautiful in character and manifestation, as the gentlest, brightest spring day when new life reached up to engage the morning sunlight. Thomson often exposed himself to the rage of an approaching storm, attempting to capture its essence on his paintboards.

As the waves erode vigorously over the rocks that line this point of land, I can also sense the raw, uncompromising beauty within rage, the spirit dwelling between heaven and earth, sending a chill to the very soul of the silent watcher in the woods. It’s as if I am standing here with Thomson, admiring starkness and fury, the violent twist of wind through the evergreens, yet strangely finding peace and tranquility amidst the tumultuous transition of autumn at the first icy grasp of winter.

There is ample evidence that Canadian artist Tom Thomson’s body still rests in the Canoe Lake Cemetery, where he was buried ninety years ago, July 1917. Although it has never been conclusively proven by forensic experts, Judge William Little, author of the landmark book, "The Tom Thomson Mystery," made a rather unsettling discovery that placed the deceased artist where he simply..... and according to historic record, should not have been. Little and several mates dug up Thomson’s alleged Canoe Lake grave in 1956. Instead of finding an empty plot, as a Huntsville undertaker should have left the grave after an earlier family-ordered exhumation in 1917, they found a skeleton in a coffin that they adamantly believe belonged to the deceased artist. With a brief forensic examination in Toronto however, comparing photographs of the artist, the experts declared the skull did not belong to Tom Thomson. So if Thomson had been moved to a family plot, in the Village of Leith (near Owen Sound), did undertaker Churchill dump another body in the vacated coffin? Or did Churchill just send a few pounds of Algonquin dirt to Leith, suspecting the family would never open the soldered metal coffin to confirm the corpse’s identity. As Robert McMichael references however, from an opinion given to him in person from Thomson relatives, the coffin had been opened before burial at Leith....and Thomson was indeed within!

When Judge Little’s group exhumed the gravesite in the Mowat site, on Canoe Lake, the fact an occupant was found in a supposedly empty grave confirmed what the party had known for decades. There had been suspicion since July 1917 that the undertaker, working alone exhuming the grave, could not have raised the coffin himself that morning, and by measurement, the tiny amount of newly disturbed earth at the site was enough to raise suspicion Churchill had not fulfilled his obligation to the Thomson family. Yet Churchill had only shifted a few shovel-loads of dirt from the original burial mound. Not nearly the amount of disturbed soil that should have been visible to allow for the removal of an adult size coffin. In 1956, the Ontario Provincial Police and the Algonquin authority at the time, could have demanded a more substantial investigation, as Mr. Churchill was still alive, and could have been thoroughly interviewed regarding the perplexing matter of "one too many bodies." The Thomson family is said to have declined requests then to re-open the grave in Leith, to see if their kin had indeed been moved for that 1917 reburial. There have been many requests over the decades to exhume both plots but family has held to their belief Tom Thomson is resting at peace in Leith.

I have researched this cold-case for well over a decade now and I have held firm to the belief Thomson was a victim of foul play. As it has been revealed in the past few years, the death-bed confession from kin of hotelier Shannon Fraser, implicated not only Fraser but his wife who assisted in the disposal of the artist’s body. It was said in this confessional that an argument had developed sometime before the 8th of July, 1917, regarding money Fraser owed Thomson. It is known Thomson planned to wed later that summer and he requested money owed from the hotelier in preparation for the approaching nuptials. Thomson was pushed down and struck his head on some object either inside the hotel or outside. Thomson wasn’t dead as a result of the injury that apparently only knocked him unconscious.

Fraser went and got his wife, they hauled Thomson down to the dock when it appeared everyone around the hotel had gone to bed, and they prepared to row him, and his canoe out onto Canoe Lake. A guest at the hotel did hear a commotion late at night on the stairs and outside. Thomson’s leg was bound with copper trolling wire and a weight attached to keep the artist on the bottom of the lake forever. The canoe had been made to look as if prepared for travel, and food provisions set in to look as if the traverse to a fishing spot could have been extended overnight. The canoe was rigged according to the perpetrator’s standard, not Thomson’s, and this was duly noted when the canoe was found later, and the peculiarities examined, none of which were characteristic of how the artist prepared his canoe for travel. Thomson and the weight were rolled into the water and the canoe toppled to make it appear a misadventure had occurred.

Judge Little, to the end of his life, believed the smoking gun in this case, was the object Fraser had used to weigh the body down. Investigation into this occurred several years before William Little’s death, but exploratory dives to the bottom, in the vicinity of the lake where the body was recovered, failed to turn up this critical evidence. What Fraser had not counted on was that the current of the water, and rubbing of the copper line against rock as the body twisted and bobbed, would snap the wire quickly, allowing the body to re-surface as it did, almost as it would have naturally during the stages of decomposition. A number of dynamite explosions in the lake were conducted in an attempt to raise the body shortly after Thomson went missing in 1917, possibly adding to the stress on the copper line.

What has always made the Tom Thomson death so curious to me, is this collection of inconsistencies and failures of both the Canoe Lake community at the time, the police, the coroner and those closest to the artist who simply opted to accept the accidental drowning theory, versus pursuing the very real possibility one of Canada’s most promising artists had been murdered. There were those who suspected foul play when Thomson disappeared, and equally there were those who believed evidence pointed to murder after his body was found.

These were the same individuals who refused to address the coroner’s inquest with their suspicions, despite being afforded the opportunity. If even one person in that room, that night, in July 1917, had spoken of a fight Thomson had been engaged the night before with cottager Martin Bletcher Jr., history would surely have been re-inked. The coroner would have had no choice but to order the exhumation of Thomson’s body, which had been buried only hours before the inquest began.

When you consider that there was immediate suspicion that undertaker Churchill had lied about exhuming Thomson’s body, during that midnight dig in the lamplight, it should have been the last straw, influencing one of the silent majority to fess up to suspicion foul play had played a role in the artist’s demise. Yet you must also consider that one of those suspicious of Churchill’s actions was Shannon Fraser, who had other reasons for being concerned about the artist’s whereabouts.

While there was a large amount of hearsay and innuendo that year and for many years after, nothing could make the key players take issue with the inconsistencies. When Thomson biographer Blodwen Davies informed the police of her suspicions of foul play, in the 1930’s, based on this same hearsay, it was quickly dismissed as a matter best left alone. Although she did publish this suspicion in her later book on the artist, the most that came from her inquiry, was the latent inspiration which helped generate William Little’s eventual grave-digging foray, which itself led to an explosive and ongoing interest in re-opening the cold case. Yet, despite the evidence that certainly warranted further investigation, the art community generally and family wished to leave the matter alone, as it has remained ever since.

Despite what the art community considers an historical event and nothing more, wishing not to intrude upon the achievements and integrity of Thomson’s art with the speculations of dastardly deeds and foul play, it is sheer folly to believe for one moment, that the mystery and Thomson’s art, can ever truly be held separate by the biographer. This is especially true for historians who have come to accept that within this important cultural identity, these powerful images and Thomson’s forever haunted character, a mystery unclenches in powerful undertow beneath what appears a calm lake at sunset. Just as this November storm today reminds us of his brush work, with the intertwining of actuality and the unknown, this rugged, exciting scene, and the tumultuous effect of wind and rain, to makes just one clear impression upon the watcher. In this awe of art within nature, we dwell precariously at the mercy of our own fear and trembling. Yet there is joy being here to witness the storm, the soul, the legend.

Thank you so much for joining this lengthy series of columns detailing elements that compose the structure of the now legendary Tom Thomson Mystery. Take a trip to Algonquin this fall and winter, and experience some of Ontario’s most inspiring landscapes. The Algonquin Visitors Centre is open year round, offering a museum display, an art gallery exhibit, book shop, eatery and a magnificent view. Drive carefully, enjoy the view and watch out for the moose.

A Tribute Traverse of Canoe Lake - That Almost Took a Fatal Turn

Since I began researching the mystery of Tom Thomson’s death, in July 1917, we have made many trips up to Canoe Lake from our Gravenhurst home here in South Muskoka. With our two young lads Andrew and Robert, my wife Suzanne and I have enjoyed numerous canoe adventures from early spring to late autumn.....in the winter we often visited the Algonquin Centre. As admirers of Thomson’s Algonquin art especially, traversing Canoe Lake always seemed so amazingly interactive, as if we were studying his art panels from the inside out.

After spending months writing and researching a multi-part feature series being published in The Muskoka Sun, we decided to take one more paddle on Canoe Lake before the warm season ended. When we set out that morning in our old aluminum canoe we call the "Iron Waterhorse," the weather was warm and the water still......a perfect day for a picnic on Hayhurst Point, across from the former village of Mowat, where the Thomson memorial cairn was situated. We had never been to the site and thought it was now appropriate, particularly as the series of columns was reaching its conclusion, to make this pilgrimage to pay our own respects to a talented Canadian artist.

Suzanne paddled at the bow and I took the stern and the boys enjoyed the traverse across an early autumn Algonquin lake. From the Portage Store the paddle took us less than an hour with nary a wave to contend with the whole way. There were many canoes out that morning.....mostly rentals from the store. We landed at the dock and after unloading the picnic gear and the boys, we navigated the Waterhorse to where we could pull it ashore. It was a considerable rocky incline.

We climbed up the hillside and the boys had already landed at the base of the rock cairn which had been constructed shortly after Thomson’s death, to remind people of the artist’s great love for the park and the wilds of Canada. We found a comfortable place to sit and after a period of sightseeing and enjoying the spectacular view, Suzanne set out the picnic lunch. There wasn’t a whisper of wind at this point in the late morning. About mid-lunch Andrew went to the cairn and began tracing out the letters on the bronze plaque with his finger. He read aloud the tribute that had been written by fellow artist and friend J.E.H. Macdonald.......the inscription reads as follows:

"To the memory of Tom Thomson, artist-woodsman and guide who was drowned in Canoe Lake, July 8th, 1917. He lived humbly but passionately with the wild - it made him brother to all untamed things of Nature. It drew him apart and revealed itself wonderfully to him. It sent him out from the woods only to show these revelations through his art - and it took him to itself at last. His fellow artists and other friends and admirers join gladly in this tribute to his character and genius. His body is buried in Owen Sound, Ontario, where he was born August, 1877."

I remember joining him at the base of the cairn and saying something like..... "Be careful Andy, you might raise Thomson from the grave."

I don’t know how long it was from that statement to when I first noticed the wind breaking over the hillside. I know that items were blowing off the picnic blanket and I do recall having to chase my baseball cap across the small plateau. To say this windstorm had arisen from a clear blue sky is truthful. There wasn’t a cloud on the horizon. When we took a look down at the canoe, it was being pushed back and forth at the stern by a succession of white-capped waves now pounding the shoreline. We couldn’t believe the transition. Is it possible we conjured up a ghost in the form of a windstorm by paying our respects to Thomson? It was sudden and severe. When we looked out over the lake we could see dozens of over-turned canoes, paddlers in lifejackets bobbing on the waves. We were hard pressed to help them from our own position. Our canoe offered too much surface area above the water and it was hard to paddle even in a light wind.

We waited as long as we could at Hayhurst Point, and when a lull arrived after about forty minutes, we decided to cross over to the Mowat side and hug the shore up the lake. In the canoe about ten minutes, the raging conditions started up again, and it was everything we could do just to remain upright. We were getting pounded by the waves hitting the shore and then being violently twisted in the roll-back of waves going back out. We weren’t inexperienced paddlers but this was a challenge. We had a hell of a traverse right over the location Thomson is said to have perished, and yes there was a strange aura over Canoe Lake that day. There were countless rescues all over the lake, of folks dumped from their canoes by the unanticipated rough weather. We survived. But after all these years there’s still that shred of wonder......was it a little paranormal intervention, just to let us know he’s still very much a spirit dwelling within Algonquin.

Take a trip up to Algonquin Park this season and see first hand what inspired Tom Thomson. Watch for the moose. Have a safe journey.