Village Squire, 1973-06, Page 17paying for things with large bills. The staff told the customers
and the customers rushed home to tell their neighbours.
About noon the first discreetly painted R. C. M. P. car had
entered the town and was parked beside Kelly's at the town
hall. By this time the news had already spread in bulletin form
through the town grapevine so that virtually everyone knew
who the plain -clothed Mountie was before he stepped out of
the car. He something of a celebrity for in rural Ontario
where the Ontario Provincial Police held sway, Mounties ap-
peared seldom and only in case of great import. So the sight
of a real live Mountie gave the stamp of authority to all Kelly
had said.
By one, the town was swarming with more police than it
knew existed. The Mounties and OPP had decided to lay their
trap here and planned road blocks on all the major roads into
the town. Evidence seemed to prove it certain the fugitives
would have to pass through the town.
During the early part of the hot afternoon the excitment
picked up the usually sleepy atmosphere. Kelly at his office
had seventeen calls reporting sightings of the desparadoes,
sixteen from little old ladies, one from the public school
principal. Doors were locked and chairs were propped up
against them in several parts of town. The men were reported
to have been seen in a red convertible, green hardtop, yellow
sports car and blue stationwagon. Three unsuspecting tourists
were hustled down to the police station by store owners when
they tried to pay for items ranging from a head of lettuce to a
radiator cap for a car with a twenty dollar bill.
In all the excitment no one noticed when the old battered
pick-up pulled up a backstreet from the southern edge of town.
No one noticed either when the truck stopped near the gate of
the fair grounds and a man got out and hid a little brown package
under a stone near the culvert that carried the little riverlet
under the road. No one noticed when he got back in and the
truck drove down another backstreet and disappeared to the
north.
It was about five -thirty that all the cars from the assorted
police departments headed toward the north, their sirens
wailing, their tires throwing clouds of dust and bits of gravel
into the air as they took off.
The story drifted back into town by seven. Joe Thompson,
the policeman in the village five miles north of Homestead
had seen Teddie Smith's battered blue pick-up driving through
town and remembered that he wanted to have the plumber
look at his hot water heater so he jumped into his car and
drove after the truck, over took it and made it pull over to the
side of the road. Only when he got out did he realize that it
wasn't Teddie the plumber, but two complete strangers.
But if he was surprised, the men were mare so. Seeing his
uniform they immediately surrendered and only then did Joe
know what had fallen into his lap. He called the police in
Homestead and the Mounties, OPP and Kelly all descended on
his little village.
Homestead felt cheated of its glory, but did recover a little
face when the CBC National News that night told briefly of
the capture and said it took place in Homestead, but took the
edge off the townpeople's pride by describing the town as "100
miles north-west of Toronto".
The incident was almost forgotten when children playing
near the fair grounds found the little parcel wrapped in brow.
paper more than two weeks later. I was Mac Mackenzie's
daughter Peggy that found it. At age eight she was known
\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\�\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\IJfr
Local crafts.
New & Used
Books.
Newspapers
Magazines
(We buy used books).
Located on Blyth's main street —
in the Blyth Standrad office.
(Near the church)
0
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