Murder On the Parade Square

The demolition, several years ago, of the 1890 Officers’ Mess and Quarters at Work Point, Victoria, inspired a letter to the editor of the Times Colonist warning against disturbing its two resident ghosts.

The writer was referring to the spirits of a Major Steinberg and a four-year-old boy.

Indeed, the former Esquimalt army base should have been haunted–by the spirit of Captain Peter Elliston. The commanding officer of No. 5 Company, Royal Canadian Garrison Artillery met eternity at 9:25 on the morning of Monday, Aug 1, 1910, moments after he’d begun his daily rounds.

That’s when Gunner Thomas ‘Paddy’ Allan, who for weeks had nursed his hatred for this officer who’d given him 21 days’ detention for drunkenness, made good his vow, “I’ve a bullet for him and it will find its billet.”

As indeed it did.

This fascinating story in next week’s Cowichan Chronicles.

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PHOTO: Gunner Paddy Allan. —Author’s Collection