Morris Moss, Man of Mystery
As told in last week’s Chronicles, Morris Moss was as colourful an adventurer as they come. Fur trader, mining speculator and customs officer, he survived shipwreck, at least one murder attempt, chased bootleggers, became embroiled in the aftermath of the Chilcotin War, was caught up in the Pelagic Sealing controversy, then— disappeared.
London-born, handsome and rich, Moss landed in British Columbia when only 20, drawn halfway around the world by reports of the fabulous gold strikes at Barkerville. —BC Archives
In short, never a dull moment for Morris Moss whose name became a household word throughout the province and particularly in Victoria.
Which explains the widespread interest in the mystery that surrounded his quiet departure from B.C. and reports of his death by misadventure below the border. Taken straight from the pages of the Colonist, it reads almost as a who-dun-it.
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But, first, let’s set the stage for the mystery that followed by backing up a bit to four small items that appeared in the Victoria Colonist:
Married —at San Francisco, March 28th, by Rev. Mr. Aron J. Messing, Morris Moss to Hattie Bornstein, both of Victoria, B.C.
A Serenade. Last evening the members of the Liederkrans Society serenaded Mr. and Mrs. Morris Moss at their residence on Fort Street. The newly married couple were passengers from San Francisco by steamship Dakota yesterday.
—Colonist: April 3, 1883
Births – In this city on the 19th inst. the wife of Morris Moss, Esq., of a son.
Colonist: Sept. 21, 1884
Births – Moss – On the 3rd inst. the wife of Morris Moss, of a daughter.
Colonist: April 7, 1888
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By all appearances, he was a happily settled family man with a young wife and two small children. All that ended just four years later with this ominous account in the Colonist:
Was He Morris Moss? - An entirely new theory, in regard to the disappearance of Mr. Morris Moss, and it is to be hoped that the correct one, is that advanced by Mr. F.E. Midwood, who returned last Saturday from the country in which Mr. Moss was last heard of. He is not personally acquainted with the absent gentleman, but met a gentleman who was called Mr. Moss, at Marcus, and whose description tallies in all material details with that gentleman's.
This was on Wednesday, July 6, and it was two weeks prior to that date on June 25 that Mr. Moss was last heard from by his family and friends here.
Mr. Midwood’s story suggests an explanation for Mr. Moss’ long silence that is feasible and decidedly preferable to the theory of robbery and murder that has already found expression. What he has to state he gave to a Colonist man yesterday, and the story is told in his own words:
Marcus, Wa., 1900, eight years after Morris Moss was said to have been seen here. —Wikipedia
“I got into Marcus the evening of Wednesday, the 6th instant, and had to wait some little time for a train. I didn't go to a hotel, but went down to Marcus Zimmerman's store; there's a little settlement of six or eight houses there, all owned by him. Evan Morris, an old prospector, was with me, when Mr. Moss came in in company with Mr. Zimmerman, with whom he was talking. They had just been in conversation with an old Indian Tyhee [sic], evidently over some mining find.
“I heard Zimmerman say he couldn't go into it as he hadn't any license and couldn't do any mining in British Columbia. ‘Ah,’ Mr. Moss replied with a laugh, ‘that don't make any difference; I'll make it all right; if anything comes out of it you'll get a fourth’.
“He had his backboard and team at the saloon, and as soon as we all had a glass of beer he ordered the team hitched up, and got in with a rough looking customer who, I thought, was very likely a stable man sent to show him the way. They had a case of beer with them, and I was given to understand didn't intend to be gone long.
“Before he left, the Indian gave Mr. Moss very minute directions as to some location, drawing a map on the ground with a stick, and explaining just how far it was from this and that creek, as he pointed out the landmarks on the rude chart. When the chief got through Mr. Moss said that he understood, and Mr. Zimmerman bade him goodbye and wished him good luck. I distinctly heard him call him Mr. Moss in bidding him goodbye.
“After he had driven away I tried to pump the Indian and so did my companion, Evan Morris, who was an old mining man and a shareholder in the Fairview mines on the lower Kootenay [River]. The [man] was dumb as an oyster as to where he had directed Mr. Moss, but we gathered from him that he had ‘put him onto’ a particularly rich find.
A Paul Kane depiction of an Indian camp near Colville, Wa. Did Moss trespass, looking for a “rich find”?—Wikipedia
“I understand that the find was located somewhere on the Colville Reservation, right across the Columbia from Marcus and which is to be opened to prospectors in about four weeks. Special detachments of police are employed now to keep out the prospectors, as the forbidden land is rich and minerals. Their orders are very strict—to arrest all trespassers and take them to Fort Colville, four days’ ride away and at the furthest [sic] corner of the reserve.
“If Mr Moss has ventured on the reserve and been arrested, it explains the fact that no letters have been received from him.”
A telegram from Spokane yesterday announces that Mr. Moss was registered at the Pacific Hotel there on June 25. That is the latest information yet obtained. Mr C.J. Miller, of Miller and Bloomfields detective agency in this city is prosecuting the search on behalf of the relatives and friends, having the assistance of the detectives of the Spokane and Northern and Great Northern [Railways]. The provincial police are also employed in the search.
When Mr. Moss left Rock Creek he had a considerable sum gold dust and bank bills, and the fear that he has been robbed and subsequently made away with is founded on the fact that a Spokane paper announced the fact that he was going to the mines for the clean up, giving the many citizens now infecting the city the one to watch for his return.
Colonist, July 20, 1892
Still No News - The mystery surrounding the disappearance of Mr. Morris Moss remains as far from a solution as ever. The ray of hope contained in the report brought by Mr. F.E. Midwood has been dispelled by more recent information received by wire and his friends and relatives of the missing man have now to face the hard task of—simply waiting.
Pioneer Washington businessman Marcus Oppenheimer wired A.R. Milne, Victoria, that “Mr. Moss left Marcus by train for Spokane and Victoria on June 24, and has not been seen or heard from.” —https://www.jmaw.org/oppenheimer-washington-jewish/
Mr. Midwood made the same report to the friends of Mr. Moss with which he was credited in yesterday's Colonist, and they immediately took action upon it. During the morning Collector of Customs A.R. Milne received a message from one of the searchers in Spokane to the effect that Mr. Moss left that city on June 28, but which way he went could not yet be discovered.
Thinking it quite possible that Mr. Moss might have returned to Marcus from Spokane and been seen by Mr. Midwood in the former place on the 6th, Mr. Bornstein [his father-in-law] wired to Mr. Oppenheimer, a very old friend of Mr, Moss, at Marcus, and who answered the description given of Mr. ‘Zimmerman’ by Mr. Midwood.
His reply was received last evening, and is most discouraging, stating as it does that Mr. Moss left Marcus by train for Spokane and Victoria on June 24, and has not been seen or heard from.”
Colonist, July 21, 1892
A Faint Hope – Mr. David Hart, yesterday, received the following telegram from C.J. Miller, of Miller and Bloomfield’s detective agency who was sent to Spokane to investigate the disappearance of Mr. Morris Moss:
Spokane, Wn, July 22
David Hart, Victoria.
Mr. Moss registered at the Pacific Hotel, June 25, and left on June 28. The signature is correct. I think he is up in the mines unable to send word. Will investigate. (Sgd) C.J. Miller.
Those who have been watching the case cannot understand upon what ground Mr. Miller bases his hope to find him in the mines, but would of course be highly pleased should it prove correct. It is a faint hope with the many friends of Mr. Moss gladly seize.
Colonist, July 25, 1892
Missing Morris Moss - For a long time, even after the disappearance of Mr. Morris Moss, many people held to the belief that the missing man was safe and sound somewhere. A few hinted that he had left for Australia, where he has a well to do brother, while others argue that he was among the 60 million people to the south of the border.
A week or two ago a letter was received by Mr. John Brant from his son-in-law, Mr. Newman, who was in business at Denver, Col., stating that he had seen Mr. Moss in that city. He had known the missing gentleman for years and says he is positive that Mr. Moss is still in the flesh and in Denver.
A Mr. Newman wrote his father-in-law in Victoria that he was positive he’d seen Moss “in the flesh” in Denver. —www.pinterest.com
Mr. T.C. Mason, the local agent for Messrs. Gault & Co. of Montreal has returned from a business trip through the States. While in Colorado he had some calls to make in Denver, and while passing along 16th Street in that city, saw a man whom he thought he recognized as Mr. Moss. Lest it should be a case of mistaken identity, Mr. Mason says he doubled back and having taken a long, searching look at the individual in question had his belief strengthened.
“I know Mr. Moss well, as well as I know any man in this city,” said Mr. Mason to a Colonist reporter yesterday. "I do not believe I could possibly be mistaken in him. I went up to the man, having first satisfied myself that there was no mistake, and bade him the time of day. He nodded in response, and I then said to him, “I beg your pardon. Are you not Mr. Moss, of Victoria?”
He answered, “No, you are mistaken. My name is —." I forget what name he gave, and walked off. I did not see him afterwards. I have spoken to Mr. Moss while he was in Victoria and know his voice. The man I spoke to in Denver had the same voice and was the same Mr. Moss, or I make the biggest mistake I ever made in my lifetime.”
Colonist, April 15, 1893
A telegram was received yesterday by Mr. T. Brauerman stating that Morris Moss, formerly of this city, had died at Denver, Colorado. He came to this province from England in 1862, and for some time was engaged in trading on the West Coast and then Cassiar. He was for a long time agent in the city for Liebes & Co., the fur traders of San Francisco.
—Colonist, Mar. 1, 1896
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In April 1883, Morris Moss had married a woman half his age who bore him a son and a daughter. There’s no known suggestion of family discord but, just four years after the birth of his daughter, he’s reported missing. His family and friends are so concerned that they inform the B.C. Provincial Police and hire private detectives.
There are fears he’s been murdered for the large sum of money he was known to be carrying. Then come reliable reports of his being seen in Marcus, Wash., 75 miles northwest of Spokane. Even more mystifying is his reported encounter with businessman T.C. Mason on a downtown Denver street.
According to Mason, “I know Mr. Moss well, as well as I know any man in this city... I do not believe I could possibly be mistaken in him.” But the other man had denied being Moss, had given him another name and walked away.
Another four years pass; on February 29, 1896, word is received word that Morris Moss had died in Denver and the Victoria Daily Times noted the passing of a pioneer “well known and much respected for his mild and gentlemanly manner and kind disposition”. After a brief summary of his business career, the Times concluded:
“Mr. Moss was a most speculative man and invested large sums of money in both mining and sealing, with varied success. He left for Colorado a few years ago, was a past Grand Master of Vancouver and Quadra Lodge, A.F. & A.M.”
Not even a whisper about his surviving family or his “disappearance” four years before. Leaving us to wonder, all these years later, what prompted this man of forceful character to walk away from family and friends without, it appears, a word of explanation.
Why, why, why? It’s another of the many mysteries of our colourful past.
