*British Columbia Chronicles special bonus section for Members Only.*
In last week’s Chronicle we saw how Frank Hulbert aka Frank Pepler appears to have gotten away with murdering 15-year-old Molly Justice in 1943. He ended his life as a recluse, living in a converted bus. According to his obituary he died “peacefully,” 53 years later.
Read MoreMy Aunt Ada’s best friend, she’d lived one house down and across the road from our home on Brett Avenue, just east of Swan Lake, in Saanich. Ada and Uncle Cec lived next door to us; Ada was expecting when Molly Justice died and named her daughter, my cousin Molly, for her.
Read MoreTo begin a brand-new 2023, let's take a walk on the lighter side, with a chuckle or two from my archives. We have all year to get back to the darker side of our history...
Read MoreAs I noted in a recent editorial, 147 years later treasure hunters think they’ve found the wreckage of the SS. Pacific which foundered off Cape Flattery in 1875.
Read MoreWe’ve seen how, just after midnight of Christmas Day, 1890, David Fee Jr. was gunned down on a city street as he and friend Frank Partridge were returning to a Christmas celebration after attending midnight mass.
Read MoreIt all began innocently earlier that evening with a masquerade party in the Philharmonic Hall on Fort Street. Among the celebrants were David Fee and Frank Partridge. Resplendent in their white costumes with red braid, they’d slipped away from the party to attend midnight mass in St. Andrew’s Cathedral.
Read MoreThere are 350,000 place names on Canadian maps, 50,000 of them in British Columbia. Of the 1000’s that identify our Pacific Coastline, most—indeed, almost all—were coined by officers of the Royal Navy.
Read MoreIt was said of the Eliza Anderson that “no steamboat ever went slower and made money faster”.
Read MoreI’ve always been a tree-hugger and have long been critical of the way forestry has been and is practised in British Columbia. But I’m also fascinated by logging history, and I make no apology for that, either.
Read MoreThe story of Doris Gravlin has travelled world-wide over the years, mostly thanks to the internet and an almost insatiable interest in the supernatural.
Read MoreIn my day, I doubt there was a teenager growing up in Victoria who hadn’t heard of Doris Gravlin.
Read MoreHuman error. It has always been with us, always will be. For the 19 miners of the Pacific Coast Coal Mine on the morning of Feb. 9, 1915, someone’s carelessness cost them their lives.
Read MoreOf all the coal mining disasters in Vancouver Island’s history that of the Pacific Coast Coal Mine in South Wellington stands out on two counts.
Read MoreOf all the coal mining disasters in Vancouver Island’s history that of the PCCM in South Wellington stands out on two counts.
Read MoreThis year’s Extension Miners Memorial service, Ladysmith’s annual tribute to the 32 miners who lost their lives in a tragic explosion on Oct. 5, 1909, was held last week in front of the Metal Collage on the corner of First Avenue and Gatacre Street.
Read MoreAs you may have seen in the news, and in last week’s Chronicle, North Cowichan Municipality is looking to expand Mountain View Cemetery into an adjoining forest of mature fir and maple trees—proving that even dead people come first.
Read MoreFrom the craggy shores of Isle Arran they came, five brothers seeking their fortunes in the New World.
Read MoreI’ve long joked that I’ve sunk more ships than Lord Nelson—in print. And I owe that dubious claim, in part, to a lady who, long ago, did me a small favour.
Read MoreAs entertainment convener for the Cowichan Historical Society, I’d just announced that the next month’s speaker would be John Adams of the Old Cemeteries Society, Victoria
Read MoreOne of his best stories is that of Anna Ullman, a young woman who set out to hike the Yukon Telegraph line from Hazelton to Telegraph Creek in 1932.
Read More
