WEBVTT - SYMHC Classics: Redpath Murders 0:00:02.440 --> 0:00:06.200 Happy Saturday. On June thirteenth, nineteen oh one, or one 0:00:06.320 --> 0:00:09.840 hundred twenty five years ago today, two members of the 0:00:09.880 --> 0:00:13.200 Redpath family of Montreal, Canada were killed in their home. 0:00:13.840 --> 0:00:17.959 Our episode on this incident is Today's Saturday Classic. It 0:00:18.000 --> 0:00:20.640 will quickly become obvious that this was one of our 0:00:20.680 --> 0:00:23.840 Halloween episodes when it originally aired. It came out on 0:00:23.880 --> 0:00:29.960 October thirty first, twenty twenty two. Welcome to Stuff You 0:00:30.000 --> 0:00:40.120 Missed in History Class, a production of iHeartRadio. Hello, and 0:00:40.159 --> 0:00:44.400 welcome to the podcast. I'm Holly Frye and I'm Tracy V. Wilson. Hey, 0:00:44.479 --> 0:00:49.600 we're doing some Canadian history, but it's also Halloween US, 0:00:49.680 --> 0:00:52.199 so that means this one is a little bit on 0:00:52.240 --> 0:00:55.400 the darker side. This one is a murder mystery sort of. 0:00:56.160 --> 0:00:59.200 We know what happened and who was involved, but the 0:00:59.240 --> 0:01:01.720 details of what led to everything happening the way it 0:01:01.760 --> 0:01:04.520 did are a little fuzzy, and there are a lot 0:01:04.560 --> 0:01:09.679 of things that have been it seems like, systematically erased 0:01:09.760 --> 0:01:15.399 from the historic record, so this one remains a mystery. 0:01:15.800 --> 0:01:17.360 Heads up, we do want to let you know. This 0:01:17.480 --> 0:01:21.200 episode involves a lot of discussion of a domestic violence 0:01:21.400 --> 0:01:25.319 incident that involves guns. It also involves speculation in the 0:01:25.319 --> 0:01:28.959 press about the mental health of those involved. But this 0:01:29.040 --> 0:01:33.400 is about what's often called the Redpath murders. On June thirteenth, 0:01:33.480 --> 0:01:36.520 nineteen oh one, Ada Maria Redpath, who is fifty nine, 0:01:36.640 --> 0:01:40.559 and her son Jocelyn Clifford, aged twenty six, were found 0:01:40.600 --> 0:01:42.680 shot to death in their home, which was known as 0:01:42.720 --> 0:01:46.240 the Redpath Mansion. We're going to talk about that in 0:01:46.280 --> 0:01:48.600 the behind the scenes, but more than one hundred and 0:01:48.600 --> 0:01:52.000 twenty years later, what exactly happened to lead to those 0:01:52.040 --> 0:01:55.160 deaths remains unknown. We know how they died, but why 0:01:56.120 --> 0:01:59.480 is probably something we're never going to understand. So we 0:01:59.560 --> 0:02:01.240 want to tell their story. But first we're going to 0:02:01.320 --> 0:02:04.680 start by talking about Ada's life and the lives of 0:02:04.720 --> 0:02:08.440 two of her children, who are closest to this strange tragedy. 0:02:09.200 --> 0:02:12.360 Ada Maria Mills was born in April twenty sixth, eighteen 0:02:12.440 --> 0:02:16.640 forty two into a well off family. Her father, John 0:02:16.680 --> 0:02:21.240 Easton Mills, was a well known and successful businessman. He 0:02:21.360 --> 0:02:24.640 died when Ada was still a small child. He was, 0:02:25.280 --> 0:02:27.520 I believe, the mayor of Montreal when he died. He'd 0:02:27.520 --> 0:02:29.120 only held that post for I think less than a 0:02:29.200 --> 0:02:31.600 year at the time, but that's kind of illustrative of 0:02:31.639 --> 0:02:35.720 how how well known and how prominent he was. Aida 0:02:36.040 --> 0:02:39.440 married John James Redpath in Putney, England when she was 0:02:39.480 --> 0:02:42.799 twenty five. Because she was from a well off family, 0:02:42.960 --> 0:02:45.720 Aida and John had a marriage contract that reads kind 0:02:45.760 --> 0:02:48.680 of like a modern prenup. It stated that she would 0:02:48.720 --> 0:02:52.679 retain total control of her own wealth and assets. It's 0:02:52.720 --> 0:02:56.240 often referred to as wording, being as though she had 0:02:56.280 --> 0:03:00.080 never married, so like literally completely siloed off a way 0:03:00.120 --> 0:03:03.160 from her husband's money. She would later insist that her 0:03:03.280 --> 0:03:06.600 daughter would have the same financial autonomy should she ever 0:03:06.720 --> 0:03:11.000 choose to marry John James Redpath was himself from a 0:03:11.000 --> 0:03:14.720 wealthy family. His father, John Redpath's senior, had moved to 0:03:14.760 --> 0:03:17.840 Canada from Scotland in the early nineteenth century and made 0:03:17.880 --> 0:03:21.760 a fortune in construction, and he used that fortune to 0:03:21.840 --> 0:03:25.239 purchase more than two hundred acres of land on Mount Royal, 0:03:25.639 --> 0:03:30.120 just northwest of Montreal. He subdivided this land and resold 0:03:30.160 --> 0:03:33.360 a lot of it, and his other wealthy families purchased 0:03:33.360 --> 0:03:36.680 the land and built on it. This established a really 0:03:36.760 --> 0:03:40.040 wealthy neighborhood that came to be known as the Square Mile. 0:03:40.800 --> 0:03:44.080 Over the next hundred years, the community of the Square 0:03:44.120 --> 0:03:47.360 Mile neighborhood became more and more intertwined. A lot of 0:03:47.440 --> 0:03:53.560 families became linked through various marriages amongst themselves. Uh yeah, 0:03:53.560 --> 0:03:56.600 and all of those families also kind of made a 0:03:56.640 --> 0:03:59.000 lot of business deals with each other, so their wealth 0:03:59.080 --> 0:04:02.839 kind of kept folding in on itself, and they, like said, 0:04:02.840 --> 0:04:06.320 it became this little enclave. When John and Ada married, 0:04:06.440 --> 0:04:09.720 John was working in the Redpath Family sugar refinery. He 0:04:09.760 --> 0:04:11.600 had been a partner in the firm at that point 0:04:11.600 --> 0:04:15.160 for several years. But he didn't stay in that industry 0:04:15.200 --> 0:04:17.520 for a very long time after the marriage though, and 0:04:17.600 --> 0:04:21.240 he actually left it to join the Victoria Rifles. That's 0:04:21.240 --> 0:04:25.000 a volunteer military regiment based in Montreal that had formed 0:04:25.040 --> 0:04:27.960 in eighteen sixty two. And that seems like sort of 0:04:27.960 --> 0:04:30.400 a good indication that John really did not have to 0:04:30.440 --> 0:04:34.760 worry about income. Ada and John had five children over 0:04:34.760 --> 0:04:37.560 the course of eight years, starting in eighteen sixty eight. 0:04:37.640 --> 0:04:42.440 They were Amy, Peter, John, Reginald, Harold, and Jocelyn Clifford, 0:04:42.480 --> 0:04:45.560 who went by Clifford. Ada had been the one to 0:04:45.560 --> 0:04:48.840 purchase the family home at ten sixty five Sherbrook Street 0:04:48.880 --> 0:04:51.400 West in the square mile. She did that with her 0:04:51.440 --> 0:04:54.919 family money in eighteen seventy. We'll talk about a house 0:04:54.920 --> 0:04:57.800 a bit more on Friday. Yeah, there's a little bit 0:04:57.800 --> 0:05:00.919 of confusion about which house was the house that I 0:05:01.000 --> 0:05:04.920 ran into doing research looking for a picture to put 0:05:04.960 --> 0:05:07.080 on our social media for this, I started to look 0:05:07.120 --> 0:05:10.800 at a lot of incredibly similar looking houses from right 0:05:10.880 --> 0:05:14.080 on that same street. Yeah, this is also a problem 0:05:14.080 --> 0:05:17.600 where there's more than one house called the Red Path 0:05:17.680 --> 0:05:22.560 Mansion in this area. So at some point in her life, though, 0:05:22.720 --> 0:05:26.520 Ada began having a variety of health problems. This is 0:05:26.560 --> 0:05:29.200 a little bit tricky because the specific nature of those 0:05:29.240 --> 0:05:32.440 issues is hard to pin down. She was treated for 0:05:32.520 --> 0:05:36.480 a lot of different things, both physical and psychological, including 0:05:36.520 --> 0:05:43.120 trigeminal neuralgia, melancholy, and joint pain. Any readings that the 0:05:43.160 --> 0:05:46.240 family wrote about her generally describe her in ways that 0:05:46.520 --> 0:05:49.800 kind of characterize her as just being frail or fragile 0:05:50.160 --> 0:05:53.279 by the time she was in her forties. It also 0:05:53.360 --> 0:05:55.440 seems like she was away from her home and her 0:05:55.520 --> 0:06:00.120 children a lot for treatments for these various problems. An 0:06:00.200 --> 0:06:02.920 undated letter that she sent the family from New York 0:06:03.000 --> 0:06:06.440 while she was being fitted for braces for her joint problems. 0:06:06.480 --> 0:06:09.839 She wrote, quote, my dear children. The doctors say that 0:06:09.880 --> 0:06:12.560 it would be much better if I could remain until Monday. 0:06:13.480 --> 0:06:15.800 They want me to get quite accustomed to my new 0:06:15.839 --> 0:06:19.120 brace before I leave, and find out all its faults, 0:06:19.560 --> 0:06:22.080 so that they can send me home in good order 0:06:22.120 --> 0:06:24.760 and comfortable, for they do not want me to have 0:06:24.800 --> 0:06:28.080 to come back here very very soon. You see, there 0:06:28.160 --> 0:06:30.680 is no one in Montreal who can alter the brace 0:06:30.760 --> 0:06:32.720 and change it if it should hurt me, And it 0:06:32.760 --> 0:06:35.279 is better that I should stay here until they have 0:06:35.360 --> 0:06:38.520 made it fit well. It has hurt me dreadfully, but 0:06:38.600 --> 0:06:40.920 every day they make some little change, and tonight it 0:06:41.000 --> 0:06:44.280 is more comfortable, although not quite right yet. And I 0:06:44.320 --> 0:06:47.880 cannot walk it all yet without my crutches. It stretches 0:06:47.920 --> 0:06:50.119 my legs so much that it makes it an inch 0:06:50.360 --> 0:06:53.800 longer than the well leg. And doctors say that I 0:06:53.880 --> 0:06:56.280 must let them put a thick three quarter inch sole 0:06:56.440 --> 0:06:59.520 on the boot of my well foot. If they do this, 0:06:59.640 --> 0:07:02.440 poor Harold will think me more of a giant than ever. 0:07:02.960 --> 0:07:05.640 But never mind. If only they will let me go home, 0:07:05.800 --> 0:07:08.479 I will be willing to wear anything they please, And 0:07:08.600 --> 0:07:10.960 bless you, my darlings, will be so glad to see 0:07:11.000 --> 0:07:13.560 your mother that you won't stop to find fault with 0:07:13.600 --> 0:07:17.920 her looks. God, bless you, my precious children, your loving mother. 0:07:18.800 --> 0:07:22.760 After AIDA's husband, John James Redpath died on June fourth, 0:07:22.800 --> 0:07:28.400 eighteen eighty four, Ada relied increasingly on her children, particularly 0:07:28.560 --> 0:07:31.080 her only daughter, who was also her oldest child. That 0:07:31.240 --> 0:07:35.600 was Amy and her youngest son, Clifford. Amy was born 0:07:35.640 --> 0:07:39.120 on May sixteenth, eighteen sixty eight, the year after Ada 0:07:39.160 --> 0:07:42.960 and John were married. The red Paths lived abroad during 0:07:43.000 --> 0:07:45.840 their early marriage, so Amy was born in Europe and 0:07:45.880 --> 0:07:48.520 then arrived in Canada when she was still a small child. 0:07:49.000 --> 0:07:52.800 From an early age, Amy was deeply devoted to her family, 0:07:52.840 --> 0:07:55.360 although we don't really know if this was just her 0:07:55.480 --> 0:07:59.760 natural tendency or if it was because she knew the 0:07:59.760 --> 0:08:02.520 ex expectation was that she would need to help with 0:08:02.680 --> 0:08:06.560 running the house and caring for her younger siblings. Was 0:08:06.600 --> 0:08:10.360 really routinely expected of unmarried daughters at the time that 0:08:10.440 --> 0:08:13.600 they would fill a role of that nature within their family, 0:08:13.640 --> 0:08:17.880 and Amy had never expressed any obvious interest in marriage 0:08:17.960 --> 0:08:21.360 or even mentioned any suitors in her writing. Growing up. 0:08:22.240 --> 0:08:27.080 This of course led to various speculations. Yeah, we'll talk 0:08:27.080 --> 0:08:30.800 about some of those on Friday as well. Jocelyn Clifford 0:08:30.840 --> 0:08:35.080 Redpath was born on November seventeenth, eighteen seventy six, and 0:08:35.120 --> 0:08:38.319 although his sister, Amy was only eight, she was one 0:08:38.360 --> 0:08:43.120 of his sponsor slash godparents at his baptism. Clifford, who 0:08:43.160 --> 0:08:46.840 also went by cliff, studied at McGill University and he 0:08:46.960 --> 0:08:50.560 joined the law program there in eighteen ninety seven. Once 0:08:50.559 --> 0:08:53.719 he started studying law, he also started apprenticing at the 0:08:53.760 --> 0:08:57.160 law firm of Campbell, Meredith, Alan and Haig, and he 0:08:57.320 --> 0:08:59.719 was on track for a law career when he graduated 0:08:59.760 --> 0:09:03.760 in nineteen hundred and started to study for the bar exam. 0:09:04.120 --> 0:09:07.080 By the end of the eighteen hundreds, only Amy and 0:09:07.160 --> 0:09:10.040 Clifford were still at home with Ada, and they took 0:09:10.080 --> 0:09:13.360 care of her. Amy ran the house and Clifford managed 0:09:13.400 --> 0:09:16.720 the finances with advice from his older brothers and uncles. 0:09:17.440 --> 0:09:20.360 To be clear, while they were their mother's primary companions, 0:09:20.400 --> 0:09:23.440 they weren't managing her care alone. There was also a 0:09:23.559 --> 0:09:28.040 full house staff who Amy hired and managed, including a nurse, 0:09:28.840 --> 0:09:30.960 but they were put in the position of being the 0:09:31.000 --> 0:09:34.200 heads of the household. Ada would travel to upstate New 0:09:34.280 --> 0:09:37.280 York in the summers to spend time in specialty clinics 0:09:37.360 --> 0:09:41.400 or health resorts, and Clifford usually traveled with her. On 0:09:41.400 --> 0:09:44.200 one occasion in eighteen ninety eight, when Ada was traveling 0:09:44.240 --> 0:09:47.960 with her older son Peter instead of Clifford, she was 0:09:48.120 --> 0:09:52.000 so clingy with Amy at the train station she was 0:09:52.040 --> 0:09:54.920 set to leave that Amy decided she had to go 0:09:55.040 --> 0:09:57.880 with their mother as well, even though she did not 0:09:58.040 --> 0:10:01.160 have any luggage or travel gear with her her. Yeah, 0:10:01.200 --> 0:10:03.319 she wrote in a letter to I believe it was 0:10:03.360 --> 0:10:06.760 a cousin about like, I'm going to Saratoga Springs and 0:10:06.800 --> 0:10:09.480 I don't even have gloves. She just was like, I 0:10:09.480 --> 0:10:13.320 have nothing. Amy and Clifford were also very close, and 0:10:13.360 --> 0:10:15.880 they spent a lot of time together even when it 0:10:15.920 --> 0:10:19.520 was not necessitated by their household duties or responsibilities. So 0:10:19.960 --> 0:10:23.360 they would attend social gatherings and church together. They often 0:10:23.400 --> 0:10:26.760 took long walks together, and Amy helped cliff with his 0:10:26.840 --> 0:10:29.200 law study. She would even rewrite the notes that he 0:10:29.200 --> 0:10:32.200 had taken during lectures so that they would be easier 0:10:32.240 --> 0:10:34.720 for him to study when he was studying for the bar. Basically, 0:10:34.800 --> 0:10:38.200 like she was writing study guides for him. Clifford was 0:10:38.200 --> 0:10:41.480 also very very close with their mother. In a letter 0:10:41.600 --> 0:10:45.160 to Clifford in eighteen ninety eight, Ada's attachment to her 0:10:45.200 --> 0:10:48.760 youngest son is a parent. She wrote, quote, dearest, Oh, 0:10:48.800 --> 0:10:51.240 how I miss you. I have come so to depend 0:10:51.280 --> 0:10:54.640 on you that I am lost without you. Nothing seems 0:10:54.640 --> 0:10:59.200 worthwhile without you, your most loving old mother. Though she 0:10:59.320 --> 0:11:02.320 was still only in her late fifties by nineteen oh 0:11:02.400 --> 0:11:05.520 one when the shooting took place, Ada's health had declined 0:11:05.520 --> 0:11:08.280 to the point that she spent her time almost exclusively 0:11:08.320 --> 0:11:12.280 in her bedroom, and she had stopped attending even family events. 0:11:12.880 --> 0:11:15.360 Cliff on the other hand, seemed to have a life 0:11:15.360 --> 0:11:19.160 that was just on the precipice of real success. In 0:11:19.240 --> 0:11:22.280 early June of nineteen oh one, there were discussions at 0:11:22.280 --> 0:11:25.160 the law firm where he'd apprenticed about making him a 0:11:25.240 --> 0:11:30.280 partner once he passed the bar. That never happened. We 0:11:30.320 --> 0:11:32.480 are going to talk about how the tragedy in the 0:11:32.520 --> 0:11:35.560 Red Path Home unfolded, but first we will pause for 0:11:35.600 --> 0:11:47.600 a sponsor break. So we mentioned at the top of 0:11:47.600 --> 0:11:50.839 the episode that Ada and Clifford were quote found dead, 0:11:51.080 --> 0:11:54.320 and that is often how it's reported, But to me, 0:11:54.440 --> 0:11:57.080 that wording tends to convey this sense of distance, like 0:11:57.120 --> 0:11:59.320 the house had been empty except for them, or that 0:11:59.360 --> 0:12:01.480 they had been dead for some period of time before 0:12:01.520 --> 0:12:04.640 being found, or that there could be questions about if 0:12:04.640 --> 0:12:06.920 someone else had been in the house. None of that 0:12:07.120 --> 0:12:09.800 was the case. It was absolutely not. They had been 0:12:09.800 --> 0:12:13.160 discovered immediately because there were plenty of other people in 0:12:13.200 --> 0:12:16.640 the house when the shots were fired. Those people heard 0:12:16.679 --> 0:12:19.920 the shots and they went to investigate right away. That 0:12:20.080 --> 0:12:23.640 sort of hazy and confusing sense of them being discovered 0:12:23.920 --> 0:12:28.079 later started immediately in the press. The Calgary Harold ran 0:12:28.120 --> 0:12:30.880 a brief notice about the deaths that read, in part quote, 0:12:30.880 --> 0:12:34.440 Missus John Jay Redpath of Sherbrooke Street, a widow lady 0:12:34.840 --> 0:12:38.439 and her son twenty five were found dying in their 0:12:38.480 --> 0:12:41.880 house and Missus Redpath's room late in the night from 0:12:41.960 --> 0:12:45.000 bullet wounds in the heads. The son is in the 0:12:45.040 --> 0:12:48.240 hospital unable to make a statement. The mother died within 0:12:48.240 --> 0:12:51.720 an hour without making a statement. All of this actually 0:12:51.720 --> 0:12:54.640 happened around six pm, So the late in the night 0:12:55.080 --> 0:13:00.920 statement it's not really correct. No, there's a lot of incorruption, 0:13:01.280 --> 0:13:05.360 as we'll discuss. As we said, there were other people home. 0:13:06.360 --> 0:13:09.120 The oldest of the Red path sons, Peter, was there. 0:13:09.520 --> 0:13:12.200 He heard the gunfire and he ran right to the sound, 0:13:12.240 --> 0:13:15.240 which was, as we've said, in his mother's room. There 0:13:15.280 --> 0:13:17.679 were also members of the house staff in the home 0:13:17.720 --> 0:13:20.880 who also went to the room. Ada did die on 0:13:20.920 --> 0:13:24.800 the scene. Some reports say she died instantly, others make 0:13:24.840 --> 0:13:26.920 it sound like she may have died a few minutes 0:13:26.960 --> 0:13:31.960 after being found. Clifford was still alive, although unconscious, and 0:13:32.000 --> 0:13:35.880 he was reportedly taken to the Royal Victoria Hospital. He 0:13:36.040 --> 0:13:39.120 died that night at eleven or eleven fifteen, or maybe 0:13:39.120 --> 0:13:43.559 eleven fifty, maybe shortly after midnight, depending on what account 0:13:43.640 --> 0:13:48.160 you read. Incidentally, he was never registered in hospital records 0:13:48.200 --> 0:13:51.000 as having been admitted to the Royal Victoria or to 0:13:51.080 --> 0:13:53.960 any other hospital. This is one of just a lot 0:13:54.000 --> 0:13:57.280 of small inconsistencies and gaps and the information about the 0:13:57.320 --> 0:14:00.400 shooting that have kept people scratching their heads for more 0:14:00.440 --> 0:14:03.840 than a century. As soon as this tragedy hit the news, 0:14:04.120 --> 0:14:06.920 there were rumors about what had really happened in the 0:14:06.960 --> 0:14:09.360 Red Path home, and there were a lot of factors 0:14:09.360 --> 0:14:12.320 that fueled the spread of those rumors. For one, the 0:14:12.400 --> 0:14:15.800 red Paths were very, very wealthy. They were from a 0:14:15.920 --> 0:14:21.000 largely insular community of similarly wealthy families, so people naturally 0:14:21.080 --> 0:14:24.520 had a tendency to want to speculate. But for another 0:14:24.600 --> 0:14:27.240 the sheer shock of a tragedy like this just led 0:14:27.240 --> 0:14:30.520 people to speculate about it. But there were really three 0:14:31.240 --> 0:14:37.080 very significant contributing factors. One, there was little investigation into 0:14:37.160 --> 0:14:41.960 the shootings. Two, the family was largely unwilling to discuss 0:14:42.000 --> 0:14:45.240 the matter publicly. Now, on the one hand, this is 0:14:45.320 --> 0:14:48.760 totally understandable, who would want to talk about the sudden 0:14:48.840 --> 0:14:53.320 murder suicide of two family members while grieving and likely 0:14:53.360 --> 0:14:56.720 in shock. But because no one from the house was 0:14:56.800 --> 0:15:00.640 saying very much, their quiet started to be framed possibly 0:15:00.720 --> 0:15:05.720 covering something up. In Three, the details kept changing from 0:15:05.840 --> 0:15:09.880 report to report. One idea was that Ada had a 0:15:09.920 --> 0:15:14.040 mental break that was brought on by ongoing insomnia and 0:15:14.160 --> 0:15:17.880 that somehow led to the shooting. This is the narrative 0:15:17.920 --> 0:15:21.560 that came up in news reports immediately after the tragedy. 0:15:22.080 --> 0:15:25.400 The Sherbrooke Daily Record of Montreal printed the following on 0:15:25.520 --> 0:15:29.960 June fourteenth, quote, A very sad affair occurred last evening. 0:15:30.440 --> 0:15:34.760 For some months Missus JJ Redpath had been a confirmed invalid, 0:15:34.800 --> 0:15:39.120 one of the characteristics of her malady being prolonged insomnia. 0:15:39.440 --> 0:15:42.800 About six o'clock, the household heard an explosion, and, hurrying 0:15:42.840 --> 0:15:45.680 to her room, found both Missus Redpath and her son, 0:15:45.760 --> 0:15:51.440 mister Clifford Redpath, seriously wounded by revolver shot. Missus Redpath 0:15:51.560 --> 0:15:54.280 died in a short time. Her son was removed in 0:15:54.360 --> 0:15:57.640 an unconscious condition to the Royal Victoria Hospital, where he 0:15:57.880 --> 0:16:01.800 expired about midnight. Neither could give any account of what 0:16:01.880 --> 0:16:05.560 had happened. A write up in the Weekly News Advertiser 0:16:05.640 --> 0:16:10.120 of Vancouver, British Columbia offered similar speculation, offering quote no 0:16:10.240 --> 0:16:13.560 details of the tragedy are known. Missus Redpath had been 0:16:13.600 --> 0:16:17.880 ill for some time, suffering from insomnia. The surmise is 0:16:17.880 --> 0:16:22.160 that while temporarily mentally deranged, Missus Redpath attempted to end 0:16:22.200 --> 0:16:25.280 her life, and in attempting to prevent her, her son 0:16:25.400 --> 0:16:30.160 was shot. The unfortunate lady then completed her undertaking. But 0:16:30.280 --> 0:16:33.960 the Ottawa Citizen had a different take. Yes, Ada was 0:16:34.000 --> 0:16:37.360 having issues with mental health because of insomnia, but she 0:16:37.600 --> 0:16:41.680 wasn't dangerous because of it. Their ride up states quote 0:16:41.680 --> 0:16:44.960 who was responsible for the tragedy is yet a mystery. 0:16:45.520 --> 0:16:48.920 For some years. Missus Redpath has suffered greatly from insomnia, 0:16:49.000 --> 0:16:52.200 to such an extent that her mind was affected. Doctor 0:16:52.280 --> 0:16:55.840 Roddick had been in constant attendance upon her, but it 0:16:55.920 --> 0:16:59.040 was not imagined that her condition was at all likely 0:16:59.120 --> 0:17:02.200 to result in violence to herself or the members of 0:17:02.240 --> 0:17:06.479 her family. Another account from the Quebec Daily Mercury seems 0:17:06.480 --> 0:17:09.480 to state as fact the idea that Clifford murdered his 0:17:09.600 --> 0:17:14.359 mother and then himself in a drunken rage. Quote it 0:17:14.440 --> 0:17:17.960 has transpired in connection with the Redpath tragedy that Clifford 0:17:18.000 --> 0:17:21.159 Redpaths shot his mother and then put two bullets in 0:17:21.240 --> 0:17:24.480 his own head. They had been quarreling for some time, 0:17:24.600 --> 0:17:26.879 and young Redpath is said to have been under the 0:17:26.920 --> 0:17:29.960 influence of liquor at the time of the tragedy. The 0:17:30.040 --> 0:17:33.720 young man was a law student. The actual findings of 0:17:33.760 --> 0:17:37.200 the coroner's inquest were different from all of these theories, 0:17:37.760 --> 0:17:40.919 and it happened very quickly, as in the day after 0:17:40.960 --> 0:17:44.000 the shooting is when the inquest was held, and the 0:17:44.080 --> 0:17:47.520 coroner's jury was made up of members of wealthy families 0:17:47.520 --> 0:17:53.840 from the small square mile community. There were John Dunns, Junior, H. Browning, Lansing, 0:17:54.000 --> 0:18:00.439 Lewis ECB. Fanshawe, George Hyde, Bartlett, McLennan, Francis mc lennon, 0:18:00.640 --> 0:18:05.920 John Walker, W. Maurice, John Savage, W. W. Watson, Charles 0:18:06.160 --> 0:18:11.280 Esdley and Herbert Wallace. The Halifax Morning Harold reported quote 0:18:11.359 --> 0:18:14.640 investigation by the coroner's jury today put a new light 0:18:14.720 --> 0:18:18.359 on the Redpath tragedy of yesterday. The evidence showed that 0:18:18.440 --> 0:18:21.920 Missus Redpath had been shot twice, once in the back 0:18:21.960 --> 0:18:23.879 of the head and then a second time in the 0:18:23.960 --> 0:18:27.440 right shoulder while the bullet had entered Young Redpass head 0:18:27.760 --> 0:18:30.760 to the right of the left temple. The jury brought 0:18:30.760 --> 0:18:32.680 in a verdict that the young man had killed his 0:18:32.760 --> 0:18:35.760 mother in a fit of temporary insanity brought on by 0:18:35.760 --> 0:18:40.120 an epileptic fit, and then taken his own life. The 0:18:40.160 --> 0:18:42.960 first story given out by the family that the shooting 0:18:43.000 --> 0:18:45.760 had probably been done by the mother was due to 0:18:45.800 --> 0:18:49.280 the fact that the young man was still alive. I 0:18:49.280 --> 0:18:51.199 feel like we should just note that a lot of 0:18:51.240 --> 0:18:54.639 the language being used to discuss things like epilepsy and 0:18:54.720 --> 0:19:00.000 mental illness completely outdated, very outdated and offensive by today's day, 0:19:00.480 --> 0:19:05.679 so like, just don't go repeating it in casual conversation. Uh. 0:19:05.840 --> 0:19:09.480 This also brings into focus one detail that changed repeatedly 0:19:09.720 --> 0:19:13.920 about all this. Although initial accounts for multiple sources stated 0:19:13.960 --> 0:19:17.119 that there were two shots, there was one account in 0:19:17.200 --> 0:19:21.480 a paper that Clifford had shot himself twice, and then 0:19:21.520 --> 0:19:24.560 this account which said that he had shot his mother twice. 0:19:25.240 --> 0:19:27.919 That would be three shots total. So that's just another 0:19:28.000 --> 0:19:32.720 aspect of all this that was inconsistent. Now, subsequent testimonies 0:19:32.760 --> 0:19:34.280 and we're going to get to those in a moment, 0:19:34.640 --> 0:19:38.560 do support that three shots number. It seems like some 0:19:38.640 --> 0:19:40.879 papers may have run on the assumption that it was 0:19:41.000 --> 0:19:43.200 just two in their haste to get the news to print. 0:19:43.400 --> 0:19:45.680 As we said, we're reading these news reports that are 0:19:45.680 --> 0:19:49.360 happening like day of But that is also the kind 0:19:49.400 --> 0:19:52.159 of detail that you might think would surely show up 0:19:52.200 --> 0:19:54.840 in a police report. Of course it would, Hey, there 0:19:54.920 --> 0:19:59.720 isn't one because there was no police investigation. A coroner's 0:19:59.760 --> 0:20:02.679 jury was assembled there at the home, but there was 0:20:02.800 --> 0:20:07.400 never a police presence. They were never called. Now how 0:20:07.400 --> 0:20:10.040 the coroner ended up there but the police didn't is 0:20:10.080 --> 0:20:12.879 a little unclear, Although it is most likely that someone 0:20:12.880 --> 0:20:16.040 from the house staff or the family called the coroner 0:20:16.160 --> 0:20:20.080 Ed McMahon through some sort of personal connection. The Weekly 0:20:20.160 --> 0:20:23.639 News Advertiser of Montreal even noted in an article about 0:20:23.640 --> 0:20:27.560 the shooting quote, the family refuse any information and the 0:20:27.600 --> 0:20:31.720 police only heard of the matter by accident. The family 0:20:31.760 --> 0:20:34.440 have issued a statement, but from it nothing can be 0:20:34.520 --> 0:20:37.240 learned of the details of the tragedy beyond the fact 0:20:37.400 --> 0:20:40.600 that two people are dead. We'll get into the details 0:20:40.680 --> 0:20:43.920 of those witness testimonies to try to unravel this thing 0:20:43.960 --> 0:20:46.679 a bit after we first pause to hear from the 0:20:46.680 --> 0:20:59.440 sponsors that keep the show going. There were several witness 0:20:59.480 --> 0:21:02.320 statements that were given and heard by the coroner's jury. 0:21:02.960 --> 0:21:05.600 Those statements were given by Peter Redpath eight, his son 0:21:05.640 --> 0:21:09.560 and Clifford's older brother, Thomas George Roddick, the family doctor 0:21:10.359 --> 0:21:13.560 Hugh Patton, and Rollo Campbell, both of whom were doctors, 0:21:14.440 --> 0:21:17.320 Rose Shallow, who worked for the Red Path Sometimes her 0:21:17.400 --> 0:21:19.840 name is written as Rosa, but it appears to have 0:21:19.840 --> 0:21:23.920 actually been Rose, and Charles James Fleet, who also worked 0:21:23.920 --> 0:21:27.160 in the home. According to the coroner's jury report, Peter 0:21:27.320 --> 0:21:30.879 testified to the details that we've already mentioned. According to 0:21:30.920 --> 0:21:34.480 peter Redpath. Here's what happened. Quote yesterday evening, I saw 0:21:34.520 --> 0:21:37.920 my brother, the deceased, arriving home at around six o'clock. 0:21:38.359 --> 0:21:41.399 He seemed ill and was tired, working hard to prepare 0:21:41.440 --> 0:21:44.280 for his bar exams. He went up to the room 0:21:44.320 --> 0:21:47.119 of my mother, Ada Maria Mills, aged sixty two, and 0:21:47.160 --> 0:21:50.320 a few seconds later I heard a shot from a firearm, 0:21:50.920 --> 0:21:53.960 followed by two others. I ran up and broke down 0:21:54.000 --> 0:21:56.719 the door. I saw my mother lying on the floor, 0:21:56.760 --> 0:21:59.560 and several feet from her, my brother also lying in 0:21:59.560 --> 0:22:03.000 a pool of blood, a revolver a foot away from 0:22:03.080 --> 0:22:07.240 him near his hand. My brother had been very nervous 0:22:07.359 --> 0:22:11.159 for some time. Incidentally, he got his mother's adron. She 0:22:11.280 --> 0:22:15.360 was fifty nine. So doctor Roddick also testified that he 0:22:15.480 --> 0:22:19.399 was called to confirm the death. Rodick's testimony really is 0:22:19.440 --> 0:22:21.920 the one that sets up the idea that, based on 0:22:22.000 --> 0:22:24.760 the position of the bodies, he believed that Cliff shot 0:22:24.800 --> 0:22:28.280 his mother and then himself. Roddick is also the one 0:22:28.280 --> 0:22:31.720 that introduced the information that Cliff was epileptic, and this 0:22:31.880 --> 0:22:35.840 really establishes the way things shook out in the jury investigation. 0:22:36.040 --> 0:22:39.880 But there is a little snag here. Rodick had been 0:22:39.920 --> 0:22:42.000 in Montreal on the day of the shooting, which is, 0:22:42.359 --> 0:22:45.560 you know, not where square Mile is. It's a little 0:22:45.600 --> 0:22:49.040 outside the city, and by some accounts, he didn't actually 0:22:49.040 --> 0:22:52.520 get to the Square Mile neighborhood until the following day. 0:22:53.400 --> 0:22:56.359 When doctor Patten gave his statement. He said that Ada 0:22:56.440 --> 0:22:58.600 had been shot in the back of the head and 0:22:58.640 --> 0:23:02.880 that Clifford was shot through the left temple. Doctor Campbell 0:23:02.920 --> 0:23:05.720 backed up Patton's account and added that he thought he 0:23:05.840 --> 0:23:10.239 saw foam in Clifford's mouth, suggesting that as evidence that 0:23:10.359 --> 0:23:14.879 some kind of epileptic seizure was the cause of Clifford's behavior. 0:23:15.560 --> 0:23:18.760 Rose Shallow stated that she had hurched the shots and 0:23:18.840 --> 0:23:22.280 followed Peter Redpath up the stairs to Ada's room, and 0:23:22.359 --> 0:23:24.040 that she had seen the two bodies on the floor 0:23:24.080 --> 0:23:27.879 a few feet apart, as well as two revolvers near Clifford. 0:23:28.720 --> 0:23:31.960 Charles James Fleet stated that doctor Campbell had given him 0:23:32.000 --> 0:23:35.040 the two revolvers from the scene to secure, which he 0:23:35.119 --> 0:23:37.600 produced for the jury to show that one had been 0:23:37.600 --> 0:23:41.959 discharged twice and the other had been discharged once in 0:23:41.960 --> 0:23:45.040 the matter of the death of Ada Redpath. The jury's 0:23:45.040 --> 0:23:48.960 statement read quote we the undersigned jurors, having heard the evidence, 0:23:49.000 --> 0:23:52.600 declare that Aida Maria Mills died at Montreal on the 0:23:52.640 --> 0:23:56.240