A Doubly Deadly Date

[Alan Wade]

On the evening of Wed. March 25, 1936, at a dance at the Elks Hall, which sat at the corner of Syndicate and Miles St. as it does today, Gordon Bliss, a blonde good-looking chap, 27, met Mildred Johnson, 27, who lived at 421 S. Archibald St. Her co-worker at the telephone exchange, Carrie Tafe, had taken her shift so Mildred could attend the dance. She went with her sister and brother-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. A. C. Harris.

Mildred and Gordon had both gone to Fort William Collegiate and both were regular church goers- Mildred at Wesley United where she belonged to the Young People’s Bible class; Gordon, at St. Paul’s Anglican where he had sung in the choir since age 12.

Shortly before 1 a.m. Mildred came to her sister and asked permission to attend a party at the Bliss home, 222 Franklin St. At around the same time, Bliss said to H. A. Fummerton, the checkroom attendant: “I have been looking for a woman all night. I have found one now.”

Three hours later Bliss placed a call through the telephone exchange (where Millie would have been working if she hadn’t gone to the dance) to the police station. Shortly after, several cops arrived at his home. Sergeant Palmer had the following conversation with Bliss: “What’s the trouble here? I did it. Did what?” At which point he pointed to the front room off the hall. Inspector Marr quizzed Bliss as follows: “Who did this? I did. What for? She resisted me and I hit her. With what? You’ll find it in the next room.”

There the police found “the body of a woman lying on the floor on her back. Her lower limbs were covered with a newspaper, and her dress was pulled up over her face.” Blood was everywhere- on Millie’s face, hands, and right knee. She had no undergarments on, only a sanitary napkin. Later the cops found her bloomers saturated with blood. Bliss had two drops of blood on his shirt. Under the body was a monkey wrench.

When Const. Sime asked Bliss why he had done what he did, he replied: “I was drunk at the time and didn’t know what I was doing.”

On Thursday, October 22, 1936, Justice Nicol Jeffrey pronounced: “The sentence of the court is that you, Gordon Bliss, be taken hence from here to the place from which you came and be kept there until January 5, 1937, when you will be taken to a place and there hanged by the neck until you are dead. May God have mercy on your soul.” Bliss didn’t move a muscle or say a word. He just stared at the judge. The trial had been very short since Bliss had pleaded guilty to the murder charge, the first time that had ever happened in Canadian history.

January 5, 1937; 12:30 a.m.; District Jail: Bliss was taken up to the scaffold where Sam Edwards, the hangman, was waiting for him. This was the first Lakehead hanging to take place in this location. (Two others would later be executed here.) His body was buried before dawn in the Riverside Cemetery.

An old-timer who once went out with Mildred Johnson told me a local saying for the beating of a girlfriend was: “He Gordon Blissed her.”

[agjg55]

Big Al:
I've heard the expression, "throwing a monkey wrench into the works", but an incident such as this is bound to give the monkey wrench a real bad rap! A lot of bad "plumbing" allusions come to mind...
Andre.

[Tom]

Another great story Alan. What really hit home for me was the accuracy of your article. This is a personal story for me as it happened to my extended family through marriage. Good job

Tom

[Alan Wade]

I'm really happy to hear that I got it right, Tom. People who have personal knowledge of stories from the darker side that people whom they know were involved in, they often tell me I got it wrong or that I shouldn't be telling the story.

Alan