Where it Began
A typical day at the Transcona Museum as their Collections Assistant looks like going through our archival collection and correcting any discrepancies in our database. I have seen a lot of photographs during my time here. Sometimes I go through an entire family’s photograph album and by the end, I feel personally involved, almost as if I know them. This was the case for the Matheson family. Ellen and John (J.D.) Matheson moved to Transcona from Ontario in Transcona’s early days, c. 1910. Ellen Matheson’s great-niece brought the photos of the Matheson family into the museum and recalls in her family memoir, that John built and lived in one of the first few houses here. Ellen and John had a baby boy, Murray, in January of 1916 and they eventually lived in the 100 block of Ravelston Ave. West. I also came across many photos in their album of a man named Neil McAskill who, by chance, was revealed to me as an individual in the service of CN. He was a conductor for 25 years and a local chairman of the O.R.C. (Order of Railway Conductors) for 15 years.
This is where our story really begins. At this point, I felt familiar with the individuals that reoccurred in the Matheson photos. That’s until I came across a photo of two men wearing fancy three-piece suits, standing in front of a pile of bricks. The back reads “Mr. Caughey – left” in Ellen Matheson’s writing. I’m not exactly sure what compelled me to be so investigative, a hunch maybe but — who was Mr. Caughey? What was his connection to the Matheson family? Did he live in Transcona? Why pose in front of bricks? It all started very modestly, I thought I’d just Google, “Caughey Transcona” and see what would come up. The answer was, a lot would come up, and yet in some cases, not enough.
Here’s the story.
Caughey’s Humble Beginnings
Samuel Walker Caughey was born in Ballyhalbert, County Down, Ireland on July 20, 1893. Though, some records say July 20, 23, 25, some even have the year as 1894, so we have a rough estimate. I like the date July 20, 1893, better and this is my blog post after all.
Caughey immigrated to Canada and arrived at St. John’s, Newfoundland in 1913 when he was just 20 years old. It’s unclear how long he stayed in Newfoundland and when he made his voyage to Transcona, but I wanted to trace his steps back further, so I looked to The National Archives of Ireland, which allows public access to census records dating back to 1821 – amazing. I found that in 1911 he was living as a border in Belfast on 119 Cromac St. when he was 18. The records also show he was boarding with an older woman, Ellen Jane McKelvey, a widowed dressmaker and a young woman, Hannah Gowan labelled as a visitor, perhaps an early love interest? That’s another rabbit hole we will not be going down.
Caughey also went to school in Belfast. The Canadian Bank of Commerce published a book honouring the role played by employees of the bank who served in the war. In there, it says he attended Connell’s Civil Service Institute, located at 5 Royal Ave. Royal Ave. was also known as Castle Junction; a kind of downtown or central shopping area for Belfast and still is today. After comparing old postcards and old photos to Google Maps I was finally able to match up where the school would be here, a 13-minute walk from Caughey’s address in Belfast.
An official letter from Connell’s Civil Service states that it was “the largest and most successful civil service in Ireland,” and where Caughey might've gotten his training to be able to work for the bank. So now I’m wondering was he planning on making his way to Canada at this point? Did he want to come to Transcona specifically? Why? These are the questions that haunt me and questions I won’t ever have the answer to.
Thanks to the employment records I received after contacting the CIBC Archives, we do know for sure that his career kicked off right here in Transcona. He was a junior employee at the Bank of Commerce beginning around April 1913. He worked in Transcona until September 1915, before leaving to be a clerk in Lougheed, Alberta. Caughey didn’t like to stay in one place for long. He moved around multiple Bank of Commerce locations throughout the prairies, presumably going where the work was, where he was needed, or where the pay was better; or maybe he just liked to travel. His employment records show he was often filling in for other staff members and even worked his way up to manager in Plum Coulee, Manitoba in 1930.
Life in the 107th Battalion
Caughey enlisted on January 20, 1916, while working in Kincaid, Saskatchewan, and officially “taken on strength,” (meaning simply that a person is added to a military unit) on January 28, 1916, in Winnipeg. Caughey was enlisted in the 107th Winnipeg Battalion, also known as the Timber Wolf Battalion (notably, half of the unit’s soldiers were Indigenous). The 107th’s duties were to arrive early on the battlefield to prep the area, which included repairing and digging trenches and constructing fencing, roads, train tracks etc. You can read more about them here.
I looked to Caughey’s attestation papers (which were papers filled out by those part of the Canadian Expeditionary Force during and throughout enlistment; the papers have personal and financial information, time logs and more) through Library and Archives Canada to see if I could learn more about his specific role in the 107th Battalion. He was an Orderly Room Clerk, meaning he was responsible for processing audits, and dealing with confidential medical records and military personnel files – impressive. He was appointed Sergeant in November 1916 – even more impressive. He kept the title of Sergeant until he was “struck off” in Caughey’s case, meaning he was transferred out of the 107th and into the 3rd Battalion, 3rd C.E. (Canadian Engineers). Under the new unit, he was appointed the same duties and the same titles.
Caughey’s attestation papers were a real treat because I could track his movements throughout his entire time in the war. The 107th Battalion left for Halifax and then made their way to Liverpool. Caughey also spent a lot of time at Witley Camp in Surrey, England, leading me to one of the avenues I went down in trying to find a photo of him. I contacted the Godalming Museum in Surrey to see if they had any photos of the 107th Battalion, and though they have photos of Canadian soldiers at Witley Camp, no specific battalions are noted. I also wondered if maybe the World War I Museum in Pilot Mound, Manitoba would have some photos of the 107th Battalion. They have a large group photo of the sergeants in the 107th at Camp Hughes that they were kind enough to send me, and I really thought Caughey would be in. However, because Caughey spent most of his time out of Canada at Witley Camp, he didn't make it into the photo.
On December 12, 1917, he left for about two weeks to go to the UK, I like to think that he went to visit his father, Francis, in Ireland for Christmas. Though this could be romanticizing the situation, because he really could’ve been up to anything, anywhere in the U.K. A year later, in December 1918 he made the same trip again. Caughey was also sending a portion of his money to his father in Ballyhalbert, Ireland, and some cheques to the Bank of Commerce in Toronto. His monthly pay was $25.00 a month, which today would be just under $700.00. Caughey’s unit was demobilized on June 11, 1919, in Toronto as well. I presume during the war he didn’t have an official address which is why he sent his money to his place of work and his father. So, my next order of business was finding out where he was living after the war.
Tracking Caughey Down
I searched for his full name in Library and Archives Canada census records, and I got a record for 1926. It’s a record of him and his wife Alena Fern Caughey (nee Asselstine) living in Central Butte, Saskatchewan on 3rd Ave. But why isn’t anything coming up for Manitoba? Next, I just looked up Caughey and there he was in the 1921 census record, except under Sam and not Samuel Walker – sneaky. He was in Transcona at this time living as a lodger with the Holland family: a husband, wife, two daughters and two sons. Their address was 31 Whittier Ave. East – an address that was changed, you can read more about Transcona’s renumbering and street name changes here. Luckily, the Transcona Museum has the fire insurance plans for the town’s early days in our collection. We went back to 1931 and were able to match 31 Whittier Ave. East with 119 Whittier Ave. East. If you peek at earlier years of the house on Google Maps, you can see where a door used to be on the top level. I like to imagine that this could’ve been where Caughey’s little suite was. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find his address before the war while he was working here in Transcona c. 1913-1915, due to only limited census years being available, but we take what we can get.
Caughey in Transcona and Transcona Tennis Club
So, what was Caughey’s time like in Transcona post-war? Caughey was reinstated by the bank on August 8, 1919, and was officially working at the Transcona branch again on January 30, 1920. I discovered in a 1921 copy of the Winnipeg Evening Tribune that Caughey was not only an enthusiastic member of the Transcona Tennis Club, but also the treasurer. Further, the paper highlights that Caughey, and prominent community member John Russell Armer were acquainted as they were both members of the tennis club. How wonderful. Armer is another significant fellow because he has been around since the beginning. He came to Transcona around 1913 to work in the shops as an apprentice instructor. In his later years, he began documenting both the places he travelled and Transcona. If you’d like to know more about Armer, you can watch our small talk about him here.
My next step was seeing if I could find out more on the Transcona Tennis Club and therefore see more about Caughey’s time in it. Google didn’t help me much, it just wanted to show me the current tennis courts in the area. I had to rely on doing research the old-fashioned way – picking up a book. We have a lovely little 1936 copy of Transcona’s Silver Jubilee and the 1961 Golden Jubilee. I found more details about the club hiding in there.
The Transcona Tennis Club began in 1911 and stuck around all the way to 1953. During the war, the club was limited, and it wasn’t until after that it had really begun growing. Notably, one of the club’s lifelong members was Anthony (Tony) Blumm, owner of Robert’s Drugstore and Soda Bar; it used to be located where MLA Nello Altomare’s office is today, you can still see the sign in the back alley.
The tennis courts used to be located at the corner of Victoria Ave. and Day St. Which corner though? There are in fact four different corners. Back to the fire insurance plans we go. In 1923, all we could make out was a large, unnamed plot of land currently where the St. Michael's Catholic Church. We don't know for sure but this could've been where the early courts were. The tennis club's location moved to Kern Park in 1927 and in 1933 a club house was purchased from the Lawn Bowling Club. It's unclear where both the club house and the tennis courts were located post-1927.
Next, I thought maybe Armer, as someone who was so meticulous and passionate about keeping personal records, especially about Transcona, would have more information about his experience in the tennis club. Sure enough, in one of his scrapbooks, he has a cutout from a newspaper dated 1919-1920, highlighting the tennis club’s annual fall tournament and who is to play whom. Then oh, my goodness, there he is S.W. Caughey vs. H.W. Parker at the big game on Saturday. However, it doesn’t stop there. To the right of the cutout are Armer’s handwritten notes from June 1975. He put numbers next to each of the players he knew and noted who they were and their connections. Caughey has the number 5 next to his name with the description, “On Bank of Commerce staff,”— and wait, so does number 9 — who is that? It’s J. Matheson, as in John Matheson. So that’s their connection, and likely why Caughey makes an appearance in the Matheson family photos. Not only did they know each other through the tennis club but they had possibly worked together as well. Later, Armer comes back January 1979 to write: “Recalls many pleasant associations”. Doesn’t that just warm your heart? When Caughey left Transcona in 1921, a copy of the Winnipeg Evening Tribune says that J.R. Armer gifted Caughey a “handsome club bag” on behalf of the tennis club. Further, the segment ends with “Caughey carries with him the best wishes of a host of friends in whose service he has worked most unselfishly.” Wow.
Transcona and a Love Story
But I don’t want to move on from his time in Transcona just yet. His wife, Alena, was a schoolteacher, but I wondered if I could find out more about her. I discovered her sister, Laura Edna Asselstine as a Memorable Manitoban on the Manitoba Historical Society’s website. It also noted that Laura worked in Transcona at Central School from 1919-1924. When I looked at the other teachers listed, there I saw Alena F. Asselstine, teaching grade one to six from 1919-1923 at Central School in Transcona. So, does that mean Caughey and his wife’s love story flourished right here in Transcona? Though it’s only speculation, I really like to think so. They were here at the same time, and though women’s records are much less well-kept than men’s, Transcona really seems to be the first place they had in common. Another good indication that they met in Transcona is that Alena stopped working here the same year they got married.
They got married on September 8, 1923 at the Augustine United Church in Osborne Village. The newspaper their wedding was announced in tells us that Mrs. Caughey was wearing a string of pearls, given to her by Mr. Caughey. I really loved reading this. A small glimpse at their affection toward one another.
After their wedding, they took a train to Central Butte, Saskatchewan, where Caughey was working until 1928 and then he went up to Blaine Lake, Saskatchewan before moving back to Manitoba in 1930. The couple had two children, Audrey and Glen Caughey (I am reminded that Caughey’s first battalion leader was named Glen as well — interesting). Audrey was born in Edmonton on September 29, 1929. It was through Audrey’s obituary I discovered a little more about their family. The Caughey’s had a cabin on 4th Ave. in Victoria Beach where they'd often vacation in the 1930s. Audrey had a little dog named Pepsi who would ride with her in the front basket of her bike — what I wouldn’t do for a photo of little Pepsi. I imagine Pepsi as Toto from Wizards of Oz, and I guess that’ll have to suffice.
From about 1930 on, Caughey stayed working in Manitoba and predominately Winnipeg. Caughey and presumably his family, were living at the Buena Vista apartments on St. Mary’s Rd. in 1931, and from there in about 1933, they moved into their final address together at 72 Monck Ave. in the Norwood area. They remained there until the end of each of their lives. Alena’s mother lived with them there as well until her death in 1942, with Caughey as one of the pallbearers at her funeral.
Both himself and Alena were prominent members of the Norwood United Church with Caughey being on the Board of Stewards (sidenote: I also tried to find a photo of Caughey through this route, but photos I found of board members date post-1950, six years after his death). Alena Fern Caughey died at 103 years old in 1999, she’s remembered for her selflessness and active interest in her community.
And at this point you might be thinking, well how does it all end? What could the rest of the story have to do with Transcona?
The Murder
In 1944, Samuel Walker Caughey was one of six murders that occurred in Winnipeg that year. On June 2, He was working at the Bank of Commerce location at Main St. and Dufferin Ave., a pawn shop today, also known as Crump Block.
The horrific scene took place thanks to the four criminals Arthur F. Evans (a former Toronto police officer), Frank Shura, William Dacko, and Leonard L. Peterson. All pleaded not guilty to their murder charges, except for Peterson. He pleaded guilty to a charge of manslaughter and was a key witness in sharing the events that unfolded on and before that grim day (in other words – he snitched).
They planned to hold up the bank on a rainy day for a lack of public spectators, or a sunny day so the blinds would be covering the windows. Evans was to be the driver and the other three were to enter the bank. As they entered with handkerchiefs covering their faces, they were met with a customer leaving the bank, who they corralled back inside. Next, Peterson instructed the bank manager and a customer to remain quiet and move into another room. This is where he says in his statement in court that “the person who was shot was arguing across the counter with one of us.” We know that that person was Samuel Walker Caughey. Peterson recollected that the argument was between Caughey and Shura, and when Caughey was soon after instructed by Peterson to follow into another room, Caughey began swinging at Peterson with a roll of paper. Caughey wasn’t giving up. At this point, they began to “scuffle.” He swung at Peterson, Peterson ducked out of the way and a fatal shot was fired at Caughey. It’s unclear who exactly it was that shot and murdered Caughey (though it seems that the evidence and recollection of the event point to Shura), but it is clear that Caughey fought to protect the bank he worked at nearly his entire life.
In the end, no money was obtained by the criminals thanks to Caughey’s heroic efforts. Once the shot was fired, the gang immediately abandoned the scene. They had expected the car to be waiting for them right outside the bank, but instead, they ran down Dufferin Ave. until King St. finding the car there, and finally making their escape. Once most of them were found merely 24 hours after the tragedy, all were sentenced to life in prison except for Peterson who received 12 years with his guilty plea.
Full Circle
From May 22 to June 2, 1944, there were many attempts made to hold up a bank by the criminals. Different locations were considered and attempted, including the Bank of Commerce on Main and Dufferin, a bank in the Fort Rouge area, a bank on Osborne and Stradbrook, and another bank in Langruth, just northwest of Winnipeg. The first attempt was to include a man by the name of Joe Wyrozub. That name sounded familiar. That’s because he was one of the perpetrators who robbed Transcona’s Bank of Toronto in 1930, where the Transcona Museum is today. A notable piece of the story is that Wyrozub’s wife attempted to help her husband escape prison after his arrest by smuggling hacksaw blades inside a jar of jam, you can read more about the events here.
Back to the 1944 holdup, Wyrozub was to be the driver instead of Evans. Their first attempt on May 22 was to holdup the Bank of Commerce on Main and Dufferin. It went terribly wrong when Evan’s arm hit Peterson’s pocket setting off his gun, shooting Wyrozub in the chest. He survived, but the holdup was called off while he was being treated for his injuries. However, the rest of the gang decided to go through with the robbery at a later date anyway, partly as a form of compensation for the accident.
One of the most interesting bits for me is that they had chosen the location Caughey was working at and how that connects him back to Transcona once again. Our 1930s robbery blog post even has a link to a newspaper with Caughey’s murder in it, but how was anyone to know he had any connections to Transcona? We didn’t at the time.
In The End
I feel as though I was meant to come across the photo of Caughey in our collection and be intrigued by the mystery of who he was. There are of course some mysteries I couldn’t solve, the biggest one being what were the bricks all about? Because Caughey was in John Matheson's circle and Matheson was a contractor, the bricks might’ve been for a project he was in the middle of. At first I thought maybe they were bricks for the new Bank of Commerce building (which started in a building complex next to North American Lumber (now Lumberzone) and later moved to its own building on Regent Ave. where the Union is now), however, that doesn't add up because it was built in 1911, two years before Caughey was in Transcona. There is also the possibility that it was just... a pile of bricks. We simply don't know (it's driving us crazy).
However, we do know that the photo of Caughey would’ve had to have been taken between 1913-1915 or 1919-1921 when he was in Transcona. To be honest, we aren’t even sure which man in the photo is in fact Caughey. Sure, he’s noted to be on the left and that’s taken as the viewer’s left, but there’s always room for human error. So far, it’s proven impossible to find any additional photos of him and his wife, despite her living into the 1990s, so I feel there’s always going to be more to discover.
I couldn't find an obituary for Caughey, and his death notice is a mere one and a half centimeter and nine lines long, whereas what was written about his murder vastly surpasses that. Ultimately, we wanted to honour and remember Caughey, his time here in Transcona and his life story – especially with his 130th birthday this summer.
It’s so amazing that I work in an environment that allows me to be curious and continue to search for individuals and pieces of the puzzle that has and continues to make up our wonderful community. Hey, if you need any help answering any of your own research questions, let us know – look how far we got with a photo and a last name.
Epilogue
After the entirety of the blog post was written and I began editing, I went back to some of my sources to reference them properly. I noticed one of the newspapers had been bringing me only to page three, so, I went to the front page, and guess whose picture made it. S.W. Caughey. The picture is not the best quality being that it’s from a 1944 copy of a newspaper that was then digitally scanned, so we didn’t want to stop there. Another photo in a 1944 copy of a newspaper that was then digitally scanned was found. At this point, the entire Transcona Museum team was on board since I made researching Caughey everyone’s problem too. Good thing, because I couldn't have discovered that mediocre but ever so slightly better photo of Caughey on my own.
This was still a great discovery mainly because were able to confirm that the man on the left in Matheson's photo is in fact, Caughey. It’s also interesting to see a photo of him up close and how much he’d aged from the photo I’d found in our collection – there must be 20-30 years difference.
I still maintain that there will always be more information, and photos to discover. I guess the takeaway is to continue to be curious, research never really comes to an end, and get your coworkers to do your work for you (just kidding, but another few sets of fresh eyes are always helpful).
This has me thinking, I wonder who the other man in the photo is?
Sources
“Archive – 1944.” Winnipeg Homicide Statistics and Stories. Accessed August 10, 2023.
Army Writer. “Orderly Room Duty Descriptions.” Accessed August 11, 2023.
Barbara J. Griffith Fonds, Transcona Museum Archives.
Boileau, John. “The 107th Timber Wolf Battalion.” The Canadian Encyclopedia. Accessed August 10, 2023.
Canadian Expeditionary Force 107th Battalion, Nominal Roll Officers of Non-Commissioned Officers and Men. 1917.
Census of Ballyhalbert, Down, 1901. National Archives of Ireland.
Census of the Prairie Provinces, 1921. Library and Archives Canada.
Census of the Prairie Provinces, 1926. Library and Archives Canada.
Census of Windsor Ward, Antrim, 1911. National Archives of Ireland.
“Church Meetings: Norwood United.” Winnipeg Tribune, January 22, 1943. Newspaper Archive.
eBay. “Vintage Billhead/Letter, Connell’s Civil Service Institute, Belfast 1918.” Accessed August 9, 2023.
“Employment Record: Samuel Walker Caughey.” CIBC Archives.
Goldsborough, Gordon. “Memorable Manitobans: Laura Edna Asselstine (1897-1986).”
Manitoba Historical Society. Accessed August 11, 2023.
Goldsborough, Gordon, Nathan Kramer, George Penner. “Historic Sites of Manitoba: Crump Block (846 Main Street, Winnipeg).” Manitoba Historical Society. Accessed August 10, 2023.
Goldsborough, Gordon, Nathan Kramer. “Historic Sites of Manitoba: Transcona Central School (Day Street, Winnipeg).” Manitoba Historical Society. Accessed August 10, 2023.
Henderson’s Winnipeg Directory. Canada: Henderson Directories Limited, 1920. Peel’s Prairie Provinces, University of Alberta Libraries.
Henderson’s Winnipeg Directory. Canada: Henderson Directories Limited, 1931. Peel’s Prairie Provinces, University of Alberta Libraries.
Hodgson, Mark. “Bad Luck Bank Robbers.” Winnipeg Police Museum Blog.
Incoming Passenger Lists Canada, 1865-1935 accessed via Ancestry.
Letters From The Front: Being A Record Of The Part Played By Officers Of The Bank In The Great War 1914-1919, vol. II, 74. Toronto: Canadian Bank of Commerce, 1921. Internet Archive.
“Murder Trial.” Winnipeg Tribune, June 5, 1944. Newspaper Archive.
“News of the Suburbs: Transcona.” Winnipeg Evening Tribune, August 20, 1921. University of Manitoba Digital Collections.
Obituary of Alena Fern Caughey. Winnipeg Free Press Passages, December 27, 1999.
Obituary of Audrey Wilson. Winnipeg Free Press Passages, March 7, 2015.
Obituary of Laura Edna Asselstine. Winnipeg Free Press, October 24, 1986. Newspaper Archive.
Obituary of Mrs. Ameila Asselstine. Winnipeg Tribune, June 16, 1942. Newspaper Archive.
Death Notice of S.W. Caughey. Winnipeg Tribune, June 3, 1944. Newspaper Archive.
Personnel Records of the First World War, Attestation Papers for Samuel Walker Caughey. Library and Archives Canada.
“Peterson On Stand At Murder Hearing.” Winnipeg Free Press, October 11, 1944. Newspaper Archive.
“Police Question Three In Hold-Up.” Winnipeg Free Press, June 3, 1944. Newspaper Archive.
Skyscraper City. “Historical Belfast Photos.” Castle Junction, Belfast, Co. Antrim. Accessed August 11, 2023.
“S.W. Caughey Buried On Monday.” Winnipeg Free Press, June 5, 1944. Newspaper Archive.
“Three Arraigned In Bank Killing.” Winnipeg Tribune, June 12, 1944. Newspaper Archive.
Transcona’s Golden Jubilee. Golden Jubilee Historical Booklet Editorial Committee, 1961.
Transcona’s Silver Jubilee Celebration. Transcona Board of Trade Historical Booklet Committee, 1936.
“Weddings.” Winnipeg Evening Tribune, September 11, 1923. University of Manitoba Digital Collections.