BOONE HELM: MONSTER IN BUCKSKINS
“…One man…leads all the rest. Worst of the bad men, wildest of the wild bunch; depraved, degenerate, savage and bestial was Boone Helm”. It takes all kinds to make a world, they say, and more’s the pity in the case of some sinners. Of those who have walked Victoria streets over the past 160 years, who was the worst? One blackguard who comes to mind is that “savage, reckless, defiant marauder…robber, assassin and reputed cannibal,” Boone Helm. Boone Helm killed from Kentucky to British Columbia Quite a resume for one man but it’s one which has been documented from his home state of Kentucky to British Columbia. Upon taking his enforced departure from the provincial stage, Helm ultimately found himself in Montana, whose citizenry also sent him packing—at the end of a rope. If Helm’s departure from this mortal...
Read MoreTea Break Proved Deadly For Housewife Clara Gravenor
Poor Clara Gravenor. Freak accident. Human error. It happens every day. Sometimes it remains for a coroner’s inquest to determine the fine, grey line between the two if, in fact, it can be determined at all. Sometimes there’s no mystery, no act of God, no conceivable circumstance, just human oversight bordering on the incomprehensible, even to the point of criminal negligence. Then the only real challenge is not how it happened, but why. A century ago, Cobble Hill housewife Clara Gravenor was, to quote a news account, “blown to pieces in a dynamite explosion which absolutely wrecked” the house she shared with her husband, A.H. Gravenor. How in heavens name does a homeowner blow herself up, even in the less civilized Cobble Hill of 1916? This was a time of life on the frontier, remember. Mr. Gravenor, as did...
Read MoreJohn George Taylor Didn’t Forget Orphans
‘British Columbia Protestant Orphans Home, founded 1875. This site and building were purchased and erected by bequest of John G. Taylor, A.D. 1903.’ This worn cornerstone of what became Victoria’s Bishop Cridge Centre for the Family was replaced 20 years ago after being removed for display during the centre’s centenary. Likely few had taken notice of the old marker which, ever so scantily, honours the man whose bequest originally made the orphanage possible. For that matter, little more is known of the onetime city policeman than is noted on the memorial. Only one historian has seen fit to record something of John George Taylor for posterity—and his tribute is tenuous. Journalist D.W. Higgins met Taylor in the course of his work. The two became friends. For all his respect for Taylor, however, Higgins held something in reserve so far...
Read MoreConfine Famous Tally-ho Horses to City Parks?
A recommendation by the Victoria SPCA that the famous Tally-ho horses be banned from city streets and confined to parks has generated several letters to the editor and an editorial in the Times-Colonist. James Bay and the Legislative Precinct just wouldn’t be the same without them! For a century, these magnifcent draught horses have plodded through heavy automotive traffic at the height of tourist season with few untoward incidents. They’re as integral to Victoria’s ambience as the Empress Hotel and the Parliament Buildings. And they’re in prime physical condition, well cared-for and trained to their task which gives them a useful life. How many tourists have had their photos taken with them over the past century is anybody’s guess, but it has to be in the 100s of thousands. Long may they continue to enhance Victoria’s old world charm...
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