Hide Article Text (OCR)
“IEmperor Pic9 He Called Himself . . .If iras about an hour and a quarter alter sunrise - ten to six as a matter of fact-when Florence Lamandra ¥took her last ualk; and itteas then? incongruous as it sounds, that she heard for one brief moment notes of a robin.Hardly oat of place, becavic i day of May.Alberta; and hardlyGrigg and Rae probably beard it, and so Ad the matron. Father Fideles the Franciscan — this was bh, by the way —probably didn't hear it for be was speaking at the time. Wakefield of course beard it; be had not only a quick ear but also quick judgment, especially liters of height and weight.The |rota of half a down made momentary pause as Florence, catchingfirst right of the scaffold, ass convulsedin a fearful fit of trembling. A word from the matron and they moved on.It at (he bottom of the flight sfwooden Mepa (hat lie paused again to ask in pUntive tone: Why do they hang me whenI didn't do anything? Is there no one here with any sympathy (ex’ me?”The first question the Supreme Cowl of Canada had already answered. The second was •H(-evident. Lf you Just glanced at the laces of those around her. It was the toughest assign ment that Warden Grigg or Sher.ff lUe had eter undertaken.Up on the platform. Florence saw above her the low clouds that scudded across the fretful sky. then glancing down inta the yard she saw ten men: tx of them, conformingte Alberts procedure, were the Jurors who convicted her: the other four were ncwpapei men.It was as Wakefield with his usual profess soinal deftness was about to slip a Mack hood over her head (hat (he 23ycaeold. dive-skinned and slim brunette made her last brief utter ance: I forgive everybody.A minute or two later she was being spo1 «*n of as (he first woman to be hanged in Canada in 24 years, and the fifih since Confederation.It had been just 30 minutes before her gallows end that her companion in crime, the -Emperor Pic. had travelled the same route, but Money eyed and sullen. He. too. had something to say when Wakefield was about to slip the black hood o«er his head: “Take that -— thing away? 1 can see what's ahead with my eyes open*Trouble was. it was too late; he should have seen what was ahead long before they put the rope around his neck!TO say that the murder of Constable Steve Lawson arms part of the continuing struggle between good and evil is. to my mind, only partly right. For one thing it presumes there are no bad laws, and prohibition was a bad law. Bad. because it turned too many people into lawbreaker*, thus creating such disresfWt lor the lati? that the chief lawbreaker tthe bootlegger1 was viewed in time with sort of friendly indulgenceThe stage for the tragedy of Lawson's death was set. as a matter of fact, by the mixed up liquor situation that existed on the B.C. Albert a Montana border back in the fall of 1922.Although by that rime EC. had turned from short lived prohibition bo sales in goeminent stores. Alberta and Montana were fry. An additional and slightly hypocritical factor were B.CVs licensed lquor wholesalers * always Hose to the border) which sold to holders of custom* ‘export permits Which merely meant that auto loads of sacked liquor were hustled fo a border rendezvous where the Canadian took the profit and the American took the liquor and the risk?Page The Ihlh ( mhmtsi.CECIL CLARKfeatureEX-INS. ERNIE BAVINIf it didn't go by auto, then it went among the freight in railway cars, and under the coal in coal cars In the event k was discovered befcm the border, chances are some aheriff either sold It or drank It!Final domestic complication was when the runners hustled their loads through the Crow's Nest Pass bo pane a problem for the Alberta Provincial Police lor here the export permits were no good!One particular character who posed theproblem oftenewt was the Emperor Pic; and to understand why Lawson died you have to understand Emiho BcsitUo.He was then about 50. with closely mopped greying hair, a full moustache that had a tendency to droop at the ends, and a pair of calculating eyes that could in an instant glow with sudden anger.Stocky, thick set and paunchy. Pic as he was dubbed throughout the border country, had made himself a power among the foreign-bom in The Crow; a reputation be gained byJ.judkAous use of Mb fist and tongue- and money.Years before, when he first came to thewest be had run a simple ice ciesm and peanut stand in Crow's Nest, before gravitatingto the junk builw in Pernie, which in turn gave way to a teaming concern. So it was as aort of ‘friendly neighborhood bootlegger that he moved ta Halimim Alberta, there to buy the Alberta Ilolal and eventually move into the city council for a term.“Pic. you can asa, had ambition; but it was ambition spurred by the memory of the grinding poverty of his Sicilian childhood; the same background that gave him hU contempt Aar law enforcementIn building Hie Image of the 'big shot,** “Pic would buy a carload of flour every Christmas and distribute it to the needy, and for any aort of cause he was first with a donation.As Ms operations grew, along with hit bank account, so also did his attitude become more cocky and defiant. He loved to flash bigger and bigger rolls of bills; it was even said that when the Basoff gang held up the CPR train near The Crow it was really Pic they were laying for. He was a passenger and he had $102100 In cash. When Pic sensed what was up he quickly stashed the roll under bis seat, then maved to another across the aisle.He used to impress people by hi* habit of lining the aweatband of his hat with S20 bills, and once when his batik depDsit was so big he couldn't push It through the slot under the teller's cage and he had to pas* it over the top. He liked that! He liked to boast that he could put his hands on $300,000 in cash in ten minutes. Some wondered why he didn't retire and go back to Italy- li\e like a king maybe!“Hah! roared “Pic when he heard the comment, “who wants to go back to the old country and be a king I'm better than a king here! I’m the Emperor? The Emperor Pic!With this he would thump his chest withhis powerful fist.He had a powerful grip. too. Once about to crons the border into Canada a t\S. sheriff Jumped on his running board to halt him. and“Pkr seized his hand in a vice-like grip andbore him across the border with him Now what was It you wanted to tel! me* said Pic* with a sneer, once he was in Canada.His headquarters was a suite in his Alberta Hotel where he planned his strategy, cooked up his clandestine liquor deals, and conferred occasionally with his high price! counsel when he was in any sort of a jam.His trusted lieutenant was Charlie Lassan* drm, whose 22year-old ItaJian-born wife Florence had been a waknsg in the Albert a Hotel when they married. She travelled 'round the country a lot with Pic’ in his big Buick. some said as a aort of protection. If Pie had a Mad and the police chased him. they wouldn't dare shoot with Florence in the car.“Pic had several can, and driver*. One of them was his 20-year-old bov Steve, another mmm * man called McAlpine who kept the roll-
Newspaper Details
Victoria Daily Colonist
Victoria, British Columbia, CA
Sun, Mar 22, 1964
Page 42
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
CA 28 Dec 2019
Other Publications Near Victoria, British Columbia
Victoria General Conference Daily Bulletin
Victoria Evening Telegraph
Victoria New Westminster Times and Vancouver Island Guardian
Victoria New Westminster Times
Victoria Vancouver Daily Standard
