January 13: CNR is formed; "Dark Strangler" hangs; St. B's first Anglo mayor.

January 13, 1899 -The Canadian Northern Railway is formed by the amalgamation of the Winnipeg Great Northern Railway and the Lake Manitoba Railway and Canal Company. Within two decades it would be a transcontinental rail system.

January 13, 1928 - Earle Leonard Nelson, considered North America’s first serial rapist / murderer, is hanged at the Vaughan Street Gaol. 

 Nelson, a.ka. the 'Gorilla Man Killer' or the 'Dark Strangler', was California-based but crossed into Manitoba in June 1927. Here, he raped and killed two women, one just 14 years old. A manhunt caused him to flee to Regina then make a run for the U.S. border. He was arrested in Wakopa MB, near Crystal City.

The trial was covered across North America. In attendance were detectives from police services in the U.S. and Nelson's wife and aunt. Though found guilty and hung for the two murders here, Nelson was responsible for 22 murders and suspected in at least 3 more south of the border. He was 29 years old when he hanged.

There are a number of accounts of the life and death of Nelson. You can find one of them here at the Police Museum website.

December 20, 1912, Winnipeg Free Press

January 13, 1933 - Thomas Berry, the first anglophone mayor of St. Boniface, dies.