Macri and a few other Italian immigrants were walking home from 566 Young Street after an evening of drinking and playing cards. One of the group, John Roelli, was stabbed to death near Young and Portage. Macri was blamed, but no motive was provided by the Crown making it “unique in the annals of crime in Western Canada” according to The Morning Telegram of Jan 16, 1907.
Could prejudice against immigrants have been at play ? It was reported that Sheriff Inkster received 13 requests from members of the general public looking to be the executioner. The Telegram reported, perhaps tongue in cheek, that “The amazing part …. Is that a majority of them were Anglo-Saxon."
January 15, 1908 - Manitoba Government Telephones, the forerunner to MTS, took over the Manitoba assets of the Bell Telephone Company in Manitoba. For more on the early telephone system in Manitoba and in Brandon.
January 15, 1910 - The former Security Storage Building on Ellice Avenue opened. It also served as the first HMCS Chippawa, a naval recruiting and training centre during World War II, and is currently home to the John Howard Society.
January 15, 1915 - Artist and sculptor Leonid Molodozhanyn, "Leo Mol", was born in Ukraine. After studying in Europe he came to Canada in 1949 and settled in Winnipeg in 1954. He died in 2009.
January 15, 1943 - The movie 49th Parallel opened in Winnipeg. Set in Manitoba, with a number of its sequences filmed here, it had an all-star cast that included Leslie Howard, Lawrence Olivier, Glynis Johns, Canadian actor Raymond Massey, and former Winnipegger Carla Lehmann. It won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.
January 15, 2012 - The final church service was held at St. Thomas' Anglican Church in Lockport.
© 2012 and 2020, Christian Cassidy
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