A Wild Ride: Part One
Chesterfield – that largely unique Canadian word for the living room couch – is now considered a bit archaic and relegated to the dust bin of outdated Canadiana along with slacks, galoshes and wicket. Perhaps you are sitting on one of these heavy overstuffed pieces of furniture as you read this.
My question to you is have you ever seen a chesterfield race through the streets of Barrie, and how fast do you think they can move? Apparently, they can go at a remarkable rate of speed when strapped to the roof of a stolen car!
It started out as a quiet evening for well known local physician, Dr. W.C. Little. The doctor was enjoying some rare and well-deserved entertainment that night. Just around the corner from his Maple Street residence and office were three modern theatres to choose from.
On Nov. 23, 1939, he might have been watching Captain Fury with Brian Aherne and John Carradine at the Roxy, or perhaps The Champ starring Noah Beery and Jackie Cooper over at the Granada. Whatever Little’s preference in film was, his relaxation was abruptly ended by a likely familiar tap on the shoulder – the doctor was needed!
The call came from 39 Collier Street which is located a few doors west of Owen Street on the south side of the street. In those days, the building housed the real estate business of Nicholas Maley, a storage unit and tenants Gord Ferguson and Mary Vollick.
It was 10 p.m. on that late November evening, and perhaps it was cold or rainy because the doctor chose to take his car to the call rather than walk the short distance. Possibly, he routinely kept a house call kit at the ready in his automobile.
Dr. Little was with his patient for some 15 minutes before returning to the street to head for home. He was rather shocked to find that his car had disappeared! In the small town of Barrie, the doctor had never worried before that someone might hop into his car and take off with it. Most of the time, Dr. Little left his 1938 Dodge sedan unlocked with the key in the ignition as he hurried to his emergency calls. On this night, his luck changed.
Local police and most outside agencies were notified right away. The license plate number was broadcast and anyone with a radio who was listening began to keep watch. Not a great number of Barrie folks owned cars, and fewer still were likely to be found on the town streets late at night, so when the stolen car passed Mills’ Taxi stand on Essa Road at midnight, employee Robert Ferry shouted to Night Constable Reg Wilson who was across the street at Whitty’s Drug Store that he’d better get busy!
In the intervening 90 minutes since the Little auto had vanished, it had acquired an odd new accessory. A large chesterfield was bound to its roof with rope. Wilson was on foot patrol and normally walked his beat so, when the doctor’s stolen car passed in front of him, he needed a faster method of pursuit. He quickly commandeered the taxi cab of Del Moore and the two took off in chase with Moore at the wheel.
The furniture-laden sedan was surprisingly quick and it wasn’t until Wilson and Moore reached Painswick that they caught up with their quarry. They observed that two men and a woman were riding in the pilfered vehicle.
Up until that point, the seasoned taxi driver and the Barrie cop were travelling at 45 miles an hour (upwards of 70 kilometres per hour) along Highway 11 as it passed through the outskirts of Barrie and the little villages along the way. As they closed in on the Little car, the auto thieves must have decided that they really didn’t want to go to prison. Considering how fast they were already going, they really opened up the Dodge after that!
