On October 6, 1894, 18-year-old Frank Westwood answered the door of his family's Toronto mansion, Lakeside Hall in Parkdale. Someone standing outside shot him through the gap left by the door chain. In part one of this two-part Victorian true crime story on Canada Is Boring, Rhys Waters takes Jesse Harley through the Parkdale Mystery, the Toronto murder that caused a newspaper frenzy in 1890s Canada. Before Frank died of his stomach wound, he described the gunman as a man in dark clothes with a thin mustache. The only name he gave police was Gus Clark, a "stone hooker" his family had chased off their shoreline for digging out shale. We cover the crowded funeral and the chaotic inquest. We meet amateur sleuth W. H. Hornberry, whom the papers mocked as "Parkdale's Sherlock Holmes." We also look at how newspapers begged Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes, to solve the case. Then there's the Listowel Horror, the murder of 13-year-old Jessie Keith, which set off rumours that Jack the Ripper had moved to Canada. Part one ends on a cliffhanger: police arrest a surprising new suspect, a 32-year-old woman. After the story, the Small Talk Dimension Zone covers Jesse's Tuscany wine festival trip, inspired by The Witcher 3: Blood and Wine. Jesse also shares a trick for quitting smoking with ice-cold ginger ale. Rhys helps elderly nuns at Rome's Ciampino airport, and the two trade TIFF celebrity sightings, including Jay Baruchel at the Ken Carter film Stuntman. It closes with Danny Elfman's story of writing the Batman theme in an airplane bathroom. If you like Canadian history, historical true crime, unsolved mysteries and a comedy podcast, subscribe so you don't miss part two.
00:00 Intro: a two-part Victorian murder mystery
01:18 Welcome to Canada Is Boring
01:45 Why we love true crime
03:13 October 6, 1894: Frank Westwood comes home to Lakeside Hall
05:09 The doorbell and the shot through the door
07:47 Frank's dying statement and the name Gus Clark
08:49 The funeral and the media frenzy
11:31 The inquest: no enemies, no motive
12:37 Dane's Boathouse and the mysterious Maroons
13:28 Witnesses, piano movers and the gunman's description
14:22 Gus Clark the stone hooker
15:47 W. H. Hornberry, "Parkdale's Sherlock Holmes"
18:00 The ginger ale trick for quitting smoking
19:38 Sir Arthur Conan Doyle gets pulled in
20:41 Sponsor: The Ultimate Deck Shop (tuds.ca)
24:10 Conan Doyle's Toronto visit
25:23 The Listowel Horror and Jack the Ripper panic
28:32 A surprise suspect: a 32-year-old woman
30:52 The Small Talk Dimension Zone
31:46 Night flights and plane sleep strategies
33:50 Tuscany, The Witcher 3: Blood and Wine and a wine festival
36:51 Helping nuns at Rome's Ciampino airport
38:33 TIFF, Seth Rogen and the parking chaos
39:10 Stuntman, Ken Carter and Jay Baruchel
42:10 Seeing Alan Rickman in London
44:03 Jesse's go-to question for filmmakers
44:22 How Danny Elfman wrote the Batman theme
46:21 Outro