75 years later: The endless fascination with Evelyn Dick
Conversations with Sarah Farr tend to have a certain trajectory.
They might start out about the weather or maybe the local arts scene but the subject invariably drifts to something much more ominous - Evelyn Dick and the infamous 1946 torso murder.
Farr runs an Evelyn Dick Files" blog and a Facebook page devoted to taking a second look" at the case. She has all kinds of Evelyn memorabilia and files crammed with copies of newspaper clippings, photos, and other documents. She's travelled all over the area trying to track down leads and better understand what happened.
So, for her, this is a big week. Seventy-five years ago, on March 16, 1946, the headless, legless and armless body of John Dick was found on the side of Hamilton Mountain. The grisly discovery by five children north of Albion Falls set off the most sensational murder case in the city's history and a series of nagging mysteries that continue to this day.
What was Evelyn's involvement in her husband's murder and dismemberment? She was sentenced to hang for the killing, but was acquitted after an appeal and a retrial deftly handled by lawyer J.J. Robinette.
What was her involvement in the murder of her baby, Peter David White, whose body was found in a cement-encased suitcase? She was convicted of that homicide, serving 11 years in prison before being paroled in 1958. But the reason for the killing never came out in testimony.
And what happened to her after she got out of the penitentiary with a new identity and later, a rarely granted Royal Prerogative of Mercy," that sealed parole and other records relating to the case? Somehow she went into hiding so completely that it is not even known if she is alive or dead. Although, at 100 years of age, it's highly unlikely that she is still living.
But let's add another question: How did Farr - a mild-mannered property management company administrator, musician and horse enthusiast, who grew up in Ipswich, England, and moved to Hamilton in 2006 - develop such a gruesome obsession?
And how is it that the case has captured the imagination of so many others over the decades with numerous books, plays and films? There was even a line of T-shirts, tote bags and shot glasses at one point. The Evelyn Dick file in the local history and archives section of the Hamilton Public Library is known as one of the most popular items in the collection.
For Farr, 49, it started with the 2000 book Blue Moon" by James King, a fictionalized account of the case that she noticed at a local thrift store about a decade ago.
The Hamilton of the 1940s she read about - in the King book and two other books about the case that she later acquired - became a looking glass into her new found home.
It seemed everywhere she went there was some connection. An apartment Farr lived in was near the love nest Evelyn Dick used to keep on James Street South to entertain wealthy men in the community.
Farr would drive by various locations that figured into the story - the home Evelyn grew up in on Rosslyn Avenue and the house she later bought on Carrick Avenue. The building where the Windsor Tavern operated - the place where John Dick had his last meal - was still on King William Street.
And more obscure locations in the storyline would come up by accident. She remembers sitting on a porch near Cannon and Emerald streets with a friend.
I looked across Emerald Street and it was the boarding house where John Dick lived when he met Evelyn."
After reading the 2001 book Torso" by the Brian Vallee, who died in 2011, she discovered that his research notes were kept in archives at Algoma University in Sault Ste. Marie.
So, she flew there and spent a couple of days going through the material, reading transcripts of interviews and a collection of correspondence he wrote while putting the book together.
One thing she concluded was that Vallee was under pressure to meet a deadline and he might have come to different conclusions about things if he had more time."
She headed to the Ontario Archives in Toronto to go through several boxes of material that contained trial papers, documents relating to her apartment rental on James Street, correspondence - including letters between Evelyn and her mother Alexandra Maclean, banking records, witness statements - some we've never seen before - and the voir dire (trial deliberations kept from the jury)."
One item that caught her eye was an anxious letter by Evelyn, handwritten shortly after being sentenced to be hanged at the Barton Street Jail.
Oh my God, I was holding it. It was such a magical moment looking at those words that were written by her own hand," she says. The letter was addressed to a court administrator to ask for assistance in pressuring her lawyer to transfer records to Robinette, who she wanted to represent her in appealing her death sentence.
I have no one else except yourself and the Attorney General's office for me to turn to," Evelyn wrote.
Another exciting day was when Farr toured the house on Rosslyn Avenue. Knowing her enthusiasm for the case, the current homeowner, Barbara Harding, asked her over for tea and a look in the basement where it's believed that John Dick was dismembered.
But through it all, Farr remains convinced there is much more to the story than what has come out. Her father Donald MacLean's involvement and boyfriend Bill Bohozuk's role have never been determined. She sees Evelyn as a victim who was abused in her upbringing and greatly misunderstood as an adult. She believes Evelyn only played a minor role in the murders.
She grew up in a violent household. Her father was a drunk. It must have been terrifying," says Farr. She noted that the only time Evelyn became emotional, crying like a baby," while being interviewed by a psychotherapist, was when the conversation turned to her early home life.
It is my belief that she was caught up in something much bigger than her husband's death ... I feel it is only a matter of time before the truth is told.
Until then, we keep on throwing theories out there."