London Evening Advertiser
- Webb Is Found Not Guilty of Manslaughter
- Bugles Sang Truce 8 Years Ago Today
- City Observes Day Fittingly
On Armistice Day 1926, the London Evening Advertiser of London, Ontario, reported that a supreme court jury had acquitted Harold Webb of manslaughter in the death of Fred Chantler, who was killed weeks earlier when a car carrying Webb's liquor cargo upset near Hyde Park; the jury deliberated from 12:15 to 2:30. The page also carried E. J. Penny's recollection of the bugles that sounded the "Cease Fire" along the Allied front in France and Flanders eight years before, hailed as the end of the greatest war and the downfall of the German Empire, and a report on how the city kept the two-minute silence at 11 o'clock, with factories closed, Bell Telephone switchboards dark until 11:02, telegraph offices silent and street cars halted.
This edition translates three excerpts transcribed from the page images, because the OCR text is badly scrambled. The opening words of the Webb report are illegible and are marked [?]. The scan cuts off the bottom edge of one section of the page and tears the right edge of another, so a few words at column ends are partly cropped. The excerpts do not give the full trial evidence in the Webb case or the rest of Penny's account.
Translation
WEBB IS FOUND NOT GUILTY OF MANSLAUGHTER
[?] with regard to the condition of the road near Hyde Park, where Fred Chantler was killed in a motor upset some weeks ago, a jury at the supreme court sittings here this afternoon found Harold Webb, occupant of the car and owner of its liquor cargo, not guilty on a charge of manslaughter. The jury left the court at 12:15 to deliberate and returned their finding at 2:30.
BUGLES SANG TRUCE 8 YEARS AGO TODAY
By E. J. PENNY
It was eight years ago this morning that along the whole length of the allied battle front in France and Flanders were heard the staccato notes of bugles blowing the "Cease Fire." One of the greatest moments in world history had arrived, for the clear-sounding bugles were announcing the close of the greatest war of all time and the final downfall of the German Empire before triumphant hosts.
CITY OBSERVES DAY FITTINGLY
As a mark of respect for the "glorious dead" two minutes' silence was observed in London today. Mayor Moore issued a proclamation that all business houses and every factory should shut down where possible for the two minutes at 11 o'clock. The Bell Telephone Company, one of the busiest concerns, went absolutely "dead." The switchboards were closed, and from 11 o'clock until 11:02 o'clock no calls were put through the local exchanges. Telegraph offices of the Canadian National and Canadian Pacific also stopped the transmission of messages. Street car service was stopped, and the wheels of industry generally ceased to move.
Context
Webb's liquor cargo and the last year of the Ontario Temperance Act
The Advertiser's report says only that Harold Webb was in the car and owned its liquor cargo, and that the jury acquitted him of manslaughter; the legible text begins with a reference to the condition of the road. It does not say where the liquor came from or whether any separate liquor charge was laid. The cargo still matters, because Ontario was then governed by the Ontario Temperance Act of 1916. After a 1921 referendum the province became "bone dry" by banning the importation of alcohol, so moving liquor by car was a sensitive matter. By 1926 the regime was losing support: that year Howard Ferguson's Conservatives won a general election after promising to introduce liquor sales, and in 1927 the Liquor Control Act ended prohibition and set up the Liquor Control Board of Ontario to sell liquor through government stores. One historian judged the law too drastic for ordinary citizens and not harsh enough to stop the large bootleggers. Webb's trial came before a jury while public opinion on prohibition was shifting in this way, although the paper's account turns on the road and the death rather than on the liquor itself.
Why London's telephones, telegraphs and street cars stopped at 11 o'clock
The way London shut down its switchboards, telegraph offices and street cars follows the pattern King George V asked of the whole Empire in 1919. A press statement released from the Palace on 7 November 1919 and published in The Times asked that, at the hour the Armistice took effect, "all work, all sound, and all locomotion should cease." The custom itself had begun as a daily pause in Cape Town in 1918, and press cables reported that it had been taken up in English provincial towns and then elsewhere, including Canada. In 1926 the Advertiser shows a Canadian city applying the King's formula in a very literal way: Mayor Moore proclaimed that businesses and factories should stop, the Bell Telephone Company put no calls through from 11:00 to 11:02, the Canadian National and Canadian Pacific telegraph offices stopped transmitting, and the street cars stood still. Halting the city's communications and transit was the local answer to the King's call for the end of all locomotion.
The "Cease Fire" of 11 November 1918 and the Canadian Corps
E. J. Penny's article recalls bugles sounding the "Cease Fire" along the whole Allied front in France and Flanders. For the Canadian Corps that moment came at the end of an advance into Belgium. The Canadians crossed into Belgium on 7 November 1918 and by 9 November were in the outlying suburbs of Mons. They attacked the city on 10 November and by early morning on 11 November were fighting in its streets. At 6:30 a.m. on 11 November, Canadian Corps headquarters learned that the Armistice would begin at 11 a.m. Even so, Private George Price of the 28th Battalion was killed by a sniper at 10:58, two minutes before the guns fell silent. Penny presents the morning as one of the greatest moments in world history and as the final downfall of the German Empire before triumphant armies. The excerpt does not name Mons, Tournai or any particular Canadian unit; its triumphant tone was written for a city keeping the anniversary eight years later.
The "glorious dead" and Canada's war losses
The phrase "glorious dead," which the Advertiser puts in quotation marks, echoes the closing words of the King's 1919 message. The King asked that in perfect stillness the thoughts of everyone be concentrated on reverent remembrance of the glorious dead. For Canadians the number of those dead was large: according to the Vimy Foundation, the Canadian Corps suffered over 60,000 killed and 172,000 wounded in the war. These losses were the background when the mayor of London asked every factory to stop and the telephone and telegraph companies went silent. On the same page, Penny's piece stresses victory and the downfall of the German Empire, and the city report presents the silence as respect for the dead.
Original
WEBB IS FOUND NOT GUILTY OF MANSLAUGHTER
[?] with regard to the condition of the road near Hyde Park, where Fred Chantler was killed in a motor upset some weeks ago, a jury at the supreme court sittings here this afternoon found Harold Webb, occupant of the car and owner of its liquor cargo, not guilty on a charge of manslaughter. The jury left the court at 12: 15 to deliberate and returned their finding at 2: 30.
BUGLES SANG TRUCE 8 YEARS AGO TODAY
It was eight years ago this morning that along the whole length of the allied battle front in France and Flanders were heard the staccato notes of bugles blowing the " Cease Fire. " One of the greatest moments in world history had arrived, for the clear-sounding bugles were announcing the close of the greatest war of all time and the final downfall of the German Empire before triumphant hosts.
CITY OBSERVES DAY FITTINGLY
As a mark of respect for the " glorious dead " two minutes ' silence was observed in London today. Mayor Moore issued a proclamation that all business houses and every factory should shut down where possible for the two minutes at 11 o'clock. The Bell Telephone Company, one of the busiest concerns, went absolutely " dead. " The switchboards were closed, and from 11 o'clock until 11: 02 o'clock no calls were put through the local exchanges. Telegraph offices of the Canadian National and Canadian Pacific also stopped the transmission of messages. Street car service was stopped, and the wheels of industry generally ceased to move.
Source: Holding institution