Bordeaux Jail
Montreal, Québec
February 10, 1956

February 10^th, 1956 was a cold day in Montreal. At the Bordeau Jail, a death flag flew and a chime sounded seven times announcing that a man was about to die. That man was Wilbert Coffin.

Wilbert Coffin was a mining prospector and experienced woodsman from York Centre, in the County of Gaspé, Québec. The unspoiled wilderness of the Gaspé region made it a popular spot for American outdoorsmen. Three such outdoorsmen arrived from Pennsylvania in 1953. They never returned home. Their bodies were found in a forest. They had been murdered. The last person to have seen any of them alive was Wilbert Coffin.

Wilbert Coffin, had been seen with the youngest of the three Americans at a gas station. He had purchased a pump to repair the pickup truck the Americans were driving. The case proved to be complicated without an eye witness, the prosecution had to rely heavily on circumstantial evidence. After much deliberation, the jury found Wilbert Coffin guilty of murdering one of the hunters. The mandatory sentence was death by hanging.

The sentence was appealed all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada. There, a majority of justices affirmed the judgments of the lower courts. Wilbert Coffin was again found guilty, and returned to Bordeaux Jail in Montreal to await his execution.

Many were upset by the ruling. They believed Wilbert Coffin to be innocent that his conviction relied solely on circumstantial evidence. (Senator Jacques Hébert, a journalist at the time, was cited for contempt of court for his subsequent articles on the case.) Increasingly, Canadians questioned the death penalty.

One of the best arguments against the death penalty has always been the possibility of error. (For example, Canadians such as Donald Marshall, David Milgaard, Guy Paul Morin were all found guilty of charges whose penalties were death. They were all later proven innocent and released.) The argument against the death penalty eventually won Canadians over and the practise was abolished in 1976. Sadly, this came to late for Wilbert Coffin.

Despite his appeals for clemency and his claims of innocence, Wilbert Coffin was executed on February 10, 1956.

If Wilbert Coffin was innocent, it is a mistake that can never be corrected.

Did you know?

By 1859, the offences punishable by death in Upper and Lower Canada were, "murder, rape, treason, administering poison or wounding with intent to commit unlawfully abusing a girl under ten, buggery with man or beast, robbery with wounding, burglary with assault arson, casting away a ship and, exhibiting a false signal endangering a ship."

By 1869, the statutes covering capital punishment were revised such that only three crimes carried the death penalty: murder treason and, rape.

In 1961, new legislation reclassified murder into capital and non capital offences. Capital murder was defined as follows:

"Murder that is planned or deliberate murder that is committed in the course of certain crimes of violence, by the direct intervention, or upon counselling of the accused or the murder of a police officer or prison guard or warden, acting in the course of duty, resulting from such direct intervention or counselling."

Such a murder was punishable by mandatory hanging, unless the accused was 18 years of age, in which case he was, if tried as an adult, to be sentenced to life imprisonment.

FAQ

When was the last execution in Canada?

On December 11, 1962, the following persons were hanged at the Don Jail in Toronto: Arthur Lucas, aged 54, for the premeditated murder of an informer and a witness, with the motive of racket discipline and Robert Turpin, aged 29, for the unpremeditated murder of a policeman to avoid arrest.

Have any women ever been executed?

Yes, 13 women have been executed in Canada since Confederation. The first woman to be executed was Phoebe Campbell in 1872 after having been convicted of murder. The last woman to be hanged in Canada was Marguerite Pitre. She was executed in 1953 after being convicted as a co-conspirator in Canada's largest mass murder.

Did you know?

• The total number of death penalties between 1867 and 1971 is 1481. The total number of executions is 710 (697 men and 13 women).
   

• Ethan Allen, Joseph Ruel, and Thomas Jones, all convicted of murder, were among the first to be executed after Confederation.
   

• At the Bordeaux Jail, a chime sounds 7 times to announce a man's execution and 10 times to announce a woman's.
   

• Death by hanging was the only legal method of execution ever used in Canada.
   

• The death penalty was abolished under the Criminal Code in 1976.
   

• Its reinstatement was debated and rejected by Parliament in 1987.
   

• In 1997, in response to a resolution of the Canadian Police Association calling for the return of the death penalty in certain cases, Justice Minister Anne McLellan issued a press release stating: "It is not the intention of the Government of Canada to reinstate the death penalty."
   

• The National Defence Act was amended in 1998 to abolish the death penalty in Canadian military law, bringing it in line with Canadian criminal law. Life imprisonment without eligibility for parole for 25 years replaced the death penalty for the most serious offences.

In 1997, in response to a resolution of the Canadian Police Association calling for the return of the death penalty in certain cases, Justice Minister Anne McLellan issued a press release stating: "It is not the intention of the Government of Canada to reinstate the death penalty."

Rough justice in the Gaspé

One of the most infamous cases of the '50s led to the hanging of a possibly innocent man Critics point to an incompetent defence and a Quebec regime with darker motives, writes Tracey Tyler

Feb. 7, 2006.

Record crowds lined the riverbanks outside a Montreal prison. As midnight drew near, many fell to their knees and prayed for the man facing execution.

Fifty years later, prayers will be said across Quebec this week to mark the anniversary of the death of Wilbert Coffin.

Coffin, 42, a mining prospector from the Gaspé, was hanged on Feb. 10, 1956, for the murders of three Pennsylvanians apparently shot and robbed during a bear hunting expedition to the area in 1953. Coffin maintained his innocence to the bitter end.

A half-century later, doubts persist about the verdict in the case, which attracted immense international attention, inspired four books and led to an unprecedented Supreme Court review.

Over the course of the appeals and later, many came to believe the Quebec woodsman was the innocent victim of a gross miscarriage of justice, caused by an incompetent defence and a corrupt Duplessis government anxious to allay fears that the murders would destroy the lucrative American tourist trade.

"Out here in the Gaspé, the issue is still a very raw one for people. There are people who cry when you talk about it and people who won't talk about it," said Cynthia Patterson, a community activist who helped organize this week's events and one of many who want the federal government to reopen the case.

In Quebec, the case is also seen as "a shameful part" of the legacy of former Quebec premier Maurice Duplessis, Patterson said from her home in the village of Barachois.

"It's considered a stain on the Gaspé, but for me it's a much bigger stain on the entire Canadian justice system," said Toronto criminal lawyer Eddie Greenspan, who has studied the case perhaps more closely than any other Canadian legal expert.

The Coffin case became a symbol of doubt and helped spur moves to abolish the death penalty in Canada, he said.

The importance the Quebec government placed on placating the Americans and securing a conviction shouldn't be underestimated, Greenspan added. The Pennsylvania Federation of Sportsmen's Clubs had more than 200,000 members, many of whom frequented Quebec on hunting and fishing trips.

When the hunters' bodies were discovered, John Foster Dulles, then U.S. Secretary of State, personally contacted Quebec authorities. Duplessis dispatched to Gaspé the province's toughest cop, Alphonse Matte, Quebec's chief of detectives, and two top prosecutors.

In his closing address, prosecutor Noel Dorion told the jury: "I have faith that you will set an example for your district, for your province and for the whole of your country before the eyes of America, which counts on you, and which has followed all of the details of this trial."

"It's language that was saying: `There will be no money coming to the Gaspé from the United States if you acquit this guy.' They were dependent on these American hunters," Greenspan said. "They needed a fall guy and they needed a quick conviction."

The jury took just 30 minutes to convict. Coffin was sentenced to death on Aug. 5, 1954, but had seven stays of execution over the next 18 months while courts rejected his appeals.

After he was hanged, a crowd of 500 waited at the train station for his body to return home. He was buried in the churchyard of St. Andrew's Anglican Church in the tiny town of York Centre.

"There was a huge funeral for him," said Archbishop Bruce Stavert of the Anglican Diocese of Quebec. "Even today, people still remember it."

Churches throughout the diocese will be asked to say special prayers during services this coming Sunday, on behalf of the Association in Defence of the Wrongly Convicted and victims of miscarriages of justice, Stavert said. On Friday, on the 50th anniversary, a special afternoon service will take place in St. Andrew's and at Coffin's grave.

Debbie Stewart, Coffin's niece, said the family wants to clear his name. "Growing up in Gaspé, it was very painful, not just for Uncle Bill's siblings, but for his nieces and nephews as well."

The family has lost touch with Coffin's son, James, who was 8 when his father was hanged, and hopes for a reunion. They believe James' mother has died; Marion Petrie, Coffin's common-law wife, had begged permission to marry him before the execution but was thwarted by Duplessis, who said it wouldn't be "decent."

Stewart, 51, is too young to remember the case that began June 5, 1953, when Eugene Lindsey, his son Richard, 17, and his friend Frederick Claar, 19, left on a hunting trip to Quebec.

Their abandoned truck was found July 10. Searchers eventually would come upon the remains of all three, by then little more than bones. Their bodies had been eaten by animals, and a prosecution expert concluded they had died by June 17.

Eugene Lindsey's remains were found July 15 near a small stream. His wallet was found in the water, the money gone. When he left Pennsylvania, Lindsey had been carrying at least $650. His rifle was found nearby with a mark that could have been a bullet grazing.

His son's remains were found July 23. Beside them were a sweater and two shirts perforated by bullet holes. A trouser pocket had been turned inside-out and his brown leather wallet was missing. Claar's remains were found about 200 feet away. His wallet had been rifled.

Coffin would later tell police he met up with the trio on June 10 while driving a friend's truck into the bush to prospect for minerals. Their truck had broken down, and he drove Richard Lindsey to the town of Gaspé to buy a new fuel pump. Coffin said he drove Lindsey back to the camp, and two other Americans were there in a yellow jeep with a plywood box.

They all had dinner together and Coffin continued into the bush, promising to look in on the Lindsey party in a few days. According to Coffin, Eugene Lindsey paid him $40 U.S. - a twenty and two ten-dollar bills - and the younger Lindsey gave him a pocket knife for his son.

On June 12, Coffin said, he returned to find the camp deserted but for Lindsey's truck. He waited several hours and, when no one returned, took the fuel pump and Claar's valise, which contained a shirt, two pairs of shorts, two pairs of socks, blue jeans and two towels. He said he was impaired at the time.

After emerging from the bush, Coffin visited several friends to repay debts, went to a hotel and paid for beer with a $20 U.S. bill. At midnight, he set out for Petrie's Montreal home. He drove into the ditch twice and paid people who helped pull him out. One said he took a $20 U.S. bill out of a brown wallet, filled with bills to a depth of a half-inch.

He also had a $65 pair of binoculars - a gift, Coffin told Petrie, from the Americans.

An expert witness testified the bullet holes in the clothing did not contain potassium nitrate deposits. The only cartridges that didn't leave such deposits were used in .32-40 calibre rifles. Coffin, the trial was told, borrowed such a gun in May 1953 and hadn't returned it.

Another witness told the jury he saw a muzzle of a gun in the back of Coffin's truck when he came out of the bush June 12.

Coffin's lawyer, Raymond Maher, however, did not cross-examine that witness. What emerged after Coffin was convicted was that the man said he "thought" he saw a muzzle, but it could have been an iron rod.

Many saw Maher himself as Coffin's biggest problem. At the outset, he told the jury he travelled 1,500 miles interviewing witnesses and planned to call more than 100 as part of the defence case. But when his moment arrived, Maher called not a single one, telling the court: "The defence rests."

It amounted to "extreme recklessness, stupidity and serious gross negligence," Greenspan said. "Given the lawyer he ended up with, he did not stand a chance."

Yet, there was much evidence that raised doubt.

Coffin made his statement to police after 16 days of interrogation in the filthy, rat-infested basement of a firehall, but maintained his innocence.

During a preliminary hearing, while police were trying to get him to incriminate himself, Coffin was allowed to meet with his father. As officers listened, Coffin asked him to "tell Mother I'm fine" and not to worry because the police were not "man enough to break me."

Prosecutors pointed to this as an extraordinary admission of guilt, but its meaning was far from clear, said Greenspan.

After his conviction, Coffin swore an affidavit that named 13 people for whom he had staked prospecting claims in May 1953, claims worth some $580.

A local garage owner later confirmed that two Americans with a yellow jeep were still in the woods when Coffin had left for Montreal.

Police had a note written by one of the hunters on June 13, when Coffin was in Montreal.

Gross incompetence on the part of a defence lawyer is a relatively new concept under the Charter, Greenspan said, and it didn't figure in Coffin's appeals. Back then, the system was seen as largely infallible.

Even today, Canada's justice system has trouble admitting mistakes; even when people like Guy Paul Morin have been proven innocent beyond doubt through DNA testing, some police and prosecutors do not accept it, Greenspan said.

Coffin escaped from prison Sept. 6, 1955, using a fake gun carved from soap. Maher talked him into giving himself up. Under pressure from a book by Jacques Hebert that denounced the case as the worst judicial miscarriage in Quebec history, Ottawa asked the Supreme Court to conduct a review.

In a 5-2 decision on Feb. 8, 1956, it upheld the conviction. The next day, Coffin was hanged.

A Quebec government inquiry in 1964 found no wrongdoing by police or prosecutors.

Over the decades, at least two people have claimed to have committed the murders. One later recanted, while the other was treated as a hoax.

The federal cabinet has the power to grant Coffin a free pardon. But priority usually goes to those who are still in prison or on parole. "At the back of the line are the people who are dead," Greenspan said.

The Coffin case left a powerful legacy. Pierre Trudeau cited it when the death penalty was abolished in 1976. A decade later, it was cited again during a debate on restoring capital punishment. Six years ago, the Supreme Court effectively declared the death penalty unconstitutional, making it almost certain never to return.

For many, what's far less certain is whether a guilty man was led to the gallows 50 years ago this week, when a black flag flew in the chilly night air outside the prison and seven bells announced Coffin was about to die.

The Coffin Affair

June 1953, Gaspésie, Québec. Three Pennsylvania men on a bear-hunting trip in the Gaspé region are reported missing. They are found dead at the end of July, deep in the woods, about sixty kilometres from the closest town. One of the primary suspects is Wilbert Coffin, a lumberjack, prospector and occasional hunting guide. Arousing suspicions is the fact that he is found in possession of several objects belonging to the American hunters, and that even if he is supposedly in debt, he has been paying for numerous purchases in cash lately. Coffin is arrested.

The Coffin Affair immediately attracts attention. A number of pieces of evidence against Coffin are circumstantial, and there is neither conclusive proof nor a confession from the accused. Regardless, the trial begins in July 1954. Coffin is accused of the murder of one of the hunters, Richard Lindsay, because the penal code prohibits an accused from being tried for more than one murder in the same trial. On August 5, Coffin is found guilty and sentenced to death by hanging. Both the Quebec Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court of Canada reject his appeals and Coffin is hanged at Montreal's Bordeaux prison on February 10, 1956.

Was the trial fast-tracked to protect tourism in the region? Did a body of compromising evidence replace direct proof? Did Coffin receive a suitable and proper defence?

Senator Jacques Hébert, who was a reporter during the Coffin trial, always believed in Coffin's innocence. In 1958, he published an essay, "Coffin was innocent", followed in 1963 by "I accuse Coffins' murderers". This last essay created such controversy that in 1964, Judge Jules Deschêne was appointed chief prosecutor of an inquiry commission to rule out any wrongdoing and injustice in the Coffin Affair. After hearing 200 witnesses, the commission ruled Coffin had received due process and a fair verdict.

In a telephone interview with reporter Guy Marcotte on February 10, 1986, Jacques Hébert said he was still convinced of Coffin's innocence. "When I began writing articles about the trial, I thought it was a complicated case, with plenty of uncertainties, new witnesses and new facts surfacing. I thought it would be better not to hang Coffin too quickly." And once Coffin had been sentenced and hanged, even more new facts were uncovered. According to Jacques Hébert: «Given all these new facts, I am convinced this was a judicial error."

Several observers credit the Coffin Affair with helping change public opinion toward capital punishment, which ultimately led to the abolition of the death penalty in Canada.

The Coffin affair was an event in Canadian history which started in June 1953 in Gaspésie when three men from Pennsylvania were reported missing. Their bodies were found a month later deep in the woods sixty kilometres from the nearest town.

The main suspect in the case was Wilbert Coffin who was found to have many items belonging to the men in his possession. Coffin was sent to trial in July 1954 and even though the evidence against him was mostly circumstantial, he was convicted with one count of murder only as the penal code prohibited multiple convictions of murder in the same trial. On August 5, he was found guilty and sentenced to hanging.

An appeal to the Quebec Court of Queen's Bench was dismissed. Coffin's application for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada was turned down but the federal Cabinet submitted a reference question to that Court asking the following question: "If the application made by Wilbert Coffin for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada had been granted on any of the grounds alleged on the said application, what disposition of the appeal would now be made by the court?"

The federal government's decision to take the reference to the Supreme Court of Canada caused tension with the government of the province of Quebec.

The Supreme Court of Canada answered that it would have upheld the conviction of Coffin: Reference re Regina v. Coffin, [1956] S.C.R. 191.

Coffin was hanged at Montreal's Bordeaux Prison on February 10, 1956 at 12:01 AM.

Senator Jacques Hébert, a reporter during the trial, later released two books on the matter: Coffin était innocent in 1958 and J'accuse les assassins de Coffin in 1963.

Hébert's 1963 book caused such controversy that the provincial government established a Commission of Inquiry into the case, headed by judge Roger Brossard with Jules Deschênes as Counsel to the commission. After over 200 witnesses were interviewed, the commission found Coffin did receive a fair trial.

In 1979, filmmaker Jean-Claude Labrecque made a feature film on the matter entitled L'Affaire Coffin. It was released on September 10, 1980. Other documents inspired by the Coffin case include Dale Boyle's song "The Wilbert Coffin Story" and the Alton Price book, To Build A Noose, which reflects Price's intensive research on the case.

In 2006, 50 years to the day after Coffin's hanging, four generations of his family commemorated his death at his gravesite. That week, the Association in Defence of the Wrongly Convicted announced it was studying the Coffin case. The director of client services for the association called the Coffin case "a blot on the criminal justice system", according to the Montreal Gazette.

The coroner at the time, Lionel Rioux, recently told the news media that he believes Coffin was innocent. Rioux accused Maurice Duplessis, premier of Quebec at the time, of making Coffin into a scapegoat for the killings of foreign tourists. Rioux held a coroner's inquest at which Coffin testified and he says that the provincial government destroyed the transcript of Coffin's testimony. At his trial, Coffin did not testify. Speaking in 2006, prominent criminal lawyer Edward Greenspan, blamed Coffin's trial lawyer, Raymond Maher, for keeping Coffin out of the witness box: "It was incompetence with a capital I," Greenspan said of Maher, "It's the worst case of lawyering I've ever seen."

At the time Coffin was hanged, he had an 8-year-old son. The child's mother wanted to marry Coffin before the execution, but Duplessis denied permission and said it would not be "decent."

But there’s something new in this matter. Numerous Canadians believe that Coffin was the victim of a miscarriage of justice. Last October, in a 384 page book titled L’affaire Coffin: une supercherie (translation: The Coffin Affair: A Hoax?) published at Wilson & Lafleur, in Montreal, Clément Fortin, a retired attorney and law professor, proceeded to re-establishing the facts. Given the evidence presented to the Percé jurors in 1954, Clément Fortin reached the conclusion that they were justified to render a verdict of guilty as charged. In 1964, the Royal Commission of Enquiry on the Coffin Affair, presided over by the Honourable Justice Roger Brossard, had reached the same conclusion.