The summer of 1945 was a momentous period in world history. Nazi Germany had surrendered to the Allies, ending the bloodshed in the European theatre of the Second World War. The conflict with Japan had come to an earth-shaking and world-changing conclusion with the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
But in spite of the dominance of such events in the media, crime still managed to grab headiness. A group of criminals calling themselves the Polka Dot Gang rampaged across Southern Ontario (even paying an unwelcomed visit to Guelph), their late-night heists often marked by violence. Meanwhile, in Guelph, a band of boys shocked the community with what the Mercury called a “Wave of Child Crime.”
That August, there was a sudden rash of thefts and burglaries in Guelph. A Grange Street resident who was swimming at the YMCA reported to police that his wallet had been stolen from his trousers. It contained $10 (the equivalent of about $175 today), as well as some important papers. Two women from Toronto who were visiting a residence on Powell Street West reported the theft of their purses. Between them, the women lost $57 (about $982 today). A roll of 200 feet of electric cable mysteriously disappeared from a construction site, no doubt taken by thieves who hoped to sell it.
Over a period of just a few days, burglars broke into 16 Guelph businesses. Among the victims were MacArthur’s Shoe Store on Wyndham Street – where the back door was broken in; the office of the Brown Cartage Company on Wellington Street, which lost a money box containing $90 in cash, a $500 Victory bond and $12 worth of postage stamps; and the Royal Theatre on Macdonell Street, where the robbers found no money but took four flashlights. The gang also struck the Guelph Auto Body Company on Gordon Street, Anderson’s Bakery on Wyndham, Chapman’s Bicycle Shop on Quebec Street, the Dominion Grocery Store on Carden Street, the T. Eaton Company on Wyndham, Hall’s service station on Gordon, a Shell service station on Ontario Street, and the A.W. Smith Jewellery Store on Wyndham.
The Griffin Foundry on Huskisson Street was broken into, and while nothing was taken, several moulds were damaged. The thieves also hit Heffernan Motors on Wyndham, stealing electronic parts from cars in the lot. They stole safety lights from a truck parked on Raglan Street outside the Knight Lumber Company.
The gang didn’t restrict their depredations to Guelph. They evidently paid a visit to Fergus, where they broke into the Beattie Brothers Company.
The trouble in Guelph got worse. Police reported a surge of bicycle thefts in town. A 17-year-old boy was sentenced to three to six months in the Ontario Reformatory for stealing $35 from a soldier staying at the YMCA. Another youth received a three-year sentence in the dreaded Kingston Penitentiary for passing forged cheques. He didn’t help his own case when he told the judge in a threatening tone, “I’ll be seeing you when I get out.”
Adding to the city authorities’ headaches were two fires that had clearly been started by arsonists. One outside the Brewers’ Warehouse was easily extinguished. However, a blaze that was started inside the Goldie’s Mill cooper shop on Perth Street took firemen four hours to put out and did considerable damage.
Evidence left from an attempted robbery of the Dennison and Britton Machine Shop on Gordon indicated the crime was well-planned and carried out by professionals. The thieves had removed the putty and glazier’s points from a window pane and carefully removed the glass without breaking it. One of them had entered the building through the opening and unlocked a door for the others. They had then replaced the pane of glass so there would be no tell-tale sign of a break-in for anyone passing by.
The burglars had taken a hacksaw, a screwdriver and a file from a bag of tools they found in a truck. They went into the office and used the tools to try to cut the hinges off the safe. They failed to open the safe and left the building empty-handed.
The investigating officers from the Guelph Police Department, Insp. Robert Gill and Sgt. Robert Warden, wondered if the break-in was the work of the Polka Dot Gang. They were also puzzled at how a grown man had managed to get through the small window-space. However, Gill and Warden’s detective work led them to a group of suspects about as far removed as possible from the notorious Polka Dots. What they found was not a gang of hardened criminals, but three gangs of boys – 10 kids altogether – aged seven to 14, who had suddenly decided to become outlaws and live a life of crime. The seven-year-old was the one who had been put through the tiny opening.
The people of Guelph were stunned to learn children had been behind the city’s crime wave. Whatever had caused them to behave in such a way? Were they trying to emulate the likes of the Polka Dot Gang, whose depredations were big news? Surely, many people thought, the presence on the edge of Guelph of the Ontario Reformatory should have been a reminder to them of what happened to lawbreakers. It was quite common for parents and teachers in Guelph to scare wayward boys into good behaviour by warning them of an awaiting cell in the prison if they didn’t behave.
Could the six years of war have had anything to do with it? It was a time of tension and uncertainty, of rationing and shortages. It was an era when fathers were expected to discipline errant boys, and many fathers had gone to war. Some of them didn’t come home.
Guelph city council demanded something be done to curb juvenile delinquency. However, the police said there was little they could do about juvenile offenders because their jurisdiction over them ended once they had been turned over to the court. The Ontario provincial government announced it would be opening a new training school in Galt for delinquent boys. That was the costly pound of cure. What, parents and educators wondered, was the ounce of prevention?
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