A serial tale from the 1930s

My Uncle Fred, who was the spitting image of my grandfather, was born in 1922 and my father, Arthur John Knight, was born two years later in 1924. There are very few pictures of them, but my grandmother once said in a rare sentimental moment that her children almost killed her with their antics.

Fred Jr. and Arthur were not stupid, but they loved to follow the daredevil life of radio serials they listened to faithfully. Once, they had built a raft at home, hauled it down the street to Bruck Mills, and manoeuvred it around the dye pond like pirates, my grandmother said.

Uncle Fred was apparently the leader being two years older and there were days my grandmother had to hightail her short legs down to the big dye pond at Bruck Mills because the neighbours told her that her sons were going to die before lunchtime if she didn’t go get them.

Bruck Mills opened in Cowansville, Quebec in 1922 as a silk mill and by the 1950s it employed over 100 people. It was said that you could tell what shade the fabric was being dyed daily by the colour of the water in the dye pond outside the mill. It was rumoured that some of the kids actually had the odd swimming contest in that pond to see who could get out the fastest when the colour of the water would change. But to my father and uncle, they were putting reality to their favourite radio show Terry and the Pirates.

Did you know there was a kidnapping at Bruck Mills? In August of 1937 the general superintendent, Samuel Griss, of Bruck Mills was kidnapped by seven millworkers and aided by 40 other mill employees. Griss was kidnapped right on the old Cowansville golf course early in the afternoon. The abductors, backed by a mob of 40 other men, drove Griss to the United States border at Richford, Vt., where American immigration officers stopped the car in which the victim was forcibly held. Seven men, one of whom had been recently fired from Bruck Silk

Mills, were held by immigration officials in connection with the case.

However, Griss, who was a native of New Jersey and an American citizen, remained at Richford that night. Law enforcement agreed he should stay away from Cowansville for a while, less there be more trouble. Griss lived with his family at the New Ottawa Hotel in Cowansville.

That night at the Knight dinner table my father and my uncle put the story together piece by piece:

Mr. Griss was playing golf with an unidentified friend at the time of the abduction.

Who was that friend and was he in cahoots with the rest of the factory employees?

Mrs. Griss and their two young children were accompanying him about the course.

Why were they not abducted? According to Mrs. Griss, her husband had reached the fourth tee when they noticed the men approaching. Other witnesses said the group of men, in seven or eight cars, drove up to the clubhouse, turned their cars around in the driveway and left them in a position to make a quick getaway.

“They weren’t carrying guns,” Mrs. Griss said.

Not carrying guns, the boys asked themselves? What kind of outfit were those bad guys running? They just came up to them and literally carried her husband away? Character Terry Lee from Terry and the Pirates would have never let that happen.

By this time the boys were arguing back and forth so my grandfather continued the story.

There were other witnesses, about 30 in the vicinity, who said half a dozen men chased Griss about the course before catching him, snatching him up in their arms and hurrying to one of the cars. Mrs. Gross had no idea why they were chasing her husband and she called it a prank.

“My husband has no enemies that I know of, and it seemed to me the whole thing was just some silly prank.” Her husband had received no threats as far as she knew, said Mrs. Griss.

Other players on the course, which is used by a number of summer visitors in the district, were evidently too startled or did not realize what was happening, for as far as could be learned none went to the aid of the man being abducted.

That’s when Fred and Arthur interrupted their father and said, “Doesn’t make sense, father, as Terry and Pat Ryan would have gone and fought as they have already battled the worst of the worst: The Dragon Lady!”

Apparently, the kidnap cavalcade sped down the road towards Dunham, six miles from Cowansville, according to Chief of Police R. J. Foster of Cowansville, who was the first police official to be called. But they had pulled a fast one as the men had not passed through the village of Dunham. Presuming they had turned off towards Bedford, the chief telephoned the police there. Chief Salco of Bedford did not catch the group, but telephoned Richford, and explained the case to the immigration officials. Only the car containing Griss and seven other men attempted to cross the border, according to the immigration officials. By that time, just like an old radio serial, other cars waited on the Canadian side and the jig was up.

Held at Richford was Joseph Brouillard, who was discharged the previous Saturday from the Bruck Silk Mills. The reason for being fired was not known and Griss, however. He had nothing to do with the firing. The driver of the abduction car, according to police, was Ulric Brouillard, brother of Joseph. Besides Joseph Brouillard, border officials were holding Joseph Fleury and five other men whose names could not be immediately determined. The seven men were held for contravention of an American statute prohibiting the detention of anyone by force.

By this time Fred and Arthur were amazed that they were caught so quickly unlike Terry and the Pirates where the radio serial characters seemed to be spinning in their tracks for days and weeks. But this was a different scenario. The silk manufacturing firm had experienced at least one strike, but it was generally felt that there were no hangover grudges as a result which might have any connection with the abduction.

In the end, Samuel Griss declared that he would take action “immediately” against the 40 men who seized him. The men waived preliminary hearing and chose summary trial. They pleaded guilty, though their lawyer said the men had realized the folly of their act and ‘‘regretted’’ it. The local parish priest pleaded for leniency because of their youth and because they had been “misled”.

At the end of the story, that had now been carried into the living room, Arthur and Fred told their mother this was the reason they hung around so much at Bruck Mills. It made them happy, they said. Well Mary Louise Deller Knight just gave them a look and told them to go upstairs while she wandered off to the kitchen muttering to my grandfather –

“Fred, one day I am just going to tan their hides,” which she never ever did – nor mine.