Was There a Murder at Redpath Manor?
1065 Sherbrooke Street. June 13, 1901. 6 pm.
In the bedroom of a spectacular mansion in Montreal, two members of one of Canada’s wealthiest families lie on the floor in a pool of blood.
Police are not called. The coroner’s investigation is short. The victims are buried within 48 hours of their death.
To this day, nobody quite knows what exactly happened on that day at Redpath Mansion.
By 1901 the Redpath family was one of the wealthiest and most prolific families in Canada.
Residents of the elite, English-speaking area of the Square Mile in Montreal, the family was well-known for their industrial and philantropic work
Originating the family’s roots in Montreal was John Redpath, who had immigrated to Canada in 1816, had worked on various prolific projects throughout the nineteenth century to earn his family’s wealth and reputation, most notably constructing Montreal’s Notre-Dame Basilica, as well as building both the Lachine Canal in Montreal and the Rideau Canal in Ottawa.
He eventually went on to purchase 235 acres if land on Mount Royal, building a mansion for his family and subsequently sub-dividing the remaining property to sell. With this profit the established the Canada Sugar Refining Company, now known as Redpath Sugar, in 1854.
All we know for certain is that on the evening of June 13, at 1065 Sherbooke Street, Peter Redpath claimed he heard gunshots coming from his mother’s room. After rushing over to investigate, he found his mother Ada Maria Mills Redpath, 59, and brother Jocelyn Clifford “Cliff” Redpath, 24, dead.
Ada Redpath was the widow of John Redpath’s son, who died approximately 25 years before the tragic death of his wife and son.
In the coroner’s inquest the next day, Peter claimed that after breaking down his mother’s door he found “a revolver a foot away from [Cliff] near his hand.”
The family’s servants rushed to help, but Ada had already died.
From thereon out, various conflicting versions of the already bizarre story exist, but no definitive answer as to who shot the first bullet exist.
Strangely enough the Redpath family refused to comment on the matter. According to The Calgary Harold, “the family [refuses] any information, and even the police only heard of the manner by accident.”
The only remaining of what happened after Peter found his mother and brother shot come from various newspapers, each of which tell very different stories, as well as the (brief) coroner’s inquest that occurred merely one day after the deaths.
Various newspapers claim that Cliff was rushed to Royal Victoria Hospital, where he passed away some time around midnight.
However, no records from Royal Victoria Hospital exist that prove Cliff was a patient at the time of his death. The Redpath’s family physician Dr. Thomas George Roddick, M.D., corroborated this at the coroners inquest the following day, stating that he was called to the mansion to confirm the deaths.
This, however, is not definitive proof as to what exactly happened that night. Various newspapers including The Montreal Daily Star claimed that Dr. Roddick was not even in Montreal at the time of the deaths, but rather in Toronto, nor was Cliff treated by the physician. Instead, the newspaper claims, he was in fact treated at Royal Victoria Hospital by a Dr. Bell instead.
Some sources believe that the deteriorating health of Ada Redpath was to blame for her and her son’s death.
It was evident as early as the 1880s that Ada’s health was frail. Diary entries from her daughter Amy in 1897 suggest that Ada was suffering from an “ulcerated eye”, as well as painful joints for which she was fitted a brace, as well as melancholia.
It is suggested that Ada was forced to spend significant time away from her children due to her illnesses, as she describes in a letter to them while being fitted for a brace in a New York sanatorium.
By August 1900 her health had further deteriorated, as she writes in a letter to her son Cliff:
“…I have not been able to attempt any correspondance this summer. Eyes & hands, body & mind — all seem utterly to have failed me.”
Because of her ailments, many newspapers suggested that Ada may have committed suicide, with Cliff fatally intercepting to save his mother.
The Calgary Harold reported that Ada “was afflicted with nervous trouble, and it is surmised her mind had been affected and she attempted to take her life, the son probably losing his life in an attempt to save her.”
Even the New York Times, on a front-page story, stated that Ada had “suffered greatly from insomnia” and that she was “temporarily deranged” which resulted in her death.
Indeed, The Sherbrooke Daily Record claimed her to be a “confirmed invalid” for several months before her death.
The Globe reported that Ada, “in moments of suffering, had sometimes asked friends if life were worth living.”
It is worth mentioning, however, that The Globe also stated that the attempt may not have been premeditated, as Ada “had issued invitations for a dinner party, and the guests knew nothing until their arrival, when they were told by servants an accident had taken place.”
Perhaps in defence of Ada Redpath, however, is the notion that it was, in fact, her son that pulled the trigger.
Cliff Redpath had graduated from McGill University in 1900 where he was a law student. He was very close with his sister Amy, who wrote about him frequently in her journal entries.
The Quebec Daily Mercury described Cliff as a “bright, intelligent, cheerful youth”.
However, it is reported that at the time of his death, Cliff, preparing to take his Bar exams was under considerable amounts of stress.
According to sources The Montreal Daily Star claimed to be “best qualified to speak on the matter,” the stress Cliff was under may have proven to be fatal:
“Mr. Redpath had been in poor health for some time, but notwithstanding his condition was preparing for the Bar examiniations…he had been so overworked as to have developed severe nervous symptoms,” claiming on the day of his death he was “in a state of mental depression.”
Indeed, Cliff’s brother Peter testified in the coroner’s inquiry that the evening of his death Cliff “seemed ill and was tired,” and that he had been “nervous for some time.”
It is also worth nothing that Dr. Roddick had stated that Cliff was epileptic and various other doctors claimed that there was evidence he had an “epileptic fit”. However, medical practices at the time did not distinguish epilepsy as a brain disorder separate from a psychiatric issue…likely explaining why Cliff’s “epileptic attack” of the time of his death rendered him “temporarily insane” according to the coroner’s inquest.
Or, perhaps, the deaths of Ada and Cliff Redpath were the mutual effect of a heated argument between mother and son.
The Quebec Daily Mercury reported that the two had “been quarrelling for some time and young Redpath is said to have been under the influence of liquor at the time of the tragedy.”
The Globe, however, harshly rejects this theory, stating that the two were “deeply attached to each other and any cause in the shape of a quarrell must be dismissed.”
Indeed, even in Amy Redpath mentioned in her journal entries how devoted Cliff was to their mother, making this scenario rather unlikely.
In the end, the jury of the coroner’s inquest determined that Ada and Cliff Redpath died of gunshot wounds “apparently inflicted by [Cliff], while unconscious of what he was doing and temporarily insane, owing to an epileptic attack from which he was suffering at the time.”
This, however, has not been accepted as a definitive answer as to what happened that fateful night, and many holes in the story have yet to be filled. Who shot the gun? And why? Why were the police never called? Why is there such speculation around whether Cliff went to the hospital? And why were authorities never notified of these deaths? Most curiously, why is the incident often classified as a suicide — when the reported deaths in Montreal in June 1901 were reported as zero?
Even today, descendants of the family say that the incident was never spoken about after.
Amy wrote to sister-in-law Alice about destroying letters two months after the fatal night… whether or not these relate to the deaths of her mother and brother remain uncertain.
Notably, Cliff’s cousin Lily Dougall later publisheed The Summit House Mystery, or, The Earthly Purgatory, which evidently seems to mix the mysterious deaths at Redpath Mansion with the famous case of Lizzie Borden into a work of fiction.
I highly doubt we will ever know the exact circumstances surrounding the events at 1065 Sherbrooke. Whether it was a murder-suicide or an unfortunate accident, the details of what happened will likely remain uncertain. Could it have been a cover for a cruel murder? Or does it simply speak to the societal pressures of the elitist upper-class at the time and the shame surrounding a supposed breakdown?
And the most haunting part — is that we may never know.
