Memories of Bass Lake (Steenburg Lake, Gilmour, Ontario)
by Richard McCarthy
CHAPTER 10 - The Havelock bank
robbery
In 1961, when I was 15 years
old, I had invited my neighbour, where we lived in Toronto, to come
to the cottage for the weekend. It so happened that that was the weekend
of the sensational “Havelock Bank Robbery”.
I have to give you a little
background first. Most of you on the lake will have travelled the North
Steenburg Lake Road all the way around the lake and on to “Murphy’s Corner” as
it seems to have been labeled now. “Old Timers” would always have called
it “Murphys’ Corners”, as that’s where Mart Murphy and his brothers had
their lumber mill on the south-west corner of the intersection, and it is
my understanding that 4 different townships intersect at those 4 corners.
A bit more information, and then I’ll get back to my story. If you
take a quick left and then a quick right to carry on along the “Steenburg Lake
Road”, you would travel past Dickie Lake (the Bowes & Cocks Shawano
development), then Thanet Lake, and then you would have to take the Ridge
Road to Wollaston Lake and then left on 620 to Coe Hill. Years
ago, if you didn’t turn right on the Ridge Road but went straight,
there used to be a very rough road that went through to another road upon which
you could head in a southerly direction towards Havelock. ( Another thing
you might find interesting is that if you continue straight up that hill
instead of turning right on the Ridge Road, you will find the Moore Farm
on the right hand side of the road, owned by the family after which the
Moore Headland and Moore’s Landing has been named ).
Now, back to the story.
Several enterprising bank robbers decided to rob the Havelock branch of the
Toronto Dominion Bank. They had determined the day of the week when
one of the large businesses in the Havelock area was paying their employees
They new that a large amount of cash would have to be at the bank. They
robbed the bank and headed north from Havelock in a get-a-way car and had
another car stashed along the way so that they could do a switch of vehicles
and continue their escape. Many things went wrong for the robbers
including getting stuck, being eaten by black flies and mosquitoes, having to
deal with the OPP, and having to confront the very brave residents of our
area. Somehow they made it through to the area of our lake, and broke
into the Hiles cottage at the end of Austin’s Bay which is now the home
of Kent and Sheryl Anderson. Bert and Doreen Hiles were from Belleville
, where Doreen was the nurse/receptionist for my Uncle Richard (Dick)
Potter who owned the cottage where Robert and Peggy Delaney are today. I
remember Curtis Fitzgibbon along with other locals in our area knocking
on the door where the Pollards now live. They were all carrying
rifles, and warned us to stay in the cottage and not to let anyone
in, as they felt that they had surrounded one of the robbers, and
that he was within the area of a few cottages along our shoreline.
I remember my friend Billy Russell
going home that weekend and saying it had been the most exciting time of his
life. I remember that they never found the approximate $230,000 that had
been stolen. I also remember that there were way more berry pickers the
following spring, all hoping to find the stolen money.
1. PJ Marshall flying down the lake in his aluminum boat to visit us at our cottage where the Pollards are now.
2.
Gloria Pinder, and the song
G-L-O-R-I-A that came out at that time.
3.
Nancy Bick who lived at 756
Steenburg Lake Road South where I believe the Bigellis live now.
4.
The late Kathy Bingham who water
skied with us lots who lived at 754 Steenburg Lake Road South where I believe
Jessie Ray lives now.
5.
Dianne Burke, Rick and Bud
Burke’s sister. I remember how my brother John, his friend and I had to
carefully plan how we would fall water skiing right in front of their cottage
so we could meet them.
6.
Mrs. Burke, giving her a piggy
back ride through the woods in the dark to the cottage next door.
7.
The MacLaughlin/Cassan cottage now
owned by Lynn & Glen Rusaw at 486 Steenburg Lake Road South with it’s big
red metal water slide that wooden toboggans came flying down and skimmed way
out on top of the water
8.
Wayne Candy, my next door
neighbour, and I swimming across our bay to join John Daley, Joe
Cooper and friends at an evening campfire.
9.
Bob MacLaughlin, Lynn Rusaw’s
brother, being made the President of the Jr. Steenburg Lake
Association, with our initial project to build a dance floor on “Snake
Island”, now called Picket Island.
10.
Berry picking with Doris Powers and
Betty Burton ( nee Johncox) on Moore’s Landing, and probably eating more
berries than I picked.
11.
Having dances in the boathouse and
Susan Walsh dancing with me. At the beginning of every season,
visiting Walsh’s Island and getting a hug from Mrs. Walsh.
12.
Sailing in the Steenburg Lake Regatta
with Betty Burton crewing and coming 1st.