1914-01-18uu

It was a sunny Saturday afternoon, January 16, 1915. The scene out on the frozen surface of  Hamilton bay was animated with the presence of hundreds of skaters and several ice boats.

Reportedly several of the ice boaters were darting into small groups of skaters, the drivers taking great delight as the skaters scrambled to get out of the way.

Then an ice boat, driven by Larry Callon took the “game’ too far. Careening over the ice at an estimated speed of 60 miles an hour, the ice boat ran into a small group of young girl skaters, two of them injured severely.

The ice boater then tried to get away, but literally hundreds of men, on skates, immediately chased after and grabbed ahold of the ice boat. The ice boaters were kept from running away, while cries of “Lynch them” were heard.

Charles Hay and his wife were the first to reach the injured girls. They found that both were unconscious. One girl, Fern Menary, aged 13 was injured about the face and body, while her friend, Constance Shipman, aged 11, had signs of a severe cut on her head.

A truck belonging to the Inkseker-Myers company was hastily requisitioned and the girls were rapidly transported to the City Hospital.

At the hospital, Fern Menary seemed to respond to treatment as well as could be expected given her experience, but Constance Shipman only lingered overnight, dying at 11:30 the following morning.

Detectives Goodman and Cameron were dispatched to investigate the incident. They soon determined that the ice boat belonged to William Davenport, 89 Ferrie Street West :

“Davenport’s version of the affair was as follows : ‘We were coming from the Beach at a pretty good clip, when we noticed these two little girls, who looked as if they could not skate very well. I took Callon (the driver) to look out, but they stood still, and before he could steer the boat, we hit hem.’ ”¹

¹ “Run Down By an Iceboat, Little Girl is Dead”

Hamilton Times. January 18, 1915.

Fern Menary stated that ice boats had been crossing the path used by skaters all afternoon:

“ ‘We saw this iceboat coming,’ said the child, ‘and Connie was frightened. She grabbed me and I tried to skate away, but she held on and seemed too frightened to move. Before I could pull her out of the way something hit me and I do not remember anything more.’ ”¹

Dr. McNichol immediately ordered that a coroner’s inquest be held to determine all the facts surrounding the death of Constance Shipman. A hastily convened coroner’s jury was taken to the City Hospital, hours after Constance Shipman’s death to view the remains.

 The two men on the iceboat, Wm. Davenport, the owner, and Lawrence Callon, the driver, were both arrested, charged with manslaughter and taken into custody to await their first court appearance.

The formal charge that each man faced read as follows:

“That he did unlawfully and without trying to avoid  a collision with persons skating on the ice, whilst in charge and sailing an ice boat on Burlington Bay, as it was his duty so to do, and furthermore, did wantonly and by willful neglect cause bodily harm to two persons skating on said bay, and did cause the death of one of these persons, Constance Shipman.”¹

^{(To Be Continued)}