322:. Edwin was enrolled in school in the 1921–22 year, but due to an incident there, he did not remain for very long and during his first year of schooling his family had moved again. He then switched to Gledhill Public School to finish out the semester. In September 1923, Glover moved the family a few blocks north and Ed switched to Secord Public School for a brief period of time before being transferred back to Gledhill Public School.
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361:, Surrey, Boyd met his first wife, Doreen Mary Frances Thompson. On August 20, 1941, almost nine months to the day after Boyd and Thompson married, she gave birth to a son, Edwin Alonzo Boyd, Jr. The baby was two days old when an air raid siren sounded; the bombing resulted in the baby suffering a cerebral hemorrhage from which he died. He was buried on August 30 in a York cemetery.
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couldn’t find work; he changed his name to Steve Suchan and became a bank robber. They soon pulled off a series of robberies, including the biggest one in
Toronto history. The newspapers dubbed the new group "the Boyd Gang," seeing Boyd himself as the brains behind the operation. Willie Jackson was arrested and sent to the Don Jail. Boyd went into hiding with his wife Doreen.
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Markham St. station when a man and woman arrived at his home and battered down the front door. The woman said she wanted to pick up clothing. Booked on charges of being drunk were Doreen Boyd and
Kenneth Caustan, 40. In court today she pleaded guilty and was fined $ 5. She was returned to the cells until she could raise the money.
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house, as Boyd moved into the flat. Wanting to avoid a shootout, he waited until he was sure everyone was asleep. At the crack of dawn on March 15, 1952, the police crept inside the house and captured Boyd and his wife while they were still in bed. Boyd's brother, who was sleeping in another room, was also apprehended. The
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on July 27, 1942, because he was displeased with the army. Soon after that, his wife discovered that she was pregnant again and this time they had twins on
December 21, 1943. Boyd was officially discharged from the war effort on May 24, 1945, 16 days after Victory in Europe Day (VE Day) May 8, 1945.
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On
November 4, 1951, Boyd and the Jacksons hacksawed the bars at the Kingston penitentiary went over the prison wall and escaped. They met a friend, Valent Lesso from Cochrane, one of the violent members of Lennie Jackson’s original gang, and the four became a team. Lesso was a talented musician who
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Ex Bandit Boyd Calls For Police. Edwin Alonzo Boyd, who has spent much of his life dodging police, asked for their assistance last night to arrest his wife and her companion. He set up housekeeping in a west-central house for himself and his children. Last night Boyd sent a hurried call for help to
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The Boyds soon moved again, this time to
Glebemount Avenue, and Boyd transferred to yet another new school, this time to Earl Beatty Public School, and it was here that Boyd became more of his own person, joining the school's soccer team so that for years his picture hung in the hall of the school.
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He joined up with another local thief, Howard Gault, and together they carried out several other bold bank robberies. Edwin had a reputation for jumping over counters, moving quickly, and carrying a gun. Howard was caught and confessed to the robberies and identified Edwin as his accomplice. Edwin
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With Boyd the only gang member left to be captured, Detective
Adolphus 'Dolph' Payne kept Boyd's brother Norman under surveillance and discovered that he had rented a flat on Heath Street, but had not moved in yet. He secured a key to the back door from the owner and watched, from a neighbour's
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in
Toronto. While Boyd and his partner were robbing banks, another more violent gang was also doing the same thing. Lennie Jackson, a member of that gang, was caught at the same time as Boyd, and they began swapping notes while in jail. Soon another experienced bank robber, Willie Jackson (no
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Two months prior to his death, Boyd told a CBC producer that he had once killed a couple and left their bodies in the trunk of a car in High Park, Toronto, years before his notoriety as a bank robber. The crime fits the
September 11, 1947, murders of Iris Scott and George Vigus.
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307:. His father, Glover Boyd, joined the army in August 1915 and did not return home from the war until a few years later. The apartment the family lived in was then too small, so they soon moved to a duplex on Bee Street in Todmorden, an area beyond the
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Before a formal investigation into his confession could commence, on May 17, 2002, after a visit from his wife and his son, and a phone call from his former war bride and the mother of his three children, Edwin Alonzo Boyd died at age 88.
499:, a musical written by Raymond Storey and Jon Roby, was based on the story of the Boyd gang. It debuted in 1987 at Toronto's Factory Theatre, produced by Dian English, and won a Dora Mavor Moore award for best musical.
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reported the event by stating "Edwin Alonzo Boyd, Canada’s Public Enemy Number One, surrendered meekly with his henchmen to two suburban detectives, ending the greatest criminal man hunt in the
Dominion’s history."
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Upon his return from the war, Boyd failed to find adequate permanent employment and turned to crime to provide for his wife and two children. On
September 9, 1949, Boyd robbed a North York branch of the
474:, where he drove a bus for disabled people and after divorcing Doreen married a disabled woman whom he met on the bus. He took care of her for the next 35 years, until they went into a retirement home.
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and while taking care of them, Eleanor Boyd became sick herself and died from the disease. In 1933, Edwin had his first brush with the law when he was picked up for vagrancy by the
436:, but they did not pan out. After ten days, men were seen at a barn in the Don Valley and all members of the Boyd Gang, except Edwin Boyd himself, were captured without incident.
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but was too short to be a truck driver, so she became a motorcycle driver to join her husband in the war. Boyd was transferred to the
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512:, wherein he admitted that he had committed many more robberies than he had been charged with. A fictionalized film on Boyd's life,
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Boyd received eight life sentences and Willie Jackson thirty years. Both were released on parole in 1962 after serving 10 years in
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for a seven-year sentence. Lennie Jackson had lost a foot in a railway accident and had a wooden foot in which he stored several
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769:"Historicist: Titillating and Terrorizing Toronto - Torontoist: Toronto News, Culture, Events, Photos, and Everything else"
742:"Historicist: Titillating and Terrorizing Toronto - Torontoist: Toronto News, Culture, Events, Photos, and Everything else"
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Kevin Plumer, Historicist: titillating and Terrorizing Toronto (Torontoist: September 2007). Retrieved Jan 20, 2010, at
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Kevin Plumer, Historicist: titillating and Terrorizing Toronto (Torontoist: September 2007). Retrieved Jan 20, 2010, at
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marching band where he mastered the mouth organ and accompanied the band when they won a world championship at the
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357:, First Division. In June 1940, his regiment crossed the Channel to France. When his regiment was posted to
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Brian Valée, Edwin Alonzo Boyd: the story of the notorious Boyd gang (Doubleday Canada Limited: 1997) 11.
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Kathleen Doyle, "Gentleman" Bank Robber Edwin Alonzo Boyd (Suite 101: 2009). Retrieved on Jan 20, 2010
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Soon after, Edwin's mother Eleanor became pregnant again, so Glover Boyd took a job at the
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Marjorie Lamb and Barry Pearson, The Boyd Gang (Peter Marin Associates Limited: 1949) 8.
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Marjorie Lamb and Barry Pearson, The Boyd Gang (Peter Marin Associates Limited: 1949) 8.
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Two books have been written on the Boyd Gang, and one was made into a successful movie.
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may have partially been based on Boyd's last days. In it, a former bank robber (
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Steve Suchan and Lennie Jackson were executed for killing Detective Tong.
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Edwin Alonzo Boyd was born on April 2, 1914, four months before the
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20th-century Canadian bank robber and leader of the Boyd Gang
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In early 1930, his brothers, Gord and Norm Boyd, contracted
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http://archives.cbc.ca/society/crime_justice/clips/2730/
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CBC Digital Archives - Toronto's Infamous 'Boyd Gang'
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The police received numerous calls from residents in
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56:. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
959:Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by Canada
364:In early 1941, Doreen went to York and joined the
934:Canadian prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment
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535:) confesses to a murder shortly before dying.
502:In 1998 Boyd was profiled in a documentary on
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924:Canadian military personnel of World War II
287:. His career made him a notorious Canadian
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116:Learn how and when to remove this message
649:Marjorie Lamb and Barry Pearson, 12-13.
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814:
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833:, The Fifth Estate, 21 September 2012
276:(April 2, 1914 – May 17, 2002) was a
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658:Marjorie Lamb and Barry Pearson, 14.
303:, of which Canada was part, entered
54:adding citations to reliable sources
640:Marjorie Lamb and Barry Pearson, 9.
528:Law and Order: Special Victims Unit
470:Boyd, under the name John, went to
353:A few years later, Boyd joined the
929:Canadian people of British descent
845:"Big buzz films at TIFF this year"
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954:People paroled from life sentence
843:Wong, Jessica (August 31, 2011).
939:Escapees from Canadian detention
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894:20th-century Canadian criminals
465:Toronto Star, December 14, 1962
41:needs additional citations for
949:People from East York, Toronto
525:The episode "Scheherazade" of
198:Infantryman, actor, bus driver
19:For the non-fiction book, see
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366:Auxiliary Territorial Service
343:Royal Canadian Mounted Police
390:and Howard both went to the
332:Canadian National Exhibition
944:People convicted of robbery
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395:relation to Lennie), alias
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472:Victoria, British Columbia
326:Boyd also then joined the
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719:The Canadian Encyclopedia
320:Toronto Police Department
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522:plays the part of Boyd.
518:, was released in 2011;
21:Edwin Alonzo Boyd (book)
919:Canadian male criminals
355:Royal Canadian Regiment
899:Canadian Army soldiers
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370:Canadian Provost Corps
904:Canadian bank robbers
453:Kingston Penitentiary
401:Kingston Penitentiary
50:improve this article
714:"Edwin Alonzo Boyd"
586:Brian Valée, 15-16.
65:"Edwin Alonzo Boyd"
914:Canadian gangsters
455:for bank robbery.
420:Arrest and release
283:and leader of the
909:Canadian escapees
813:Missing or empty
497:Girls in the Gang
430:Powassan, Ontario
274:Edwin Alonzo Boyd
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851:September 7,
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181:(2002-05-17)
179:May 17, 2002
144:Boyd in 1952
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48:Please help
43:verification
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889:2002 deaths
884:1914 births
426:West Ferris
305:World War I
281:bank robber
878:Categories
847:. CBC News
779:2010-01-21
752:2010-01-21
725:August 20,
539:References
309:Don Valley
295:Early life
233:Allegiance
156:1914-04-02
76:newspapers
806:cite news
434:North Bay
397:The Clown
313:East York
289:folk hero
285:Boyd Gang
237:Boyd Gang
106:July 2007
795:CBC News
463:—
407:blades.
392:Don Jail
278:Canadian
221:Children
207:Deceased
189:, Canada
170:, Canada
405:hacksaw
359:Reigate
216:Dorreen
168:Ontario
164:Toronto
90:scholar
491:Legacy
377:Crimes
260:Eight
213:Spouse
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478:Death
311:, in
97:JSTOR
83:books
853:2011
819:help
727:2019
428:and
328:YMCA
176:Died
150:Born
69:news
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757:, 2
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