Black River Road

An Unthinkable Crime, an Unlikely Suspect, and the Question of Character

Debra Komar

• Publisher: Goose Lane Editions
• Year: 2016
• Topic: History
• eBook ISBN:
  9780864928481
• Subtopic: Social Science Biographies
• Index: History

Finalist, Arthur Ellis Best Non-Fiction Crime Book Award

In 1869, in the woods just outside of the bustling port city of Saint John, a group of teenaged berry pickers discovered several badly decomposed bodies. The authorities suspected foul play, but the identities of the victims were as mysterious as that of the perpetrator. From the twists and turns of a coroner's inquest, an unlikely suspect emerged to stand trial for murder: John Munroe, a renowned architect, well-heeled family man, and pillar of the community.

Munroe was arguably the first in Canada's fledgling judicial system to actively defend himself. His lawyer's strategy was as simple as it was revolutionary: Munroe's wealth, education, and exemplary character made him incapable of murder. The press and Saint John's elite vocally supported Munroe, sparking a debate about character and murder that continues to this day. In re-examining a precedent-setting historical crime with fresh eyes, Komar addresses questions that still echo through the halls of justice more than a century later: is everyone capable of murder, and should character be treated as evidence in homicide trials?

NOTES

All references to witness testimony drawn from the coroner’s inquest, the police magistrate examination, and the trial transcripts are from the master case file Crown v. Munro [sic] housed at the Library and Archives Canada, RG 13, volume 1408, file 23A.

A redacted compendium of the transcripts edited by George W. Day, “The Black River Road Tragedy: Full Reports of the Coroner’s Inquest and the Trial of John A. Munroe for the Murder of Sarah Margaret Vail and Ella May Munroe,” 1869, is available at the New Brunswick Museum Archives, UNC SVEC 346.4 B627, hereafter referred to as Day’s compendium.

Preface The Dahmer Effect

1. Details of Dahmer’s crimes drawn from Donald A. Davis, The Jeffrey Dahmer Story: An American Nightmare (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1991); and Michael Newton, The Encyclopedia of Serial Killers, 2nd ed. (New York: Checkmark Books, 2006).

2. Dale Keiger, “The Dark World of Park Dietz,” Johns Hopkins Magazine (November 1994), accessed June 23, 2014, http://www.jhu.edu/jhumag/1194web/dietz.html.

3. Dietz explained his theory in detail in Willis Spaulding, “Park Dietz: The Killing Expert Who Knows Too Much,” The Hook 248 (December 2003): 22-31. While most in the forensic community embrace the notion that murder is a decision everyone is capable of, many challenge Dietz’s contention that everyone “will” kill. The capacity to kill is universal, but murder is not necessarily inevitable or mandatory.

4. Ibid., 25.

5. Ludwig Wittgenstein, Tractatus Logico-Philosphicus (1922; repr., Oxford: Routledge, 2014), xxi.

6. Christopher Grivas and Debra Komar, “Kumho, Daubert and the Nature of Scientific Inquiry: Implications for Forensic Anthropology,” Journal of Forensic Sciences 53, no. 4 (2008): 771-76.

PROLOGUE ABERRANT, ABHORRENT VAPOURS

1. Biographic details from George Cunningham, trial testimony, December 10, 1869.

2. Elizabeth Cunningham, trial testimony, December 14, 1869.

3. George Cunningham, trial testimony, December 10, 1869.

4. George Parker, trial testimony, December 11, 1869.

5. Fingerboards were precursors to today’s roadside mileage signs, posted at intersections to direct travellers.

6. Robert Holmes, trial testimony, December 13, 1869.

7. St. John Daily Telegraph and Morning Journal, September 18, 1869.

ONE SAINT JOHN

1. John’s birthdate and the details of Munroe’s parents’ wedding were printed in the New Brunswick Courier, May 30, 1840.

2. Although no birth registrations can be found for the four infants who died, their births and deaths were recorded on the monument marking the Munroe family plot in Fernhill Cemetery, as well as in the facility’s burial records. See, for example, the Fernhill Cemetery’s official website, www.fernhillcemetery.ca/fernhill/. Records relating to the Munroe family are contained in the Fernhill Cemetery perpetual care record book, lots 698 and 796.

3. Alice Munroe’s registry of live birth, Provincial Archives of New Brunswick [PANB], RS141A 1b, 1861-M-77, F18758, registration number 19755.

4. The Sydney Street firehouse is now a museum and national historic site, www.historicplaces.ca/en/rep-reg/place-lieu.aspx?id=13472&pid=0. The website details the role John Cunningham played in the building’s design and construction.

5. For his role as a founding member of Centenary Methodist Church, see John Munroe Sr.’s obituary in the St. John Daily Telegraph and Morning Journal, May 20, 1895.

6. J.R. Marshall, trial testimony, December 11, 1869.

7. Gary K. Hughes, Music of the Eye: Architectural Drawings of Canada’s First City, 1822 to 1914 (Saint John: New Brunswick Museum and the Royal Architecture Institute of Canada, 1992).

8. J.R. Marshall, a lifelong friend and neighbour of Munroe’s, noted during his trial testimony on December 11, 1869, that he had never known the man to leave the city for any length of time.

9. The fates of the Munroe daughters derived from their father’s obituary in the St. John Daily Telegraph and Morning Journal, May 20, 1895. Robert Craig’s profession was noted on the birth registry of his daughter, Mary Elizabeth Craig, PANB RS141A1b, 1880-C-105, F18767. It is worth noting, however, that Fernhill Cemetery records indicate Alice Munroe was unmarried upon her death in 1948. A letter sent to the cemetery by Alice in 1940 (retained in the Fernhill records) lists her address as Seattle, and she identifies herself...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Also by Debra Komar
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Preface: The Dahmer Effect
• Prologue: Aberrant, Abhorrent Vapours
• Act One
• Act Two
• Act Three
• Act Four
• Acknowledgements
• Notes
• Illustration Credits
• Index
• About the Author
• Back Cover