The Gruesome Fate of the First Torontonian Killed By A Car
Plus a new walking tour exploring the islands' dramatic history and more...
It was nearing rush hour on a June day in 1905. College Street was alive with the chaotic bustle of a workday morning. Horses trotted down the road, pulling wagons behind them, the air ringing with the sharp click of their hooves. Streetcars rumbled by, filled with Edwardian commuters. Cyclists sliced through the traffic. And at the corner of Clinton Street — where Café Diplomatico stands today — a man named Lenton Williams stepped off the sidewalk into the road.
He was on his way to work. He lived nearby — on Montrose Avenue, just a few blocks away — and had a job downtown. He was a machinist, part of the printing operation of the Eaton’s department store chain, whose famous catalogues were mailed out to families all over the country. He was nearing retirement age, sixty years old, bald on top with a grey beard and moustache. That morning, he was wearing a grey tweed jacket and gold-rimmed glasses, carrying a small satchel with his lunch inside. But he wouldn’t live long enough to eat it.
As he crossed College, a streetcar was bearing down on him from his left. So he took a step back, to get out of its way, which is what brought him into the path of an automobile — and earned Williams his gruesome place in the history of our city.
At that point, it had been less than a decade since Toronto’s first car appeared in its streets. There may have been a few driven by visiting American tourists before the winter of 1896, but that’s when a local lawyer by the name of Frederick Barnard Fetherstonhaugh became the first Torontonian to own an automobile. He worked in patents, so he must have known plenty of inventors; that’s likely how he met an engineer called William Joseph Still. With Fetherstonhaugh footing the bill and eighteen months spent developing a new kind of battery, the pair produced Canada’s first electric vehicle. It was assembled by one of the city’s most reputable carriage-makers, and it really did look like the horse-drawn vehicles that came before it: a simple, horse-less carriage with one seat, no roof, an iron bar for a steering wheel, and a top speed of 25 km/h.
Fetherstonhaugh declared that he would drive it to work every day, bouncing along the street as he left the Annex and headed down into the financial district. And while he must have seemed quite the oddity at first, automobiles quickly began to take over the city. Just six years later, there were nearly two hundred of them. By the time Lenton Williams stepped into the street three years after that, there were nearly two thousand. And on that particular June morning, H.D. Smith was driving one of them.
Smith was among our city’s first chauffeurs, a driver with three years of experience. His boss was a real estate broker who’d been away on a business trip. Smith was going to pick him up in Hamilton that morning, bringing two women passengers along with him as he headed west out of town. He seems to have been making good time along College Street, zipping along at about 25 km/h, honking his horn as he went. It was when he reached Clinton Street that he came up behind a streetcar, moved to the right in order to pass it… and suddenly found Lenton Williams in his path.
Smith slammed on the brakes — foot and emergency. Williams quickly turned, trying to leap back up onto the sidewalk as the automobile came hurtling toward him. But it was too late. The car slammed into him, the radiator on the front of it smashing into his side. The newspapers differed on some of the grislier details. According to The Globe, “he was thrown some distance by the collision,” while The Toronto Daily Star reported, “The heavy car knocked him to the pavement and pushed him along the road for a short distance.” Either way, Williams was seriously hurt. He lay there in the street, bleeding and unconscious.
The chauffeur and his passengers were deeply shaken. A few bystanders helped Smith pick Williams up out of the road and hurry him into a nearby doctor’s office. Luckily, Dr. Herbert E. Clutterbuck happened to live on that very same street corner. He did what he could for the injured man, dressing his wounds and assessing the damage. At a glance, it seemed superficial. A few cuts. Bruises on his chest and arms. But Dr. Clutterbuck worried there might be more serious internal injuries. So an ambulance was called and his patient was rushed off to the hospital.
The injuries turned out to be fatal. Lenton Williams’ skull had been broken. A fracture ran through the bone from the back of his neck to a spot just behind his right ear. He would never regain consciousness. He died a little before nine o’clock that morning, the first Torontonian ever killed by a car.
It wasn’t until that night, when the machinist didn’t come home from work, that his wife began to worry. His daughter-in-law had heard the news of an unidentified man killed by an automobile just a few blocks from where Williams lived. She convinced a neighbour to check the hospital, where he was given the ghastly responsibility of identifying the body.
H.D. Smith was out of town by then. The chauffeur had left Williams with the doctor and carried on with his drive to Hamilton. It was there that he was tracked down and arrested, charged with manslaughter. He was forced to spend a night in jail before being cleared of any wrongdoing — an inquiry officially declared that the accident really was an accident.
In the years and decades to come, the story of Lenton Williams would be followed by many more grim tales. The following year, an automobile driven by the chauffeur of theatre mogul Ambrose Small killed a woman at College & Palmerston, just a few blocks from where Williams was hit; her feet were caught in the spokes of the wheels, so she was dragged a few metres before the car came to a stop. The year after that, a woman was knocked down by a car at Yonge & Bloor, thrown under its wheels as it drove over her neck. That summer, The Globe had already branded the automobile as “the great monster of death.” But by the beginning of the First World War, there would be more cars on Toronto’s streets than horses — and the number of deaths would continue to rise. By the summer of 2016, more than a century after Lenton Williams was struck, someone was hit by a car in Toronto once every few hours on average — and someone killed nearly every week.
I came upon this story while doing some research for my new online course, A FRUSTRATING HISTORY OF GETTING AROUND TORONTO. It begins in just a few weeks. I’ll share some more info about it below, or you can learn more here.
I should mention that fewer pedestrians have been killed in the years since the pandemic began. The annual numbers were in the 40s before Covid, and have been in the 20s since.
David Wencer told the story of Toronto’s first car for Torontoist here. Kevin Plummer wrote about the car’s introduction to our city, also for Torontoist, here. Katie Daubs wrote about Toronto’s long history of fights over changes in the city’s streets for the Toronto Star here. And Chris Bateman wrote about Lenton Williams’ death for Spacing here.
I’m Offering A New Walking Tour!
Spring is here! Which means it’s walking tour season again! I had a blast exploring the city with you last year, so I’ll be offering lots of historical walking tours again in 2023 — probably about one a month between now and December. To kick things off, I’m creating a brand new tour all about the history of the Toronto islands.
Our islands haven’t always been a peaceful place. They’ve witnessed many of the city’s most dramatic events — from deadly shipwrecks and heroic rescues to heart-breaking disaster and bone-chilling murder. We’ll meet on a Saturday afternoon to explore the hidden history of the islands on a walk from Hanlan’s to Gibraltar.
When: Saturday, May 13 at 4:15pm
Where: Meet at the Hanlan’s Point Ferry Deck — on the island. If you take the 4pm ferry to Hanlan’s Point, you’ll be there on time and we won’t leave without you! The tour will last about 1.5–2 hours and end at Gibraltar Point. Once we’re done, you can either retrace our steps to the ferry or continue on to enjoy the rest of the islands!
Price: Pay what you can
My New Online Course Begins Soon!
I thought I’d share the story of a shipwreck this week because I’ve just opened the registration for my new online course — and shipwrecks are going to be part of it!
People in Toronto are no strangers to the challenges of getting around. Those frustrations have a long history in our city, stretching all the way back to its founding and beyond. In this four-week online course, we’ll dive into some of the most fascinating Toronto transportation tales — from shipwrecks and stagecoaches to traffic jams and train derailments. We’ll learn about the warships that once sailed the waters of Lake Ontario, the exciting summer when bicycles first arrived in our city, the portage trail that gave Toronto its name… and much, much more.
The course will kick off on May 17 and be held every Wednesday night at 8pm. If you have to miss any classes, don’t worry! All the lectures will be recorded so you can watch and re-watch them whenever you like. And if you’re a paid subscriber to The Toronto History Weekly, you’ll get 10% off!
An Exclusive Online Soiree For Paid Subscribers!
John Radclive has a gruesome place in Canadian history. In the late 1800s, he was hired to become our country’s first official executioner. He would spend decades in the role, killing scores of people. The photo above is from one of his hangings; thought to be the last public execution held in Canada. And now author Julie Burtinshaw has published a new book all about Radclive and his life: Hangman: The True Story of Canada’s First Official Executioner. Having shared a few grisly historical tales myself, I’ve been very excited to read it. And now I’m even more excited to get the chance to have a chat with the author over Zoom — and all of you paid subscribers are invited to join us!
I’ve been looking for some unique ways to thank those of who’ve been willing to support The Toronto History Weekly with a few dollars a month. It’s only thanks to you that the newsletter gets to continue! So if it goes well and we get a nice crowd, I’m hoping to organize more of this kind of event in the future.
The gruesome soiree will be held over Zoom at 8pm on the night of Monday, May 8. I’ll send out the link to all paid subscribers ahead of time.
Hope you can join us!
If you aren’t already a paid subscriber and you’d like to make the switch, all you have to do is click the button below. Not only will you get invited to exclusive events like the one above, you’ll also be supporting all my work while helping to ensure The Toronto History Weekly survives. This newsletter is a ton of work! Only about 5% of readers have made the switch so far, which basically means that by offering a few dollars a month you’ll be giving the gift of Toronto history to 20 other people.
I’m Giving A Talk About Toronto’s Founding Dog
A few weeks ago, I wrote about Jack Sharp, our city’s founding dog, and how he almost got eaten. If you happen to be free this Wednesday evening, I’ll be giving a talk all about him for the Swansea Historical Society. And it’s open to the public!
QUICK LINKS
The best of everything else that’s new in Toronto’s past…
RENANING NEWS — Meredith Bond checks in on how much progress the City has made toward renaming Dundas Street. Public consultations have been held, a list of potential new names is being compiled, and a report is expected later this year. Read more.
FACADE NEWS — If you were on my Scandalous Tour of Old Toronto last year, you remember that one of stops was a building at the top of Toronto Street, once home to John A. Macdonald’s law office. A new proposal is hoping to turn it into an 80-storey tower, with the facade preserved. And as part of the project, ramshackle Courthouse Square (which pops on more than one of my tours) will be getting a makeover. It sounds like the Terroni restaurant might be forced to moved out of the courthouse itself, as well, though the building would be fully preserved. Read more here and here.
NEW MUSEUM NEWS — Toronto’s new Holocaust Museum has announced that it will be opening its doors in just a few weeks. Jack Landau has the story for blogTo. Read more.
712 SLICES OF PIZZA NEWS — Courtney Shea chats with Alex Hughes for Toronto Life. He’s the historian I mention here a while back, having written his PhD thesis on “the commodification of pizza in Toronto and Buffalo after the post-war boom.” Read more.
RED SCARE NEWS — Daniel Panneton writes about the far-fight American group who expanded across the border in the 1970s to “Save Canada From Communism” — and how it did not go well. Read more.
GEOGEOUS OLD PHOTOS NEWS — Artist and photographer June Clark has an exhibit at this year’s CONTACT festival filled with photos of Toronto in the 1970s and ’80s. Tanja-Tiziana Burdi spoke with her about it. Read more.
TORONTO HISTORY EVENTS
TEN OF TORONTO: WHAT DO TEN NEIGHBOURHOODS TELL US ABOUT WHO WE ARE?
Until April 30 — Myseum — 401 Richmond Street West
“Toronto is vast and diverse in people, places, and experiences. With 2.8 million of us who call this dynamic city home, we explore what it means to call Toronto a ‘city of neighbourhoods’ through the lens of 10 distinct communities and themes. In Ten of Toronto, we reflect on our shared histories by looking at the forces that have shaped the city’s neighbourhoods: geography, economy, immigration, finance, urban development, culture, inequality, and social values. Join us, steal away, and stay awhile. We invite you to discover your own path through the stories and histories we’ve unearthed for this exhibit, and lend your voice – what do neighborhoods mean to you?”
Free!
I TURN MY CAMERA ON: TORONTO ALT-ROCK IN THE 1980s
Until April 30 — The Local — 396 Roncesvalles
West end bar The Local will be displaying photographs taken by Jeremy Gilbert during the golden age of Toronto alt rock.
Free presumably!
BLACK HISTORY IN ONTARIO, 1793–1965
April 27 — 7:30pm — Online — The Toronto Branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society
“Winston Anderson will be presenting a timeline of events from the passing of the Act To Limit Slavery in 1793 by Lieutenant-Governor John Graves Simcoe, to 1965 when MPP Leonard Braithwaite pushed for the Separate Schools clause on segregated schools for Blacks to be officially removed from the provincial education policy. He will be discussing a number of people of Black heritage, both free and enslaved people, who shaped Toronto.”
Free!
THE DON: INMATES, GUARDS, GOVERNORS AND THE GALLOWS
April 26 — 7pm — Northern District Library (Room 224)
“Join writer and researcher Lorna Poplak as she presents facts behind the Don Jail's location and construction and shares tales about inmates, guards, governors, gangs, officials and even a pair of star-crossed lovers whose doomed romance unfolded in the shadow of the gallows. The illustrated talk will highlight the Don's tumultuous descent from palace to hellhole, its shuttering and lapse into decay, and its astonishing modern-day metamorphosis.”
Free!
ERNEST HEMINGWAY IN TORONTO
April 27 — 2pm — Brentwood Library
“Ernest Hemingway lived in Toronto during 1923 while he worked for the Toronto Star newspaper. He had moved to the city from France with his pregnant wife Hadley, as she preferred to give birth in North America. Their son, John Hadley Nicanor Hemingway, was born at Wellesley Hospital, in Toronto, on October 10, 1923. This special centennial presentation considers the role the area played in Hemingway's apprenticeship as a writer, and in his personal life.”
Free!
USING TORONTO’S ASSESSMENT RECORDS IN YOUR RESEARCH
May 4 — West Toronto Junction Historical Society
This is part two of a series about researching the history of your house, presented by Jane MacNamara of the Ontario Genealogical Society.
MASS CAPTURE: CHINESE HEAD TAX AND THE MAKING OF NON-CITIZENS
May 8 — 7pm — Toronto Reference Library (Beeton Hall)
“Professor Lily Cho joins us to discuss her award-winning book, Mass Capture: Chinese Head Tax and the Making of Non-citizens. Through extensive archival research on C.I.9 certificates, Canada's first mass use of photo identification, the book delves deep into the history of surveillance and exclusion against Chinese migrants in the country.”
Free!
AFRICAN-CANADIANS IN THE U.S. CIVIL WAR: EXPLORED THROUGH HISTORY AND POETRY
May 12 — 6:30pm — North York Central Library (Auditorium)
“This year is the 160th anniversary of Black troops entering the Union Army. Join the Society and Recreation department for a discussion about African-Canadians and their journey crossing the border and their contributions in the war against slavery. No registration required.”
Free!
GOOD AND EVIL: THE TRUE STORY OF CANADA’S FIRST HANGMAN
May 15 — 7pm — Riverdale Library
“Author Julie Burtinshaw will present her biography of John Radclive, Hangman: The True Story of Canada's First Official Executioner. She will discuss the research and writing process, Radclive's personal and professional life and the questions the story raises about Canadian attitudes towards capital punishment.”
Free!
&
HANGMAN: THE TRUE STORY OF CANADA’S OFFICIAL EXECUTIONER
May 16 — 7pm — Queen/Salter Library
“Author Julie Burtinshaw will present her biography of John Radclive, Hangman: The True Story of Canada's First Official Executioner. She will discuss the research and writing process, Radclive's personal and professional life and the questions the story raises about Canadian attitudes towards capital punishment.”
Free!