- Ambrose Small
Ambrose Joseph Small (born
January 11 ,1863 inBradford, Ontario , vanishedDecember 2 ,1919 ) was aCanadian theatre magnate, who owned theatres in severalOntario towns including the Grand Opera House in Toronto and the Grand Theatre inLondon, Ontario . More notably, he is a famous Canadianmissing person . He disappeared on2 December ,1919 and his body was never recovered. He was 56 years old. It is alleged that Small's wife and her lover killed Small and cremated his body in the London Ontario Grand Opera theater furnace (ironically, one of Small's holdings). It is further alleged that a police inspector was involved in a "cover-up" of Small's disappearance {See links below}.Small appears as a major character in the
Michael Ondaatje novel "In the Skin of a Lion ". The events concerning him in the novel after his disappearance are fictitious.The disappearance
On
December 1 ,1919 , Ambrose sold all his theatrical holdings, at a profit of $1.7 million CAD. On December 2, Small met with lawyer F. W. M. Flock in Small's office at the Grand Opera House House. Flock left at 5:30 p.m. and was the last person to see Small alive.That night, Small disappeared from his
office . No one who testified for the police claims to have seen him leave his office, or in theAdelaide andYonge Street area, outside the building. A newsstand operator, Ralph Savein claimed to have seen Small buying a paper at his stand, however this claim was later rebuked by police as an attempt by Savein to get fame from the case.Small had no motive to disappear; the
millionaire didn't take his money with him, nor was there anyransom note, let alone evidence of kidnapping. At fifty-three years old, Ambrose owned theatres in seven Ontario cities, was the controller of sixty-two other buildings, in all a self-made millionaire at the height of his career.The investigation
Original leads
The police launched an extensive investigation on the disappearance of Ambrose Small. The case remained unsolved, until being officially closed in 1960.
The week of his disappearance, Ambrose's Opera House was playing "
Revelations of a Wife ", a show that reportedly attracted full houses. Police analyzed the plot and its themes, but found no leads; Small had not chosen this play to provide cryptic hints.Theresa Small, his wife, suggested that Small had fallen into the hands of a "
designing woman"; police found no candidates.Along with his office, "Amby" had a "private
secret room ", with its own entrance. The room is said to have been for assignations and the settling ofgambling debts . The room was scoured for leads, albeit unsuccessfully.Holmes to solve case
Toronto reporters contactedSir Arthur Conan Doyle about the case, when the author was on aNew York visit. Doyle showed interest in the case, bringing the headline "World's GreatestDetective to Solve Small Case". In the end, the headline proved to be rather ironic; Doyle decided not to pursue the case.Use of mystics
Spirit mediums got involved with the case, contacting him or his spirit. They offered a diverse lot of largely improbable reasons for his disappearance. Among their explanations:
* was a victim ofamnesia ; this would not explain how he got out of his office, and the lack of any early stage of this malady until then.
* had started his life over again in aforeign country; why then would he have not taken the money from his theatre sales, and why would he pursue this, when his career showed no visible or financial weaknesses?
* was abducted by his privatesecretary ; His secretary, John Doughty, did steal $100 000 in bonds from Small after his disappearance but he was caught.
* he was murdered by gamblers; again, they'd want the money before they killed him, and would have to be quite odd to kill him until he complied.
* he was murdered bygangsters ; again, they'd want the money before they killed him.
* was burning or burnt in a house inMontreal ; this was according to psychic Max A. Langsner of Vienna, who used "thought waves" to "solve" the case in 1928. However, if anyone were to burn the remains of Small's body, why would they wait until nine years later to do so?
* He was chased down a set of stairs by a man younger than him, shot in the back, killed, and was buried underneath an oak tree within walking distance of the theatre.Other contact stories
* Magician
Harry Blackstone, Sr. signed an affidavit reading "On April 8th, 1920, I saw Amby playing roulette in a gambling casino inJuarez, Mexico ."
* Ambrose kidnapped and held, alive, in the lime-kilns nearBrampton, Ontario
* A man in Wisconsin phoned the police, claiming he was Ambrose. Instead, he was an escaped psychiatric patient.Hauntings
* Ambrose is believed to haunt the Grand Theatre in
London, Ontario , and the Tivoli Theatre inHamilton, Ontario .References
* [http://www.dotydocs.com/Archives/yesterday/small.htm Ambrose Small, The Ghost of the Grand Theatre]
* [http://www.prairieghosts.com/ambrose.html Ambrose Small: Among the Missing]
* [http://www.russianbooks.org/small.htm Ambrose Small: Case Closed!]
* [http://www.biographi.ca/EN/ShowBio.asp?BioId=41831 Biography at the "Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online"]
* [http://www.hauntedhamilton.com/gotw_ambrosesmall.html Haunted Hamilton]
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