A few years ago, Geoff Kettel wrote an excellent article for Leaside Life about a sensational armed robbery in 1951 of the Royal Bank on Laird Dr.1
Over 10 years earlier, in 1940, an equally daring robbery occurred at the Canadian Bank of Commerce branch on the southeast corner of McRae and Sutherland. Here’s what went down.
A vicious attack
On the morning of April 29, cab driver Sydney Purdy, 63 years old, picked up three men at a Jarvis Street hotel who told him to drive them to Leaside. When they got to Bessborough Drive, the men brutally attacked Mr. Purdy. They beat and gagged the unfortunate victim, binding and throwing him, unconscious and bloody, into the back seat.
They then drove to McRae Drive, where one of the men left the commandeered vehicle and entered the Bank of Commerce wearing the taxi driver’s cap and coat. The other two thugs, each carrying a gun, followed close behind.
“We mean business!”
“This is a stickup, and we mean business,” shouted one of the robbers. After ordering the startled staff of three men and one woman to lie face-down on the floor, they kicked and forced the frightened employees into a back room and locked the door. The hoods then ransacked the tellers’ cages, stealing $1,500 in cash before fleeing the building.
A brave teller
As the robbers fled, one of the employees – a teller named Delbert Rodman – noticed that the room where they were imprisoned had a rear entrance. Grabbing a bank-issued revolver, he escaped out the back door and ran across the street to Perrem & Knight’s grocery store to phone the police. Seeing him, the robbers opened fire – shooting twice but missing. Arriving at the store, Rodman was met by Mrs. Emily Perrem, the store owner. Together, they jumped into her car and pursued the three gunmen at high speed, south on McRae towards Millwood. As they drove, according to one news report, Rodman fired his gun at the getaway car while several Leaside citizens joined in the chase. It was a wild scene.
Justice served
The bad guys made good their escape, but not for long. After abandoning the stolen taxi and its driver (he survived his injuries) in Rosedale, they split up and ran. Within hours, Toronto police had caught one of the suspects – James Hogarth, 29 – at his home on Gerrard St. Two days later, they caught the others, also at their homes – Robert Orr, 23, of St. Clair Ave. West; and Robert Harrison, 19, of Vermont Ave. A fourth suspect named Marjorie Constable, who allegedly was the robbers’ “go-between,” was also arrested.
About a week after the robbery, Leaside mayor Howard Talbot wrote to the Toronto police department praising them for their quick work in catching the suspects and recovering most of the stolen money.
Two months later, the accused were tried and sentenced. All were convicted of armed robbery and sent to Kingston Penitentiary, except for Ms. Constable, who was found innocent and released. Hogarth – a repeat offender – received 12 years; Harrison 10 years; and Orr, seven years. The men were also punished with 10 lashes each by the strap.
Delbert Rodman, the heroic teller, continued working at the bank for decades, rising through the ranks to become an audit officer by 1955. For a while, he and his family lived not far from Leaside at 535 Soudan between Bayview and Mount Pleasant. He died in 1978 at the age of 66.2
1 “The Infamous Boyd Gang had a Blast in Leaside,” Leaside Life, May 2019.
2 Sources: Online issues of the Toronto Star, Globe and Mail, Toronto Telegram and Hamilton Spectator from 1940.
