Gone in Five

It was a somber gathering in Winnipeg, that late Monday morning of January 29, 1917, to await the incoming train from Ontario. It wasn't exactly for a passenger that the crowd awaited the train's arrival. It was, however, on behalf of a person that they had gathered: Marshall Jackson, the recently slain detective who had taken on the assignment of conveying an extradited prisoner to Windsor, Ontario. His remains, escorted by an official from the Ottawa Immigration Department, were to arrive home that day.

Marshall Jackson had passed away only days before. According to the coroner's report in the records of the Sandwich West division of Essex County, he had died on that January 25th, near Saint Clair Junction in that same district. The coroner noted the cause as "a shot in abdomen by James Stewart" who was "being brought to Windsor for deportation." Mercifully—at least according to the coroner's reckoning—the victim had "died in about five minutes."

Gathered at the station in Winnipeg, four days later, were members of Marsh's family, along with representatives from "Damon Lodge, No. 5, Knights of Pythias" (listed as "Dominion Lodge" in a later newspaper report, along with a note that he was also affiliated with the Atabara Temple No. 149, D.O.K.K.).

The plan called for a private ceremony at the family's home the following day, from which the funeral cortège would then proceed to the Fort Rouge Methodist Church for a public service. Committal was to be at Elmwood Cemetery.

As I gather these details from the various newspaper articles, I'm working on locating additional documents to verify those reports at the close of Marshall Jackson's life. Indeed, his burial at Elmwood was corroborated by an entry in Find A Grave—although admittedly, that resource is not always error-free. Included in the Find A Grave entry was a clipping from an unnamed newspaper, with the caption,

Victim: Winnipeg private detective shot to death by his prisoner, William Anderson, on speeding train near Windsor, Ont.

The news clipping was accompanied by a photograph of Marshall Jackson, himself. Of course, we now know that William Anderson was merely one alias used by John Syme Hogue, and we've already discussed his side of this story. But now that we have these few details on Marshall Jackson, it's time to delve into his own story—at least as much as online resources permit.

Above: Portion of the death records of Essex County, Ontario, Canada, showing the Medical Certificate of Death for Marshall Jackson. Image courtesy Ancestry.com.