Let’s go back 90 years in the pages of the Optimist for a dramatic story about the hunt for a pair of desperate fugitives.
In March 1932, Ladner was abuzz “when the long arm of coincidence stretched out and made this town the scene of one of the most thrilling episodes in the nefarious career of one William Bagley, jail breaker, safe-cracker and potential murderer.”
A young Delta woman, Effie Dowding, recognized Bagley’s accomplice, Gordon Fawcett, outside the Delta Garage in Ladner.
After telling her brother, she then gave the information to Bert McCubbin who went immediately to pass the word to provincial game warden W.H. “Slim” Cameron.
Cameron met up with the two men, who gave him a story they were on their way to catch a ferry out of town.
Cameron didn’t have any evidence to arrest them and was forced to let them go. Vancouver Police were notified by phone but they determined the report that two potential jailbreakers were in Delta was a case of “wolf, wolf.”
The two had made several purchases at stores in Ladner, including The Big Store, and had their car repaired at the garage. It was later speculated they may have been looking to rob a bank in Delta.
After finding out they didn’t go to the ferry, Cameron went to River Road, asking McCubbin to search Trunk Road, to find the pair’s car.
Cameron caught up with the jailbreakers but found himself taken hostage after the pair pulled out revolvers. They commandeered his vehicle and crossed the New Westminster Bridge with their captive.
“It was rather fortunate for ‘Slim’ that no police intercepted the car at the bridge, as Bagley told him that if such a thing took place, he, Cameron, would get the first bullet and that he himself would never be taken alive. Previous to crossing the bridge, the bandits sought a ruse to trap Bert McCubbin and Len Bain who had been trailing the policeman’s car from the time the bandits had commandeered it at the junction of River Road and Snake Hill,” the Optimist reported.
Puzzled why Cameron was in the back seat of his own car, McCubbin didn’t fall for the trap, but eventually lost sight of the getaway car.
The jailbreakers would tie up Cameron and leave him temporarily. He almost freed himself with a jackknife hidden in his rubber boots, however, Bagley returned.
Fortunately, he opted not to kill Cameron, and instead gave Cameron a reminder of their encounter.
“The fifty-cent piece Bagley gave him to take back to town was to serve to remind him of a time when he was entirely at the mercy of one of the most desperate criminals who ever had his name on a crime sheet. The incident serves to illustrate the fact there is some good streak in the very worst of us,” the article stated.
Bagley a few days before had shot and seriously wounded Vancouver Police Detective David Maxwell in Vancouver after Maxwell had attempted to arrest Bagley following the jailbreak. The escaped pair had planned to make their way to California.
The article also noted the situation in Ladner could have been more tragic, as the pair had a sufficient amount of nitro in their car to have blown away any building if they had to shoot their way out of town.
Bagley and his partner went on the run but Fawcett was captured in Vancouver later that day. Police throughout the Lower Mainland continued an intensive search for Bagley.
