Judge Little also documented Mark Robinson’s comments, “The Superintendent called me up and said, ‘Go down to the cemetery and if they haven’t filled the grave in, fill it in.’ I went down. Now, in one
Judge Little had to see for himself if Tom Thomson was still buried at Canoe Lake. From left to right: Leonard Gibson, William T. Little, W.J. Eastaugh, and Frank Braught starting to dig. To their amazement, they discovered a body in Thomson’s grave.
corner of the grave was a hole I wouldn’t say it would be more than 20 inches and about a depth of 18 inches. God forgive me if I’m wrong but I still think Thomson’s body is over there (Mark pointed to the hillside gravesite where Tom was originally interred).”
In the 1950s Judge Little and three other men, Jack Eastaugh, Leonard Gibson, and Frank Braught decided to investigate the Thomson mystery themselves. They firmly believed Tom was still buried in the Canoe Lake Cemetery. The Judge was convinced he had been murdered. Armed with shovels and axes the men began to clear the underbrush. At six feet (two metres) they found nothing. Then Jack called out from beside a spruce tree. There were depressions three feet (one metre) wide in the ground. They began to dig. They struck pay dirt. The shovel found the remains of a rough pine box. No name was inscribed on the box. There was no evidence of metal remnants, such as buttons, belt buckle, shoe nails nor clothing.
Judge Little described the scene, “We saw parts of the casket lining and what appeared to be possibly a cotton or light canvas shroud. We recalled that, after Tom’s examination by Dr. Howland, the body was immediately placed in a casket wrapped only in a shroud due to the removal of clothes related to the advanced state of decomposition of the body. We also discovered a hole in the temple region of the skull which coincided with the region indicated at both the inquest and in Mark Robinson’s observations of a blow to the temple.”
A short time later Dr. Henry Ebbs and Dr. Noble Sharpe of the Ontario Provincial Criminal Laboratory arrived at Canoe Lake. They gathered the skeletal remains and photographed the skull with its puncture at the temple.’
Dr. Sharpe later concluded, “The bones were definitely male. Calculations from humerus, femur, and tibia gave an estimated height of five feet and eight inches. These bones suggested also a robust, well-muscled person.”
Professor J.C.B Grant, of the Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto, was asked for his opinion. He stated, “The skeleton was of a male, strong, height five feet and eight inches plus or minus two inches, age in late 20s and of Mongolian type, either Indian or nearly full-breed Indian.”
Further studies were made of the skull, including x-rays. According to Judge Little, “X-ray of the skull before emptying out the sand showed no bullet in the skull and none found in the sand after emptying. The hole in the left temple region is nearly three-quarters of an inch (less than two centimetres) in diameter. The inner plate opening is slightly wider showing a slight beveling. No radiating fractures were seen in x-ray. There was no injury on the inner table of the skull opposite the hole where a bullet would impinge. The orbital plate and nasal bones were so intact that no bullet could have escaped from the skull.” Therefore, the hole in the temple was not the result of a bullet wound.
The skull removed from Thomson’s grave indicates a hole in the temple coinciding with the injury sustained by the artist.
Professor Eric Linnell of the Department of Neuropathology concluded, “The wound, however, though definitely not due to a bullet, could be caused by a sharp instrument such as a pick, a narrow hammer head.” Maybe a paddle?
Judge Little responded to the investigation, “The foot of the grave in which the bones were found was 21 feet (seven metres) due north of the corner of the fence surrounding the two marked graves. This is certainly approximately where Mr. Thomson was buried originally. There is nothing to prove that the opened grave is not the same as Mr. Thomson’s and the coffin is just as his was said to be.”
Stone commemorating the death of Tom Thomson.
Why so much conflicting information? Did this group of men really dig up the remains of Tom Thomson? There should have been no body at all!
Jane Loftus, the daughter of the late Judge Little, states, “My father always believed the body they found in Canoe Lake Cemetery was that of Tom Thomson.”
In 1935 Miss Blodwen Davies, an official of the Saskatchewan Art Board, published a biography of Tom Thomson. It was while doing the research for the book that she investigated his death. She concluded, “I came away from my investigation with the conviction there had been foul play. I tried to get the Ontario Government to open an investigation but they said it had all happened so long ago it was best to leave it alone.”
Miss Davies spent the rest of her life pursuing the mystery. She once wrote concerning the testimony at the inquest, “No one remarked that only a living body could be bruised or bleed, or that Thomson’s lungs were full with air, not with water.”
A questionnaire she used with Mark Robinson is reprinted courtesy of the Archives of Canada, Ottawa:
Question: How deep was the water in which Thomson was found?
Answer: About 30 feet (10 metres).
Question: How far was it from shore?
Answer: 125 yards (120 metres).
Question: Was his fishing rod and line found?
Answer: No.
Question: Do you think it was his own line which was wound around his ankle?
Answer: It might have been his own line but not his regular fishing line.
Question: Did you see a mark on his forehead and if so, what was it like?
Answer: A slight bruise over the eyebrow.
Question: Did the Blechers aid in the search for Thomson?
Answer: They did on the Lake. They did not search in the woods as far as I know.
Question: Did they make any attempt to direct the search?
Answer: No. They were very quiet in every way.
Little added, “Who was it that struck him a blow across the temple — and was it done with the edge of a paddle blade? — that sent the blood spurting from his ear?”
So many of Thomson’s friends were puzzled over his death. Many did not believe that he had drowned. Miss Davies adds, “Why did Thomson’s body take eight days to rise in a shallow lake in the middle of July? Bodies that have been in warm summer waters usually rise after a couple of days, due to bloating. Could the fishing line bound round the lower left leg have been tied to some weighty object such as a stone?
“If Tom struck his head on rocks after death, how could the body bleed? Bodies do not bruise or bleed after death. This man was not accident prone; he was a canoeist of exceptional skill. The weather and water conditions were calm. It is difficult to believe he just fell out of his canoe and received a severe wound to his head.”
In a letter written to Judge Little, from Miss Margaret Howland on May 2, 1969, from Willowdale, Ontario she stated, “My father, the late Dr. Howland, in subsequent discussion mentioned the fact that there was a possibility that the drowning of Tom Thomson was not accidental.
“This possibility, I think, had been considered at the inquest and his comment was made following it or shortly after rather than many years after the incident as you say.”
Tom Thomson has never left Canoe Lake. Speculation says that he was murdered and he was in love. Just ask Mrs. Northway and Canadian