The Secret Lives of Sgt John Wilson A

The Secret Lives of Sgt. John Wilson A timeline of events created by Kole Phillips

In Slamannan, Scotland, Mary(Polly) Hutchinson was born in 1886. When she was 18, Polly went to work at Grossart Drapers in Carluke, Scotland.

While working at Grossart Drapers, she met John Wilson. They fell in love, and married after four years. John invested money in some greenhouses with Polly’s brother and became a gardener. John and Polly had a son named George in 1909. In 1911, it was revealed that John had stolen some money from the greenhouses to try to pay off some of his brother’s debts. John chose to leave Scotland for a year so people would forget about the scandal.

In Liverpool, Jack boarded a steamer heading for Canada, leaving his family behind. Polly was pregnant at the time.

The steamer stopped in Halifax, Nova Scotia. There, he boarded a train to Saskatoon.

In Saskatoon, he got a job building bridges. When he lost that job in the spring of 1914, he became a gardener for Saskatoon’s parks. Due to the rising cost of housing and the falling of wages, John moved to Prince Albert. In P. A. , he tried to start a tomato-growing business, but his crop was flattened by a July hailstorm. When World War I began in August, John tried to sign up for the army so he could return home overseas, but was rejected due to his weak lungs.

Blaine Lake Two weeks later, John applied to join the Royal North West Mounted Police. He passed the physical requirements, which were less demanding than the military requirements. He arrived at Depot Division, Regina, to begin training. In July, 1915, he became a Mountie in the town of Blaine Lake.

Blaine Lake In Blaine Lake, he met a young woman named Jessie Patterson. When John was diagnosed with TB in 1917, Jessie took care of John. Determined to pay back Jessie’s kindness, he asked her to marry him that winter. In the spring, John was getting better, and he was given jobs by the town that would not tire him out too much.

In Scotland, Polly was becoming worried about John. She booked a ticket for the Mauretania, sailing to Canada in April, 1918.

Polly arrived in Regina on April 18. The same day, John went to Prince Albert to try to volunteer for the war. However, he wasn’t able to join because too many people had already joined. He received a phone call from Polly while he was at the station. They agreed to meet in Saskatoon the next day. Blaine Lake

Together Jack and Polly rented a room in a boarding house in Regina. Polly became pregnant within days. John gave up his jobs in Blaine Lake and joined the Canadian Military Police Corps. He wrote many letters to Jessie. One evening, Polly found a letter from Jessie to John discussing marriage. When she confronted him, John denied ever planning to get married to Jessie. In September, 1918, John was put in charge of a new department in Saskatoon. Blaine Lake

On September 27, 1918, Polly left the boarding house to rejoin John in Saskatoon. At the same time, John was buying a marriage license for him and Jessie. When Polly arrived in Saskatoon, John told her they were going to Blaine Lake to tell Jessie that John was married. On the way, John shot and buried Polly in a culvert near Waldheim. He then crashed the car by accident, and burned the car to destroy the evidence. Blaine Lake He then continued on to Blaine Lake to marry Jessie. They were married in Saskatoon on September 29.

John, pretending to be Polly, sent a cable to the owner of the boarding house in Regina, telling her to send Polly’s trunks to the CN office in Prince Albert. John and Jessie later moved to Vancouver, BC, where John worked as an undercover officer. On March 14, 1919, Polly’s sister Elizabeth began sending letters to the RNWMP asking about her missing sister. This started the investigation against John Wilson. Blaine Lake

While they lived in Vancouver, John sold the shotgun he had killed Polly with at a pawn shop. After giving testimony on the “Russian trials” in Vancouver, John was ordered to return to Regina.

John was soon called back to give testimony at another Russian trial. While he was gone, the officers investigating him located Polly’s trunks and a dispatch case full of letters between Jessie and John was brought back to Regina by Sgt. Fripps, and once he was at headquarters, he was placed under arrest for stealing MSA fines he was supposed to be collecting. Blaine Lake

While John was in prison, he revealed where he had hidden the body and shotgun. On February 4, 1920, John was found guilty of murder, and was sent to a death cell in Prince Albert. On April 23, 1920, John Wilson was hung. The same day, Jesse gave birth to his son, John Wilson Jr. Blaine Lake