Free Wrong Side of the Law by Edward Butts

with Campbell and thought his brother was in trouble. He started to run to his assistance. That left the way clear for a couple of messengers to dash for safety. Meanwhile, the men in the two bank cars had seen the attacks on the foot messengers. The driver of the Molson’s Bank car pulled into a lane beside the Toronto Globe building. The Standard Bank car stopped partway into the intersection, and guards Peter Robb and James Harris jumped out. Robb crouched beside the car and fired at the bandits with his revolver. Harris, another Great War veteran, ran to Campbell’s aid with his gun drawn. Doc shot him in the shoulder. Harris fell to his knees and returned fire. Jess fired a shotgun blast at him and some of the buckshot struck Harris in the stomach. He sank to the pavement, but fired the last rounds in his gun at the bandits’ car.
    A street corner that had been quiet just a minute earlier was now chaotic. The echo of gunfire rang off buildings. Passersby ducked for cover as people poured out of buildings to see what all the commotion was about. Bandits shouted at people to get out of the way if they didn’t want to get blown to hell. Bullets smacked into telephone poles, walls, and the windshield and door of the Standard Bank car. A Bank of Nova Scotia messenger named A. Smith handed over his bag when ordered to do so because he was looking down the muzzle of a shotgun. Even after he’d handed over the money, a bandit shot the hat off his head.
    A Sterling Bank guard named R. Davis was at the rear of the messenger group when he saw the bandits leap out of their car and attack. Seeing another bandit at the wheel of the car, Davis advanced on it with his gun blazing. Joe got out and fired back. He later claimed that he wasn’t trying to hit the guard; just scare him off. Davis had to back off when he ran out of ammunition. Guards like Robb and Davis were at a disadvantage; they had to take care not to accidentally shoot innocent bystanders.
    An unlikely participant in the melee was Alan Lord, an elevator operator in the McKinnon Building on Melinda Street. He’d been drawn outside by the racket. Lord saw Duck struck down, and rushed to his aid. It’s possible that because of his work uniform, the bandits mistook Lord for a guard or a policeman. He later told a Toronto Star reporter:
I grabbed at the bandit and another man struck me over the back and shoulders with the stock of a large new shotgun. He was swearing terribly and telling me he’d knock my brains out if I didn’t let go. I did let go, but they fired four shots at me. One of them got me in the leg. I thought it was all over as I fell like a ton of lead, but that is probably what saved me. I crawled underneath an auto standing close by. The buckshot simply riddled the body and windows of the car.
    The Newtons managed to grab three money bags. They threw them into the Studebaker and then piled in. Guards fired at the back of the car as it roared down Jordan Street. Eighteen-year-old William Young, driving a Salvation Army truck, had turned onto Jordan in time to witness almost the whole event. He tried to chase the bandit car, but his truck couldn’t keep up with the fast Studebaker.
    Joe drove down Jordan and turned right on Wellington. Willis later recalled:
How we ever got away, I don’t know. Then we hit a main street going to the right. I said, ‘Turn right in there,’ and we got room to cut in.… We was coming up on the main street (probably Bay Street) and they had a policeman standing there directing traffic. Just as we run up there and I was fixing to jump out and throw my pistol down on him, he stuck out his hand to stop the other cars and told us to come on … the policeman didn’t know what had happened back there.
    After hiding the car and the money bags in their rented garage, Willis and Jess returned to their hotel while Joe and Doc went to a movie. They knew there would be a dragnet and roadblocks, so they decided to lay low for a