This week in Prince George history, July 23-29:
July 24, 1924: A former South Fort George resident killed himself after assaulting the assistant manager of the Pacific Great Eastern (PGE) Railway with a revolver in the company's Vancouver office on July 21, 1924, The Citizen reported.
E.C. Cordingly arrived in South Fort George in 1912, and spent 18 months in the town working for William Blair, before moving on to Vancouver to work for the PGE Railway as an accountant.
"Two weeks ago Cordingly was discharged from the railway service following alleged irregularities in connection with his work," The Citizen reported. "On Monday he appeared in the Vancouver block and went up in the elevator with General Manager (Thomas) Kilpatrick, and Assistant Manager (Robert) Wilson. He followed Mr. Wilson into his office and without warning assaulted him by a blow upon the head with the butt of a revolver."
Wilson scrambled away into the corridor and Cordingly opened fire.
"The second shot was fired in the corridor, when Wilson stumbled and Cordingly jumped upon his back and proceeded to beat him over the head," The Citizen reported. "When clerks from the office emerged to assist Mr. Wilson, his assailant placed the muzzle of the revolver in his mouth and killed himself."
Cordingly had a mixed history in business before going to work for the PGE Railway.
"Cordingly was a very clever business man, and before coming to British Columbia was employed as a credit man in one of the largest commercial houses in Winnipeg," The Citizen reported. "The Kootenay mining boom was on when he reached B.C. and Cordingly headed for Nelson, where he engaged in the furniture business and later took over that undertaking."
Cordingly's Nelson business "ended in disaster," and he came to South Fort George to work for the William Blair and Company general store.
(ITALIC) The July 21, 1924 edition of the Winnipeg Tribune had a few more colourful details about the attack: (END ITALIC)
"Turning from Kilpatrick's office, Mr. Wilson ran down the corridor, the crazed man following," the Winnipeg Tribune reported. "Again he fired, and Wilson stumbled. Before he could rise, Cordingly leaped on his back, and screaming in fury, started to beat him over the head with the gun. A desperate battle followed, in which Wilson finally managed to turn and grapple with his assailant.
"(Wilson) fought to obtain the revolver which Cordingly was attempting to turn upon him, but finally the madman stepped back and fired point blank at only a distance of a few feet. Luckily for Wilson, he staggered at the moment, and the bullet crashed against the marble of the corridor wall."
The PGE clerks armed themselves with chairs, rulers and other improvised weapons and rushed Cordingly, the Tribute reported.
"Cordingly saw them," the paper reported. "He threw back his head and gave vent to a yell of demoniacal fury, shoved the muzzle of the revolver into his mouth and pulled the trigger. He died instantly."
(ITALIC) Those who don't recognize the Pacific Great Eastern Railway may be more familiar with its contemporary name: BC Rail. (END ITALIC)
PGE Rail was incorporated in 1912 to build a rail line connecting Vancouver to the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway in Prince George. By 1918 the railway had only completed two sections -a 20-mile stretch from North Vancouver to Horseshoe Bay, and a 176-mile line between Squamish and Chasm - and had run out of money.
The provincial government took it over and ran it as a Crown corporation from 1918 to 2004. By 1921, the Squamish line had reached a point 15 miles north of Quesnel, but still 80 miles short of Prince George.
Work stopped there, and for decades PGE Railway was the railway "from nowhere to nowhere" -not connecting to any other railways or major centres. Nicknames for the railway included "Province's Great Expense" and "Prince George, Eventually."
After the end of the Second World War, work renewed on the PGE Railway, and the line connecting Prince George opened in November, 1951. By 1956, the link from Squamish to North Vancouver was complete.
Additional lines were added, linking Fort St. James, Mackenzie, Tumbler Ridge, Dawson Creek, Chetwynd, Fort St. John and Fort Nelson. In 2003, Premier Gordon Campbell announced the sale of BC Rail to CN Rail, brining about the end of B.C.'s Crown railway.
(ITALIC) The sale of BC Rail prompted some yells of "demoniacal fury" as well. (END ITALIC)
To explore 100 years of local history yourself, visit the Prince George Citizen archives online at: pgc.cc/PGCarchive. The Prince George Citizen online archives are maintained by the Prince George Public Library.
