William Fisk Murders A Squaw

MURDER MOST FOUL.

The killing of a dissolute young Cree squaw by Wm. Fisk, better known around town as "Jumbo," was the cause of great excitement in town on Thursday night last. The scene of the tragedy was a room over the Turf Club saloon, a few doors from the principal business corner of the city. The details are too sickening to relate. Dr. Laffarty, who examined the body, stated that it was similar to the work done by "Jack the Ripper." The following is Kelsey's, the bartender, evidence at the inquest. Kelsey is now under arrest.
Geo. Kelsey, bartender at the Turf Club, stated that Fisk came from the west yesterday and came to the bar and had a glass of beer. Afterwards he was told that Fisk had taken a woman upstairs to his (Kelsey's) room and having occasion to go upstairs, and hearing parties in the room he locked the door and took the key with him. He heard a kind of groaning at the time. About half an hour afterwards he heard a knocking on the floor above and went up and unlocked the door to let Jumbo out. Jumbo told him to go in and see whether the squaw was dead or alive. There was blood all over the clothes and on Jumbo's face. He (Kelsey) put his ear down close to the woman's mouth and thought he detected signs of breath, and told Fisk that he thought she was still alive. Fisk then said he would go to supper, but Kelsey told him he had better wash the blood off his face first, and he got him water and a basin to do so, and he went into a back room to do this. Fisk then went and took supper at the Windsor and Kelsey went over after him. Fisk returned first and when Kelsey came back Fisk asked him to come up again, and examine the woman. They went up together and came to the conclusion that she was dead. Fisk asked what he had better do and Kelsey advised him to go and report the case, which he did, going first to Geo. Murdock, J.P., who advised him to go and see Chief Dillabough. This closed his evidence and the coroner adjourned the case for lunch.

WHO FISK IS.

Wm. Fisk belongs to a highly respectable Eastern Canadian family. His father was a general storekeeper at Iroquois, Ont., where his widowed mother still lives. One of his uncles, Rev. T.G. Williams, is President of the Montreal Methodist Conference, and another uncle is Mr. Williams, the well-known journalist, known to the fraternity in the East as "Buckboard Williams of the Globe." Fisk came to the North-West with a brother six years ago, having been brought out and located on a homestead by Rev. Dr. Williams.
With characteristic promptitude in obtaining news, the Indians in the neighborhood knew of the murder before it was generally known in town. During the day several groups of Indians remained in the vicinity of the Turf Club gaping at the crowd of sightseers attracted to the spot.
Upon a closer examination of the room in which the murder was committed, the room was found to be more or less spattered with blood. The examination of the body went to show that the wound was made entirely by the fingers, and a couple of pieces of flesh, as if torn from the body, were found by the chief of the police under the bed.
Dr. Lafferty says that the post mortem revealed the fact that this is a regular Jack-the-Ripper case. The organs were terribly mutilated, the hand or instrument used, having penetrated as far as the cavity of the Peritoneum.

Source: Mainland Guardian (British Columbia), March 6, 1889

JACK THE RIPPER.
Horrible Mutilation and Murder of a Squaw in Calgary.

A last (Friday) night's Winnipeg despatch says: -

"Jack the Ripper" has appeared at Calgary, N.W.T. Late last night the body of a squaw was found horribly mutilated in a room over the Turf Club saloon. The abdomen had been cut open and the body otherwise shockingly slashed. Wm. Fisk, a notorious character, has been arrested on suspicion. The accused murderer, Wm. Fisk, came to Calgary in 1882. It appears that Fisk brought the murdered squaw to a room over the Turf Club hotel. She was found later covered with blood and in the last throes of death. Fisk has been gambling a great deal of late and drinking heavily. He gave himself up. He is a nephew of Rev. T.G. Williams, President of the Montreal Methodist Conference. The deceased squaw was called Rosalie and was a tough character. The room was bespattered with blood, and an examination of the body went to show that the wound was entirely made by fingers, and a couple of pieces of flesh torn from the body were found by the Chief of Police under the bed. Dr. Lafferty says that the post-mortem reveals the fact that it is a regular "Jack the Ripper" case. The coroner's jury tonight brought in a verdict of wilful murder against Fisk, and he will be sent up for trial.

Source: Flesherton Ontario Advance, March 11, 1889