The
Disappearance of Ambrose Small
Ontario,
Canada
By
Daniel Cumerlato
 There
is no dark mystery here, but only in the heart of the person who remove him
from the world. This person must have only felt hate,
for to strike down those who are happiest is to commit a terrible
crime.
Ambrose disappeared on a sunny afternoon
back on Friday December 19th, 1919. All seemed well for him and his family
as he walk out of a meeting that made him a multimillionaire. Ambrose had just signed contract to sell all of his theatres, which included The Grand in Toronto, The Tivoli in Hamilton and The Grand in London, Ontario.
This century
long mystery is still talked about today, and the question is still being asked by the confused many... “What happened
to Ambrose Small?”
Ambrose
is Gone!
__________________________________
A crime has
been committed and the Toronto police spare
no expense. Once the clues and evidence
stopped supporting the solution, a more straight-laced detective
would replace the first.
The first detective in this case was removed due
to a personal connection with one of the top suspects. This may sound to you like a movie plot, it’s
not, what we have here is the real life script for the investigation
of Ambrose Small’s disappearance.
 Meet
Austin Mitchell.
Detective Mitchell is a great investigator, so
great that he attracted the most mysterious disappearance in Canadian
history. He was asked to find Ambrose Small, dead or alive,
and put to rest all of the questions from the public and the media.
The current Commissioner of Ontario, Thomas Flynn, was a horse racing enthusiast, and a one-time personal friend of Ambrose small. Flynn's “outside-of-the-box” methods were perfect for this
strange case.
In the past he had relied on psychics, which back in the 1920’s
were considered gypsies
and fakes, that they could not be trusted to "see the
future". Mitchell was tried this, but
psychics proved to be unhelpful in this case.
Then Detective
C.D. Hammond was brought in on the case after public uproar.
Hammond was a straight-laced professional. He followed the
clues, corresponding to the law and making no friends along the
way. Together, Austin and Hammond would unearth
the best clues ever found.
The
Evidence
__________________________________
Ambrose’s
secret life
Within
the walls of the Grand in Toronto, Detective Hammond discovered
a small room setup for extramarital affairs.
The room was described as having wall-to-wall, thick and expensive
Oriental carpeting. Expensive fabric was draped along the walls
for soundproofing. There was a bar with whiskey and wine,
and a bed dressed with satin sheets and many pillows.
There were
no electrical lights in this room, only candles.
The
paperboy
Ralph
Savein sold newspapers to Ambrose Small almost every morning.
He claimed to be the last person to see Ambrose alive. This was one a day... after
the famous disappearance.
It's said that police debunked his claim, and found out
that little Ralph was only seeking attention and fame.
Bodies
everywhere
After word got out that Ambrose Small was missing, and that a
$50,000 reward was placed on finding him alive (or $15,000 dead),
bodies began to be found everywhere.
Every one of the bodies was claimed to
be Ambrose by the finder. In many cases the dead men fit Ambrose's physical description. It all came down to one anomaly -
Ambrose had hammertoes.
This fact disproved every claim.
The
Main Suspects
__________________________________
 Theresa
Small:
Who
was she?
The socialite wife of Ambrose.
Why was
she a suspect?
Her cold reaction to his disappearance, and
seemingly emotionless actions towards efforts to find him.
His disappearance transferred the almost two million dollars from the theatre deal. It's said Theresa knew about Ambrose's affairs and despised him
for it.
John Doughty:
Who
was he?
Ambrose’s assistant at the Toronto Grand.
Why was
he a suspect?
At the same time of Ambrose’s disappearance,
John was reported missing too. After talking with John's friends and family, the detectives found out that John had hated
Ambrose for being greedy and cheap.
John helped Ambrose build his fortune and wanted part of the profits. Ambrose
only paid John a pittance of a salary... and
never even bought him a present at Christmas!
John even told one of his friends that he would kill Ambrose Small.
The
Disappearance of John Doughty
_____________________________________________
The
day after Ambrose disappeared, his assistant John Doughty arrived
in Montreal. John was then never seen from again.
The
only evidence of his still being alive was found by his sister.
There was evidence around Christmas of 1919 in John's Toronto apartment that
showed he had arrived and left quickly.
Many years later
John was found in Oregon City, Oregon, hiding out under a new
identity with a brand new life. One of his current employees,
known as “Three Fingers”, saw a
wanted poster for John Doughty and immediately called the police
to report his manager, a man named Charlie Cooper.
John was brought
back to Toronto and his case was met with huge public interest.
This would turn out to be one of the most anticipated trials in
Canada’s history as thousands gathered inside of Old City Hall.
Disappointment abound when it was found out
that there wasn’t enough evidence to prosecute John for murder. The jury would find John guilty... for the theft
of $104,000 worth of bonds. He was sentenced to five years in
prison.
His
Ghost and the Theatre he Loved
____________________________________________________
 Many at London, Ontario's Grand Theatre claim the ghost of Ambrose. They say this was his favorite theatre.
Many ghost sightings at the Grand are attributed to Ambrose, but the most famous saved a priceless
artifact.
Renovations were being done on the old theatre and a
bulldozer was brought in. Just as the
machine got ready to break through and tear
out the front wall of the auditorium, it stalled!
Confused, the workers started it
back up and prepped to destroy the wall , only to have the
machine cut out again. This strange occurrence only would occur on the one wall, which made the workers curious.
They found in behind the doomed spot one of the theatre’s original
archways, with a priceless and irreplaceable mural painted upon
it. They say Ambrose Small stopped that bulldozer to save the mural he loved so dear.
London’s Grand Theatre isn't the only place that has become accustom to Ambrose’s
after death visits. The Tivoli Theatre in Hamilton has seen it’s
share of Mr. Small.
The Tivoli Theatre, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
____________________________________________________
We received reports directly from the manager at the theatre for many years, Loren Liberman. He and his staff believe they have the most unique stories about the famous man.
The Victorian Homeless Dude
Reports from its staff have placed the apparition
of what was thought to be a homeless man in different locations
around the building.
Staff and actors constantly came up to Loren to describe a homeless man they've seen walking around the theatre. The described him in Victorian dress, not
the usual modern homeless style.
He
wasn’t a tall man at five and half feet, but stood with
confidence. The most noticeable feature was
his moustache, which was long and curled out at the ends, "like Salvatore Dali!"
Knowing the
history, Loren took a book from the Hamilton Public Library with a large picture of Ambrose. Without telling his staff who the man was, he showed
the picture around. One by one, all of the staff
members agreed that the man in the picture was the same man they saw in the theatre.
The skeleton
A lot of renovations were done on the Tivoli when Sam the Record man bought it and Loren was made manager. There were days on end when the theatre would be a hub for workers and staff cleaning and renovating the space for live theatre (this was a movie house before).
Not many know, but there was a courtyard just behind the auditorium that had an open ceiling. Today this is the space you walk through to get to the theatre during James Street Art Crawls, but back then is was very hidden. It was here that a secret basement was found, and when opened, many old vaudeville posters, movie reels and steamer trunks.
One trunk stood out from the rest because of a gold plate on the front. The plate had "A. Small" carved into it. The workers jumped back when opening the trunk to reveal a skeleton inside of it. At first they thought it was a prop, but it wasn't plastic.
Loren called the Toronto police, which was the closest forensics team at the time. They set to come out the next day, however in the confusion of renovations, the trunk disappeared. Possibly thrown out by a worker by mistake?
Could this have been the real body of Ambrose Small, placed into a trunk bearing his name as a final humiliation from those he'd had done wrong? We'll never know.
Article
By: Daniel
Cumerlato
Founding
Partner of Haunted Hamilton
References
__________________________________
McClement,
Fred. The strange case of Ambrose Small. McClelland and
Stewart; ASIN: 077105498X
Loren Lieberman,
General Manager/Artistic Director, The Tivoli Theatre
Other
Interesting Related Links
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