My Grandfather, Robert Wilson, who emigrated to Canada with his wife and son in 1926 , was in the Merchant Navy and after struggling to find work finally got a job as Mate on the ferry steamer Clark Bros. Before that he took a job in the Deloro Mine. He dropped dead of a heart attack on 26th September 1927 aged 32 years. His wife and son returned to England not long afterwards.

You will note that the attached newspaper cutting regarding his sudden death states he had no physical problems and family lore has always been considered that working in the “arsenic mine” caused his death. I have recently been looking into the family history and googled “arsenic mines in Ontario” and up popped the history of Deloro Mine! When I read one of Grandfather’s letters to his brother (who lived in Belleville) and it mentions him working at Deloro. It seemed to confirm that maybe the Robert’s sudden death was caused by some sinister pollution such as arsenic. I wondered if you have any records of other suspicious deaths relating to working in the mine.

(Editor recalls stories in 1973 of Leo Doyle’s Deloro cows keeling over without explanation.)