Under the shadow of the towering cenotaph in Victory Square, Leni Koen is surrounded by stunned listeners as she recounts the mayhem that ensued in 1907 Chinatown.
The ethnically diverse group standing around tour guide Koen, as her voice echoed throughout the silent memorial, was an antidote to a racist chapter in Vancouver’s history. With her hands pointing eastward, the theatre-trained guide explained the memorial site was once the rallying ground for Vancouver’s Asiatic Exclusion League. The mob, made up of thousands of supporters, marched eastward to city hall on Main Street and gained the support of Mayor Alexander Bethune calling for a “White Canada.”
The anti-Asian riot that destroyed mostly Chinese and some Japanese businesses in Vancouver’s east side was one of the many tales shared on the 90-minute Murders, Mysteries and Mayhem tour created by Tour Guys. Unlike tours telling ghost tales around town, the company insists on narrating factual stories based on news clippings and archives.
The tour kicked off from the plaza at the Vancouver Art Gallery — the backdrop of the murder mystery involving architect Francis Rattenbury, a prominent figure known for his work on the provincial legislative building and the 1910 courthouse that’s now the Vancouver Art Gallery. Rattenbury was murdered in 1935 from multiple blows to the head with a carpenter’s mallet. His second wife denied involvement in the murder in court and her young lover, George Stoner, was convicted.
Standing a block away from the retro entrance of a downtown inn, Koen was visibly distressed while sharing the crimes of the “Boozing Barber,” Gilbert Paul Jordan. Jordan got away with six out of seven known cases of alcohol poisoning in women until suspicion arose from one he poisoned in a downtown hotel. A police warrant was issued in 2004 for his arrest. Koen added among the “really interesting people” who have joined the tour was one of Jordan’s arresting officers.
Throughout the night, Koen brought characters and scenes to life off the pages of historical archives. The fuel behind her passion has been the people she’s met coming from all walks of life.
“Being someone that’s calling Vancouver home now and being able to really enrich the streets. Every time I walk around the streets it’s like opening up new layers of the city,” says Koen, who’s been working as a guide for three years.
“People from all over the world come and want to really learn about our city, and so you get people who really appreciate that kind of story.”
Much of Vancouver’s history didn’t escape participant Donna Hill’s memory. The mystery enthusiast recalls being in town for the Gastown riots in 1971. Hill says until the tour, and seeing the photo installation hanging above Woodward’s atrium, she didn’t realize there was that much drama surrounding it.
The mural, created by Stan Douglas, depicts the violent crackdown on a peaceful gathering of mostly young demonstrators. Hill considered it “overkill in the police department.”
The tour wound down in Gastown with walks through the hidden Blood Alley and Gaoler’s Mews while offering more tales of murders, mysteries and mayhem. For more information, visit tourguys.ca.
twitter.com/JennyPengNow
