Postcards of the day might have shown Santa delivering presents by automobile, but cars were still a rarity in Vancouver in 1911. Women drivers were rarer still.
Yet when a thief made off with a wallet two days before Christmas, "expert chauffeuse" Mrs. John Herod used her car to catch him.
Herod was stopped near Granville and Georgia streets, when M.F. McConnell leaped out of a streetcar and ran toward her car, shouting that a man had stolen his purse (wallet) containing $125, the Vancouver Daily Province reported Dec. 26. Herod, "one of the first women in Vancouver to drive her own car," told him to jump in, and they followed the streetcar to Pender Street.
There, the thief jumped off and bolted away. McConnell followed him on foot, while Herod raced off to pick up a police officer. "With the majesty of the law to back her Mrs. Herod felt justified in breaking speed records but no great speed could be made owing to the congestion of traffic on the street," the Province reported.
Despite the crowds of Christmas shoppers, a suspect was captured. On Boxing Day, William Terry was remanded to prison for eight days.
Terry wasn't the only Vancouverite on Santa's naughty list that Christmas. The Dec. 26 Province reported several purse snatchings over the 1911 holiday season. A young woman who worked as a stenographer in a law office was on her way home Dec. 23 when a thief stole her new hand satchel, which had been a Christmas present from her employer. In it was more than $100, including her monthly salary of $70, another $20 she'd collected to donate to the annual Christmas dinner for "poor men," and some change. "She struggled with the [thief], but he wrenched the handbag away from her and ran," the newspaper reported. "She found a policeman as soon as possible and he informed her that he was then looking for an equally low-down thief who had snatched a purse from an uniformed nurse. Unfortunately the thief or thieves avoided [capture]."
Elsewhere in the city, Vancouverites opened their wallets to create a more cheerful Christmas for the city's orphans. At the Children's Home, 139 children received a turkey dinner and ice cream on Christmas Day. Twenty of the orphans were less than two years old-too young to hang up stockings-but the stockings of the older children took until one in the morning to fill; the matron and her assistant had to keep shooing away curious children who hoped to catch Santa in the act.
"Every child had three gifts, besides the usual supplement of candy and fruit," the Province reported. "Every girl had a doll, and two other gifts; every boy got a mechanical toy."
At the Alexandra Orphanage, an outbreak of measles resulted in eight children being quarantined over Christmas. As a result, a separate Christmas tree was put up in the isolation ward. Each of the 72 children in the orphanage received a gift in his or her stocking, and "to prolong the delightful anticipation," another gift on their plate at breakfast. The gifts included "dolls, books, games and toys of every sort."
"Fourteen turkeys and one goose had been sent in by friends of the orphanage, so there was no stint of anything," the newspaper added.
At the city's Central Mission, volunteers served Christmas dinner to between 600 and 700 "hungry men," who were seated in shifts of 75 at tables throughout the afternoon. Those who waited were entertained with "piano solos, singing, recitations, brief addresses and hymn singing... and there was plenty for everybody who came of roast beef, ham, pies, cakes and pudding, generous donations having been received from the wholesale and retail firms of the city, the bakeries, and many private individuals," the newspaper reported.
As she had done for the past 20 years, Mrs. Machin hosted a Christmas dinner for the "homeless men" of the city, held at the Carnegie Library at Hastings and Main streets. About 600 men were fed, in shifts, by Machin and the seven women who assisted her.
At St. Paul's Hospital, the men of the Eighteenth Field Ambulance sergeants' mess, directed by Sergeant-Major Hynes, gave a Christmas concert for patients. On Saturday, the last shopping day before Christmas, last-minute shoppers tired of trudging through the "inch or two" of snow that fell boosted traffic on the city's streetcar lines to record levels. Approximately 140,000 passengers took the streetcar that day-some 4,000 to 5,000 more than the day before. On Christmas morning, however, B.C. Electric Railway reduced service on its streetcar lines, "so as to allow motormen and conductors as much time as possible to spend with their families on the holiday."
What were Vancouverites giving each other that Christmas of 1911? As always, gifts ranged from the practical to the extravagant.
Bennett Typewriter Agency on Richards Street urged shoppers to "Make it a sensible Christmas this year" by giving a typewriter. Advertised at $25, the Bennett typewriter was "strong, durable, handsome, simple in construction... a child can operate it."
A.F. McMillan, a store that specialized in diamonds, told shoppers, "You are sure to find something here suitable for father, mother, sweetheart, wife, husband, sister, brother or any particular friend you may have... whether it be a diamond, watch, clock, a piece of gold or silver jewelry, a piece of cut glass or silverware."
Grassie & Co., on Cambie Street, reminded Christmas shoppers that "The heart of a girl is naturally set upon jewelry... We have an endless variety of lockets, plain and set with diamonds and other handsome gems."
McLauchlan Bros. Ltd., also on Granville Street, advertised the Bissell carpet sweeper as "an ideal gift for mother, wife, sister or friend... the greatest labor-saving article of the home."
Gift ideas for men included HBB London-made briar pipes "The most seasonable gift for a man, made in 100 different styles" and available at tobacco shops throughout Vancouver.
Clubb & Stewart, on Hastings Street West, offered a number of Christmas suggestions: "dressing robes, house coats, fancy vests, kid and mocha gloves [either] wool or silk lined, poplin or silk neckwear, linen and silk handkerchiefs some with initials, silk squares and knitted mufflers, fancy armlets and garters, fancy suspenders, ladies' and men's umbrellas plain or fancy handles, ladies' dressing cases, ladies handkerchiefs, collar and cuff cases, purses and pocketbooks, fitted suit cases and club bags, [automobile] motor rugs."
One of the more unusual products advertised in the Province that December was the Electro-Vigor Dry Cell Body Battery, purported to cure "rheumatism, nervous debility, weak stomach, kidney and liver troubles, lame back, sciatica, varicocele, and every evidence of weakness in men and women." The ad solicited men "who want to regain their youth, who want to feel like they did when they were budding into manhood..."
Truly extravagant Christmas shoppers might consider buying a 1912 Inter State line automobile, made in Hamilton, Ontario. The 50-horsepower, seven-passenger demi-tonneau and roadster models came fully equipped with electric self-starters and lighting, and cost $4,500. Forty-horsepower roadsters capable of carrying five passengers started at $2,200.
Singing Christmas carols around the piano was a popular form of entertainment in 1911. Fletcher Bros. Ltd. on Hastings Street West advertised Gerhard Heintzman pianos, the same type as were used in 11 local theatres. "Musical people prefer it," the ad assured.
Cunningham's Ltd., on Granville Street, advertised "We can supply any skater or hockey player with the particular skate that suits their fancy... all the latest styles, and a full range of sizes."
In those days, the Vancouver Arena stood on the corner of Denman and Georgia streets. It offered three sessions of ice skating daily, with live band music at the adult-only (ages 17 and up) Saturday afternoon and evening sessions.
Vancouver real estate was booming in 1911, with December setting new records for sales, especially in the "thriving suburban sections." Provincial Land & Financial Corp. Ltd. on Granville Street capitalized on the boom.
"Can you think of a finer Christmas gift than a home?" it asked. "Can you think of any finer Christmas feeling than that of changing from tenant to owner?"
The realtor advertised a two-bedroom home with electric fixtures and a furnace for $3,800. Terms were $200 cash down, another $100 at six months and 12 months, and monthly payments thereafter of $40.
The front page of the Province of Dec. 23 played up the real estate boom, showing a cartoon of a child representing the city of Vancouver getting all sorts of Christmas presents.
The presents included increasing land values; harbour improvements; new railroads; and being named the eighth city in North America, when it came to the number of building permits issued. A beaver, representing the rest of Canada, thinks, "Lucky boy."
In those days, Vancouver was the city that loggers and others who worked in B.C.'s resource industries returned to at Christmas time. But the 200 passengers who boarded the Cheslakee at Rock Bay and other logging camps along the coast spent Christmas Day being seasick, when a storm churned up "heavy seas" that rocked the steamer.
According to the Province, "the Christmas feeling of merriment" soon disappeared. "Seasickness was prevalent and most of the passengers were glad to get ashore... there were some woe-begone faces among those which came down the gangplank [at Vancouver]."
For those who weren't seasick, Christmas dinner at home centered around a bird purchased from the market in New Westminster, which reported a "brisk" business in dressed poultry, turkeys, geese, ducks and chickens, as well as live birds.
For those who preferred to eat out, several local restaurants offered Christmas dinner. The Bismarck Cafe Christmas menu included such delicacies as caviar or oysters or clams on the half shell, clear green turtle soup, and a choice of entrees: chicken, lobster, pork tenderloin, roast turkey with chestnut dressing or lamb with mint sauce. Desserts included traditional English plum pudding with brandy sauce, as well as lemon meringue, peach dumping with rum sauce, or ice cream.
And what Christmas dinner would be complete without a toast? Ads in the local paper featured everything from Pommery Champagne, imported from France, to Burke's Original Brand Guinness stout. The B.C. Wine Company on Pender Street advertised "good cheer" in the form of "scotch, cognac, champagne, old port, sherrie, claret, burgundy, sauternes, [and] liqueurs in great variety."
Some Vancouverites, of course, celebrated to excess. The Province of Dec. 26 reported that the post holiday court was filled with "quite a number of Christmas inebriates." The majority, however, were either allowed out on bail or "lightly dealt with."
