From The Hamilton Spectator – 24 September 1900.
“Miss Annie Griffin, a young girl employed as a domestic at the residence of E. R. Niblett, 62 Caroline Street South, was murdered in cold blood while driving on the town line road near Waterdown, between nine and ten o’clock last night. The perpetrator of the crime is George Arthur Pearson, the young woman’s sweetheart, and he is now a prisoner in the city jail. He has made a full confession and the charge registered against him on the police records is wilful murder.
The details of the crime are blood-curdling. Pearson and the girl had been keeping company since last Spring, and appeared to be very fond of each other. On Friday evening when they were parting, he suggested they go for a drive Sunday afternoon, and being confined to the house a great deal, she readily gave her consent. About one o’clock yesterday afternoon he went to Sullivan’s livery stable and hired a horse and a rig, and about two o’clock he called at Mr. Niblett’s house for Miss Griffin. They went off together and after visiting the young woman’s parents in Dundas, drove on to Freelton, where they had supper together. They then drove to Carlisle and visited some friends of Pearson’s, after which they started for home. They drove along the town line road towards Waterdown, but the deed was committed before they reached the village.
From information gathered by the police it appears that the young couple were madly in love with each other and had been discussing the advisability of getting married, but came to the conclusion that as Pearson’s wages were not sufficient to keep himself and a wife, that it would be unwise to tie themselves together for life.
The young man had no prospects for the immediate future, and rather than live apart the couple decided to die together. Pearson had a I.X.L. revolver with him, and it was arranged that he should first blow her brains out and then commit suicide. The horse was stopped in the side of the road, Pearson pulled the gun out of his pocket, placed the muzzle to the young woman’s head, pulled the trigger twice and she fell forward dead. He then turned the buggy around and, according to his own story, would have ended his own life had not a farmer come along and scared him. He then threw the revolver over the fence and called to the farmer that a girl had been shot.
Robert Shephard, a farmer who resides on the fourth concession in the township of East Flamborough, a short distance the other side of Waterdown was driving home from church about half-past nine and was the first to learn about the tragedy. When he got within 100 yards of his house he heard a young man calling that somebody had been shot. At first he thought it was somebody trying to fool him and did not pay any attention, but when the words were repeated a second and third time he decided to investigate and pulled up his horse. It was a very dark night and all he could see was a dark object at the side of the road. On getting closer he saw a young man kneeling over the prostrate form of a girl. The young man’s story was that two strangers had driven up fired two shots and then drove on. Seeing that the girl was seriously injured Mr. Shephard hurried to his home and got a lantern and then returned to where the body lay. The young man was still by her side, and together they lifted her lifeless form into Shepherd’s rig and drove to the farm house, where the body was carried in and placed on a sofa. Pearson did not appear to be very much worried over the affair, and after talking a while with Mr. Shephard he accepted an invitation to remain at the house over night and went to bed and was sleeping peacefully when the police arrived on the scene.
As soon as Mr. Shepherd got the body to his house he sent a messenger to Waterdown to summons Dr. McGregor, who at once drove out to the house. Finding that the girl was beyond medical aid the doctor returned to Waterdown and at once notified the Crown Attorney by telephone who then contacted the police.”
This fatal shooting of 18 year-old Annie Griffin by her 20 year-old boyfriend was headline news for all three of Hamilton’s daily newspapers on Monday, September 24, 1900. Over the next few days additional information about the event appeared and The Hamilton Times even delved into George Pearson’s background and character. He was described as “a cigarette fiend” and it was suggested that “the drugs in the cigarettes had affected his weak brain”.
Newspaper accounts tell of the actions taken by the police officers after they were notified. When questioned initially Pearson repeated the story of two strangers shooting Annie Griffin as they went by. Suspicious of the blood found in his rented rig which had been found on the Waterdown Road and taken to the old hotel owned by Mrs. Anderson near the toll gate and his nervousness when interviewed, the police took Pearson to the scene of the tragedy. Although they failed to find the revolver, one of the officers decided that his story was so transparent that he charged Pearson with murder and he later made a full confession.
Less than a month later, the trial of George Pearson for the murder of Annie Griffin was held in the Wentworth County Court House. The defendant made an unsuccessful attempt to plead insanity as the trial began, but in less than an hour the jury returned a verdict that he was guilty.
On December 7, 1900, shortly after 7 a.m., the condemned man was led from the jail across the yard to the building where the gallows had been erected and executed. A statement written by George Pearson was later released to the press in which he warned young people to be aware of the evils of three things, cigarette smoking, strong drink and bad company. Needless to say the Hamilton papers used this as a lesson in morality, particularly for the young people of the city!
© The Waterdown-East Flamborough Heritage Society 1999, 2023.
