Following a murderous path: Charlottetown walking tour to retrace steps in infamous Island killing
'There's always been that question of, were they in fact guilty?'
A group of murder-mystery enthusiasts in Charlottetown is inviting Islanders to retrace the steps taken by two men convicted for murdering an elderly shopkeeper in 1941.
The group, calling themselves the Mystery Gang, has organized a walk based on the route taken by the two men the night of the murder of Peter Trainor.
Trainor was brutally stabbed to death in his butcher shop on the corner of King and Pownal Streets in Charlottetown.
Earl Lund and Fred Phillips were charged and hanged at the Queens County Jail — also called the 1911 jail — for Trainor's murder. Both men went to the gallows denying they did it.
"There's always been that question of, were they in fact guilty?" said group founder Kirstin Lund, who is no relation to Earl Lund.
Her group has spent the past few months searching for new clues into what happened that night nearly 80 years ago. Lund said they've been researching archives, court documents and visiting the men's graves.
Lund said the murder walk is a way for the group to share what it's discovered, and invite others to discuss their own theories about what happened.
"We have the path that the boys took that night from their testimony in court. We know generally the steps that they took. So we're going to take people on those steps and tell the story along the way," Lund said.
"Just give people the opportunity to come to their own conclusions, maybe share their own theories."
Search for the mysterious 'third man'
Lund said Trainor's murder was a story she had heard time and time again growing up and it was always laced with lingering questions of whether the two men were guilty.
"Five different witnesses, including police, saw a mysterious third man," said Lund.
She said it's exciting to think there may be people out there who know who the third man is.
Patti Larsen, a murder-mystery author, has also been helping uncover more details about the 1941 murder. She said she was drawn to the intrigue of this real-life mystery and jumped at the chance to get involved.
"The ability to solve a real-life mystery and dig into it and do the research was very appealing to me," Larsen said.
She said she's been pouring over old news coverage of the murder as well as old maps of the city to get an idea of what the streets looked like at the time. Larsen said she's using all of this information to help recreate that night in 1941 for the upcoming murder walk.
"It was such an interesting journey that they took," said Larsen. "It seemed like a chain of events that was an inevitable walk toward something horrible. It lends itself extremely well to following their path and telling their story."
The mystery continues
Lund said the group will be doing two walks on Oct. 28. Both walks will end at the Haviland Club, she added, where walkers can discuss what they learned and share their own theories about what might have happened that night.
"It's fun to really dig into this and find out what the details are," Lund said.
Lund said the money raised will go toward more research into Peter Trainor's murder and shedding light on other Island mysteries.
"There's still a lot of investigating we want to do," said Larsen. "But again, the story is just so compelling we really want to share."