The first time Inspector Vance was called to work on a police investigation was when Clara Millard went missing from her West End home in 1914.
Charles and Clara Millard lived in Vancouver’s West End with their 16-year-old Chinese houseboy, Jack Kong. Charles who was an executive with the Canadian Pacific Railway, was away on business in Victoria, and when he returned home his wife Clara was gone.
Vance determined that the blood found in the house was human, and it quickly transpired that on the morning Clara disappeared, Jack got up and made porridge for Clara Millard. Then he killed her, hacked up her body, and burned it in the furnace.
So, why wasn’t he charged with murder?
The stories for this first series are from my book Blood, Sweat, and Fear: The Story of Inspector Vance (Eve Lazarus, Arsenal Pulp Press, 2017). Vance was one of the first forensic scientists in North America, and during his 42-year-career, helped to solve some of the most sensational murders of the 20th Century. Each episode focuses on one of those cases.
Credits:
- Intro and outro music: Duke Ellington’s St. Louie Toodle
- Background track created by Nico Vettese www.wetalkofdreams.com
- Intro and voice overs: Mark Dunn
Thank you to my first listeners for their feedback and support:
- Mark Dunn
- Tom Carter
- Bill Amos
- Amy Erb
Primary source material: Vancouver Sun, Province, Vancouver News Herald, The World; Inquest into the death of Clara Millard; and the personal files of Inspector John F.C.B. Vance.