Bandits & Renegades: Historical True Crime Stories: A Crimes Canada Special Edition. [Vol. 14

Historic Canada is often thought to be dull and peaceful compared to the 'Wild West' of the United States, but Edward Butts reveals that 'Wild North' Canada had its own share of murder and mayhem, pirates, terrorists and gunslingers. True Stories Inside the Book Patty Cannon: Devil Woman Eddie Guerin The Man From Devil's Island Clan-na-Gael Attack on the Welland Canal Henry Wagner Pirate of the Georgia Strait Old Creepy The Saga of Alvin Karpis Georges Lemay Tunnel Man ----- Some Canadian-born criminals even made their way to the United States, like 19th century female serial killer and slave dealer Patty "Devil Woman" Cannon who kidnapped free African Americans for the slave trade or Depression-era 'Public Enemy' bank robber Alvin "Creepy" Karpis from the Ma Barker Gang. Bandits & Renegades shows us the hidden dark side of Canada's past. WITH PHOTOS Bandits & Renegades presents some of the most unusual true crime stories in the annals of crime. Canadians take pride in the knowledge that, in the dark days of slavery in the American South, their country was the land of freedom for people fleeing bondage by way of the Underground Railroad. However, it is a little-known anomaly of history that a Canadian-born woman named Patty Cannon not only hunted down escaping slaves for reward money, but kidnapped both free and enslaved black people who were subsequently sold to distant plantations. Canadian high school students learn of the Fenian invasions of 1866, when pro-Irish nationalists tried to make Canada a pawn in their struggle for Ireland?s independence from British rule. Few Canadians know of Clan-an-Gael, who in 1900, sought to resurrect the Fenian cause by blowing up the Welland Canal. Canada?s Atlantic coast was a notorious haven for pirates in the 17th and 18th centuries; and in the 19th century outlaws robbed trains and stagecoaches, and rustled cattle in Western Canada. Then in the early 20th century, a desperado named Henry Wagner combined piracy and brigandage to prey on victims along the coast of Vancouver Island. A string of the Depression Era bank robbers of the 1930s had the dubious distinction of being marked by the FBI as Public Enemy Number One: John Dillinger, Pretty Boy Floyd, and Baby Face Nelson. Alvin?Creepy? Karpis, a career criminal who was next on the FBI?s most wanted list, was a Canadian. Quebec?s Georges Lemay, who pulled one of the biggest bank burglaries in Canadian history, and was a suspect in the mysterious disappearance of his beautiful young wife, was also an elusive fugitive whose run from the law made him a folk hero. These six stories make Bandits & Renegades: Historical True Crime Stories a must read for anyone with an interest in true crime "Bandits & Renegades presents some of the most unusual true crime stories in the annals of Canadian crime."-- Adapted from page [4] of cover