ONTARIO
In the middle of the night, a farmer in rural Southwestern Ontario is woken by screams coming from a nearby farmhouse. He rushes over to a horrifying scene. His 32-year-old neighbour, George Campbell, has been brutally murdered. George's wife, Phoebe, says two armed intruders attacked him before disappearing into the night, leaving her and their two young children huddled in a corner.
But as investigators search for the killers, the case takes a series of unexpected turns, eventually leading to a shocking truth.
Canadian true crime donates monthly to those facing injustice. This month we have donated to the Foundation for Black Communities (FFBC).
Credits:
Script editing, narration, sound design: Kristi Lee
Audio editor, voice of disclaimer: Erik Krosby
Senior producer: Lindsay Eldridge
Music credits:
Theme song: by We Talk of Dreams
All other music by Blue Dot Sessions and Epidemic Sound
Sources:
Further Listening
The “Black” Donnellys episode - https://www.canadiantruecrime.ca/episodes/59
Archived Newspaper Articles
The Brantford Weekly Expositor, April 12, 1872, Page 2. via Newspapers.com
The Brantford Weekly Expositor, May 24, 1872, p. 2. Via newspapers.com "Mrs. Phoebe Campbell Confesses.”
The Brantford Weekly Expositor, June 21, 1872, Page 2. via Newspapers.com
The Brantford Weekly Expositor, August 11, 1871, p. 2. Via Newspapers.com
Three newspaper clippings concerning the investigationThe British Whig, June 20, 1872, Page 2. via Newspapers.com
The Kingston Whig-Standard, May 21, 1881, p. 2. Via newspapers.com Brief report alleging that Thomas Coyle had died in Colorado and confessed to complicity in George Campbell's murder shortly before his death.
The Hamilton Spectator, April 26, 1872, Page 2. via Newspapers.com
The Hamilton Spectator, June 20, 1872, Page 2. via Newspapers.com
The Hamilton Spectator, July 15, 1871, Page 2. via Newspapers.com
The Hamilton Spectator, August 8, 1871, Page 2. via Newspapers.com
The Hamilton Spectator, October 22, 1872, Page 2. via Newspapers.com
The Montreal Star, June 20, 1872, Page 3. via Newspapers.com
The Montreal Star, October 11, 1872, Page 2. via Newspapers.com
Montreal Weekly Witness Commercial Review and Family Newspaper, February 18, 1880,
Page 1. via BAnQThe Globe and Mail, July 29, 1871, Page 2. via Newspapers.com
The Globe and Mail, August 5, 1871, Page 4. via Newspapers.com
The Sun, August 10, 1871, Page 2. via Newspapers.com
The Sun, August 24, 1871, Page 2. via Newspapers.com
Online Sources
Underground Railroad National Historic Event - Parks Canada
ON stage: Spotlighting the history of theatre in Ontario - Act I: Setting Ontario’s theatre scene in the 1800s - Archives of Ontario
Fact Sheet: Key Historical Facts about Anti-Black Racism and Discrimination in Canada - Government of Canada Justice website
Library and Archives Canada. Census of Canada, 1871. Background, schedules, and surviving census records. 1871 Census research guide
Middlesex County (2020). Cultural Heritage Evaluation Report and Heritage Impact Assessment: Thorndale Bridge,
Backhouse, Constance B. (1988). Married Women's Property Law in Nineteenth-Century Canada. Law and History Review, 6(2), 211–257. Historical analysis of married women's legal and economic rights.
Inwood, Kris, and Sarah Van Sligtenhorst (2004). The Social Consequences of Legal Reform: Women and Property in a Canadian Community. Continuity and Change, 19(1), 165–197. Study of property ownership and legal reforms in nineteenth-century Guelph, Ontario.
Background
Publications
Castex, Jean-Claude (2022). Crimes & Punishments of Canadian Women, Book One, Chapter 1 - A Long Howl in the Darkness: The Phoebe Campbell Murder Case (1871)
Segrave, Kerry (2008) Women and Capital Punishment in America, 1840-1899: Death Sentences and Executions in the United States and Canada
History of the County of Middlesex, Canada. Historical county publication