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By James Montagnes
EVENTEEN years after Ambrose
J. Small, 53-year-old millionaire
theater magnate, walked out of
his Toronto Grand Opera House,
S
homeward bound, on Dec. 2, 1919, Ca
nadian courts were still trying to find
out why he did not come home to din
ner as he had promised his wife Theresa
he would only a few hours earlier.
As the 17th anniversary of Small’s
disappearance came around, ,Ontario’s
Supreme Court Justice N. Jeffrey was
summing up the latest legal wrangle
about Small’s two-million dollar estate.
Small had long ago been declared dead
by Canadian courts. His wife had died
on Oct. 14, 1935. His two sisters, Ger
trude and Mary Florence, were fighting
for possession of the estate left by
Theresa Small to charities. They placed
their case on the strength of a “confes
sion” allegedly signed by Mrs. Small.
Patrick Sullivan, one-time publisher
of Toronto’s weekly tabloid Thunderer,
had brought the Small sisters the type
written “confession.” It was signed T.
Small, and stated that Theresa Small
was responsible more than any other
person for Small’s death. The docu
ment stated that Small was murdered
and parts of his body were cremated in
the Grand Opera House furnace.
Before Justice Jeffrey there was told
a weird and contradictory story.
Mrs. Ambrose J. Small, with whom
the Misses Small had not been on good
terms, came one November afternoon in
1929 to their home. The two spinster
sisters of the missing millionaire were
out, but Mrs. Small found Pat Sullivan
in the house, as well as a painter, Bert
G. Brown. Witnessed by Sullivan and
Brown. Mrs. Small signed the typewrit-
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Mrs. Ambrose Small, whose itrance
“confession” was ruled a forgery.
ten confession of a page and a half,
and took it away with her.
Sullivan said that the confession was
to be given the Small sisters after Mrs.
Small’s death.
ASKED in court why, knowing that
Mrs. Small had signed the confes
sion, he had let her go away with it, he
said, “Because had I taken it away by
force and called the police, she may
have said I forced her to sign it.” Why,
asked counsel and the court, did Sulli
van or Brown, or the Small sisters who
had been told on their return home of
the document’s existence, not notify
the police? Why, if they were so anx
ious to have the disappearance of Am
brose Small cleared up, had they not
come forward earlier, while Mrs. Small
was still alive?
To which the answer was—they were
afraid Mrs. Small might destroy the
confession. Brown “felt kind of sheep
ish” about the confession; Sullivan an
swered that he “had no proof."
To corroborate the confession, the
Small sisters called on witnesses who
said they had heard loud talk in the
Grand Opera House furnace room, had
heard threats that Small would be
killed, and his body thrown in the fur
nace.
A newspaper reporter said he had
been to interview Mrs. Small some
years after her husband's disappear
ance, and her theory then was that
Small had beer, accidentally killed in
a fight with his secretary, his body taken
down come back stairs in the Opera
House.
Florence Small tried to show that
Ambrose and his wife had not got along
well, that Ambrose had told her he
had to lock his bedroom at night and
put a dresser up against it for safety,
that he had made a new will in 1912
Two newsboys re
member having seen
Small after he left
\ his office. Since then,
hi ■ disappearance
has left no clew.
in which his sisters were taken care of.
That will has never been found.
Argument was made of the fact that
two sisters of the late Mrs. Small had
witnessed Small’s will in 1903 in which
he left all his money to his wife, a
year after their marriage. He had been
the wealthiest bachelor in Toronto.
Handvmting experts were called in to
show that the 1903 will was a forgery,
though it had been sustained by the
court in 1924 as Small’s last will and
testament. The Small sisters tried to
show through these experts, nearly all
teachers of writing in Toronto schools,
that the same hand which had written
the will had written the signature on
the confession.
AFTER two weeks of this evidence,
after hearing from the Ontario
provincial police that the Small case
was closed as far as they wer% con
cerned, Justice Jeffrey read his verdict
for 80 minutes. He found the alleged
confession a forgery, the 1903 Ambrose
Small will genuine.
So came to a close another stage in
the battle for the theatrical estate of
the boy who grew up in a saloon, went
into the theater, advanced to become
treasurer, then owner of Toronto’s larg
est theater, bought theaters in various
parts of Canada, and by la 19 had built
a chain he sold for nearly $2,000,000
the day he disappeared.
That day, Dec. 2, 1919, the syndicate
purchasing his theaters came from
Montreal to Toronto with a marked
check for $1,000,000. Final details were
smoothed out, and shortly before noon
his wife deposited the check in the
bank. She had been needed at the
office to sign some of the papers, as
she had ownership in some of the
properties.
It was a big day in Ambrose Small’s
life. He and his wife had lunch. They
went to visit a children’s home they
supplied with financial assistance, then
parted to have dinner at home.
Ambrose Small photographed at the
old-fashioned desk in h!s office.
Theresa went home; Ambrose to his
office, where he had an appointment
for 4 o’clock with his lawyer. Till 5:30
he remained in his office with the law
yer, E. F. Flock, whom he could not
persuade to come for dinner, as Flock
lived in London, Ontario, and wanted
to catch the last train home that eve
ning.
From then on the accounts vary. John
Doughty, secretary to Ambrose Small,
said he (Doughty) left the office about
5:30, without seeing Small. Acquaint
ances stated in court they had seen
Small in the hotel next door shortly
after 5:30, as was his habit. Two news
boys said they sold him a newspaper
about 7 p. m., but they were not sure
if it was Dec. 2 or Dec. 1. Ambrose
Small did not come home for dinner.
The Grand Opera House has long
been torn down, its furnace gone. A
few weeks after Small’s disappearance
a dump not far from his home was
explored because someone had reported
seeing a car with two men and another
asleep in the back seat driving that
way. The Rosedale dump has been
systematically dug up by police, ama
teur detectives, Boy Scouts, and private
investigators. No remains have ever
been found. The dump is no more.
For years after his disappearance
there were bitter wrangles as to what
share of the estate the sisters would
have. Finally it was settled out of court,
and $200,000 deposited in court, the in
terest of which has gone to Gertrude
and Florence Small. Now, like all the
rest of the estate, the principal, on the
death of the sisters, will go to the Cath
olic church and to charities, to which
Theresa Small gave much in her life
time. Only small bequests were made
to individuals in the will left by the
widow.
But the case is not finished yet. The
evidence in the last round resulted in
Toronto police announcing that some
arrests, probably for perjury, would be
made. And so Toronto waits to see
when the finish will be written to the
fiction-like mystery of the millionaire
who failed to come for dinner on the
biggest financial day of his life.