The Daring Estevan Robbery
A robbery spree in a small town
The First World War was a difficult time for many. Many families saw fathers, brothers and sons leave Canada to fight in France, some of whom never returned.
If things were not bad enough, in some places like Estevan, there were those who decided they wanted to make things worse.
Such was the case with three men in that Saskatchewan community on Aug. 13, 1917.
It was on that day when Jack Bloomfield, John Yovanovitch and Johnny Brown decided to seek revenge on two former members of their gang, Louise Connors and Percy Manning, who also went by the name Roberts.
The two were a couple, and had decided to steal money from their fellow gangmates and skip town.
The three men followed Manning and Connors to Moose Jaw and then to Midale after hearing he was in the vicinity of that community. As they stepped off the train, they saw Manning board the train and leave for Estevan.
At a hotel in Midale, they located Connors and robbed her of a gold watch, chain, money, revolver, while also cutting a suit owned by Manning to pieces.
Bloomfield remained to guard Connors, while the other men went to Estevan to find Manning. When they did, Manning agreed to drive back to Midale with them.
Deciding to teach their former gangmate a lesson, they stopped the car, got out started to physically assault Manning. They then stole $3,600 that he had on him. If that wasn’t enough, they also stole all of his clothes off his body except for one shoe and one sock.
Having left him sitting naked in the road, they drove for Moose Jaw.
A person driving by in a car found Manning and believed him to be insane, and really, who wouldn’t. He didn’t believe Manning’s story of robbery at first, but did agree to take him into Estevan wrapped in a small rug.
The other men didn’t get far. Bloomfield was arrested in Pasqua, while the other two were captured in Moose Jaw. Connors was also arrested but later released.
The money that the three men took from Manning, $3,600, was never recovered.