An Otterville Sensation: The Mysterious Death of Henry Vansickle

Was hotel-keeper Henry Vansickle murdered? Read on to learn about the mysterious death of Henry Vansickle which caused a sinister stir in the small village of Otterville in the 1880s.

By Liz Dommasch, Archivist

Ethel [Amy or Ann] Lister and Henry Vansickle married on March 3, 1880, and settled in the Village of Otterville where Henry operated a hotel. In the course of his business, Vansickle engaged the services of a bartender named Robert Pearce. According to the Woodstock Sentinel-Review, “[h]e was a young man, possessing a good figure, pleasant manners and rather taking in appearance”. He had also apparently “acquired such intimacy with the young wife that they indulged in buggy rides and similar amusements together”. All went along merrily enough, until the evening of November 19, 1883, when Henry Vansickle took suddenly ill and died the same evening.

Now although there were initially suspicions of foul play, nothing was heard of the matter until the following year when interest in the case was revived through a conversation held by a young man named James Donaldson with Mr. Alexander McFarlane, Reeve of North Oxford Township. The result of this conservation led Nathan Vansickle, the brother of the deceased, to proceed to Woodstock to lay information before G.C. Field, Police Magistrate. Upon the authority of this, a warrant was issued for the arrest of Pearce and Mrs. Vansickle, and this was placed in the hands of Constable Tisdale, of Otterville, for execution.

However, while this was unfolding another event had occurred. It seems that “Pearce had continued his attention to the widow with such acceptance” that the two were wed in Woodstock by Rev. W. Williams on May 13, 1884. They had only arrived in Otterville in order to depart on the bridal tour when their honeymoon was abruptly halted and they were arrested by Constable Tisdale. They were subsequently brought to Woodstock and placed in the County Gaol until evidence could be provided before the Magistrate.

According to James Donaldson, who was once a boarder at the hotel, Mr. Vansickle was perfectly well the day of his death when he left at noon, but when he arrived home for tea at 6 o’clock he was informed by Mrs. Vansickle that her husband was unwell. Donaldson helped Pearce and Mrs. Vansickle put Mr. Vansickle to bed and claimed that the man was purplish in the face, his lips and his tongue were swollen as he could not speak. He noted that Vansickle motioned he wanted a drink and Pearce went downstairs and returned with a glass of whiskey, which he refused to drink. Mrs. Vansickle returned with a glass of water, which her husband ultimately drank.

Now the story, as written in the newspaper at the time, gets a bit muddled and sinister as Donaldson notes that on the day of Vansickle’s death, Vansickle and Pearce had gotten into a fight. He also noted that a few nights before his death, Vansickle and his wife had a spat, which apparently led Pearce to say that “the old man is a nuisance”. He also claimed that Pearce previously tried to coax him into going to Norwich or Simcoe to buy croton oil which they could give Vansickle, which he refused to do. Finally, he also claimed that he had seen Mr. Pearce on another previous occasion place a mixture in Vansickle’s drink. Finally, to add to further suspicion, a local rumour started that claimed some substance which the deceased vomited before his death, “was thrown out on the street, and in turn, a dog which partook of some of it died from the effect.”

Return of Prisoners list from the Oxford County Gaol (jail) for April 1 to June 30, 1884. Robert Pearce and Ethel Pearce are listed for the charge of murder.

On May 24, 1884, Mr. and Mrs. Pearce (former Mrs. Vansickle) were up before the Police Magistrate, charged with having poisoned Harry Vansickle. Dr. Collver testified to having attended Vansickle a little over a month before his death, giving the symptoms of his case. He had an acute attack of chronic inflammation of the larynx, with ulceration and it was of his opinion that Vansickle died from a spasm of the glottis at the opening of the larynx. Dr. Beard was called to the stand, and he agreed that death might have readily resulted by what Dr. Collver supposed, though he had never treated or seen the deceased. Ultimately, it was felt that traces of poison, other than arsenical, could not be detected at this late date and the prisoners were discharged.

Following the case, Mr. and Mrs. Peace left Canada and settled in Michigan. Little is known of their lives there, though according to documents found on Ancestry, they had two children. In 1902, Ethel appeared to have filed for divorce, due to extreme cruelty. However, at the time of her death on January 13, 1908, they were still listed as married.

Image credits:

Woodstock Sentinel-Review news article. – 23 May 1884.

Return of Prisoners list from April 1^st, 1884 to June 30^th, 1884. RG2 Series 6A Box 1 #34.8.