Caroline Finley Windsor 7, was at 30 3rd Ave. in Verdun spending Friday July 27, 1951 at her grandparents house across the street from her home.Her grandma Rolande Milmine was visiting grandpa at the Veterans Hospital so her aunt Dorothy instructed her to go play at the neighbour's house while she ran some errands.
When she returned only Edwin Yule, 23, a man the family occasionally allowed over to eat meals, was there alone.When little Caroline asked for her granny, Yule told the child that she was in the living room.
Yule followed young Caroline, took her by the throat and then proceeded to do what is described as "revolting" things to her.
He feared she would report him so he decided to end her life. He kicked her in the head and then went to get knives from the kitchen. One broke when he used it on her and then he returned and got another knife and killed the child.
The blood-soaked Yule then walked to Lasalle Boulevard and told passersby what he had just done.
Verdun police officer Walter Daniels was summoned and Yule, not knowing the address of the home, accompanied the officer to the scene of his grisly child murder.***
Yule was an orphan committed to an insane asylum at the age of 16. He escaped three times, so he was transferred to an adult insane asylum where he spent five years.
After Yule killed Caroline Windsor, a judge declared him insane and sent him back to the Protestant insane asylum in Verdun.
Newspaper reports identified the child's father as Harvey Windsor but his correct name was likely Henry Giles Windsor, a cabinet maker who lived across the street at 163 Third Ave, according to Lovell's directory. Milmine remains a common name in Verdun.
***
Yule returned to prominence 14 years later when he escaped from the asylum in the fall of 1965.
The event forced police to make a decision. There are two approaches to policing. One is to reassure the public that police are competent, have everything under control and equipped to take care of everything. This approach allows the public to remain calm.
The other route is to inspire some level of panic, which is handy in increasing police budgets and public status.
Yale's escape led Quebec police, for the first time, to issue a top 10 Most Wanted list of dangerous criminals to be published in newspapers in September 1965.
Number one on that Most Wanted list? The five-foot-six, 157 pound Edwin Yale.
By October 8 1965 the 37-year-old Yale was back in custody after being located in a Montreal restaurant.
He was never heard from again and if still alive he'd be almost 90.
Many others on Quebec's first-ever 10 Most Wanted list were swiftly apprehended as well, as an intensified relationship between the public and police began bearing fruits, one which continues to this days with help of such excellent organizations as Info-Crime.
One tantalizing footnote concerning the name Edwin Yale is made possible through the stupendously amazing BANQ newspaper search engine. (bottom box). In May 1971 a man named Ronald Edwin Juchniewicz of 6805 Viau changed his name to Ronald Edwin Yule. Why someone would choose to name themselves after one of Quebec's most horrific criminals remains a mystery.