The Story of a Dark Plot

In Short

The Story of a Dark Plot is a non-fiction exposure of the criminal lengths to which the late nineteenth-century Canadian liquor trade went to protect its interests. The narrative centers on W. W. Smith, a Canadian Pacific Railway agent and president of the local Dominion Alliance, who is brutally assaulted in his sleep by a hired gunman acting for illegal hotel keepers. Chronicling Smith’s ambush, the conspirators' escape attempt across the American border, his controversial firing by his employer, and a deeply compromised trial, the book serves as an urgent plea for national prohibition.

The Story

The book documents the true account of an attempt on the life of W. W. Smith, a railway station agent in Sutton Junction, Quebec, who also serves as the president of the Brome County Branch of the Dominion Alliance. Operating as an outspoken advocate for the prohibition movement, Smith incurs the wrath of local hotel owners and bootleggers by actively assisting in the legal prosecution of illicit liquor sellers in the region.

In the early morning hours of July 8, 1894, while resting on a sofa during an overnight shift at the station, Smith is struck on the head with a heavy piece of lead pipe by a hired thug named Kelly. Kelly had been imported from Massachusetts by a ring of local hotel keepers—including men named Jenne, Howarth, and Wilson—to terrorize or eliminate the station agent who was disrupting their illegal shipments. Though left severely injured, Smith survives the attack.

When law enforcement uncovers the plot, the local instigators panic and flee across the United States border to avoid extradition, leaving their hired accomplice behind. Kelly is eventually arrested in Massachusetts, waives extradition, and delivers a full confession detailing how he was recruited, fed lies about Smith, and promised $150 to execute the assault—a payment withheld because he failed to "finish his job."

The aftermath of the violent attack shifts from physical retaliation to corporate and judicial maneuverings. The liquor interest retaliates by filing false complaints against Smith with his employer, the Canadian Pacific Railway (C.P.R.), alleging that he uses his official position to monitor incoming freight for alcohol shipments. Despite Smith’s clear denial and fifteen years of faithful service, the C.P.R. assistant superintendent, F. P. Brady, suspends and ultimately dismisses him. The company defends its actions through Assistant General Manager Thomas Tait, arguing that employees cannot publicly take active, controversial sides on community issues without damaging the company’s commercial interests—a stance the temperance movement strongly condemns as corporate wage-slavery to the liquor lobby.

When the case finally reaches trial, local public opinion is fiercely divided. Despite Kelly's detailed testimony and confession implicating the hotel proprietors, the initial jury dishonorably refuses to convict, earning a public rebuke from the judge. Facing a retrial, the conspirators ultimately plead guilty, but the court issues a lenient sentence of merely one month in prison. The narrative concludes by framing these dark events within the broader Canadian movement for a Dominion Plebiscite, pointing to a eventual prohibition majority in Brome County as proof that the liquor interest's violence ultimately failed to suppress the temperance cause.

How It Unfolds

The conspiracy takes root Frustrated by local prohibition efforts that disrupt their illicit trade, Brome County hotel keepers plot to eliminate W. W. Smith. They hire an out-of-town bartender named Kelly to travel to Canada and physically assault the station agent.

The strike at Sutton Junction On July 8, 1894, Kelly sneaks into the railway station between one and two in the morning while Smith is sleeping on a sofa. He delivers a heavy blow to Smith's head with a lead pipe, leaving him battered before fleeing the scene.

Flight across the border As law enforcement closes in, local co-conspirators scatter into the United States to avoid Canadian prosecution. Constable Carpenter surrounds several properties and eventually convinces hotel keeper Jenne to return to Canada to face charges alongside the captured gunman.

The corporate retaliation Liquor merchants send false complaints to the Canadian Pacific Railway, alleging Smith uses station records to spy on alcohol shipments. Assistant Superintendent Brady demands an explanation and ultimately fires Smith after fifteen years of service, asserting the company owns its workers' public conduct.

The trial and betrayal of justice Kelly confesses in open court, implicating the ring of hotel keepers who paid for the hit. Despite overwhelming evidence, the local jury initially fails to reach a verdict, though the conspirators eventually plead guilty and receive a lenient one-month jail sentence.

The plebiscite victory The author reflects on the aftermath of the court case and the broader struggle for temperance across Canada. The narrative culminates in the 1898 Dominion Plebiscite, where Brome County voters deliver a strong majority in favor of prohibition, triumphing over the dark plots of the liquor trade.

The People

• W. W. Smith: The central figure of the narrative, a dedicated Canadian Pacific Railway station agent at Sutton Junction and president of the Brome County Branch of the Dominion Alliance. Smith wants to enforce existing prohibition laws and rid his community of illegal liquor sales. Despite facing physical violence, public slander, and the loss of his fifteen-year career, he remains steadfast in his moral principles and refusal to yield to corporate or criminal intimidation.
• Kelly: A imported bartender from Marlboro, Massachusetts, who is hired by the local liquor cartel to assault Smith. Kelly seeks quick financial gain, accepting a promise of $150 to attack an unarmed man in his sleep. After his arrest, he voluntarily confesses, exposing the details of the conspiracy and the cowardice of his employers.
• F. P. Brady: An Assistant Superintendent for the Canadian Pacific Railway who handles Smith’s dismissal. Brady wants to protect the railway’s commercial relationships with regional merchants and eliminate public controversy. In doing so, he acts as an instrument of corporate discipline, dismissing a faithful employee under the guise of neutrality.
• Thomas Tait: The Assistant General Manager of the Canadian Pacific Railway who defends Brady’s decisions in correspondence with temperance leaders. Tait aims to maintain corporate authority over employees' public lives, arguing that active participation in social reform harms the company's business interests.
• Jenne, Howarth, and Wilson: A group of Brome County hotel keepers and illicit liquor sellers who orchestrate the plot against Smith. They seek to preserve their illegal businesses by intimidating law enforcement and temperance advocates, relying on imported violence and flight across the American border to escape accountability.

In Its Own Voice

"He has been assiduous in his duty, and has been threatened several times. These threats did not keep him from actively participating in efforts to secure the conviction recently of several lawbreaking liquor sellers in Brome..."

(A newspaper report detailing W. W. Smith's unwavering commitment to enforcing the law prior to the assault.)

"The claim made by Mr. Smith's employing officer, and practically indorsed by the Company in concurring in this dismissal, is that the Company owns its employees, soul and body, and that they can only fulfill their rights of citizenship at its pleasure."

(An editorial from the Montreal Daily Witness criticizing the Canadian Pacific Railway's rationale for firing Smith.)

"The plot was hatched in a barroom, a liquor seller hired a Marlboro, Mass., bartender to do the 'job,' and he was the guest of hotel keepers while he was spying out the land preparatory to his murderous assault."

(A local commentary describing the deliberate, calculated nature of the conspiracy against Smith.)

What It's Really About

Underneath the local crime report lies an argument about moral citizenship, corporate overreach, and the power of organized interests. The book presents the temperance movement not merely as a debate over alcohol consumption, but as a fight for basic civil liberties against a corrupt industry. By detailing how a major corporation like the Canadian Pacific Railway yielded to the demands of illicit traders, the text explores how wage labor can be weaponized to silence personal conscience and public advocacy. It ultimately frames Smith's suffering as part of an ongoing historic struggle, arguing that civic righteousness requires ordinary individuals to endure persecution to uphold the rule of law.

Why Read It Today

The Story of a Dark Plot offers a fascinating snapshot of late nineteenth-century Canadian social history, workplace politics, and the aggressive tactics of the temperance era. Readers interested in historical true crime, labor history, or social reform movements will appreciate its unvarnished look at frontier justice and corporate power dynamics. The prose carries the earnest, formal rhetoric typical of Victorian reform literature, interwoven with raw news clippings, official correspondence, and court transcripts that ground the drama in primary evidence.

The book's stylistic mix can occasionally feel repetitive, as the author presents multiple editorial reactions and lengthy letters covering the same set of facts. Furthermore, modern readers must navigate the unabashedly partisan tone of a temperance campaign document, complete with stern religious moralizing and fixed period attitudes. Yet despite these formal quirks, the text retains a genuine narrative pull. The detailed accounts of midnight border flights, corporate evasions, and courtroom drama create an authentic picture of a small community torn apart by a conflict over law, conscience, and corporate control.