Ambrose Small

Ambrose Joseph Small (born January 11, 1863 in Bradford, Ontario, vanished December 2, 1919) was a Canadian theatre magnate, who owned theatres in several Ontario towns including the Grand Opera House in Toronto and the Grand Theatre in London, Ontario. More notably, he is a famous Canadian missing person. He disappeared on 2 December, 1919 and his body was never recovered. He was 56 years old. It is alleged that Small's wife and her lover killed Small and cremated his body in the London Ontario Grand Opera theater furnace (ironically, one of Small's holdings). It is further alleged that a police inspector was involved in a "cover-up" of Small's disappearance {See links below}.

Small appears as a major character in the Michael Ondaatje novel "In the Skin of a Lion". The events concerning him in the novel after his disappearance are fictitious.

The disappearance

On December 1, 1919, Ambrose sold all his theatrical holdings, at a profit of $1.7 million CAD. On December 2, Small met with lawyer F. W. M. Flock in Small's office at the Grand Opera House House. Flock left at 5:30 p.m. and was the last person to see Small alive.

That night, Small disappeared from his office. No one who testified for the police claims to have seen him leave his office, or in the Adelaide and Yonge Street area, outside the building. A newsstand operator, Ralph Savein claimed to have seen Small buying a paper at his stand, however this claim was later rebuked by police as an attempt by Savein to get fame from the case.

Small had no motive to disappear; the millionaire didn't take his money with him, nor was there any ransom note, let alone evidence of kidnapping. At fifty-three years old, Ambrose owned theatres in seven Ontario cities, was the controller of sixty-two other buildings, in all a self-made millionaire at the height of his career.

The investigation

Original leads

The police launched an extensive investigation on the disappearance of Ambrose Small. The case remained unsolved, until being officially closed in 1960.

The week of his disappearance, Ambrose's Opera House was playing "Revelations of a Wife", a show that reportedly attracted full houses. Police analyzed the plot and its themes, but found no leads; Small had not chosen this play to provide cryptic hints.

Theresa Small, his wife, suggested that Small had fallen into the hands of a "designing woman"; police found no candidates.

Along with his office, "Amby" had a "private secret room", with its own entrance. The room is said to have been for assignations and the settling of gambling debts. The room was scoured for leads, albeit unsuccessfully.

Holmes to solve case

Toronto reporters contacted Sir Arthur Conan Doyle about the case, when the author was on a New York visit. Doyle showed interest in the case, bringing the headline "World's Greatest Detective to Solve Small Case". In the end, the headline proved to be rather ironic; Doyle decided not to pursue the case.

Use of mystics

Spirit mediums got involved with the case, contacting him or his spirit. They offered a diverse lot of largely improbable reasons for his disappearance. Among their explanations:
* was a victim of amnesia; this would not explain how he got out of his office, and the lack of any early stage of this malady until then.
* had started his life over again in a foreign country; why then would he have not taken the money from his theatre sales, and why would he pursue this, when his career showed no visible or financial weaknesses?
* was abducted by his private secretary; His secretary, John Doughty, did steal $100 000 in bonds from Small after his disappearance but he was caught.
* he was murdered by gamblers; again, they'd want the money before they killed him, and would have to be quite odd to kill him until he complied.
* he was murdered by gangsters; again, they'd want the money before they killed him.
* was burning or burnt in a house in Montreal; this was according to psychic Max A. Langsner of Vienna, who used "thought waves" to "solve" the case in 1928. However, if anyone were to burn the remains of Small's body, why would they wait until nine years later to do so?
* He was chased down a set of stairs by a man younger than him, shot in the back, killed, and was buried underneath an oak tree within walking distance of the theatre.

Other contact stories

* Magician Harry Blackstone, Sr. signed an affidavit reading "On April 8th, 1920, I saw Amby playing roulette in a gambling casino in Juarez, Mexico."
* Ambrose kidnapped and held, alive, in the lime-kilns near Brampton, Ontario
* A man in Wisconsin phoned the police, claiming he was Ambrose. Instead, he was an escaped psychiatric patient.

Hauntings

* Ambrose is believed to haunt the Grand Theatre in London, Ontario, and the Tivoli Theatre in Hamilton, Ontario.

References

* [http://www.dotydocs.com/Archives/yesterday/small.htm Ambrose Small, The Ghost of the Grand Theatre]
* [http://www.prairieghosts.com/ambrose.html Ambrose Small: Among the Missing]
* [http://www.russianbooks.org/small.htm Ambrose Small: Case Closed!]
* [http://www.biographi.ca/EN/ShowBio.asp?BioId=41831 Biography at the "Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online"]
* [http://www.hauntedhamilton.com/gotw_ambrosesmall.html Haunted Hamilton]