The Donnelly Bridge in Franklin Township

This Franklin Township bridge, was found on a post card post marked 1917.

It is speculated that this bridge's replacement will be found near 860-Route 209, formerly Rowe Road.  That is the road leading south-west from Franklin Centre to the Franklin Custom's border crossing.  The exact location would be where the Outarde (Canada Goose) River crosses Route 209.  There is quite a deep gully there.  I believe that a taxi driver was found killed down in this gully sometime during the 1950's. The buildings in the background would belong to the Edmund Sproule farm in the 1950's & 60's.  The picture would be taken with a view toward the west, while showing the south side of the bridge.  It appears that the picture was taken in or before 1917.






Text side of the post card. The card is post marked 20 September 1917. This mail was received by John Pennnington & wife Ida Adams.

Source: J. W. Adams, E-mail, 24 JA 2001.

Source: J. W. Adams, E-mail.

Same bridge. Photo taken by C. G. Lamb on 13 August 2006. 9:49 AM. South-east view.





Same bridge. Photo taken by C. G. Lamb on 13 August 2006. 9:49 AM. South-east view.





Same bridge. Photo taken by C. G. Lamb on 13 August 2006. 9:49 AM. South-east view.

Following is a description of an unfortunate event associated with the above bridge.

TWO SUSPECTS HELD IN HUNTINGDON MURDER AND BANK ROBBERY AT ORMSTOWN, QUE.

Murder of a Huntingdon, Que., taxi driver and hold-up of the Ormstown, Que., bank held residents of that area in high-tension this week. Two suspects, Gervin Patenaude and Kenny Bevin of Ormstown, believed to be between 18 and 20 years old, are being held in both cases after they were found by police in an Ormstown barn Tuesday about noon, submitting to arrest and surrendering their guns without resistance.

The dead taxi driver was Lucien Brunette, 34, married and father of six children. His body was found shortly after noon Tuesday under Donnelly's bridge, 16 miles from Huntingdon, at a spot, police said, which was pointed out by the two suspects. He had been missing since Sunday night about ten o'clock when he left home to answer a taxi call. His blood-stained taxi-cab had been found a few hours before in an abandoned barn seven miles southeast of Huntingdon.

The bank hold-up at Ormstown in which two armed robbers obtained a reported $1300., occurred at about 12:30 p. m. Monday. The two robbers entered the bank and after taking the money from the-teller at gunpoint, lined up the three bank employees facing a wall with their hands raised. Escaping in a taxicab the driver of which they commanded also at gun point they first started for Montreal but changed their minds and after turning back got out at Anderson's Corners, giving the taxidriver $100 "to keep his mouth shut."

Patenaude and Bevin have been taken to Montreal by police for questioning.

Source: The Chateaugay Record,Thursday, December, 15, 1949, Front Page.




The R.C.M.P., Quebec Provincial Police and New York State Police joined forces in a concentrated search for two young farmhands, believed connected with an $800 bank robbery and with the disappearance of a Huntingdon taxi driver.

The farmhands, both 18 years old, were identified by police as Kenneth Bevin and Gervin Patenaude, both of Huntingdon, a small community 48 miles southwest of Montreal on the Quebec- New York border near Malone.

Chief Immigration Patrol Inspector David J. Benjamin of Ogdensburg received word Wednesday that the fugitives had been apprehended in a hay-loft on the Canadian side and that the body of the missing taxi driver also had been discovered.

He is believed to have been slain and the two youths are being held in connection with the alleged crime, Chief Benjamin was advised.

Det.-Lieut. Marcel Patenaude said Monday night there was "a strong possibility of murder" in connection with the disappearance of Lucien Brunette, 34-yearold Huntingdon cabbie, missing since last Sunday.

His cab was found Monday by his brother, Leo, in a barn off the lonely road between Huntingdon and Ormstown, 10 miles away. A puddle of blood was found on the ground near the car.

Investigators reported finding a blood-soaked shirt in the room occupied Dec. 10 by Patenaude and Bevin in the farmhouse of Patenaud's father, Elmer.

Lieut. Patenaude said the youths were also wanted for questioning in connection with Monday's holdup of the Ormstown branch of the Canadian Bank of Commerce.

Taxi-driver William Hooker of Ormstown. told police the bank robbers rushed from the bank, jumped into his cab and forced him at gunpoint to drive them from the village.

They made him drive as far as the Mercier Bridge, leading into Montreal, and then told him to drive back a few miles to Rockburn, where they jumped from the car and fled into the woods.


Valleyfield, Que. — (CP) — Two pastyfaced young farmhands were arraigned here Dec 14 on murder charges arising from the grisly hammer-slaying of Lucien Brunette, 34-year-old taxidriver. A coroner's jury Tuesday night in Huntingdon. Que., found Gavin Patenaude and Kenny Bevin both l8, "criminally responsible" for the death of Brunette, whose battered body was found Tuesday on the edge of a brook near the Quebec-New York State border.

The two boys, both armed, later were captured by police in the hay-loft of a barn where they had taken refuge.<

Admit Their Crime

Both Patenaude and Bevin. testified at Tuesday night's inquest that they had beaten Brunette with a hammer last Sunday night and had robbed him of $40.

Brunette had been missing since Sunday and it was late Monday afternoon that a bank robbery touched off a big police search which led to the youth's arrest. Quebec Provincial Police and New York State police scoured the area along the border after the bank at Ormstown, Que. was robbed at gunpoint of $800.

?? if the boys would be charged with the hold-up of the Canadian Bank of Commerce Branch. They told the coroner's jury at the inquest that they had robbed bank.

Patenaude described events which led to the slaying and later, the bank robbery. He said he and Bevin borrowed a hammer from a service station here and then called several taxi owners before hiring Brunette's cab. They ordered him to drive to Franklin Centre. 115 miles from here, Patenaude said.

Beaten About Head

Shortly before they arrived there, he added, he and Bevin beat Brunette about the head and dumped his bedy at the edge of the brook.

The following day- they- went to Montreal and purchased pistol shells from a St. Catharines Street sports shop, returning to Ormstown by taxi.

Patenaude told the jury they commandeered the cab of Bill Hooker of Ormstown after robbing the bank and gave Hooker $100 "to keep quiet."

The youthful farm workers then spent the night in a barn not far from here and were trapped in the hay loft by police after a hired man reported he was tipped $5 apiece by two youths to "keep his mouth shut."

Source: The Ogdensburg Advance-News, Sunday December 18, 1949, Page 9.

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This page was last updated:   25 October 2006