Janet Smith Case
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The Janet Smith case concerns the murder of 22-year-old
nursemaid A nursemaid (or nursery maid) is a mostly historical term for a female domestic worker who cares for children within a large household. The term implies that she is an assistant to an older and more experienced employee, a role usually known as ...
Janet Kennedy Smith in
Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...
,
British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...
,
Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...
, on 26 July 1924, and the ensuing suspicions of a
coverup A cover-up is an attempt, whether successful or not, to conceal evidence of wrongdoing, error, incompetence, or other embarrassing information. Research has distinguished personal cover-ups (covering up one's own misdeeds) from relational co ...
.


Background

Janet Smith was born in
Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...
, Scotland, on 25 June 1902 to railway fireman Arthur Mitchell Tooner Smith and Joanna Benzies. The family moved to
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
when she was aged 11. In January 1923, Smith obtained a position taking care of the newborn daughter of Frederick and Doreen Baker. Frederick Baker ran an import-export business. When the family moved, first to
Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
in April, then in October back to Vancouver, Smith accompanied them. The Bakers were among the social elite of Vancouver. They lived on the fashionable West Side. In May 1924, they moved into the house of Frederick's brother, Richard Plunkett Baker, at 3851 Osler, in the exclusive Shaughnessy Heights neighborhood. A Chinese houseboy, Wong Foon Sing, between 25 and 27 years of age (who had arrived in Canada in 1913, leaving his family in
Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...
), soon became infatuated with Smith and gave her presents, such as a silk nightdress. Smith's friends would later testify she had feared him.


Death and lack of an investigation

On 26 July 1924,
Point Grey Point Grey () is a headland marking the southern entrance to English Bay and Burrard Inlet in British Columbia, Canada. The headland is the site of Wreck Beach, Tower Beach, Point Grey Beach and most notably, since 1925, on its top is the Poin ...
Police Constable James Green was called to the house. Wong claimed he had heard a sound that resembled a car backfiring, and then found Smith's body in the basement. The police inspected Smith's body and found a bullet wound in her temple. A .45 caliber revolver lay near her right hand. Green picked up the weapon, which later made it impossible to obtain reliable fingerprints from it. Despite there being no bullet, blood, or brain tissue on the walls, nor powder burns on Smith's face, and it was clear that the back of Smith's head had been smashed in, Green nevertheless concluded that Smith had committed suicide. After an inquest, the Vancouver coroner called it a "self-inflicted, but accidental death." An undertaker was summoned, and instructed by both the coroner and the police to embalm the body. This process eradicated the possibility to obtain further evidence, for instance whether Smith had been sexually assaulted. This was the first time this undertaker had embalmed a victim of a violent death without having conducted a postmortem, however, he did make a note of unexplained burns on Smith's right side. Smith was buried at the Mountain View Cemetery.


Reopening of the case

Smith's friends contacted the recently formed United Council of Scottish Societies, which pressured the provincial government and
Attorney General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general (: attorneys general) or attorney-general (AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have executive responsibility for law enf ...
Alexander Malcolm Manson to reopen the case. The '' Vancouver Star'', a scandal sheet published by Victor Odlum, was quick to pounce on the affair. An additional inducement for Odlum was that an enemy of his, General A. D. McRae, was the father of Frederick Baker's sister-in-law. The body was exhumed on 28 August 1924 and a second inquest held. This time, the jury concluded that Smith had been murdered. Manson appointed a special prosecutor, Malcolm Bruce Jackson. Suspicion immediately fell on Wong, the only other person in the house (other than the Bakers' baby, Rosemary) at the time when the crime had supposedly been committed. The ''Star'' published several articles in late July and early August in which it portrayed Wong as the likely killer.


Proposed legislation

Odlum was an exclusionist and believed that
Asians "Asian people" (sometimes "Asiatic people")United States National Library of Medicine. Medical Subject Headings. 2004. November 17, 200Nlm.nih.gov: ''Asian Continental Ancestry Group'' is also used for categorical purposes. is an umbrella term ...
could not assimilate with Caucasians. He had run on an anti-Asian platform in the 1921 federal election. On 8 August 1924, he published an editorial called "Should Chinese Work with White Girls? He called for legislation to "preserve white girls of impressionable youth from the unnecessary wiles and villainies of low
caste A caste is a Essentialism, fixed social group into which an individual is born within a particular system of social stratification: a caste system. Within such a system, individuals are expected to marry exclusively within the same caste (en ...
yellow men." Popular
Member of the Legislative Assembly A Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) is a representative elected to sit in a legislative assembly. The term most commonly refers to members of the legislature of a federated state or an autonomous region, but is also used for several nation ...
Mary Ellen Smith introduced the "Janet Smith Bill" in November 1924. It would have prohibited employment of Asians and white women in the same household. The '' Vancouver Province'' pointed out such a rule would violate the Anglo-Japanese Treaty of 1911 (which prohibited discriminatory legislation against the Japanese) and that the British Columbia legislature did not have the authority to pass it. It failed after the second reading.


Kidnapping

Interest gradually died down until, on 20 March 1925, Wong Foon Sing was kidnapped by a group of men dressed in
Ku Klux Klan The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to KKK or Klan, is an American Protestant-led Christian terrorism, Christian extremist, white supremacist, Right-wing terrorism, far-right hate group. It was founded in 1865 during Reconstruction era, ...
robes. They proceeded to torture their captive for six weeks, trying to elicit a confession, but Wong refused to cooperate. He was finally released on 1 May 1925. A scandal developed, as it became known "two Point Grey police commissioners, the chief of police, a detective sergeant, and three prominent officials of the city's Scottish societies" were among the kidnappers. The group had also enlisted the translation services of Wong Foon Sien (no relation to the accused Wong Foon Sing), whose participation elicited outrage amongst both Chinese Canadians and Anglophones in the community because he had already been working for a detective agency investigating the case at the same time. One man pleaded guilty on the charge of kidnapping. A detective and his son were also convicted, but the jury gave a "strong recommendation of mercy" for both. The Point Grey policemen were acquitted, and the government controversially barred prosecution of the others. As it turned out, Manson knew where Wong was being held, but did nothing about it, hoping that the torture would successfully solve the case. Instead, Manson's career was severely damaged by the revelation of his inaction.


Trial

In September 1925, Wong's tribulations continued, as he was put on trial for Smith's murder. In October, the case was thrown out of court due to lack of evidence and Wong continued to work for the Bakers. In 1926, he left the country and returned to his native Hong Kong.


Other suspects

Among several other theories which gained popularity at the time was a rumor that Smith had been raped and murdered during a wild party at the Baker house by wealthy playboys, who then bribed the authorities to cover it all up.


Bibliography

*Starkins, Ed (1984). ''Who Killed Janet Smith?'' Gage Distribution Co.


See also

* List of unsolved murders


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Janet 1924 in British Columbia 1920s murders in Canada 1924 crimes in Canada 1924 murders in North America Burials at Mountain View Cemetery (Vancouver) Female murder victims July 1924 in North America Unsolved murders in Canada People murdered in British Columbia Violence against women in British Columbia