The murder of May Rivers

From the archives of the Sault Ste. Marie Public Library:

In 1948, the death penalty was already in the news, with the hanging of Edgar Simons in January. But he was one of two people to face the gallows in Sault Ste. Marie that year.

On July 23, 1948, news broke of a suspected murder in Blind River when a woman was found, “badly beaten up,” and strangled to death. She was mostly undressed, positioned on the bed, and there was a belt tied around her neck. A member of the cleaning staff found her body in the Riverside Hotel, where the rest of the room was a bloody mess of strewn furniture and clothing.

She was quickly identified as May Rivers, a young part-Ojibway woman, and wife of Leonard Rivers. She had been married to him for approximately a year; they had gotten married when she was 19 and he was 17. She already had one child, and gave birth to a second child weeks after the marriage, living in Blind River at this point, she was originally from Garden River.

Her husband, Leonard, was picked up in Sault Michigan, brought in for questioning by police, but released. However, the search ramped up for her brother-in-law, Richard Rivers. Police eventually found him “in the woods of the Mississagi Indian Reserve.”

He had been wandering through the woods for several days, he said, ever since the body was found.

The two had somewhat of a history. May had “gone around with . . . Richard for some time” after first moving to Blind River.

As evidence was gathered and the preliminary trial was run, witnesses came forward. Notably, someone else staying in the hotel recounted hearing a woman crying on the night of the murder. That was followed by a man saying, “Shut up or I’m going to leave,” and then, “If you don’t shut up I’ll make you shut up.”

At this preliminary trial, when Richard was asked if he had questions for the witness – he was not represented by a lawyer at this point – he smiled slightly and asked if the witness was certain about the timing of the conversation he’d heard.

“It must have been later than that if you heard anything,” he said. “There was no rumpus at that time.”

He also began arguing with another witness, the owner of the Riverside Hotel; the crown stepped in to tell him he could ask questions only.

The Sault Star, in its descriptions of Richard, was somewhat flattering, writing that he was “husky, handsome [and] young.” They told of him smiling at the crowd that had gathered to watch the hearing. He smiled and greeted people he knew on his way out of the courtroom – including a broad smile and “half pathetic, half sad” hand wave at a boy who ran to say hello.

Given all of the evidence, it was decided that Richard would stand trial in Sault Ste. Marie for the murder of May Rivers.

Check back next week to find out what happened at the trial . . .

Each week, the Sault Ste. Marie Public Library and its Archives provides SooToday readers with a glimpse of the city’s past.

Find out more of what the Public Library has to offer at www.ssmpl.ca and look for more Remember This? columns here