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The Letter to Lt. Col. F.C. Benwell
Lieutenant Colonel F.C. Benwell was the father of Frederick Benwell.
During the investigation he wrote a letter to the Chief of Police in
Niagara Falls. In his letter he offered another piece of evidence
against Birchall. He claimed that Birchall had instructed his son to
remove his name from all of his belongings in order to pay less duty
when traveling to Canada. Lt. Col. Benwell felt this was an odd
request as he thought marking your belongings would have made
passing through customs
easier.
He also reported that his son had
noticed on the passenger list on the ship he had traveled on with
Birchall and Pelly, that the men’s names were written as Bushell and
Petty.