CANADA Canada - Richard Marlow, 9, Etobicoke, Ont, 18 Jan 1944

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Sophi3 said:
Well, it may send you down a rabbit hole! I'll try to summarize, see if you find it intriguing lol.

4 Years after Richard disappeared, a young emaciated boy first said to be 14, which is how old Richard would have been, showed up at a farmers door on Browns Line. A principal later identified him as Gordon Kelly but no record of him in the schools and he later thought he maybe was wrong. He said he was held captive by an older couple, the Smiths who lived in a big white house in Summerville and were in the Cooksville area prior to that. He said they locked him away, abused him and made him do heavy chores etc. Let him on the porch one day, and he took off.

Smiths acted weird, got a lawyer, claimed were his foster parent and his mother gave him to her at a month old and used to live in the Keele and Eglington area. Smiths well known and liked by the CAS years prior, they used to take in children with disabilities while Orillia was overcrowded but in 1946 remaining kids were take from the home and they have no record of a Gordon Kelly, suggesting maybe a private arrangement. The house he was discovered a gave him a meal and a sweater and called police who took him to the childrens aid shelter.

Richards mother went to visit him to see if it was Richard but because he was in such bad shape she couldn't tell and the boy did not seem to recall names like Richard and peewee. She asked about the scar he had and officials said he did not have one but once getting a haircut, they would double check. Then the child went to Toronto Psychiatric Hospital to be evaluated, courts were trying to figure out what to do and he ended up being sent to the Orillia hospital and that's the last information on him. Richards mother tried to see him again with her husband at the Toronto psychiatric hospital and the doctor refused saying police had to accompany them. They were not satisfied they got a proper opportunity to identify the boy for sure, claiming they would seek legal advice, then things get quiet.

Oh and they first said he was 14, then 19, then a 23 year old with dwarfism.

I normally write better than this I apologize lol just trying to give the gist and gloss over all points quick. Hope it made a least a little sense! I have went down some paths with this one lol theres a lot of flipping and flopping of information
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And I have pulled every article I could find on it
 
Sophi3 said:
Well, it may send you down a rabbit hole! I'll try to summarize, see if you find it intriguing lol.

4 Years after Richard disappeared, a young emaciated boy first said to be 14, which is how old Richard would have been, showed up at a farmers door on Browns Line. A principal later identified him as Gordon Kelly but no record of him in the schools and he later thought he maybe was wrong. He said he was held captive by an older couple, the Smiths who lived in a big white house in Summerville and were in the Cooksville area prior to that. He said they locked him away, abused him and made him do heavy chores etc. Let him on the porch one day, and he took off.

Smiths acted weird, got a lawyer, claimed were his foster parent and his mother gave him to her at a month old and used to live in the Keele and Eglington area. Smiths well known and liked by the CAS years prior, they used to take in children with disabilities while Orillia was overcrowded but in 1946 remaining kids were take from the home and they have no record of a Gordon Kelly, suggesting maybe a private arrangement. The house he was discovered a gave him a meal and a sweater and called police who took him to the childrens aid shelter.

Richards mother went to visit him to see if it was Richard but because he was in such bad shape she couldn't tell and the boy did not seem to recall names like Richard and peewee. She asked about the scar he had and officials said he did not have one but once getting a haircut, they would double check. Then the child went to Toronto Psychiatric Hospital to be evaluated, courts were trying to figure out what to do and he ended up being sent to the Orillia hospital and that's the last information on him. Richards mother tried to see him again with her husband at the Toronto psychiatric hospital and the doctor refused saying police had to accompany them. They were not satisfied they got a proper opportunity to identify the boy for sure, claiming they would seek legal advice, then things get quiet.

Oh and they first said he was 14, then 19, then a 23 year old with dwarfism.

I normally write better than this I apologize lol just trying to give the gist and gloss over all points quick. Hope it made a least a little sense! I have went down some paths with this one lol theres a lot of flipping and flopping of information
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Thank you! So I had in fact heard the first part of the story, but never the ending! How very strange that they changed his age so much and then refused to let Richard's parents see him. Didn't they want him to be identified! I wonder whatever happened to Gordon Kelly...I pray he didn't spend his whole life in a psychiatric hospital!
 
Ciriii57 said:
Thank you! So I had in fact heard the first part of the story, but never the ending! How very strange that they changed his age so much and then refused to let Richard's parents see him. Didn't they want him to be identified! I wonder whatever happened to Gordon Kelly...I pray he didn't spend his whole life in a psychiatric hospital!
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Your very welcome!

There are many bits and pieces to the story but I think I glossed over it well, that hospital has a dark past. It was decided he would go there, receive training in gardening (with many of those hospitals tended to use as an activity often), the he is off the grid. I have photos from articles too and spent time examining them but who really knows. I have been chatting with someone who maybe able to tell me for sure. But the kids is gone and the Marlows were refused to see him again without police. Maybe for the child's safety, but when you really look through the details, its all quite strange
 
Sophi3 said:
Your very welcome!

There are many bits and pieces to the story but I think I glossed over it well, that hospital has a dark past. It was decided he would go there, receive training in gardening (with many of those hospitals tended to use as an activity often), the he is off the grid. I have photos from articles too and spent time examining them but who really knows. I have been chatting with someone who maybe able to tell me for sure. But the kids is gone and the Marlows were refused to see him again without police. Maybe for the child's safety, but when you really look through the details, its all quite strange
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I certainly don't know all the details but even the basics sound strange. So he literally just disappears from this hospital? Since they thought he was 23 (hmmm) he was an adult so he'd need to have had some mental issues to be kept in...although back in the day that was not always the case was it?!

It's unfortunately a very common name to try and trace as well. I hope your contact may provide some final answers for these two, perhaps connected, cases!

Did you ever see a photo of Gordon Kelly, if so, what did you think? Was it Richard?
 
Ciriii57 said:
I certainly don't know all the details but even the basics sound strange. So he literally just disappears from this hospital? Since they thought he was 23 (hmmm) he was an adult so he'd need to have had some mental issues to be kept in...although back in the day that was not always the case was it?!

It's unfortunately a very common name to try and trace as well. I hope your contact may provide some final answers for these two, perhaps connected, cases!

Did you ever see a photo of Gordon Kelly, if so, what did you think? Was it Richard?
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Gordon Kelly spends weeks getting evaluated while he has a couple court remands and was held on a vagrancy charge while they tried to figure his story out. He went from the shelter, to the Toronto psychiatric hospital, then the decision was made that he would go to Orillia where he would get gardening training and be sent out to a private employer they said. Orillia has a dark past and is for those with disabilities both physical and intellectual. But they said he appeared well spoken once he opened up. All kinds of strange. Hopefully one day there's answers for the Marlow family about Richard
 
www.newspapers.com

G.Kelly

Clipping found in Evansville Press published in Evansville, Indiana on 10/22/1948. G.Kelly
www.newspapers.com www.newspapers.com
Evansville, Indiana • Fri, Oct 22, 1948Page 24
1710891634050.png
''Davie Officers also were trying to dp- termine if the boy is the missing! son of Mrs James Marlowe of Toronto Her un Richard disappeared from home in 1044 at the age of nine and no trace of him ever was found Mrs Marlowe saw the lad in the hospital hut he was unable to identify him.''
 
Another newspaper photo:
1710952142923.png1710952196157.pngOct 22, 1948, page 13 - The Winnipeg Tribune at Newspapers.com - Newspapers.com

"The principal who identified the Kelly boy is Ralph McIntosh of Toronto's Rawinson School. He said he knew Gordeon Kelly as a pupil at Silverthorn School in suburban York Township. Mr. McIntosh said the boy remembered him and his eyes lighted up when the principal walked into the room."

The article goes on to say that when Gordon attended his classes he was living with a woman, not his mother and often appeared "slovenly & in need of a haircut". Apparently he had taught him four years prior and then the boy was given a transfer as he and his guardian were moving. He had attended Silverthorn school until 7th grade.

Apparently police searched for 24 hours to find the house where Gordon was held captive and when they asked Mrs. Smith (lady of the house) if Gordon was living there her response was "I ain't talkin".

The house was well furnished, but the adult couple living there appeared poverty stricken. Oddly, Mrs. Smith refused to speak, but showed a reporter through the house.
 
Last edited:
Oct 23, 1948, page 13 - The Expositor at Newspapers.com - Newspapers.com

In this article, the Smiths advised that they had cared for Gordon since he was a month old, initially receiving $28 a month from his mother named as "Marjorie Kelly" of Toronto. It dwindled to $25 then to $15 and then nothing over the last three years.

"Mrs. Smith claimed she & her husband provided the Kelly boy with teh same care they gave their own children. He always ate with the familyi, went to a movie once a week and was given pocket money."

The article goes on to note that the Smiths said he was removed from school when he was 13 as he was frail, and their family doctor "One of Toronto's most prominent medical men and a coroner, recommended that the boy should be given as much fresh air and sunshine as possible. We put up a tent for him in the garden so he could be outdoors".

The article notes that the Smiths had taken in other children and that as such they were regularly inspected by the CAS who had no concerns about the conditions of the home.

There had been one complaint in 1946 when Gordon and and another boy had run away at intervals and were begging at various houses.

There is a photo attached to the article of both Mr. & Mrs. Smith & their home.
 
Oct 22, 1948, page 13 - The Expositor at Newspapers.com - Newspapers.com

"He seemed to recognize me" Mr. McIntosh said. "But he couldn't seem to remember when he had known me. When I talked to him, his eyes filled with tears and the interview was cut short.".

Article describes the Smith house interior as "a bride's dream". So the house was immaculate inside and had lovely furnishings, but the couple appeared poor.
 
https.://www.newspapers.com/image/730128567/?terms=gordon%20kelly&match=1

"William Smith, a son, told reporters that his father was preparing a statement which would be issued to the press later in the day. He described the affair as an, 'unfortunate climax to a life's work'. He refused to elaborate.

The director of the CAS issued a statement that said that, "at one time, Mrs. Smith looked after mentally-deficient wards for the society. Later the society ruled that she was incapable of giving them care and the children were removed from her home."

According to this article, Mrs. Smith said she'd had care of the boy since 1942 (but in another article I linked upthread, she said she'd had him since he was a month old!).

I would absolutely LOVE to interview anyone who this couple had as foster kids even in the time before Gordon came to the attention of police!!
 
photographer4 said:
Compare: the last photo from Ebay with a photo of PeeWee.

View attachment 491787View attachment 491786
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Thank you for this and also for all of the information that you found.
I am ghoing to go out on a limb and say that this is not Richard Marlow. Even despite the ages being different there seem to be just too many differences. The nose is totally a different structure and the ears have a different shape, as do the eyebrow shape and the lips are very differnetly sized and shaped.

I am no expert, maybe someone else has a differnt opinion. I also don't think Gordon looks like a "23 year old with dwarfism" either.
 
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