The ‘most mysterious’ death of a gold mine millionaire

In early July 1943, the world’s attention was diverted from World War II by the murder of 68-year-old Harry Oakes, one of the wealthiest men at the time. The case remains to this day one of the most intriguing mysteries of our time that remains unsolved.

Harry Oakes was born in 1874 into a wealthy family in Maine, USA, studying medicine at prestigious universities. At the age of 22, when he heard stories about the gold rush in Klondike, Northwest Canada, he went to Alaska to pursue a path to riches.

Klondike in Gold Rush is the last bastion of the Wild West. Crime is rampant, and notorious gangsters have ruled for years. Young Harry had adapted well to the environment but could not find gold forever. He spent more than a decade traveling the world touring California, Central America, Australia, New Zealand and Africa, before returning to North America hearing the news of gold being mined in Northern Ontario.

The search finally paid off in 1912, when he discovered a huge gold seam beneath Lake Kirkland. The company made him a staggering $60,000 a day (about $750,000 in today’s prices).

This exploit made him the richest man in Canada and the second richest in the Western Hemisphere, and at the same time, one of the richest people in the world then with a fortune of 150 million pounds, equivalent to nearly 2 billion dollars today. .

Harry began to enjoy the good life that years of hard work and deprivation had. On a trip around the world in 1923, the 48-year-old man met Eunice MacIntyre, a tall, attractive Australian girl, 25 years younger. They quickly got married, had 5 children in 10 years.

He moved his family to Niagara Falls, Ontario, becoming a Canadian citizen. He built a 35-room mansion, created his own golf course, and purchased one of the most distinctive cars of the era.

Powered by a 12-cylinder engine, the elegant 1928 Hispano-Suiza H6B “Sedanca de Ville” was handcrafted just for him, powered by the same engines as the French fighter planes of World War I. .

Harry lives generously, rewarding those who help him and launching several multi-million dollar charitable projects that improve local living standards.

However, over time, he reacted to the government, claiming to have “exorbitantly taxed” his gold mine at $17,500 per day. In 1935, he left Canada, took his wife and children to live in the city of Nassau, in the Caribbean, on the Bahamas.

In those days, Nassau was the quiet British colonial island where wealthy Englishmen came to enjoy the regal life. Like when he first set foot in Niagara Falls, Harry has always generously poured his own money into improving living conditions on the island, for both the indigenous poor and the white here.

He built an airbase, polo field, country club and golf course. He also purchased and improved local hotels and water systems, built hospitals, provided public transport, hired large numbers of locals, and initiated programs to tackle poverty. . Because of his generosity, he was made a Baron by the British Royal Family.

Baron Harry Oakes is a blend of tough, fierce personality from years of struggling across five continents. He is generous to the poor and the community, but he is not a waste of money.

He made many friends through charity work. But with an assertive personality, he is also making enemies with many people.

Tragedy happened on 7/7/1943, a day of heavy rain poured down the Bahamas during a tropical storm. While his wife and children had gone first to Maine to enjoy the cool breezes at Bar Harbor, Harry was still busy with business in the Bahamas, hanging out alone in the vast expanse of Westbourne. In the house now, besides the servants, there was only one longtime friend on the island, Harold Christie.

Christie was staying in Westbourne overnight. Christie said she entered Baron Harry’s room early the next morning to wake her friends for breakfast, but found the scene chilling.

Sir Harry died in bed, his body doused in gasoline and scorched. But the wind and rain blowing through the open window put out the fire. Body covered with feathers. His face was covered in blood, and near his left ear were four puncture wounds to his skull. But strangely enough, the blood was on his face and not down the sheets..

Christie testified immediately to the Governor of the Bahamas, the Duke of Windsor, formerly King Edward VIII of Great Britain. Not long ago, the Duke of Windsor stunned the UK by relinquishing the throne to marry a divorced American woman who openly supported Nazi Germany. He was given governorship of the Bahamas in 1940 as a gentle way of expulsion from Great Britain. The Duke of Windsor and millionaire Harry Oaks became close friends from the moment Harry set foot on the island.

The huge fortune, the reputation of the millionaire has created worldwide interest in the case. The scene is full of evidence. Bloody handprints on the walls. However, detectives were not immediately available to review the evidence or provide protection as many people were walking in and out freely, touching the objects. The detective also did not collect fingerprints, assuming the weather was too humid.

But on the evening of the second day of the investigation, 36 hours after the body was discovered, they arrested his son-in-law – Count Alfred de Marigny.

Alfred is not a well-known figure in Nassau, if not rather shunned. But perhaps the person who disliked him the most was Harry himself.

At the age of 32, Alfred was divorced twice and unemployed, penniless. He lured Nancy, the millionaire’s 18-year-old daughter, into hiding. Although Mr. Harry tried to accept, but quickly became hostile to his son-in-law after he was often harsh and eventually forced his wife to have an abortion.

In a 25-day trial that drew a curious public, Alfred was acquitted after detectives were suspected of forging fingerprint evidence against him. The most interesting news of the trial turned out to be the ravishing and elegant beauty of the accused’s wife. Meanwhile, the progress of the case was soon overshadowed.

Although the killer has never been found, the list of suspects can be pages long. According to the researchers, the American Mafia is also interested in building casinos and gambling hotels in Nassau.

This is all the more valid when Sir Harry is famous for not wanting to turn the beautiful Bahamas island into a gambling hub. However, there are no data to guarantee the accuracy of this inference.

Regarding the body feathers, some have suggested that it was a murder ritual performed by indigenous ethnic minorities, but this is highly unlikely. Millionaire Harry has improved the lives of the islanders and is respected by them. In addition, there had not been any such murders on the island before.

Many people still believe that the culprit is Alfred de Marigny, even though he was acquitted. They think that Mr. Harry is about to expose his son-in-law’s shady business dealings, so Alfred commits a crime to keep his mouth shut.

Over time, the most persistent accusations continued to revolve around Harold Christie, the only stranger in the house the night of the murder. During the trial, Christie testified that he spent the night inside the mansion, but a witness said he saw him drive downtown that night.

Christie also claims to have heard no suspicious noises during the night, despite sharing Harry’s bedroom wall. But in the end, this suspect was still confusingly ignored.

In fact, years later, efforts to turn the case over were dubious. Typically, in April 1950, a lawyer in Washington went to Nassau hoping to clear some doubts, but two days later she was found drowned in a well.

Sir Harry Oakes rests in the family’s marble mausoleum at Dover-Foxcroft Cemetery. Many liken his life to the male lead in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic novel, The Great Gatsby. A man who had a humble beginning, amassed an enormous fortune, then died a tragic, violent death.

Hai Thu (According to Dujour, The Guardian, Crime and Investigation)