Skip to main content
Go back

Murder in Metis – Tragedy Stikes in 1930

Colour photograph of small caliber rifle cartridges. 2 empty cartridges and 2 rifle bullets and one cartridge still loaded with its bullet. The exhibits are laid flat next to 3 brown 5 x 7 inch envelopes. The short depth of focus makes it impossible to read the writing on the envelopes.

Photograph

Cartridges from the spent bullets that killed Kenneth Macnider Burke

Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec 

During the evening of Thursday June 26, 1930, the quiet of Metis was interrupted by gunfire. Shots pierced the tranquil summer community. At the doorway of the home of Mrs. Richard Dawes, Kenneth Macnider Burke was peppered with sixteen bullets. Mrs. Dawes was hit with four bullets.  They came from the gun of Albéric Taupier, a gardener in his employ at the Cascades Hotel. Burke succumbed to his wounds within minutes.  

The murder made news across the continent. Most headlines highlighted the gardener’s attack on his employer. Others focussed on the society figure who was the victim. A handful reported the grief that engulfed Burke’s fiancée to whom he was to be married just weeks later.  

When the shots were heard, neighbours ran to the house and found Mrs. Dawes in a pool of blood. Taupier confessed his crime to them on their arrival. He explained that he had felt compelled to shoot Burke because he had ordered him to water Mrs. Dawes flowers, when no watering was needed.  

Taupier was taken into custody by chief constable Jos. LeBel, who was summoned from Rimouski. Taupier was convicted after a sensational trial in Rimouski and sentenced to death by hanging. When the sentence was commuted for reasons of insanity, he escaped the noose, but spent the rest of his life in prison.   

Mrs. Dawes survived, but carried a bullet in her leg for the rest of her life. The holes caused by the gunshots can still be seen in the wood panelling of the house where Taupier committed his heinous offence.