The Simmons Collection: THE ATTACK
It was a dark and stormy night!
August 24, 1968. Ernie Simmons was awakened by a clap of thunder. He looked outside into the intermittent darkness and spotted what he had always known would happen......several thieves were loading his precious motorcycles onto the back of a truck.
His years of suspicions had been vindicated.
"I grab Remington 3 1/2 pump, race in my sleeping underwear to lane, I yell halt and I shoot. I tell fellow on ground to get up and walk and he say he can't....."
Five men and a woman were apprehended, and subsequently, charged. Ernie's two shotgun blasts had wounded three persons, one of them seriously. After a lengthy trial, charges against three of the culprits were dropped. The others were given a two year suspended sentence with probation. Charges pending against Ernie were dropped. In those days it was still legal to defend one's property.
At around 4:45 PM on the afternoon of December 15, 1969, Ernie was working on some machines in his yard when he was approached by a young man. Although he was a stranger, he expressed an interest in buying a car so Ernie walked with him around to the south of the house where the old cars were kept. Ernie noticed some new tracks in the pristine fresh fall of snow on the ground. Immediately, his suspicions were aroused. He knew he was in danger so he reached for an oak stake frozen in place on a nearby flatbed truck. Before he could do this, a masked man stepped out from where he had been hiding behind some old trucks. A third person, also masked, appeared. Without saying a word, the first masked man opened fire with a revolver. Ernie, shot seven times, fell to the ground. The assailants kicked him and demanded his money. Ernie, who later said he felt little pain, "just numb", was lucid enough to know that he would be left to die in the snow if he told them anything. He insisted they had to take him to the house or they'd get nothing. One man grabbed him by the arm, another by the hair, and they pulled him into the house. He remembered one of them commenting that "He sure is a heavy old devil" and the other agreeing as he was being dragged.
Ernie's poor, senile mother was ignored, as they roughed him up further in the house. Finally, Ernie gave in and told them where to find some money. (less than $200.) The assailants must have lost their nerve, as they took the cash, cut the phone lines and fled.
Ernie crawled to the window and saw them leave in a '55 or '56 Chevrolet, possibly two tone.
He was a very strong man. Though getting weaker by the minute, he crawled to the phone and managed to splice the wires back together and call for help. We can only imagine his joy as Ernie Simmons, the hermit, saw two sets of headlights come down his lane half an hour later. The police and an ambulance had arrived.
Ernie chafed at his enforced stay in the hospital. His mother had been taken to Norfolk General Hospital, in a state of shock. That left his cherished collection totally unguarded.
Fortunately, none of his wounds were very serious. He still had six bullets in him. His doctors planned to remove the rest after he had recovered more fully. They had removed one that was dangerously close to his spine, the others were not threatening where they were.
All he could think was that, if only he had had a loaded automatic rifle, or a good pistol, he could have taken out some or all of his attackers. Determined to get them himself when he recovered, he didn't co-operate too much with the police.
After a few weeks, he couldn't take it any more. He resolved to leave the hospital. He was going to go buy himself a good .30 caliber M1 carbine as soon as possible. THEN let any intruders beware! We can only imagine the consternation he caused when he stubbornly signed himself out, ignoring the pleas of friends and doctors. He returned home, nowhere near recovered, less than a month after his assault.
Home again, still seriously injured, all alone in his cold, isolated farmhouse. Ernie told friends that he had never been able to warm up again after his attack. (One had brought him some extra Hudson's Bay blankets in the hospital) Always an enterprising sort, he strung ropes across his tiny bedroom and hung blankets and a plastic sheet around his bed, forming a makeshift tent. Inside he placed two space heaters to keep the bed area warm.
In January, 1970, a friend became concerned when he tried to phone Ernie several times and didn't receive an answer. He and a neighbor went by snowmobile to the farm and found Ernie Simmons dead in bed, in the same room in which he'd been born. He was only 57 years old.
It was reported that the temperature in Ernie's "tent" was 120 degrees!
An autopsy showed the cause of death to be pneumonia.
Ernie's mother, Grace, never really recovered from the shock. She died a few months later in the senior's home where she had been placed.
Those responsible for the assault were never apprehended. Some people thought that the police didn't try too hard. After all, it was only "Crazy Ernie".
"There are probably more injustices and unfairness in the wrong ones getting a share of all a dead man's property then anything else in the world today."
-Ernie Simmons
Preparations
Somehow, no one was surprised to find that Ernie Simmons had not left a will when he died. Meaning, of course, that the enormous task of cataloging and disposing of the huge collection fell to Ernie's old nemesis....the government. The Public Trustee of Ontario, in turn, handed the job over to a well known auctioneer from Ingersoll, Dan Murray.
Workers spent months clearing brush away to expose long forgotten artifacts. In many cases, they had to cut away trees that had grown up through some of the vehicles in to make it possible to move them. Most had sunk far into the ground over the years. Vandalism and theft had begun as soon as Ernie was gone....even sooner, perhaps. As many as 40 motorcycles, the cream of the crop, are alleged to have disappeared, possibly while Ernie was still alive and in the hospital. As soon as the extent of this was realized, security guards were posted, and regular police patrols of the remote property were implemented. This seems to have brought the theft to a halt, but no one will ever know how much looting actually occurred.
Dan Murray, with all his experience, had no idea how the auction would go.
As the seventies began, warplanes, old cars and such were still pretty much considered to be just junk.....but, there were the first glimmers of what would become the warbird movement of later decades. And, people were finally showing signs of wanting to preserve the past, instead of sweeping it aside, as had been the spirit of the sixties. Old cars, motorcycles and tractors were slowly starting to be appreciated.......but prices were still barely above rock bottom. It would take a few more decades, during which the baby boomer generation grew to middle age, for values to really soar.
The date for the auction was set for Labour Day weekend, 1970.
Here, taken from the auctioneer's pamphlet, is a summary of the items to be sold....
- Thursday, September 3...HOUSEHOLD EFFECTS: 5 brass beds, sideboards, cupboards, chairs, jars, tables, deep freeze, crocks, 57 guns - 15 handguns and 42 rifles and shotguns. 128 cars from the late forties to 60, 15 army trucks and many other items of great interest on the first day.
- Friday, September 4...107 motorcycles to choose from, 1917 and up. Harleys, Indians, Hendersons, Royal Enfields and many others and parts. 2 steam engines and parts. 40 tractors and parts. 26 gas engines. 15 Bren gun carriers.
- Saturday, September 5...41 antique cars, trucks and parts. 43 aircraft and 30 engines. Also miscellaneous aircraft tires (new and used) and parts.
When pressed for predictions by reporters, the veteran auctioneer admitted that he'd never done a sale remotely like this one, but he guessed that the aircraft, in particular the Fairey Swordfish, would be the stars. Because of their extreme rarity and their colourful combat history, they were expected to bring in thousands of dollars. "Never sold airplanes before", said Murray. (Cars were his usual fare) "Had a call from a fellow in England who says he's flying in to bid on them. Another fellow says he'll give me $3000. for one of them."
The first day's offering was dismissed as "just the rubbish" by Murray.
For the media, this all made for a fascinating story. It seemed that every newspaper and TV station in Southern Ontario (and some farther away than that) was giving blow by blow coverage of the collection and the impending sale.
Representatives of the Canadian Aeronautical Museum and the Smithsonian were reportedly going to be attending. People from the film industry were also interested. (The films "The Battle of Britain", "Tora, Tora, Tora" and "Catch 22" had all just been made, and all of them were instrumental in the restoration and preservation of many warbirds that remain flying today.)
Naturally, public interest was at a fever pitch. All the years of wild stories about "Crazy Ernie" and his collection were recalled. The large amounts of cash that must be hidden somewhere about, the fabled treasures guarded so zealously by the Simmons family, the eccentricities.......for the first time, these things could all be explored, first hand by people who previously had only rumour and speculation to go on.
The Sale
....to be continued soon....
-article by Lance Russwurm ©2005
Hopefully, this will be eventually expanded into a full length book by myself and Sue (Spence) Wilkins. Sue's Dad, Bob Spence, has the only flying Swordfish in North America...purchased from the Simmons estate. Sue literally grew up with the restoration of this aircraft.
She began researching the story by running ads in newspapers in the area some years ago. Much of the story that follows was gleaned from the many things that people sent her as well as the copious newspaper clippings from the time. Things like journal entries, photos, letters written by Ernie....even some of his childhood schoolbooks were, literally, blowing in the wind on the day of the auction. Some people picked these artifacts up as souvenirs...most of it was lost forever.
We would like to track down many of the vehicles involved and find out where they are today. We would be thrilled to hear from anyone having further information on any of this.
We are also indebted to Wally Fydenchuk for researching the story of Cam Logan and Ernie Simmons' purchases. Wally's story appeared as "From Junk to History" in the May, 2000 issue of WARBIRDS INTERNATIONAL.
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