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[outta-my-tree]

August 9, 1969: Manson “Family” members Susan Atkins, Tex Watson, and Patricia Krenwinkel entered the home of Hollywood actress Sharon Tate and murdered her and four others. Linda Kasabian (née Drouin) was also present, but allegedly did not take part. Steven Earl Parent, who was present at the address only by unfortunate coincidence, lost his life that night, in addition to Sharon Tate and her houseguests, Jay Sebring, Abigail Folger, and Wojciech Frykowski. In an earlier incident involving Charles Manson and his followers, musician Gary Hinman was murdered after being held captive for several days, forced to turn over his property to his captors under torture and threat of death. Manson associate Robert “Bobby” Beausoleil killed Gary Hinman on the orders of Manson.

Above: Lurid headlines abound in the days following the crimes at 10050 Cielo Drive in Benedict Canyon, north of Beverly Hills, the home of actress Sharon Tate and her husband, Polish movie director Roman Polanski.

Above: Wilfred Parent, and his wife Juanita (néeJones) were unaware that their son Steven had gone to Cielo Drive that night to visit his friend, live-in caretaker William Garretson, hoping to sell him a used radio. He was shot by the intruders as he was preparing to leave the property.

Above: Linda (née Drouin) Kasabian was given immunity for her testimony against the Manson Family defendants. She has maintained that she did not take physical part in the murders, but acted as a “lookout” only.

Originally from New England, Linda Drouin (later Kasabian) is listed with her parents, Rosaire and Joyce (née Taylor) Drouin in the 1950 U. S. Federal Census, in Maine, Linda’s paternal grandparents having emigrated there from Quebec in the 1920s.

Above: Colorado-born Gary Hinman was a musician living at this residence in Topanga Canyon, California in 1969, where Manson associate Bobby Beausoleil had lived with Hinman previously. During this time, Beausoleil had become acquainted with Charles Manson and his followers.

Above: In late July of 1969, Beausoleil went with Manson associates Susan Atkins and Mary Brunner to Hinman's house in Topanga Canyon. After demanding money that Hinman did not have, Manson told them via phone to hold Hinman captive there at his house. When Manson arrived, armed with a bayonet, he struck Hinman, severely cutting his face and ear. Gary Hinman was held captive for three more days before being murdered by Bobby Beausoleil, on the instruction Charles Manson.

Above: After a well-documented investigation and trial, the principal participants in the Manson “Family” murders were found guilty and sentenced to death. Bobby Beausoleil was convicted and sentenced to death for the July 27, 1969, fatal stabbing of Gary Hinman. Beausoleil, Manson, and the other participants who were sentenced to death were later granted commutation to a lesser sentence of life imprisonment, after the Supreme Court of California issued a ruling that invalidated all death sentences issued in California prior to 1972. Bobby Beausoleil is currently imprisoned in California. Manson died in prison in California in 2017. Linda Drouin Kasabian, who gave a handful of interviews about her participation in the 1969 murders, kept a low profile over the years and died in Tacoma, Washington on January 21, 2023, at the age of 73.

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Jeanne Ruth Vertefeuille (December 23, 1932 – December 29, 2012) was a CIA officer who lead a small team that investigated and uncovered the actions of Aldrich Ames, a notorious Cold War spy.

Born in New Haven, Connecticut, on December 23, 1932, Vertefeuille graduated from the University of Connecticut and began her career as a typist for the Central Intelligence Agency in 1954, earning promotions and expertise on the Soviet Union over several decades.

Above: Jeanne Vertefeuille listed with her parents, Charles and Ruth (née Slocombe) Vertefeuille in New Haven, CT, in 1940 & 1950 U.S. Census.

Vertefeuille was made the lead investigator of a small team looking at the high rate of Soviet double agent disappearances in 1986. It gradually became clear to the team that there could be a mole in the organization. Vertefeuille and her small team cracked the case in 1991, when they correlated CIA counterintelligence officer Aldrich Ames's meeting times with large deposits in his bank account.

Above: left, Aldrich Ames under arrest for spying in 1994, right, a note from Ames to his contact to request a meeting.

Ames was convicted of espionage on behalf of the Soviet Union and Russia in 1994. He is serving a life sentence, without the possibility of parole, in the Federal Correctional Institution in Terre Haute, Indiana.

Above: Aldrich Ames, Spy, Traitor

Above: Top right, Jeanne Vertefeuille with her team, below right, CIA teammate Sandra Grimes, with whom Vertefeuille wrote a book about the Ames case, pictured left, Circle of Treason, A CIA account of Traitor Aldrich Ames and the Men He Betrayed.

In 2013, a mock-up of a 1995 TIME Magazine cover featuring Vertefeuille was added to the CIA Museum’s collection. That issue of TIME dedicated an article to her and the mole hunt. This artifact is especially notable because the Vertefuille cover had to be scrapped before publication in favor of one focused on the federal budget crisis at the time.

Above: Left, Time Magazine mock-up from the CIA Museum collection.

Above Right, Honolulu Star-Advertiser, Sunday, January 13, 2013 article about Jeanne Vertefeuille’s life and work, shortly after her death in December 2012, quoted here:

“In a debriefing after his arrest, Ames recalled that when KGB officials asked for the name of a CIA official whom they might try to frame as a mole, he said he gave them Vertefeuille's name, adding that she was the principal mole hunter. His admission surprised her. "At first, I wanted to jump across the table and strangle him," Vertefeuille said. "But then I started laughing. It really was funny, because he was the one in shackles, not me."

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Lieutenant Roméo Sabourin (January 1, 1923 – September 14, 1944) was a Canadian soldier and spy during World War II.

Born in Montreal, Quebec, Sabourin joined the Canadian Army, serving in the Canadian Intelligence Corps. Because of his training and fluency in both the French and the English languages, he was recruited into the Special Operations Executive (SOE).

From England, he was parachuted into occupied France where he worked with the French Resistance, but was captured by the Gestapo with members of the Robert Benoist group and shipped to Buchenwald concentration camp on August 27, 1944.

Twenty-one-year-old Roméo Sabourin was executed by the Nazis at Buchenwald on September 14, 1944, along with two other Canadian SOE agents, Frank Pickersgill and John Kenneth Macalister. (Wikipedia)

Above:: l-r, Frank Pickersgill, Romeo Sabourin and John Kenneth Macalister

Above: Official Canadian army overseas casualty notification to Lieutenant Sabourin’s mother, Mme. Flore Sabourin, née Desjardins.

Above: Letter to Mme. Sabourin from Colonel l. J. Buckmaster expressing sympathy and explaining some of the circumstances of Romeo Sabourin’s death.

Lieutenant Sabourin is honored on the Groesbeek Memorial in the Groesbeek Canadian War Cemetery in the Netherlands. As one of the SOE agents who died for the liberation of France, Lieutenant Sabourin is listed on the "Roll of Honor" on the Valençay SOE Memorial in the town of Valençay, in the Indre département. (Link to Valençay SOE Memorial Wikipedia page at bottom)

Above left: Record of Lieutenant Sabourin’s memory at the Groesbeek Memorial, and (above right) his name inscribed, along with that of his compatriot, Frank Pickersgill.

Above: The Groesbeek Memorial in the Groesbeek Canadian War Cemetery in the Netherlands.

Above: S.O.E. Monument, London, England, a bronze bust dedicated to the Special Operations Executive (SOE), commemorating the heroism of the secret agents who led covert operations against the Nazis, located on the south bank of the Thames, London.

Above: Plaque at Tempsford Airfield Gibraltar Farm commemorating those who flew from the secret airfield into Europe to aid in the Resistance against the Nazis. (2.3 miles northeast of Sandy, Bedfordshire, England)

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The Battle of Rivière-Ouelle

In 1690, Québec's Governor Frontenac sent ships to raid English settlements in New York and New England. British General Phips of Boston retaliated by sending ships to attack Acadia. Caught by surprise, Acadia was taken on May 21, 1690. Phips’ next target was Québec.

On his way up the St. Lawrence River, Phips decided to burn and loot villages, one such being Rivière-Ouelle.

Rivière-Ouelle, and below, a map showing individual inhabitants listed by name.

According to 19th century writer, H. R. Casgrain:

“One morning in the month of October 1690, a considerable detachment of Canadian settlers, armed for war, strode through the forest of spruce, fir and maple trees that still shade the edge of the River Ouelle.

The leader of the militia was none other than the parish priest, Father Francheville, a fifty-year old of fiery and impetuous character. "My friends," he told the men of the village earlier, "the news is about war. I just learned by letters from Québec, the English intend to seize the country to avenge the defeats we have inflicted upon them. It seems that a fleet of over 30 sails will soon appear. Already M. de Frontenac has sent detachments of militia to both sides of the river to prevent the enemy from making any landing. It must be believed that our governor is relying on your courage, since he sent none of his soldiers here. I would not recognize you were you to be so cowardly as to allow these Bostonian miscreats to land without firing a shot. You know what awaits you if you allow them to succeed: they will burn your houses, your church, desecrate what's holy as they have already done elsewhere, and they will drag everyone into captivity, you, your wives and children. Take arms and be ready for the first signal. "

Thus prepared, the inhabitants of Rivière-Ouelle opened fire when the British disembarked, killing and wounding many British and causing the remainder to retreat back to their ship. Similarly, Governor Frontenac, who was awaiting the British further up the St. Laurence, used forces to repell further attacks, destroying nine British ships in the process.

Some of the Canadians who successfully defended the small settlement of Rivière-Ouelle that day were:

Robert Lévesque

Pierre Hudon dit Beaulieu

Charles Miville

Jean Miville

Galleran Boucher and his two sons, Pierre and Philippe

Michel Bouchard and his three sons, Étienne, François and Pierre

Pierre Dancosse

Guillaume Lisot and his son, Claude

René Ouellet and four of his children, Abraham, Mathurin-René, Grégoire and Joseph

Jean Pelletier

Jean Lebel and his son, Jean-Baptiste

Pierre Emond

Mathurin Dubé

Jean Mignot dit Labrie

Noël Pelletier

Jean Gauvin and his son, Jean

Pierre de Saint-Pierre

Nicolas Durant and his son, Nicolas

François Autin

Sébastien Boivin

Jean de Lavoye

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In 1949, Albert Guay was found guilty of conspiring with siblings Marguerite Ruest Pitre and Genereux Ruest to blow up Canadian Pacific Air Lines Flight 108 in order to kill Guay’s wife, Rita Morel. All passengers on board lost their lives. In addition to financial gain, Guay wanted to be free to pursue a romantic relationship with teenager Marie Ange Robitaille, pictured below. (Left: Robitaille and Guay)

“Canadian Pacific Air Lines Flight 108, known as the Sault-au-Cochon Tragedy, was a Douglas DC-3 operated by Canadian Pacific Air Lines (registry CF-CUA S/N: 4518) that was blown up by a dynamite time bomb on 9 September 1949.” (Wikipedia)

The aftermath of the bombing of Canadian Pacific Air Lines Flight 108. All 23 people on board were killed. The bombing was the first attack on civil aviation in North America, Quebec, 1949

Albert Guay, Genereaux Ruest, and Marguerite Ruest Pitre were found guilty, and were sentenced to execution by hanging, making Marguerite Ruest Pitre the last woman executed in Canada.

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Marie Anne “Annie” Perreault, Titanic Survivor. Traveled with her employers, Mr. and Mrs. Charles M. Hays on board the Titanic.

Montreal Daily Star, Thursday, April 15, 1911. Annie Perreault mentioned in the photo caption. Her employer, Mr. Charles M. Hays, is pictured in the top left corner.

The Toronto Star, 14 Apr 2012, Sat., Page 270, (Toronto, Ontario, Canada)

”First Class, continued: The following names have also been cabled as amongst the First Class Passengers saved, whom we are at present unable to identify, but it is thought they are Maids and Valets.” (Annie Perreault, is listed with a misspelling of her surname - “Pericault”)

In 1912, Annie’s fiancé, Bert Pickett, arrived in New Jersey and they were wed in Trenton, NJ, on 9 December 1912. They are recorded as living in New Jersey in the 1920 U. S. Federal Census. (Above)

They moved to Rodeo, California around 1928 and opened a roadside business selling food and gasoline. Annie died in 1968.

Obituary:

“Last rites were held today for Mrs. Mary Ann Pickett, 90, one of the survivors of the sinking of the Titanic on April 14, 1912. Mrs. Pickett, who died Monday, in Rodeo, Calif. had a clipping which listed her among the missing passengers when the big British liner went down after hitting an iceberg in the North Atlantic.”

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On July 4, 1914 - An explosion demolished the upper stories of an apartment building in East Harlem, killing anarchist Arthur Caron and several colleagues. Caron had been among those who protested the involvement of the Rockefeller family in April's "Ludlow Massacre." It appeared that Caron and his associates were building the bomb meant to kill John D. Rockefeller Jr., when it exploded.

(The Ludlow Massacre occurred April 20, 1914, when Colorado state troops and a private force hired by a Rockefeller-owned coal mining company attacked and destroyed a tent camp of striking miners and their families.)

An official report stated that at least twenty-five people - including fourteen children and two women - perished in the massacre. Earlier reporting put the death toll at a minimum of forty-five people, with women and children accounting for thirty of those deaths.

Left: Photograph shows French Canadian anarchist Arthur Caron, a member of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), who was killed in the Lexington Avenue bombing of July 4, 1914 in New York City.

Right: Photograph shows members of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), who were involved in the Lexington Avenue bombing of July 4, 1914, New York City. Group includes Arthur Caron and Charles Plunkett.

Photograph shows the destruction caused by a bomb at 1626 Lexington Avenue, New York City, which killed four people and injured many others. Anarchist conspirators were making the bomb which they intended to put at John D. Rockefeller's home in Tarrytown, New York.

Above: Baptism record of Joseph Arthur Caron, Beauport, Quebec, Canada, 1883. His father is recorded as a day laborer.

Below: Fall River, Massachusetts marriage record for Arthur Caron and Elmina Reeves, 3July, 1905.

Indexed New York death record information.

Funeral procession for French Canadian anarchist Arthur Caron, a member of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), who was killed in the Lexington Avenue bombing of July 4, 1914 in New York City.

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