Not Your Grandfathers Mining Industry, Nova Scotia, Canada

Thomas Flynn’s Oyster-Related Shooting

The Flynn family has been running the Wallace sandstone quarry for generations, but things might have turned out very differently if Thomas Flynn had not survived an oyster-related shooting.

Sandstone from the Wallace area of Cumberland County has been used in many of Nova Scotia’s most beautiful historic buildings, including Government House, the office and residence of the lieutenant governor, Nova Scotia’s legislature and countless others. In the modern era, Wallace sandstone has been used in buildings like Queen’s Marque in downtown Halifax.

Sandstone production began in the early 1800s on the east side of the Wallace River, just north and south of where the Wallace River Railway Swing Bridge was later built in 1883. The focus of production in the Wallace area later shifted to what are now called the Wallace Quarries, about four miles east of the Wallace River, in the village of Wallace.

The Flynn family has been involved in quarrying Wallace sandstone for at least four generations and Wallace Quarries Ltd., the sole operator today, is partly owned by the Flynns.

Among the first in the family to work in the quarries was Thomas Edward Flynn.

In 1912, Thomas was superintendent of the quarry, which had just been purchased by contractors P. Lyall & Sons. The Lyalls modernized the operation with a steam mill for sawing, a large electric crane and steam shovels. They shipped stone all across Canada and the United States, including to Ottawa where it helped with the rebuilding of the Parliament buildings after the original buildings burned down in 1916.

However, the changes at the quarry were not the only excitement in which Thomas Flynn was involved. As the Evening Mail reported on September 25, 1912, “The quiet town of Wallace was thrown into a high state of excitement when the news spread that two of its most prominent and well known citizens had almost come to an untimely end by being riddled with buckshot” a few nights earlier.

Thomas and Henry Gracie, engineer at the quarry, rowed into a creek near the head of Wallace Bay, on Saturday, September 21, to harvest oysters. Articles in the Evening Mail suggest the creek was then-known locally as Brander’s Creek and Dotten Creek.

The newspaper wrote, “they were suddenly surprised by being fired upon by parties being hidden behind a hay stack. Flynn fell at the first shot, severely wounded, two other shots followed in quick succession, both men receiving wounds from the scattering buckshot. Flynn was wounded in over a dozen different places, one shot puncturing his lungs and causing a wound of very serious nature.”

Thomas fell to the bottom of the boat and shouted, “I’m done for.”

Gracie was less severely harmed because he was “wearing a sheepskin coat and the coat seems to have been of sufficient thickness to have resisted the shot, but he has several wounds on his legs.”

Gracie was able to row the two men home to Wallace, but it took three hours to travel the two miles due to his wounds. He and Flynn were then taken to their homes and a doctor was called. “Flynn’s condition is very critical and serious doubts are entertained with regard to his ultimate recovery,” wrote the newspaper.

Constables were sent to investigate, and three men were arrested: Clarence Dotten and brothers John and William Brander. The charges against the Brander brothers were later dropped due to lack of evidence, but Dotten stood trial in June 1913.

At trial, the first witness called was Henry Dotten. While Henry was presumably a relation to Clarence, this did not prevent him testifying that he saw Clarence crawling in the grass along the creek bank after the shooting. Henry and other witnesses agreed that it was a very clear night and visibility was good.

Flynn testified that he had not looked for the shooter because he was so seriously wounded. Gracie, however, testified that he had seen Clarence Dotten shoot them.

Dotten testified that he did not do the shooting and that he was in his house at the time, a statement which was corroborated by his wife.

Prosecutors tried to enter into evidence that Dotten allegedly had, two years earlier, threatened harm to anyone taking oysters from the creek. However, the judge did not allow it.

The Evening Mail reported that Dotten had no special license or right to the oysters in the creek.

Despite how clear the night had been, the jury found Clarence not guilty, concluding that Gracie could have been sure that Clarence was the shooter.

Thomas Edward Flynn lived until 1950 and spent most of his career at the Wallace quarry. Thomas’ son, Thomas Knapp Flynn (1889-1976), grandson Stanley Joseph Flynn (1933-2013) and great-grandson, Tom Flynn, the current quarry manager, have all managed the quarry either as part-owners or on behalf of the Lyall family.