Hamilton City Pathologist: the Great Depression (1929-1939)

Chapter nine

Scottish physician Alexander Fleming first noted the anti-bacterial properties of penicillium moulds in 1929 but there was little interest because it was so difficult to isolate. But Fleming treated several patients who recovered after one or two doses. Bill’s observation was ‘Frank and I are journeymen but Fleming is a perceptive genius’.

Bill Deadman’s observation when he read this.

Hamilton City Pathologist

Bill was increasingly busy at the Lab, the autopsy room and making presentations to internes, and to professional organizations. He presented on tumours of the adrenal medulla, pathology of cancer, fatal air embolism, streptococcal infections, among many others. He was active in the Ontario Medical Association and the Hamilton Academy of Medicine. In 1935 he presented at the Canadian Medical Association in Vancouver. Helene went with him and they visited Seattle and also the Edward Prince Ranch in Alberta.1 On December 22, 1933 he was appointed by the Medical Council of Canada as an oral examiner at the University of Western Ontario.

Bill also was very conscious of research into medicine and pathology that affected his work. He was constantly trying to improve problems in the techniques and procedures at the lab. One thing he observed was that the agar plates that were used to culture the bacteria that they were studying sometimes had moulds develop on the surface and the bacteria would not grow. He and Frank Elliot tried many things to control any moulds in the air or on equipment and reduced the problem significantly.

When Bill started his work in the hospital, he was Chief Pathologist and Director of City Laboratories. The laboratories were in the Victoria wing on Victoria Ave. N. The autopsy room was in the basement. On the ground floor was the Outdoor Department where out patients were seen by their physicians. On the second floor was the Lab and Bill’s office. The Laboratory technician was Frank Elliot and he had one untrained technician working with him. Bill was to change all that.

He arranged to get a secretary with an office next to his. He also began to hire more technicians and when he could not get people with sufficient training, he and Frank Elliot set up a training program that became recognized across Canada. It still exists but was taken over by the Institute for Medical Technology that still has offices in Hamilton. Bill then emphasized clinical research. He remembered the work he had done in Macedonia, and began to study cholera and other epidemic illnesses that so dominated work in those times. After dealing with a cholera epidemic and

Scottish physician Alexander Fleming first noted the anti-bacterial properties of penicillium moulds in 1929 but there was little interest because it was so difficult to isolate. In 1940 Howard Florey at Oxford succeeded in making a concentrated broth that proved effective in clinical trials. Fleming treated several patients who recovered after one or two doses. Bill’s observation was ‘Frank and I are journeymen but Fleming is a perceptive genius’.
Other Activities

He was also very interested in politics and was a staunch conservative. He got to know all the important people in Hamilton and Toronto. He was President of the Hamilton Academy of Medicine in 1929 and continued on its board. He was an active member of the Rotary Club of Hamilton and met many business people there. Frank Elliott and he set up training programs for clinical technologists and were active in the setting up of the Canadian Society for Laboratory Technologists and the offices are still in Hamilton. It soon was a nation-wide enterprise.

Bill worked long hours and was in the lab every day of the week even Sundays. Then he would go in to check if any autopsies were booked and after that go by the Hamilton Connaught Hotel that had a news stand with papers from all over North America. He would bring home Sunday copies of the Philadelphia Enquirer or the Montreal Standard but avoided the Toronto Star Weekly because he was Conservative and it was a Liberal paper.
I never knew him to go to church although later when he was retired, he began to go with my mother. It reminds me of the old joke about the Church of England in Canada. The C. and E stood for Christmas and Easter, the only two times that most Anglicans went to church.

There is another story that I remember from those days. Sunday School was held at 3 O’clock on Sunday afternoons. If the parents didn’t go, certainly the children must go. And anyway, there wasn’t anything else to do. So off we trouped, somewhat reluctantly. Since my parents didn’t go, to the grade we went to the local United Church with a neighbour who was one of the teachers. It was well attended and divided into classes that corresponded to our grade in school.

On this particular Sunday, we studied the confessional. We were to confess both the ones we had done and the ones we had failed to do. That pretty well covers the waterfront. They’ve got you both ways. As the teacher explained it, I asked the teacher: “But what if I did not sin last week?” The teacher replied: “John, we always sin. We are born in sin.” So I replied: “Well then, what’s the point of promising God that I will do better next week?” The other kids in the class had been snickering before but now they were laughing. The teacher called over the superintendent of the Sunday School and I was driven home in silence.
When I got home my mother seemed very alarmed and asked me: “John, what did you do in Sunday School? They phoned to say that I had done something awful.” When I explained, my father said: “John, that’s a perfectly reasonable question. I think you should go to the Anglican Sunday School in Burlington.” And so it happened.

Family Life and Death

As we described in the previous chapter, Bill’s father, his mother, his aunt Christine and his brothers Bert and Eric had been living in the house in Beeton for several years. Also, Bill had bought a farm property in Aldershot for his brother Bert, who was to be released from the Hamilton Sanatorium after he had a collapsed lung and was feeling better. But he grew worse and died in the San so he never got there. The farm then became a summer escape from the city for the family.

John William Deadman died on July 29th, 1929. He was 79. This left his wife Isabella (Bel), his sister-in-law Christine and youngest son Eric in the house. Also Helene was expecting, and the stock market crash in October 1929 had shaken the economy. By the time their son John was born in December 1930, Bill’s salary had been cut and he was supporting three houses in Hamilton, Aldershot and Beeton.

When Bel died on the 26th of August, 1931, The Great Depression was at a low point and Helene recalled that son John was only about 7 months old. She had taken him to Beeton to see his grandmother shortly before that and Bel was thrilled to see him. Helene also recalled that on one of those trips, she had skidded off a bridge with one wheel in the Caledon River and a local farmer had used a team of horses to haul the car back onto the bridge.

Bill was concerned that his aunt Christine was making trips to Toronto where she had friends, and entertaining them in Beeton that cost a lot of money. He sold the house in Beeton and moved Christine2 and Eric to the farmhouse. It was sold to Mr. James Feaver. The farm depression was very severe and Mr. Feaver told Bill that he could not pay the mortgage. In a letter dated October 19th 1932, Bill told him that he understood and that Feaver should pay when he could.

Shortly after this, he decided to rent the house at 91 Delaware Avenue and move the family to Aldershot. They moved enough furniture and other things to furnish the house. When Christine and Eric moved from Beeton they brought another load of stuff from the house there. By this time it would probably be 1934 or ’35.

The old Farmhouse

The old farmhouse was on three acres of land just over the county line between Wentworth and Halton Townships. The house had been built in the 1860s by Mr. Bell for his parents who were retired. The Bells had large farm holdings on Maple Avenue in Burlington but they extended west to the county line. When the parents died Bell decided to sever the property and sell it. My parents bought it in the early ‘30s just after the Great Depression had started to bite. The property was just east of the county line between Wentworth and Halton.3 There was a road allowance on the west side but no road. But there was a road on the north side of Plains Road that went up to the escarpment about a mile or two north of the house.

Our family used it as a summer retreat for a time but when Bill sold the house in Beeton, he moved Christine and Eric to the house where he could keep a closer eye on them. Christine was not at all happy about the move. Having her nephew checking up on her was too much. She kept to her room much of the time after that. She often came down to the kitchen to make cookies and whatnot. Our housekeeper, Theresa disliked the invasion of her domain but Christine was deaf so talking did not work. Theresa referred to her as ‘your sainted aunt’ and stayed out of her way.

Even though the farm was in Halton, the post office was in Aldershot. The address was R.R. #1, Aldershot Ontario. Rural mail was delivered every day but the people in Burlington had to go to the post office on Brant Street to pick up their mail. Door-to-door delivery was not introduced until sometime later.

The house was typical of farmhouses of the period. It was storey-and a-half with a veranda around three sides. The first floor had a small bedroom in front with a stairway to the second floor on the west side. Behind it was a small parlour that looked as if it was only used if the minister came to call. Behind it was the dining room that went the width of the house. Behind that was a large kitchen with a screened-in summer kitchen on the west side. The kitchen was the centre of all family activity. The large wood-burning stove would be lit throughout the colder months but in the hot weather, the summer kitchen was in a screened-in porch and it was used to escape the heat. It had its own stove.

The second floor had three bedrooms. The master bedroom was at the front with a bedroom and bathroom next and a third bedroom and behind that, over the kitchen was a large open balcony. Christine was in the master bedroom in front and she had a good view out to the gardens. Eric was in the next one and the rest of the family were temporarily crowded into the third bedroom.

The basement was very low and seemed to be used as a cold room or root cellar. Heat was provided by fireplaces in the parlour and the stove in the kitchen. A furnace was installed sometime later. Helene could not wait to get on with the renovations that she was already forming in her mind.

The Barn and Chicken Houses

Behind the house was an old barn that was probably built at the same time as the house. There was a stable on the ground level that was later used as a garage. The beams were hand adzed with some bark on them and the rafters were smaller trees flattened on one side only. There was an extension on the west side with an open second level that was used as a workshop. A steep ladder went down to the main level. On the east side was another low shed that had been a stable. On the back there was an extension that was lower than the main barn. The floors were uneven and the weathered barn boards on the outside would have been the envy of a modern decorator.

Further back there were two low chicken houses with screened runs behind. There with four units to the west and one unit to the east with a passage way between to give access to the orchard and fields beyond. When cousins George and Harry were living with us, they ran an egg and poultry business but they lost money. 500 chickens was not enough to pay the bills so Bill helped Harry get a job in the Dominion Foundries and Steel Corporation where he worked for many years. George was less enterprising but got a job with the Bray Chick Hatchery, the one that had provided the day-old chicks for their poultry enterprise. After WWII with the help of his brother he acquired a farm near Milton.

Eric worked the farm. There was a small orchard with apples, pears and cherry trees, and behind that a large asparagus patch. There were several fields that would produce the vegetables that got us through the winter. Every spring, Eric would have the fields ploughed by our neighbour to the west with his horse and plough. After harrowing (breaking up clods) it was ready for planting. The asparagus was always the first thing up. Often heads would begin to emerge when the frost was barely out of the ground. By June there would be peas and beans and soon after potatoes and root vegetables. In September and October, the women were busy preserving. Canned goods were available but were expensive when you had your own fresh produce.

In a great pot on the wood stove water was boiling to sterilize the large jars. The vegetables were cooked for a long time before they were placed in the jars. Rubber sealing rings and glass lids completed the process. The steam would push all the air out. As they cooled, there would be negative pressure inside so they would not leak in storage, then it was into the root cellar. Large root vegetables like turnip and squash were stored dry on a shelf. Potatoes were placed in burlap bags and kept cool near the floor. With luck there would be food to get the family through the winter.

We describe this for the modern reader because most people would have no idea of life on the farm in those days. It was hard work and more hard work but it had its rewards. Frozen foods did not appear until after the Second World War. Nowadays fresh produce is brought in from warmer climes in the winter and spring. But fall preserving is still done in many farming communities.

Theresa

Theresa was our housekeeper. She often talked about her family. She was Irish, born to Irish immigrants who had settled near Campbellford Ontario, a village just east of Peterborough. She talked about her mother who was “as Irish as Paddy’s pig”. Her last name was Brunner. The name didn’t sound very Irish, but she told us that she had been married to a German man, who in the early days of the depression, like many of the unemployed, had taken off for parts unknown.

This was quite common during the Great Depression. Men were traveling the length and breadth of the country looking for work, and seldom finding it. They traveled long distances “riding the rods” on the railway. As we described earlier, this expression arose in the “Dirty Thirties” because men would climb on the reinforcing rods underneath the old wooden box cars and go wherever the train would take them. It was highly illegal and very dangerous, because if you lost your grip, you didn’t stand much chance under the freight train. These men were also referred to as “hobos”, or “tramps”. They often came begging a meal at our back door, which Theresa usually gave to them. She was sympathetic to people who were down and out.

Helene had hired Theresa as a housekeeper while at Delaware Avenue. She had two daughters, Kathleen and Helen. Kathleen had two daughters, Theresa and Helen. She died in a motor accident. They had a very old car and one day when rounding a corner, the passenger’s door flew open and Kathleen fell out, hitting her head on the curb.4 She was dead by the time they got her to the hospital. Her husband had left her shortly after that and Theresa moved into a small semi-detached house on Young Street in Hamilton in an area known as Corktown. She had her daughter Helen and two granddaughters Theresa and Helen. She tried opening a restaurant, the Tam O’ Shanter but it failed in the depression and she had no means of income.

One day as Bill was coming up from the autopsy room his secretary, Marion Hutchison told him he had a visitor. It was Theresa who had come for her old job back. She also explained about her daughter and two granddaughters. Her daughter Helen was working and stayed in their house in Corktown but she was planning to be married and at some point Theresa would want to bring the granddaughters with her. Bill explained that they were now living in Aldershot and had very limited space but they were planning to expand the house and she could come if she was willing to put up with makeshift quarters in the meantime. They then closed in the summer kitchen and this was her temporary home for a couple of years.
Renovations

The big renovation started in 1936. Helene had used a local architect to draft blueprints to reflect her ideas. The parlour was expanded to the front of the old house to make a sizable living room. The old front door was closed. The old dining room became the front hall with a new entrance on the west side with steps down to the driveway. A new staircase to the second storey was built on the south side of the hall. The old kitchen was converted into a dining room.

They then built a large wing extending to the east from the main house. It was to be a full two stories so they planned a flat roof to bring the profile down to the roof of the old farmhouse. This more than doubled the size of the house. It contained a new modern kitchen, a breakfast room to the east of the front hall with a screened flagstone deck to the north. The back stairs were to the east with a landing half way. The east end contained a small apartment for Theresa and her girls.

On the second level, the old bathroom was moved over the breakfast room. The old bedroom became a library with bookshelves and a fireplace for Bill but it became a sitting room for the family. There was a new chimney for the furnace with fireplaces in the dining room and the library. It also had a flue for a wood stove in the kitchen. Over Theresa’s apartment was a master bedroom that went the width of the house. John had a bedroom over the breakfast room that was very large compared to what he was used to. The new bathroom over the kitchen was a modern style with a bathtub and separate shower compartment. Every spare space was turned into a closet. But the construction extended through the winter of 1936. During that time the end of the house was largely open with the heavy tarpaulins inadequate to keep the heat in.

In the kitchen an electric range was used for several years. It was always a problem so as WWII approached, Bill ordered an Esse Storage Cooker from England, fearing that in wartime electricity might be in short supply. The Esse Cooker was low profile. There was a firebox on the left with a small oven beside it. There were three burners, one over the firebox and two others covered by insulated lids to keep the heat in. they were popular in England but not so much in Canada. During the war the special coal was hard to get and sometimes the fire would go out overnight. If this happened, it took several hours and a brisk fire to get the stove up to temperature again. Sometimes we had cold meals all day. After the war, we replaced it with a more modern electric stove. 5

The small porch that had been Theresa’s home for a few years was torn off so that construction on the new dining room could proceed. Bill arranged with his regiment to have a large army tent on a wooden platform set up in the back yard and Theresa slept out there through most of one winter.6 She had a large bed with a heavy feather tick and was comfortable enough when she was in it but it was very cold coming and going. It was cold for all of us at that time and the furnace went through mounds of coal that was delivered from Hamilton by a large truck with two navies who were the colour of coal. The old barn was also renovated. The side and back wings were stripped off. The openings in the upper level loft closed off. The barn was moved back about 20 feet unto a concrete pad and turned into a three-car garage. This gave a much better space for parking and turning.
Finally in late 1937 it was finished. A raised terrace surrounded the front of the house and the lawns covered the entire area around the house including the side and back. With landscaping it was Helene’s dream come true. Furniture that had been stored in the barn was placed, much had to be purchased and we were moved in. but there was still lots of things to do in the new house. There was a large pile of earth in the back yard from the basement excavation that took several years to disperse. Some of the furniture from the old house in Beeton remained in the loft for years. At that point construction on the new four lane highway from Toronto to Niagara was beginning. War talk was threatening in Europe and the King and Queen planned a visit for 1939. It was decided to call the new highway the Queen Elizabeth Way.

Cars

By the 1930s cars had become much more sophisticated and more reliable. The old Model T had gained the sobriquet: “Get out and get under”. Now there were more familiar names such as Buick, Chevrolet and Cadillac. The Chrysler Corporation had been formed and bought Dodge Brothers for their trucks. It had Plymouth, Dodge and DeSoto. The Chrysler Airflow was a sensational design in the mid-30s. Bill bought a DeSoto Roadster to replace the Essex. The lead author (JCD) recalls as a child that he and his friend, Peter Kappele played in the car and put the top up and down so much that it had to be replaced.7
In 1936, Bill bought a Graham, made by Graham Paige to replace the roadster and at the same time bought a Willys 77 for his brother Eric because he was away so much that the family needed a second car. It was the economy model. It had mechanical brakes when almost all the other cars had gone over now the new hydraulic brakes. But it was the workhorse at home for many years.

In 1939, as war became more imminent, Bill realized that this war could drag on for at least 4 years and the Graham was showing its age. He decided to buy an Oldsmobile to replace it and this served us throughout the war. In June 1939 the Canadian Medical Association had their annual meeting in Montreal. They planned to have a motor trip that would take them through New York State and up to Montreal and after the meeting to spend a week in Quebec City. This was my first motor trip. My mother recalled I was sitting in the back seat and driving the car just as hard as my father by pulling back and forth on the window winder.

While in Quebec City, the Caribbean Fleet of the Royal Navy was in port and we went on board. Bill talked to one of the Officers and was told that the RN was very concerned about the outbreak of war and wanted Canada to come in and support them if necessary. After that we went to Ste. Anne de Beaupre and toured the new basilica that was still under construction. When they returned home, I could not stop talking about it.

Family Life

Life in the country continued. Helene was concerned about my schooling. She found a kindergarten in the neighbourhood on the Guelph line run by Ann Peart, a relative of the Peart family who lived across the road. I was enrolled in September 1935. I recalled that it was on a dairy farm, in the farm house. I got to know their son, Peter Peart who was a friend for years after. In September 1936, Helene applied to have me admitted to the local public school just down the road. She was annoyed to discover that to enter 1st Form, I had to be 6 by the end of November. It was back to the kindergarten for another year.
I started school at School Section #14, Nelson Township just down the highway from our home. It was typical for the time, a square building with two entrances, Girls on the right and Boys on the left. There was one teacher. Helene was pressed by her friends in Hamilton to take me out of that terrible school and enroll me in a city school but Bill insisted that this was the type of school that he had attended so she did not object. When I started there in 1936, there were 4 forms with two years in each just as it had been in Bill’s schooling days. However when I was starting Junior Second, the government changed the system to eight grades. There was a 15 minute recess mornings and afternoons. John came home for lunch most days and tried to fit in with the other kids in the class.

Pathology Work Continues

During this time Bill was very busy. He worked long hours and was often away at an inquest in Niagara or Guelph and was not home until late. Theresa always saved dinner for him so he could have a warm meal when he got home. I somehow felt that he did not care for me and became much closer to the women in his life. I said:

I lived in an adult world. I always said that I had three mothers. I felt that Aunt Christine somehow disapproved of me and I often said nasty things behind her back. My mother chided me about this but Theresa came to my defense so mother became the arbitrator or mediator. It was not until I was in school that I had male friends but that was later during the Second World War.

The Great Depression got worse in 1937 and Bill’s salary remained very low. On December 9th 1937, Bill received a letter from the Ottawa Civic Hospital, offering him the position of Director of the Department of Pathology at a salary of $6500.00. He wrote back saying that he was considering the offer. Then he went to the HGH Superintendent and Board to say that he would prefer to stay in Hamilton if they could match this offer. The Board chair said that they would match it but it would have to be done over several years. He decided to stay and declined the offer from Ottawa. However it was many years before he got his salary increase.

Bill’s research grew rapidly. He remembered his work in Macedonia and it inspired him to present and publish some 12 articles between 1930 and 1939. these are shown in Chapter 15, Publications and Accomplishments.

Bill was working every day in the lab but he also got very involved in the political and social whirl of Hamilton. He was invited to a reception to meet the High Commissioner for Australia at a private home on Bulls Lane. He attended the Annual Armistice Dinner of the No. 5 Field Ambulance where he made the introductory remarks. A typewritten copy of the remarks is in the archives.

Speeches

Bill was invited as the guest speaker at the Saint George’s Society Festival Dinner at Christ’s Church Cathedral in Hamilton. In October, 1937 Sir Frederick Banting was giving an address to the Canadian Army Medical Corps Officers’ Association. He sent Bill a copy, urging him to keep it confidential. Bill had known Banting since his days on the farm and had kept in touch over the years. Later, in 1939 Bill asked to use his name as a reference for a professional submission. Sir Frederick quickly replied and they continued in contact. Bill wrote a letter to Col. R. M. Gorseline who had just been appointed as Director of Medical Services at the Department of National Defense.

Bill wrote many papers on medical-pathological topics and gave talks at local venues on his pathological findings. He also was called as an expert witness at inquests and trials. He was a staunch Conservative and got to know many politicians. He was friendly with Ellen Fairclough, a local Hamilton MP.

War Again

There was a threat of war as the National Socialist (Nazi) Party under Adolph Hitler invaded the Ruhr Valley with little response from Britain and France. Then in 1938 he invaded Austria. The British Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain complained but Austria was a German Ally so there was little reaction. Then in early 1939, Hitler claimed that the Sudetenland that was part of Czechoslovakia was German and invaded it. He claimed that Germany needed ‘lebensraum’ so Chamberlain met with Hitler who claimed that this was the end of his territorial ambitions. When Chamberlain returned saying “peace in our time” it was not believed by most in the west and he was roundly criticised in Parliament. Britain moved to a war footing.

Unfortunately WWII started in September 1939 and because of wartime restrictions Bill had to wait until after the war for his salary increase and by that time salaries had increased so much that it was not until he retired in 1956 that things got better.

On September 1st 1939, Hitler’s armies invaded Poland and simultaneously, the armies of the Soviet Union invaded from the East. Mortal enemies to that point they reached a non-aggression pact but Poland was destroyed. The remains of the Polish Army were able to get out and fled to Britain, where they were greeted warmly. Because of a formal alliance between Britain and France, both declared war on Germany. At that point Britain was rapidly mobilizing and Winston Churchill was appointed as First Lord of the Admiralty – a post he had held in the First World War. Bill had always admired Churchill and he followed his career very closely. Our library contains copies of most of his writings, sharing space with those of Sir William Osler.

British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain resigned and there was a strong movement to appoint Churchill to the post. There was much dispute as Churchill had switched from Conservative to Liberal and back to Conservative over the years between the two wars. But he was finally appointed in early 1940. Bill was thrilled. He had admired Winston Churchill in the First World War and again in the Second. Over the years he bought almost all the books that Churchill wrote. They are still with the family.

The long grinding battle has been documented well. Meanwhile Bill’s work in pathology continued but under more difficult circumstances. The Federal Wartime Prices and Trade Board introduced rationing including gas rationing and Bill was only assigned an A Book. Since he was driving to inquests throughout the region, he used this up in about 3 months. Then he had a long hassle to get it upgraded to a D Book which was the most generous one. Even this was not enough so he took the bus or train to Niagara or to Waterloo many times. The Willys got an A Book, later changed to AA. Bill sometimes used that book if he was desperate.

Our lives slipped into a new routine. Bill was still in the militia and he volunteered to help in the war effort. He was assigned to the Hamilton recruitment centre and served there until nearly the war’s end. At that time he formally retired from service after some 30 years.