Three Fingered Abe and the Labatt Kidnapping 1934	"Stick 'em up quick.  This is a kidnapping!"  shouted Three Fingered Abe as he brandished a gun at John Labatt.  It was a pleasant August morning in 1934, and Mr. Labatt, a millionaire, was driving from his cottage near Sarnia back to his office in London.  As he reached a secluded spot on the road, another vehicle headed straight towards him, forcing him off the road.  Two men leaped from the car and the kidnapping was on. John Sackville Labatt, age 54,  owned the Labatt Brewery in London and he was fearful as he penned the ransom note to his brother Hugh.   Dear Hugh: Do as these men have instructed you to do and don't go to the police.  They promise not to harm me if you negotiate with them. Your affectionate brother, John The gang leader was 40 year old Michael Francis McCardell but he liked to be called Three Fingered Abe.  The other two accomplices were Albert Pegram and Russell Knowles.  After Labatt scribed the note, he was bustled into the car where he was blindfolded with taped goggles.  Knowles then stole Labatt's car, drove it to London, and abandoned it in front of St. Joseph's Hospital.  Meanwhile, the other two gang members drove Labatt to a private cottage on Wildwood Lake near Bracebridge, north of Toronto. Kidnapping was not very common in Canada, especially in London, so when the story broke, many reporters were keen to scoop the story.  Where was Labatt?  Was he still alive? For three days and two nights, Labatt was held blindfolded and chained to a bed.  In spite of these uncomfortable conditions, the whole kidnapping plan was so muddled, it was doomed to failure.  Word was out of the request for brother Hugh Labatt to gather $150,000,  register at the Royal York Hotel in Toronto and await further information.  When John Labatt himself, limped into the hotel lobby at midnight, a surprised  Free Press reporter, Howard Broughton, had the scoop of his life.  Pegram had fled to the United States, Knowles panicked and Labatt had been released unharmed having secretly offered to payoff the kidnappers $25,000 in exchange for safety. In the end, Pegram was believed killed by members of the underworld, Knowles was arrested near Chicago in 1935 and sentenced to 15 years in prison, and McCardell was also arrested and convicted.  Ironically, McCardell eventually lost a finger when shot by police bullets in Indiana and finally earned his favourite nickname of  Three Fingered Abe after all.  He died in Windsor, Ontario in 1950.
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More Information:    The London and Middlesex Historian Volume 17 "The Labatt Snatch" by Alice Gibb