STRATFORD, Ont. - Workers in Stratford, Ont., renovating the local jail made
a disturbing discovery this week – two bodies buried on the site.
The bodies are believed to be those of two men hanged for murder in the
southwestern Ontario city more than 100 years ago.
“We did know there may be some bodies on the site,” said Julia Sakas,
communications advisor for the Ontario Realty Corp., which manages the
building owned by the Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure.
The bodies are believed to be those of a vagrant by the name of Almeda
Chattelle, who was hanged for the gruesome killing of a 13-year-old girl in
1894, and of Frank Roughmond, hanged for the rape and murder of an area
farmer's wife in 1908.
According to records from the time, both men were buried on the jail
property.
Sakas said the bodies will likely be moved eventually, but the process can
be a long one.
The Cemeteries Act requires public notices be issued to the public.
“We don’t know if there are any family. They, of course, would want to be
notified,” Sakas said.
If no representatives come forward the minister of a church with the closest
religious affiliation would be asked to act as a representative to oversee
the exhumation and reburials.
The Stratford Jail was built in 1886 and is still an active jail. The
property is not designated under the Ontario Heritage Act but is protected
as an historical building under a Cultural Heritage agreement.
