The School Board, citing her persistence for fair compensation as being indicative of depression, suggested that she had jumped from the Bridge. Felicia taught Grade Nine at the new Westmount Junior High – a job that was supposed to be a high school job and pay at least another hundred dollars more than her previous post teaching in a high school in New Westminster, B.C. A university graduate with a Master degree, Felicia excelled as a scholar and could speak several languages, which, she argued, entitled her to the same the same salary as a male high school teacher. It wasn’t long before her persistence secured her a move to Strathcona High at the salary she desired. But, before she could begin, Spanish flu arrived in Edmonton and by October 17, schools closed – not to reopen until January 1919. And then she vanished —
Had she jumped? Her father, a wealthy farmer from Lindsay, Ontario, refused to believe this of his fiery daughter and felt she had likely left the city for a new adventure. For months he published ads in newspapers across the country and in New England – offering a hefty reward for news of her. False sightings of Felicia flooded in from across the Prairies.
But what later became known was that James Watson was living in the Arlington Apartments – that lay between the Mansion and the Bridge. Watson was later apprehended in California after a series of murders of wealthy women – many of whom he robbed and killed, before disposing of them in a river. Could the serial killer have met Felicia?
Today, Felicia is believed to haunt Westmount Junior High, her boots clicking as she hurries up the steps to her classroom. Others claim to have seen her wandering the grounds of the Mansion, as well as along the river banks near the Shaw Conference Centre.
The mystery remains. Felicia Graham, where are you and what really happened that day?
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- $500 Reward
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- James Watson – did he murder Felicia Graham?
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- Newspaper Reward Posting by Felicia’s father
