Ambrose Small was one of Toronto’s wealthiest men. He owned more than 30 theaters in Ontario where one could see all kinds of live performances in the early 20th century. In 1919, the 53-year-old Small was ready to retire, possibly because he saw the future of live performances going away thanks to movies. He arranged to sell all his theaters for $1.7 million, which would be worth $30 million today. But as soon as he wrapped up the deal and deposited a million dollars in his bank, he disappeared.
Listen beautiful relax classics on our Youtube channel.
Small’s wife didn’t report him missing. Weeks later, one of his employees did, and the police were all over the case, and the newspapers were as well. But they found nothing. One of Small’s employees, John Doughty, left town with $105,000 in bonds and was later captured and tried for theft, but police never found any evidence tying him to Small’s disappearance. Small’s sisters blamed his wife, and even fabricated evidence against her, which may have been more about inheritance money than actual suspicion. The strangest part of the story was a man who showed up in Des Moines, Iowa, two years later that some thought might have been Small.
But more than 100 years later, no one knows what actually happened to Ambrose Small. Read about the case and its fallout at Mental Floss.
(Image credit: Toronto Star)
Source: neatorama