Wayne Hoffman, is a writer based in New York City, but because of research for his upcoming book he is getting a thorough education on the history of Canora.
Hoffman is planning to write a book about the murder of his great-grandmother, Sarah Fainstein, which took place in 1913 in Winnipeg, he said in a recent interview in Canora. She was married to David Fainstein, who was working with several brothers as a cattle buyer at the time. Hoffman’s grandmother Ethel was three years old when her mother died.
Even though they lived in Winnipeg, Ethel’s father and his brothers spent plenty of time in Canora on business, and kept a home here from about 1906 to 1913. In fact, David was in Canora on business at the time of his wife’s murder, said Hoffman. Police contacted him by telegraph, and he took the train from Canora back to Winnipeg.
David married his second wife Bella, a widow with one child from her first husband, in Winnipeg in 1915. His brother Harry had been living in Canora full-time, but he moved back to Winnipeg and it was David’s turn to live in Canora. He and Bella stayed for several years, long enough for the three children they had together to be born here, and join the family which included Hoffman’s grandmother Ethel. Eventually they returned to Winnipeg.
Hoffman said he thoroughly enjoyed his first visit to Saskatchewan, especially the friendly people and the variety in scenery as he traveled through the province.
Following is an excerpt from the story of the murder as it mostly originally appeared in the Winnipeg Tribune on August 1, 1913 (The name was spelled ‘Feinstein’ at the time, but the family later changed it to ‘Fainstein’):
“Prominent member of Hebrew colony shot to death as she slept,” said the headline,
“Mrs. David Feinstein of 520 Magnus Street, the victim of a mysterious murder.”
“Mrs. David Feinstein, a prominent member of the Winnipeg Hebrew colony, was found in her home at 520 Magnus Street, at 2.45 o’clock this morning, lying in bed, murdered, with a bullet hole in her temple, while her life blood gushed forth in streams upon the seven-months-old babe lying beside her,” the story read.
“The woman’s expression was peaceful. There was no sign of a struggle having taken place and not an article in the room was disturbed. In a cot at the foot of the woman’s bed lay three young children, who wept bitterly for the mother who, having passed the great divide, could not hear them.
“No trace of the perpetrator of the deed has yet been discovered,” the story said. “There were no signs of a struggle in the room and practically nothing which would lead to the identity of the miscreant could be found.
“What might be considered in the nature of a clue was found in the shape of a box of Russian fusees. These matches are not sold in Winnipeg but are often seen in the possession of immigrants from South Russia and Austria.
“The finding of these seems to give colour to the rumour that the deed was committed by the lover of a girl named Mary Kumanowsky, who is a servant at 526 Magnus Avenue, who quarrelled with Mrs. Feinstein on Friday last.
“The first news of anything extraordinary having occurred came to Abraham Schurman, a young Hebrew residing at 516 Magnus Avenue.
“I was lying in bed asleep,” said Mr. Shourman to the Tribune this morning, “when I heard someone calling my name and rapping hurriedly on the door of my room. I got up, hurriedly put on some clothing and opened the door. Standing there, looking very frightened, was Mary (Victoria Kumanowsky), Mrs. Feinstein’s servant. ‘The Mrs. Sleeps and won’t wake,’ she said, tearfully.”
