Jan 02, 2008 01:58
Background: I'm writing a Lovecraftian original fic set in early 1920's Winnipeg, Manitoba. Female protagonist, private-eye type character.
Research: The Urban Gallery at the museum, several books from the library, and far more old newspapers than my eyes want to remember. (As you'll see from the nature of the question, google isn't a lot of help with this.) Winnipedia is helpful, but the one recorded serial killer is too late for the main story.
Question: Is there any record of police proceedings/corruption at the time? I have most of the information as to what the city was like, and several records of well-known prostitutes my MC visits on a regular basis, as well as information on the rivalry between the Provincial and City police, but I don't have any personal accounts of how corrupt police officials or were or the standard stance they took to smuggling operations, local gangs, mafias, et cetera. I've been on the lookout for weird murders that may have been covered up, but so far I'm not finding anything, likely due to newspaper censorship.
In the end I have enough information of the city in general that I can just handwave or invent a crime wave the police are covering up, but I'd rather have some first-hand accounts if anyone has parents or grandparents who would have told stories. (Most of the people who would be my first-hand resources either immigrated after WWII or grew up in the wrong province.)
I know it's a long shot, but I figure this is the place to ask. Thanks in advance for any help and books I may have missed.
canada: government: law enforcement,
1920-1929,
canada: history