Who Killed Jackie Bates?

by Bill Waiser

Short listed for 3 Saskatchewan Book Non-Fiction Award Saskatoon Award Book of the Year Award On the morning of 5 December 1933, a young RCMP constable discovered a grisly scene in the Avalon schoolyard in rural Saskatchewan. A young boy lay dead in a rented car, an apparent victim of carbon monoxide poisoning. In the car with him were his parents, who would survive both the effects of the gas and self-inflicted knife wounds only to face murder charges in their son's death. The subsequent trial of Ted and Rose Bates ranks as one of the most hotly debated in Saskatchewan history. Historian Bill Waiser examines an incident long held up as an example of the sheer despair and bureaucratic heartlessness of the Depression and shows that the truth is much more complex. Through meticulous research, including letters, police and trial documents, contemporary accounts, and interviews with people who knew Ted, Rose, and Jackie, the author recreates the troubled lives and desperate times of Ted and Rose Bates in order to explain what led them to that isolated schoolyard on a cold December night. Waiser traces the Bates' story from Ted and Rose's arrival in Canada as immigrants searching for a better life to the final outcome of their dramatic trial. The story is written with an immediacy that goes beyond a more traditional narrative approach in order to provide a better understanding and appreciation of the circumstances behind the sorry incident. The words spoken throughout the book are taken verbatim from the sources and serve to reinforce that the Bates were not simply helpless victims of the Depression, but flawed people with complex personalities. Who Killed Jackie Bates? superbly recreates the Depression ethos to provide insight into a time and place that seem light years away from the Canada of today.

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction, History

208 pages, Hardcover

First published August 12, 2008

Reviews

[Erika Nerdypants]

Interesting review of the Jackie Bates murder case that happened in the 1930s in rural Canada. Waiser made the dirty thirties come alive for me, and provides a better understanding of life on the prairies during extreme hardship. Well researched in its exploration of the Great Depression, but it left me wanting to know so much more about Rose, who was clearly mentally ill, but with limited application of psychiatry at the times was never diagnosed at all.

[Dasha]

Bill Waiser recounts the tragic story of Jackie Bates death at the hands of his parents. Traditionally, Canadian historiography and textbooks have used the Bates attempted familicide as an example of the Canadian government's extreme failure to provide support for the Canadian people during the Great Depression. Waiser challenges this narrative by demonstrating the active decisions Jackie Bates' parents made, their refusal to accept aid out of shame, and the agency that both parents had in making the decision to take not only their own lives, but also their son's life.

[Sam Madland]

I learned a lot about Saskatchewan history that I didn’t know much about before reading this book. The story was very well laid out. A few parts were a bit repetitive but overall I enjoyed it!

[Anika]

A history novel that reads like well-written fiction, Who Killed Jackie Bates? is a heartbreaking and fascinating look into Saskatchewan in the Great Depression and the lengths that people had to take to try to survive complete economic and agricultural collapse. As someone from Saskatchewan, with family who lived through the Depression in southern Saskatchewan, I was constantly making connections to my own life and family history. There is a good balance of photos and footnoted history style writing and the weaving of a hopeless story that keeps you flipping pages until you find out Who Killed Jackie Bates? .... and why?

[Andrea Wall]

Read this for school. It's cool it's a Saskatchewan book and as I'm from there I think that's awesome :) It was interesting forsure, although I think the author bogged it down with too many stats and background info. Honestly, we didn't need to know everything about Saskatoon and it felt like he was just trying to lengthen the book. Other then that though it was as interesting as I expected

Ok, no here is my personal opinion on the actual case.

The Bates should have been charged for murder. The fact that they got off, doesn't seem right to me. They were guilty no doubt about it. yes, they were prideful people and didn't want to ask for financial aid go back home. BUT these problems don't immediately add up to suicide. In fact, the author even lists other solutions they could have chosen. To me Rose and Ted Bates were extremely selfish people who literally contemplated murder. Millions of people were in the same situation as Ted and Rose, some of them in even worse. Yet, not every single one of them selected suicide as their only option. They were weak, weak people and should have been punished in someway. It sounds harsh I suppose, but really, it isn't a better excuse then other ones used by other murderers who have been convicted.

(Now, I'm going to go write an English paper along these same lines)

[Susan]

I believe this book is relevant to my community since it takes place in nearby Saskatchewan and to people living on the brink of a Depression today, so I bought it for my library. I think it asks, do people do bad things because of their historical environment or because they're the type of person to do something bad anyway? I think I know the answer already....
Some sort of legislation or social gift from the government occurred because of this case (I haven't read the book yet). So far it's an interesting book.

[Harvey]

- from the jacket: "On the morning of 5 December 1933, a young R.C.M.P. constable discovered a grisly scene in the Avalon school-yard in rural Saskatchewan. A young boy lay dead in a rented car, an apparent victim of carbon monoxide poisoning. In the car with him were his parents, who would survive both the effects of the gas and self-inflicted knife wounds only to face murder charges in their son's death. The subsequent trial of Ted and Rose Bates ranks as one of the most hotly debated in Saskatchewan history."

[Darlene Otet]

Enjoyed this book, lots of history!

[Phil Lawless]

A rather chilling description of a mother and father driven to attempt suicide in the CAnadian plains during the Depression. Only their son died.

[Tessa Jordan]

3.5 stars to this book that examines the tragic death of 8 year old Jackie Bates at the hands of his parents. Was it premeditated murder? Or was it an act of love during the Great Depression?