Once Upon a Time – Otto McClevis laid down the law in Bruce County

In the depths of the Depression an epic chase took place. A Chevy and the undertaker’s brand new Plymouth roared down the 8th Concession of Brant Township with Constable Otto McClevis in hot pursuit. The stolen cars would soon crash and McClevis would set a record: the only policeman in Ontario who chased two cars at the same time and captured both cars and occupants.

Bruce County’s first constable, Otto Conrad McLevis (1901-1971) was sorely needed in the 1930s, when hard times pushed some people to supplement their income with a little bootlegging or robbery. Otto had started as chief constable of Wiarton and signed up with the Ontario Provincial Police in 1928, the only O.P.P. officer in Bruce County.

He soon earned a reputation for unfailingly running his quarry to ground, often in high-speed car chases straight out of the movies. In his car he carried nine revolvers, a sawed-off shotgun and a rifle, all loaded, and didn’t hesitate to use them, whether arresting bank robbers or pursuing moonshiners deep in the Greenock swamp.

He certainly needed the weaponry for the Brant Township pursuit. It had started in Tiverton at 4 a.m. A young man coming home from a date had spotted the undertaker’s car, driven by a stranger, and believed it was stolen. A second car, a late model, followed it.

He phoned Walkerton O.P.P. and Provincial Constable Otto McClevis sprang into action. He stretched a chain across the road going south out of Walkerton. No sooner was his roadblock in place than the two stolen vehicles approached from the west and were forced to head north through town.

McClevis gave chase, driving with one hand and shooting with the other at the rear car, which was the undertaker’s Plymouth. He found out later that he’d put 15 shots into that car and three more into the Chevrolet in the lead.

The pursuit reached high speeds, the constable shooting whenever he had a chance, and the fugitives returning fire. Until, some eight miles north of Walkerton, the road ended in a T-junction and none of the speeding cars could make the left or right turn.

The Chevrolet cleared a four-foot ditch, struck a rail fence, and came to rest in the field beyond. The Plymouth had no option but to plough into the rear of the Chevy. McClevis, not to be outdone, drove his police car straight across the ditch and hit both cars, throwing the Plymouth one way, the Chevrolet the other.

While three of the fugitives fled into the bush, the constable handcuffed the fourth to a stolen tire and left him sitting in the field with the tire in his lap. He was able to chase down the three runners, bring them back and secure them using handcuffs with a four-foot chain.

However McClevis discovered that his other prisoner had vanished, tire and all. He’d taken off down the road, rolling the tire along, with his handcuffs through the tire. The would-be escapee thought better of it when McClevis nicked his ear with a warning shot.

After 18 years with the O.P.P. the legendary ‘‘driving, shooting policeman’’, so beloved by the newspapers, resigned and became the first (and only) provincial police constable to be appointed a magistrate, sitting in Walkerton.

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Distributed by: Robin Hilborn, Bruce County Historical Society

Hear more about the county’s most famous constable from historian Pat Kelly on Saturday, Oct. 29. Pat will give a no-holds-barred account of Otto McClevis’ car chases and shootouts at the dinner and annual meeting of the Bruce County Historical Society. It’s at noon at Walkerton District Knights Community Hall, between Walkerton and Mildmay. Tickets are $25, including dinner, and are available by emailing bchsregister@gmail.com.