ODDS N SODS — The Flying Bandit

In search of items for a mining exhibit, Red Lake Museum volunteers Jim Dodd and Bill Tetlock came across an old desk beneath a pile of rock and drill core. The desk, which was wrapped in burlap and plastic, had been donated to the museum after the closure of the Madsen mine, in the Ontario’s Red Lake mining district.

They found an envelope marked “assay samples” in the bottom drawer. The package contained five smaller envelopes, each with a hand-written serial number. Each of the smaller envelopes held a quarter-ounce of gold grains, while the fifth contained shavings of gold bullion. With the help of Paul Okanski, a retired assayer, I connected the samples to 12 gold bars stolen by Ken Leishman in March 1966.

Leishman and three others, posing as a Air Canada employees, stole the gold as it awaited transport from the Winnipeg airport. The bars, five from the Madsen mine and seven from the Campbell mine, were worth nearly $400,000.

The gold was taken to the home of lawyer Harry Backlin, who hid the bars in his freezer. Six days later, Leishman cut a 6-lb. piece from one of the bars and instructed Backlin to fly to Hong Kong to exchange the gold for cash. The lawyer, however, had a full court schedule that week and felt that his sudden departure might look suspicious.

Although on parole from several bank robberies, Leishman decided that he would go to Hong Kong. He was arrested in Vancouver, however, and sent to the Headingly jail in Manitoba. Nine days after the theft, Winnipeg police found ten gold bars buried under a snowdrift in Backlin’s backyard. The remainder of the eleventh was found in the lawyer’s office.

In September, Leishman and three other inmates escaped from jail and stole a plane in Steinbach. They landed in a cornfield in Gary, Ind., but were captured and returned to Manitoba.

After serving eight years in jail, Leishman moved to Red Lake with his wife, Elva, and became a bush pilot for Sabourin Airways. A frank and good-humored man, he talked openly about his crimes, laughing at himself and the police.

He even answered to the nickname of Goldfingers.

In 1978, he was elected president of the Red Lake Chamber of Commerce, and ran for reeve the next fall. He lost by 75 votes. Leishman, an enthusiastic promoter of the area, believed his presence in Red Lake was good for tourism, and that the town could attract visitors by declaring itself “The Home of the Flying Bandit.”

Leishman died in 1979 when his plane crashed 50 km north of Thunder Bay.

Incidentally, the twelfth bar was never found nor was the 6-lb. piece he took to Vancouver.

— the author is the curator of the Red Lake Museum, where the drillings from the bars that were stolen are currently on display.