The unsolved mystery of Dan Willans

He arrived on the northern Ontario mining scene during the first part of this century more or less unannounced, and in the next few years was reported to have made himself a pile of money. His name, he said, was Dan Willans, and he was from England, but of his early life precious little is known. When he disappeared in August, 1936, it was the last anyone ever heard of him.

Today, the “man of mystery” who helped open up the Red Lake area of northwestern Ontario and whose name is associated with the Cochenour Willans gold mine which went into production in 1939 in that part of the province, is again the focus of an investigation, this time by Toronto researcher Terry Howes.

Operator of a company called Locator of Missing Heirs Inc., Howes makes a living tracking down unclaimed stock certificates or other assets, finding the persons who are entitled to them, and then collecting a finders fee. In the Willans case, Howes estimates the claim staker’s fortune, in current dollars, is worth $2-$3 million. (Howes thinks Willans’ estate has to be worth much more than the $91,000 Ontario’s public trustee says exists.) Family name

So far Howes’ search has taken him to England, where he came into possession of birth and marriage registrations he believes to be those of Willans and his sister Clara. According to Howes, Willans was born in 1879 in the County of York, near Leeds, and had at least one brother in addition to the aforementioned sister. While “Willans” was the man’s real family name, his given names were Dalton Thomas. Howes says another trip overseas is planned.

During his search, Howes also came into contact with two men, now residents of Toronto, who were acquainted with Willans: Joseph Perkin, who knew Willans in Red Lake, and Alex Mosher, a former president of the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada who knew Willans in Haileybury, Ont.

Perkin, 87, is a former postmaster at Red Lake, and he recalls Willans used to receive Russian cigarettes from his sister from England. He subscribes to the theory that Willans was a “remittance man,” the term used for a black sheep of the family who would be sent to a foreign country rather than bring his family’s name into disrepute, and who would receive remittances, or money, from his family. “There must have been half-a- dozen remittance men in the area,” he said.

“I don’t think he disappeared; he was too good a woodsman,” Perkin told The Northern Miner. “Personally, I think he went back to England and took his family name again.” Asked what he did with the money he made in northern Ontario, Perkin said “I don’t think he needed it.” Perkin, who is still active in mining — he is currently involved in exploration of property in the Pickle Lake area of northern Ontario — described Willans as being an educated man with possibly a military background. Different theory

Mosher, 89, who says Willans was a loner, doesn’t think the Englishman returned to the old country. Describing him as “a refined gentleman” with a great sense of humor and “quite a poker player,” Mosher said Willans “was disposed of.”

Mosher said Willans used to carry a lot of money on him, “up to a thousand dollars, maybe more.” The theory is he was robbed of his moneybelt and killed.

An Ontario Provincial Police investigation of the case is reported to have come up empty-handed (the police records have apparently been destroyed). And in the United Kingdom, newspaper advertisements carrying Willans photograph brought forth no heir to his Canadian fortune or any information about his early life.

Mosher said Willans never talked about his past. A trunk containing the belongings of Willans was opened by Mosher after the man’s disappearance in 1936, but again there was nothing which shed any light on the man’s early years.

The trunk did contain a receipt, Mosher said, from the King Edward Hotel in Toronto, where Willans chose to stay and entertain in lavish fashion when visiting the Queen City. Arnold Hoffman, in his book “Free Gold,” wrote of the hotel visits: “After several weeks of high living, never to be seen in public without his impeccable dress clothes, Dan would pay his considerable bill and return to his Haileybury shack. For the next year or two he would pursue his even ways until circumstances again permitted another trip outside.”

The story of mystery man Dan Willans is to be the subject of an upcoming weekly American network television show, Unsolved Mysteries.