George Skeffington: Moncton's very own 'international man of mystery'

Who needsCasino Royalewhen the city of Moncton has its very own James Bond?

Between 1879 and 1906, George Skeffington was in charge of security for the Intercolonial Railway, connecting Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.

He caught criminals trying to escape across the border into the United States.

And he spied for Sir John A. Macdonald, Canada's first prime minister.

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"You start digging around a little more and it's very short order before you discover this guy was absolutely 110 per cent, the real deal," said James Upham, who is in charge of public programming at Resurgo Place museum in Moncton.

"An international man of mystery."

Sifting through old scrapbooks and letters, Uphamsaid, he discovered "real cloak-and-dagger undercover spy stuff going on" with George Skeffingtonof Moncton.

An unknown hero

As a young man, Skeffington joined the British army and was stationed with an artillery unit near Kingston, Ont. Eventually, he moved to Quebec, where he joined the police and became a detective. He also became an agent for the Pinkerton National Detective Agency.

In the 1880s, Skeffington was summoned to the nation's capital to thwart a bombing and the assassination of the governor general.

A plot was allegedly hatchedby the Fenian Brotherhood, the U.S. chapter of the Irish Republican Brotherhood.

The group fighting for the independence of Ireland had already come close to invading New Brunswick to hold it as ransom.

Orders from the top

Skeffington was in Moncton when Macdonald himself ordered himup to Ottawa.

"There's no bones about the message itself," Upham said in an interview with Information Morning Moncton.

"You need to come to Ottawa immediately. Don't talk to anybody, don't discuss this with the local police, don't discuss this with the Ottawa police, don't discuss this with the military. Come now."

So Skeffington followed orders and took the train to Ottawa, where he met with the prime minister and was instructed to find the Fenianswho were threatening the city.

For two weeks, Skeffington tailed the two suspects around Ottawa, but eventually they got spooked and made a run for the U.S.

'Ifthere was an important thing going down in the dominion the go-to person to look after that, to keep it safe, to keep things on the track, that was GeorgeSkeffington.'-JamesUpham

He followed the men, taking the same train they were in as they fled.

When the train entered the U.S., theMonctonman found the group's luggagea largeduffel bag filled with TNT and detonators.

"The only thing for him to do was pick up the explosives, set them in between his feet in the train car, and head back to Ottawa with the explosives in between his feet," he said.

In letters to his son later in life, Skeffingtontalked about the mission.

"According toSkeffingtonhimself, he was like, 'Yeah, every single time the train car lurches slightly, all the hair on my head stood straight,'" Upham said.

When he arrived back in Ottawa with theexplosives, they were detonated. The two Fenianswere eventually caught.

"It was all off the books," Upham said. "It was all undercover and when he got back toMoncton,people were like, 'Where were you?'"

Although it was often done in secrecy, Skeffington performed important work for the young country.

"He took down a counterfeiting ring that extended across the border throughout the IntercolonialRailway," Uphamsaid.

He was also used as a bodyguard for Macdonald and King Edward VII.

"If there was an important thing going down in the Dominion, the go-to person to look after that, to keep it safe, to keep things on the track, that was George Skeffington."

Born in Ireland

Skeffingtonwasn't originally from New Brunswick. He would neveradmit it, but he was born in Ireland and grew up in London.

After theIntercolonialrailway was established, he worked his way up to becoming the head of securityactive on both sides of the border.

"It's your quickest connection between communities and if you happened to have just committed a crime on one side of the border, you can find yourself on the other side of the border in a matter of minutes getting away scot-free," Uphamsaid.

"The guy was going gangbusters, literally on all kinds of stuff that was just your normal run-of-the-mill running of a railway."