Constables Crabtree and Higgins are talking outside Police Station 4, when a man staggers up to them, collapses, dropping his hip flask, and struggles to say, "Eagle flight
I have been
murdered." Inspector Brackenreid suggests this may be a reference to the Eagle's Flight brand of whisky, which, as a connoisseur, he says is awful. Another of Brackenreid's talents comes to the fore when he shows Murdoch and Dr Ogden a painting he has just completed. Murdoch likes the frame, while his wife loves the impressionistic and original use of colour. The Inspector explains his pink trees arose from a combination of his artistic vision and the fact he had run out of green paint.
The dead man is identified as Edward Graham, a land surveyor who was working at the behest of the Ontario Government to assess a route for the planned Northern Ontario Railway. A map and a note among Mr Graham's effects points to a meeting with "CAM". Murdoch keeps the appointment, and CAM turns out to be Charles Arthur McCool, a Member of Parliament, who is mightily offended when Murdoch's information that Graham had been carrying a large amount of cash comes across to him as an accusation of corruption.
Dr Ogden sees a poster advertising a painting competition, and without telling him, she enters Inspector Brackenreid's painting, for which he could win $10. The Inspector isn't best pleased, and goes to the gallery to reclaim his work, but a painter at the gallery persuades him to permit the painting to remain in the competition.
Soon Murdoch and Crabtree are on a train bound for Northern Ontario, but they will have to trek through the forest to reach their destination of Haliberry. Crabtree has brought his pillow along, to ensure a good night's sleep. They encounter several characters on their journey, including Jagger Brown, a prospector, and Mack, a feisty woman who takes a shine to Constable Crabtree. When night falls and the party must make camp in the woods, it is quickly clear that Constable Crabtree is even more terrified of the local wildlife than he is of Mack. It is also clear that Jagger Brown is no country boy, when he finds a root vegetable that he thinks is a parsnip, but which the party's Indian guide, and later Murdoch identify as water hemlock.
When they reach Haliberry, the policemen break into the hotel room which Edward Graham had been renting, and there discover a sheet of tracing paper with several unexplained symbols on it. The trouble is that it is not clear how the sheet should be laid over the place the map, or what the symbols signify. Murdoch tells George to lock the map and overlay in his room for safe keeping, and then join him in the bar. In the bar, they meet Harold Richmond, a man who bought up a lot of land in the region, based on where the railway was, he believed, likely to be routed, but stands to lose a fortune now that Graham's survey proposes a different alignment, through an Indian Reservation. They also meet Frank Gowdy, Graham's assistant, who tells them that Graham's plan to take the railway through Indian land had made him many enemies in town. He also tells them of a woman with whom Graham had been involved, though when he had left for Toronto, she had followed him, "mad as a wildcat". He points to her across the bar. It's Mack, who doesn't seem too put out by the news of Graham's murder.
Back in Toronto, Drs Ogden and Grace are trying to identity the substance used to poison Edward Graham. Eventually they narrow it down to water hemlock George retires to his room, only to find the door forced and Mack, waiting in bed for him. Next morning, she claims she didn't break into George's room, but that the door was already open, which she took to be an invitation. She claims to have seen Jagger Brown coming the other way along the hallway. When challenged by George, Jagger runs off.
So, is Mack or Jagger the poisoner? Or is it someone else in this town? Will Brackenreid be a great success in the art world? What did the dying words of Edward Graham mean? Why did Graham change the railway's course?
This humorous episode is as full of intrigue as any fan could wish, and it reunites Murdoch with his prospecting past. Sadly, it ends on a true, but unhappy, point of history. The Murdoch Mysteries continue to educate, as they entertain.
The dead man is identified as Edward Graham, a land surveyor who was working at the behest of the Ontario Government to assess a route for the planned Northern Ontario Railway. A map and a note among Mr Graham's effects points to a meeting with "CAM". Murdoch keeps the appointment, and CAM turns out to be Charles Arthur McCool, a Member of Parliament, who is mightily offended when Murdoch's information that Graham had been carrying a large amount of cash comes across to him as an accusation of corruption.
Dr Ogden sees a poster advertising a painting competition, and without telling him, she enters Inspector Brackenreid's painting, for which he could win $10. The Inspector isn't best pleased, and goes to the gallery to reclaim his work, but a painter at the gallery persuades him to permit the painting to remain in the competition.
Soon Murdoch and Crabtree are on a train bound for Northern Ontario, but they will have to trek through the forest to reach their destination of Haliberry. Crabtree has brought his pillow along, to ensure a good night's sleep. They encounter several characters on their journey, including Jagger Brown, a prospector, and Mack, a feisty woman who takes a shine to Constable Crabtree. When night falls and the party must make camp in the woods, it is quickly clear that Constable Crabtree is even more terrified of the local wildlife than he is of Mack. It is also clear that Jagger Brown is no country boy, when he finds a root vegetable that he thinks is a parsnip, but which the party's Indian guide, and later Murdoch identify as water hemlock.
When they reach Haliberry, the policemen break into the hotel room which Edward Graham had been renting, and there discover a sheet of tracing paper with several unexplained symbols on it. The trouble is that it is not clear how the sheet should be laid over the place the map, or what the symbols signify. Murdoch tells George to lock the map and overlay in his room for safe keeping, and then join him in the bar. In the bar, they meet Harold Richmond, a man who bought up a lot of land in the region, based on where the railway was, he believed, likely to be routed, but stands to lose a fortune now that Graham's survey proposes a different alignment, through an Indian Reservation. They also meet Frank Gowdy, Graham's assistant, who tells them that Graham's plan to take the railway through Indian land had made him many enemies in town. He also tells them of a woman with whom Graham had been involved, though when he had left for Toronto, she had followed him, "mad as a wildcat". He points to her across the bar. It's Mack, who doesn't seem too put out by the news of Graham's murder.
Back in Toronto, Drs Ogden and Grace are trying to identity the substance used to poison Edward Graham. Eventually they narrow it down to water hemlock George retires to his room, only to find the door forced and Mack, waiting in bed for him. Next morning, she claims she didn't break into George's room, but that the door was already open, which she took to be an invitation. She claims to have seen Jagger Brown coming the other way along the hallway. When challenged by George, Jagger runs off.
So, is Mack or Jagger the poisoner? Or is it someone else in this town? Will Brackenreid be a great success in the art world? What did the dying words of Edward Graham mean? Why did Graham change the railway's course?
This humorous episode is as full of intrigue as any fan could wish, and it reunites Murdoch with his prospecting past. Sadly, it ends on a true, but unhappy, point of history. The Murdoch Mysteries continue to educate, as they entertain.