Nicholas Marthos
Glace Bay, NS / Sept. 22, 1930
Nicholas Marthos, known locally as "Nick the Greek," usually waited for fares on a stand in Glace Bay. He had not been seen for several hours when motorists found his car parked on a lonely road outside of town. Marthos had been beaten unconscious with a blunt object and died an hour after being discovered.
A nearby householder reported hearing a woman's scream at about the time Marthos was thought to have been attacked, but there were no other obvious clues.
In November 7 Canadian detectives went to Old Perlican, Newfoundland and arrested a 40-year-old former resident on a charge of murder. Since Newfoundland was not part of Canada at the time the man had to be extradited to face trial.
He was tried in Sydney NS the following February. The jury deliberated only 20 minutes before finding the killer guilty and he was hanged on April 30.
A "news ballad" based on the case was composed at the time and sung to a popular folk tune. It contains this verse:
'Twas early last autumn as you may understand,
To drive me out to Tower Road I engaged this taxi man.
He little thought as we rode on, I had an iron bar;
Those dreadful wounds for to inflict and rob him in his car.
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