At about 4:30 a.m. on Friday, September 28, 1945, Arthur Badger was parked on Portage Avenue in front of Moore's Restaurant. He was 60 years old and was well known to other Winnipeg cab drivers, having driven a taxi for 28 years. Another driver saw two men in battle dress climb into the back seat of Mr. Badger's cab before it drove west along Portage. The driver was on his way home at the end of his shift and followed Mr. Badger's cab for several blocks before turning off on Canora Street. He described the soldiers as being about 170 pounds. One of them appeared to be drunk. About half an hour later, at 5 a.m., a resident of 3081 Portage Avenue was awakened by his alarm clock. Hearing voices outside, he looked out the window and saw a big car with its lights on and someone inside. A man's voice called out "Please let me go!" three times and the horn sounded at brief intervals. Another voice said "Stop the horn!" Thinking there had been an accident the resident dressed and went outside with a flashlight just in time to see the car drive away to the west. As he walked across the bridge that spanned the ditch in front of his house he found a taxi driver's cap on the ground. He then heard heavy breathing and discovered Mr. Badger lying in the ditch about 50 yards away. Another resident who lived at 188 Greenacre Street, about 300 yards from the crime scene, was awakened at about 4:50 a.m. by a car horn. Although she could see nobody outside, she heard a car door slam, men talking and what sounded like fighting and someone being struck with a weapon. A man's voice said "Where's my hat?" and "Where am I?" and called out repeatedly "I'm all in." When the first resident could not rouse Mr. Badger he went to the nearest telephone and called the St. James police, who in turn notified the RCMP. Patrol cars from Headingly and Portage La Prairie were sent out in search of the cab. Meanwhile, a truck driver for North Star Oil had left Winnipeg for Portage La Prairie at about 4:30 a.m. The driver was about 21 miles from Winnipeg when a car overtook him at a high rate of speed. The passenger in the right front seat was a soldier. About five and a half miles from Portage La Prairie the truck driver saw the same car parked by the side of the road. At about 6:25 a.m. officers from the RCMP Portage La Prairie detachment discovered Mr. Badger's bloodstained cab. Footprints indicated that two men had been riding in it. Tracking dogs followed the trail for three miles in the direction of Portage La Prairie, but lost it in a railway construction site. Mr. Badger was taken to Winnipeg General Hospital where he died the following Monday without regaining consciousness. He had suffered 19 cuts from half an inch to two inches in length on his head, possibly inflicted by a piece of angle iron. [Next column]

Arthur Badger. (Source: Winnipeg Tribune, September 29, 1945, p. 1) The most serious injury was a fracture about two inches in diameter on the right side of his skull. The injuries were so severe that x-rays could not be taken. Death was due to brain hemorrhage. Mr. Badger's right hand was smashed, indicating that he had fought with his assailants. Two different gloves found at the scene turned out to belong to the victim, who suffered from arthritis in one hand and used two different styles of glove. Mr. Badger had over $142 hidden in various pockets leading police to believe that the killers were more interested in the car than in Mr. Badger's money. A reward of $250 for information leading to the solution of the crime was posted by the Winnipeg Taxi Cab Owners Association (Mr. Badger was not a member). At the end of October, 1945, RCMP arrested two soldiers in Vernon BC in connection with the theft of a car at Neepawa, MB in September. They were brought back to Winnipeg for questioning but no connection was established with Mr. Badger's murder and the case remained unsolved.