Georges Cotnoir, 57, had been a taxi driver in Cowansville, about 90 km (56 miles) east of Montréal, for 15 years. He was married and had four children. On the night of October 9, 1967 he was parked on a taxi stand when he was dispatched to the Gai Canton on River Street, a combination Chinese restaurant, grocery store and poolroom. As he left the stand he remarked to another driver, Joseph Noiseux, "Damned Chinese! It's him again." Apparently Mr. Cotnoir had previously been bilked by someone who called from the Gai Canton. Mr. Noiseaux described Mr. Cotnoir as a violent man who got angry easily. He was big, imposing and knew how to command respect. Mr Cotnoir's passenger was a 20-year-old Micmac man who had been adopted at six weeks old by an English speaking white couple in Brigham, about 12 km (eight miles) from Cowansville. Over the years the couple had adopted several children of various racial origins. In addition to the 20-year-old they were fostering seven younger children, two Black, three Chinese and two white. The young man had never been in trouble and was on good terms with his adoptive parents. As a child, to teach him the value of money, his mother opened a joint bank account with him. As a minor, he could only withdraw money if she co-signed. He also held a job and was well regarded by his employer, who could only find one fault with him -- his generosity. Initially subjected to racial slurs by his coworkers, he found that he could ingratiate himself by buying rounds of drinks after work at a local bar. He wound up spending about a third of his weekly income, $62, entertaining his so-called friends. It was a strange application of his foster mother's lessons on the value of money. Normally he got a ride with a friend for his daily commute to work, but three days before Mr. Cotnoir's death he persuaded his foster parents to let him move to a furnished room in Cowansville. His major personal possessions were a radio and a guitar. After moving to Cowansville, the young man asked his mother to release $300 from his account. She intended to do this but put it off until she had time. On the evening of Mr. Cotnoir's death The young man went to the Gai Canton after work for groceries and then returned about 7 p.m. to get a soft drink and watch the pool players. Shortly afterward decided to visit a friend and called a taxi. The night was dark and it was raining heavily. When they got to the destination it turned out not to be the right place. They stopped at another restaurant called Étoiles des Pins to ask directions and were sent to Wellington Street but wound up on Walsh, an unpaved cul-de-sac. In the darkness and rain the cab drove into a ditch and got stuck. Mr. Cotnoir's passenger claimed that the driver got angry, pushed him out of the cab and started hitting him. He seized a rock and hit Mr. Cotnoir repeately in the face and head, continuing even after the driver fell unconcious to the ground. Mr. Cotnoir died of multiple skull fractures and a fractured spinal column. While the beating was going on, a nearby resident, Archie Pette, heard the noise and asked if anyone was having trouble. According to Mr. Pette, a voice from the darkness said the driver was drunk and asked if he knew of anyone with a tractor who could pull the car out of the ditch. His suspicions aroused, Mr. Pette immediately called the police. [Next column]

Cowansville is about 90 km (56 miles) east of Montréal. (Source: Google Maps The killer left Mr. Cotnoir lying in the ditch with his face under water. He claimed that he tried to pull the victim out of the ditch, but Mr. Cotnoir was too heavy. Instead the killer emptied Mr. Cotnoir's wallet and fled across a nearby field, wading through water that was sometimes up to his waste. The police had a hard time locating the murder scene but when they finally arrived they found the cab empty and its engine running. They discovered Mr. Cotnoir's body 75 feet from the cab and despite the darkness and rain they also located the murder weapon -- a seven inch long rock with spots of what looked like blood. Their first stop was the Gai Canton, where they got a good description of the man who called the taxi. They got another good description from the Étoiles des Pins, where the killer stopped to ask directions. Until it was substantially revised in 1951, the Indian Act forbade Indigenous people to leave their reserves without written permission from the presiding Indian agent, a policy similar to the notorious "pass laws" used against Black people in South Africa under Apartheid. Though the law had been changed it was still unusual to see Indigenous people in cities. The killer's Micmac features, which made him subject to racist insults, marked him as an oddity. As detectives pondered where he might have come from, Cowansville police officers drew their attention to the white couple in Brigham who fostered multiracial children. The parents directed police to their son's new address and only eight hours after the discovery of Mr. Cotnoir's body the police had the killer in custody. Police also found his mud-covered clothes and a wad of wet paper money drying on his windowsill. Two of the witnesses from the restaurants positively identified the killer from a police lineup. Two days after being taken into custody, he made a full confession. In the Autumn of 1968 the killer pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to 20 years in jail. More than 1,000 people attended Mr. Cotnoir's funeral.