It was a fateful day in November, 1936 Doris Willis, a 15 year old girl from Hondo, hopped on a train to go to Tieland. She had agreed to go babysit for Alma Carl Nelson, the Station Master’s wife while she went to Westlock to deliver her second child.
As she disembarked from the train she could hear a strange pinging noise. Once the train was away, an armed gunman, Carl Schvests, came out of hiding and took her to a shed where he locked her locked in. As she passed the station master’s house she saw dark, cat foot prints on the window sill and couldn't fathom what could have made such marks. couldn’t fathom what would make such marks.
The gunman made regular visits to the cabin bringing her tea. She would pretend to drink it when he was there and pour it out after he had left in fear of being poisoned.
The next day Erna Ristock and her fiancé, Joe Garry, came to visit her sister, Mrs. Nelson. Jack Towns arrived to look at some lumber. After finding Doris locked up they were unsure as to what was happening. When the gunman fired at Jack they grabbed a railway handcar and quickly made their getaway.
In the aftermath it was learned that Mr. Schvests had murdered the pregnant Mrs. Nelson and her 2 1/2 year old child. He then shot her husband, Carl Nelson, in the tool shed. He went on to murder John Macinuk who was eating breakfast in his caboose. George Reul, an older bachelor, was also shot. After the escape of Joe Garry, Erna Ristock, Doris Sand, and Jack Towns, he turned the gun on himself.
Mr. Schvests was the former Station Master. He had been employed for the Railway from 1927 to 1935 when he resigned due to ill health.
He held a hatred for Mr. Nelson, his successor, that led him to commit the biggest mass murder in Alberta’s history at the time.
Notes from the Author: As with most experiences, each person involved has a little different take on it. Some of my research of this event comes from “Where Friends & Rivers Meet”, the Flatbush history book page 458. It tells a little different accounting of Doris Willis nee Sand’s experience. I have used what she told me personally as part of this story. The “Tieland Massacre” account can be found in “The Edmonton Bulletin” of Nov. 16, 1936 which headlined: Section Foreman Shot - Wife, Baby Clubbed _ To Others Slain Ruthlessly. In this paper the name of the accused is spelt Schwez.