Bellevue Cafe: 2414- 213th St. (NOTE: Be sure to read the Hint) Site of Train Robbery Shooting . The building labelled ‘Bellevue Restaurant’ was once known as the Bellevue Cafe. Built in 1917 by Joe Mah, it is known for being the scene of a famous shoot-out between police and train robbers. On August 20, 1920, Canadian Pacific No. 63 was held up by three men who believed that bootlegger Emilio Picariello was on board with a large sum of money intended for buying liquor. Pic seems to have exited the train before it was held up so the robbers—George Arkoff, Tom Bassoff, and Alex Auloff— held up the train and collected approximately $300. Two of the men later ran into the Bellevue Cafe to eat, but in the meantime police had been alerted of the men’s presence in the Cafe. When officers Frewin, Usher, and Bailey arrived to apprehend the suspects, a struggle ensued and shots were fired. Usher died just inside the door of the Cafe, while Bailey was killed as he came from the back of the building on hearing gunfire. As for the bandits, Arkoff died as he staggered out of the Cafe after being shot but Bassoff managed to escape. Following an extensive manhunt, he was caught and hanged for his crimes. Auloff was finally captured, after several years, in Butte, Montana and sentenced to life in prison
The red/tan building across the street was built in 1927 by local contractor and businessman, Arturo (Arthur) Brazzoni. As written by Bert Brazzoni in 1999, “Arturo set up a cafe in the building, which was a front for his bootlegging business. Business was good but Arturo was always being charged for bootlegging and he was tired of paying fines, so he closed the cafe and rented the building to Ptacek, who put up a grocery and butcher shop.”
Arturo Brazzoni Building in Bellevue 2450-213th Street – Plaque says he was a bootlegger
This series has been put together for you to follow the trail of the Bootleggers “Rum Runners” in the Crowsnest Pass. There are 13 Caches. All called CNP Prohibition 16-(?). 16 is for the year 2016 and the number behind that is the number of the cache.
You can obtain a Passport at 7701 18th Ave, Coleman, Alberta - A National Historic Site. Passports with info will be available at 9:00 AM on July 30, 2016 The first 100 people to return the stamp filled Passport will receive a Commemorative Coin.
These caches will be “Part 1” of a series of our historic Corridor. We will be adding new caches, to be discovered during the Heritage weekend every year, with each year having a new historic theme.