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Memorable Manitobans: Percy Charles Moggey (1904-1974)
Criminal, folk hero.
Born at Portage la Prairie in 1904, he spent most of his life in and out of trouble with the law, starting in 1924 when he was charged with shooting two Winnipeg police detectives. His longest period outside of jail was a four-year period from 1953 to 1957. In 1960, while serving a ten-year robbery sentence at Stony Mountain Penitentiary, he made a daring and successful ‘over the wall’ escape. For eleven months, he lived in a shack near Eriksdale. Recaptured by police (accompanied by newspaper reporter Elman Keisler Guttormson) in 1961, he was sent back to jail. Released in 1967, he returned to his criminal ways the following year by breaking into the Pancake House Restaurant on Pembina Highway. Caught and convicted on a charge of breaking and entering, and sentence to four years, poor health prevented him from being incarcerated. He died at Winnipeg on 8 August 1974 and was buried in the Brookside Cemetery.
See also:
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Moggey Cabin (Municipality of West Interlake)
Over the Prison Wall: The Story of Percy Moggey by John Warms, Fairford, Manitoba: Roviera Publishing, 2001.
Sources:
“Master of jail breaks, Moggey dies at 69,” Winnipeg Free Press, 17 August 1974, page 4.
We thank James Hutchings for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 28 September 2021
Memorable Manitobans
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