Joseph-Albert Guay (most commonly known as Albert Guay) (1917 – January 12, 1951) was a resident of Quebec City who was responsible for the in-flight bombing of a passenger aeroplane on September 9, 1949, killing all aboard, including his wife Rita (née Morel), the intended victim.
The incident and subsequent trials of Guay and his accomplices received extensive newspaper coverage in Quebec.
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The aeroplane was a Canadian Pacific Airlines DC-3 aircraft (registry CF-CUA S/N: 4518) flying from Montreal to Baie-Comeau with a stopover at L'Ancienne-Lorette, a suburb of Quebec City; it was at Quebec City that Rita Morel (Mme Guay) and the bomb boarded the plane.
The bomb was made of dynamite attached to an alarm clock and secreted in the baggage of Rita Guay. It exploded near a small locality named Sault-au-Cochon (sometimes incorrectly given as "Sault-aux-Cochons"), near Saint-Joachim in the Charlevoix region, causing the plane to crash and killing all four crew members and nineteen passengers. The flight was delayed five minutes at takeoff; this apparently thwarted Guay's desire to have the explosion take place over the Saint Lawrence River, which would have made forensic examination of the crash impossible with the technology then available to forensic scientists. Apart from Rita Morel Guay, the victims included four children and three American executives from the Kennecott Copper Corporation including the retiring president, his designated successor, Arthur D. Storke, and R.J. Parker, a vice-president.
The airline involved is sometimes stated as "Quebec Airways", but this was simply a name used for some Canadian Pacific Airlines flights in Quebec. The flight apparently did not have a flight number.
A later incident, the bombing of United Airlines Flight 629 on November 1, 1955 by Jack Gilbert Graham (the motive was his mother's treatment of him as a small child although he purchased insurance on her prior to the flight), was apparently inspired by the Guay affair.
Albert Guay described himself as a jeweller and watchmaker, although at his trial it was suggested that he was actually a watch and jewellery salesman. During his marriage to Rita Morel, he became enamoured of 19-year-old waitress Marie-Ange Robitaille. Albert and Mlle Robitaille began a clandestine affair, as in those days, Quebec was strictly Catholic and a divorce would have been almost impossible to obtain. Guay first considered poison, but later decided on the aeroplane bombing. The day of the flight, he purchased a $CAD10,000 insurance policy on his wife, a considerable sum at that time, which he attempted to collect three days later. There was also a prior $5000 policy dating from 1942.
Guay asked clockmaker Généreux Ruest to manufacture a bomb using dynamite, batteries and an alarm clock. The dynamite had been purchased at a hardware store by Ruest's sister, Marguerite Pitre (also known as Ruest-Pitre, wife of Arthur Pitre), ostensibly to be used in clearing a field. Mme Pitre also delivered the package containing the bomb to the plane, for mail delivery. She had also helped arrange liaisons between Guay and Mlle Robitaille. In the aftermath of the bombing, Mme Pitre made a failed suicide attempt.
Ruest and Pitre both later maintained their innocence. Pitre claimed that Guay had told her that the package she was transporting contained a statue. Ruest also claimed that he thought the bomb was to be used to clear tree stumps from a field.
Guay was arrested two weeks after the crash and put on trial in February, 1950; on being convicted he was sentenced to death by hanging, and was executed on January 12, 1951, at the age of 33. His last words were Au moins, je meurs célèbre (At least I die famous).
After his conviction, Guay issued a statement, claiming that Ruest and Pitre had knowingly abetted his plans. As a result, Ruest was arrested on June 6, 1950, tried and convicted in November of that year, and sentenced to death by hanging, which was carried out on July 25, 1952; at his death, he was aged 54. Suffering from osseous tuberculosis, he had to be transported to the gallows in a wheelchair. Marguerite Pitre was arrested on June 14, 1950, and tried separately, beginning March 6, 1951; following a guilty verdict, she was hanged on January 9, 1953, the thirteenth and last woman to be hanged in Canada. All three executions took place in Montreal.
Dollard Dansereau, author of Causes célèbres du Québec, studied the case and concluded that Ruest may not have known of Guay's intentions when the latter asked him to make the bomb; he also concluded that Pitre may have been innocent. It has been speculated that Guay's motive in denouncing his accomplices was to buy time to delay his own execution, believing that he would be called to testify at their trials. In any event, he testified at Ruest's trial, but was hanged soon after, thus could not testify at Pitre's trial.
The incident, subsequent trials and execution of Guay and his accomplices was notorious in Quebec and served as the inspiration for Le Crime d'Ovide Plouffe, a 1982 novel by Roger Lemelin and 1984 film of the same name by Denys Arcand. In 1949, Lemelin had been a friend and neighbour of Guay, as well as being the Quebec correspondent for Time magazine.
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