His relationship with Florence, however, was difficult. Florence was an intense young woman who repaid Chris's attentions with unfaithfulness and violence.
Florence has been
in the hospital for almost two months now. . . . She tried
to commit suicide by jumping in the harbour . . . .[S]omebody saw her jump and got her out of the water and
to the hospital.
Chris Bennedsen to Anna Bennedsen, November 16, 1953. (CMC, Christian Bennedsen Collection, Correspondence series, Box P-29, 16th group, translated from Danish by Chris Bennedsen)
After a severe beating in the summer of 1954 by Florence's brother and his friend at the behest of a jealous Florence, Chris moved out of Cobourg. He followed Erik Skov, his friend's brother who had immigrated to Canada in mid-1952 and then to Toronto in 1954.