Allen Clegg is an American agent first introduced in Season 4 of the Murdoch Mysteries, portrayed by Matthew Bennett.
Allen Clegg is a clever and danger arch-enemy of Detective Murdoch, Agent Meyers and Canada with a singular obsession with Manifest destiny – one country from the arctic circle to the Tropic of Cancer, the United States of America which means the take-over of Canada.
Appearances and Mentions
Confederate Treasure
- Initially posing as a reporter named Carson Turner for the Toronto Gazette, Clegg approached Det. Murdoch under a fake alias for a comment on the remains of Mortimer Shanly, the first Minister of Militia Defense. However, he was more interested in knowing if perhaps he had found a letter from Sir John A. MacDonald on the body. When Murdoch declined to confirm or deny any claims to the case, Clegg left. Later, Murdoch is approached by Terrence Meyers, warning him that if he is approached by Clegg, to not say a word to him. Murdoch responds with telling him that he had already met him, albeit, under a fake alias. Meyers then informs Murdoch that his real name is "Allen Clegg", and that he is an American government agent.
- Later on, Murdoch brings in Clegg for questioning following Burt Jacobsen's murder, with Jacobsen's wife being witness to Clegg rummaging to his belongings. Clegg drops all pretenses and states that Jacobsen was already dead when he arrived and he was searching for information on the Elvira May, a ship hired by Shanly to transport four strongboxes of gold bullion to a Confederate agent in St. Catherines. Murdoch became skeptical of Clegg's claims of the Canadian governments supporting the Confederates during the American Civil War, insisting that Canada was neutral during the conflict, but Clegg insists that Canada sought the schism of the American Union.
- Clegg later caught a fishing boat carrying Murdoch, Meyers, Brackenreid and Crabtree scavenging the Elvira May's cargo. Clegg was expecting to find gold bars, only to find bricks instead, as a series of betrayals during the gold transfer resulted in bricks being put in their place. Clegg was then forced to let the Canadians go.
War on Terror
- Clegg returns, having infiltrated the Toronto anarchist chapter when Emma Goldman arrives in the city, at the same time Murdoch and Meyers did too. He confirmed that Emma was not responsible for the bombing of Peter Milne's shop, which everyone assumes the anarchists committed, though he couldn't speak for the others. Meyers then inquired why he was in Canada without the authorization of the local government. Clegg said he didn't need permission, but after being reminded by Murdoch not to blow their cover, stated that the British Foreign Office, whose authority outranks the Canadian government, granted him permission.
- Clegg influenced the young anarchist Pierce into committing a bombing in the square where Emma had given a speech, claiming it would impress her, though nobody got hurt. Emam deplored Pierce's actions, stating that it would not help their cause. Clegg, on the other hand, told Pierce that he did the right thing and that Emma was just being emotional.
- Murdoch's cover was soon blown by Albert Wallace, a communist he had previously interviewed, forcing him to quickly declare Pierce under arrest. Clegg convinced Emma to let Murdoch go, stating that she was too important to the cause to be imprisoned.
- After Constable George Crabtree determined that the bombing was caused by Milne's own landlord, Meyers personally escorted Clegg to the train station so he could accompany Emma back to the States. But before departing, they reveal that President McKinley's intended visit to Canada had been canceled by the State Department. Clegg promised that America will protect its own. Murdoch retorted that he felt that the Americans make their own problems, to which Clegg claimed was for God's country.
Murdoch Air
- Clegg, acting under the alias Gleason, funds inventor James Pendrick to build his flying machine known as the Pendrick Arrow. But when the Canadian agents steal the aircraft in the name of national security, Clegg, in turn, stole it from them. But as he did not know how to make the Arrow turn, he kidnapped Pendrick, dislocating his recovering left shoulder to force him to cooperate, so he could learn how his flying machine works. When Murdoch learns of Clegg's involvement, he rescued Pendrick and the two made their way back to Canada via air. Clegg attempted to shoot them down but was unsuccessful.
The Spy Who Came Up to the Cold
24 Hours Til Doomsday
- Clegg returns as the American ambassador to Canada. He is informed by the Prime Minister of Canada, Sir Wilfrid Laurier, that a rogue Canadian defense minister, William Fergus, has threatened to fire a rocket projectile from Ontario to New York delivering some 200 tons of TNT in less than 24 hours. The Prime Minister wanted to inform the American government while Detective William Murdoch, the constabulary, and Canadian agent Terrence Meyers are working to find the rogue minister. Clegg appreciates the information, however, he ensures that if they failed and indeed lives are lost, the state of war will exist between the United States and Canada.
- Following an investigation, it was revealed that Clegg actually met with the rogue minister to discuss a top secret defence plan involving a Canadian inventor James Pendrick. Unbeknownst to the inventor, the plan calls for mutually assured destruction if Canada and the United States were to be at war. However, Clegg in fact wanted to use the plan to incite war between the United States and Canada. To tie up loose ends, he also killed Fergus. In addition, it is revealed that he posed as a Canadian agent before Svetlana Tsiolkovsky, promising her 4 million dollars to split between them in exchange for Pendrick's designs, only to doublecross her by tying her to the mouth of the cannon from which the rocket would fire, but Murdoch and Pendrick successfully rescue her and disarmed the rocket. Clegg was later confronted at the American embassy, as Svetlana identified him as the man who set her up.
- When asked why he was so determined to start a war, Clegg referenced Svante Arrhenius, who predicted that global warming would render America uninhabitable in the next century, while Canada would have the ideal climate, thus he believed starting a war was the best way to save his country; he callously dismisses bombing his own people, as the target was the Irish sector of Boston. Murdoch then declared him under arrest and Meyers revealed that the Prime Minister already talked the American President into waiving Clegg's diplomatic immunity. Clegg was taken into custody.
The Great White Moose
- Clegg is revealed to not have been executed, but rather placed in custody for interrogation, to no success. While incarcerated, Clegg began to pen a novel entitled Shadow of the Night, centered around a disgraced American agent who regains his honor by saving the American president. As Meyer confiscated his manuscript, he sought to use its plot to fake an assassination attempt on President Theodore Roosevelt, who was secretly visiting Canada to hunt the Great White Moose, in the hopes of re-ingratiating himself with Prime Minister Laurier. However, the Mexican assassin, Guillermo Burgos working for him was instead murdered.
- Clegg is brought to Station House Four for questioning, much to the surprise of Murdoch. Asked about the identity of El Noche, he stated that El Noche was a Spanish assassin, seeking vengeance on Roosevelt for killing his brother on San Juan Hill by tricking him into sneaking into Canada to hunt the Great White Moose.
- Clegg soon escapes custody after killing and decapitating the prison guard he coerced into committing the murders, and made his way to Parry Sound where Roosevelt was located. He managed to kill a ranger who was couriering a message from Station House Four to Murdoch and Meyers to inform them that Clegg was in fact El Noche.
- Managing to find a partial piece of the message and relaying this information to Roosevelt, who recalls that El Noche wasn't Spanish but American. As the Canadian government kept Clegg's stay of execution a secret, Meyers tried to keep it from Roosevelt but Murdoch refused to lie any longer to Roosevelt and told him the truth.
- Roosevelt recalls first meeting Clegg at Harvard while they were writing a thesis on the War of 1812, which Clegg believed to be a missed opportunity to claim Canada for the U.S.A. Later, when Roosevelt was Secretary of the Navy and Clegg was a covert operative, it was believed that he put a bomb on the hull of the USS Maine in Havanna Harbor, thus starting the Spanish-American War.
- Murdoch realizes that if Clegg was a navy diver, then he's not afraid of water as the fictional El Noche was, meaning he lured Roosevelt onto the island.
- Throughout the night, Clegg meticulously killed members of Roosevelt's detail, especially since he stole Murdoch's bolograph to see in the dark. With only Murdoch, Meyers and Roosevelt left, they trick Clegg by lower their body temperatures in the freezing water before setting up a decoy with heated rocks. Once Clegg shot the decoy, his opponents opened fire on him, forcing him to retreat without the bolograph.
- In the morning, the trio follow Clegg's blood trail. Clegg manages to ambush them by shooting Meyers in the chest. As he managed to get the drop on both Murdoch and Roosevelt, Murdoch refused to lower his weapon, knowing that Clegg would kill the President and flee, and warned that he will shoot him if he goes through with it.
- As Roosevelt criticized Clegg for not thinking his plan through, he retorts that the President betrayed him. Roosevelt threw back that he betrayed his country. Clegg furiously insisted he was a patriot and the only one who can see that America can have everything it wants and that they just need a reason to conquer Canada, so he intends to kill them both and let the evidence speak for itself. Soon a three-way standoff ensues, forcing Clegg to lower his crossbow. However, Roosevelt turns to spot the actual Great White Moose. Clegg attempted to raise his weapon only to be shot in the right eye by a recovered Meyers.
- Clegg is soon transferred back into American custody. Roosevelt plans to have him interrogated and properly hanged this time. Poked his face through the bars of his carriage, Cleg spitefully promised to see Meyers in Hell. Meyers had the last laugh, promising to publish Clegg's novel under Burgos' name.
The Trial of Terrence Meyers
- Officially declared dead by hanging on October 7, 1906, Allen Clegg has survived both the hanging and his own autopsy – unbeknownst to Detective Murdoch and Terrence Meyers.
Code M for Murdoch
- Clegg becomes responsible for abducting James Pendrick again, this time to force him to create a strain of rabies that could pass the blood brain barrier. He planned to use this strain on President Roosevelt's family to force him to abdicate.
- When Murdoch, Julia and Meyers come to rescue Pendrick only to end up captured, Clegg infects Julia with rabies to force Pendrick to stop stalling, she incidentally bites him, forcing him to leave the room.
- Clegg pursues his captives to the edge of Niagara Falls, desperate to get the cure Murdoch was holding and ends up jumping over the edge of the falls to edge and is presumed dead.
Murdoch and the Sonic Boom
- Clegg is revealed to have survived the plunge over Niagara Falls, but has become paralyzed from the waist down.
- Somehow, Clegg became aware of Project Aardvak, a Canadian top secret sonic weapon, and managed to sway Rupert Lamar into helping him steal all but one of the sonic devices for the purpose of assassinating President Taft while he's visiting Toronto, which would set America to war against Canada.
- Learning that Lamar's mentor, Klaus Meisner, was onto their plan, Clegg went against his agreement with Lamar to spare his mentor by arranging for him to be killed by his own invention after being lured to the telephone exchange. He later had his agent, Grant Taylor, whom Murdoch suspected to be involved in Meisner's death, killed while in the Station House Four cells.
- After capturing Murdoch, ensuring he would no longer interfere in his plan, Clegg professed that he holds nothing personal against him.
- Murdoch then informed Lamar of Meisner's death. In response to an outraged Lamar, Clegg held him at gunpoint to force him to prepare the sonic weapons. However, just as he made the call to Taft to get him into position to be killed, Lamar instead turned the weapons on Clegg, killing him.
- Murdoch and Julia personally oversee Violet Hart's post-mortem of Clegg's body to ensure that he's truly dead.
Triva
- The character Allen Clegg is named after the late MM writer Graham Clegg.