Downs - The law and the lawless: frontier justice in British Columbia and Yukon, 1913-1935

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The Law and Lawless: Frontier Justice in British Columbia and Yukon, 18581911

From the files of British Columbia and Yukons first police forces come these vivid stories of outlaw life during the gold rush era and the pioneer lawmen who risked their lives to maintain order in a frontier land.

The Law and Lawless: Frontier Justice on the Canadian Prairies, 18731895

When members of the fledgling North West Mounted Police travelled west in 1874, they found a vast and rugged land ruled by whiskey traders, outlaws, and proud First Nations. These amazing stories tell of the eras most notorious criminals and the methods used to bring justice to the western plains.

The Death of Albert Johnson: Mad Trapper of Rat River

F.W. Anderson and Art Downs

Albert Johnson was a loner and a deadly shot who in 19311932 triggered a gruelling manhunt that became an Arctic legend. For over six weeks, amid blizzards and numbing cold, he eluded a posse of trappers, First Nations, and RCMP officers, who for the very first time, used a two-way radio and an airplane in their search. Johnson was involved in four shoot-outs, killing one policeman and gravely wounding two other men before being shot to death. Over eighty years later, the intriguing mystery remains: Who was Albert Johnson?

Books

Horan, J.W. On the Side of the Law: A Biography of J.D. Nicholson. Edmonton: Institute of Applied Art, 1944.

Newspapers and Magazines

Blairmore Enterprise

Calgary Herald

Scarlet & Gold

Lethbridge Herald

CHAPTER

DARKNESS EERILY SHROUDED THE LITTLE coal-shipping town of Union Bay, Vancouver Island, on the night of March 4, 1913. It was shortly before midnight, and a southeast wind moaned in from the Gulf of Georgia, making the darkness even more sombre and ominous. The only bright spot was the saloon, where a score of miners and dock employees sipped their beer and toddies and seemed loath to leave the snug shelter of the place.

Time to close, gentlemen, announced the bartender, herding his reluctant patrons to the doorway and bidding them goodnight.

The men shivered as they strode out into the dark.

Swell night for a murder, announced one with a shudder as he pulled his coat collar about his ears.

Sure is, agreed a companion, bending his head to the wind.

Little did the two realize they were speaking prophetically. At that moment, Death was setting the stage for a tragedy that would result in a police officer dying and his killer hanging from a gallows.

Wonder if the ghost prowler will work tonight, said the first man. He wasnt the only one to wonder this: several hundred men and women of the town had spoken the same words to each other as they prepared to retire for the night.

Another person who asked himself the same question was Big Mac, officially known as Provincial Constable J. McKenzie, as he patrolled the dark town. Big Mac was a good policeman and had proved his bravery time and again when, unarmed, hed quelled incipient riots and drunken brawls among the miners, dockworkers, and sailors. But the ghost prowler had him baffled.

For weeks now, the elusive prowler had entered stores and dwellings, selected his loot, and departed without being seen. What he did with his plunder was another question. None of it appeared in the usual channel chosen by thieves for the disposal of stolen goods.

If McKenzie was watching a store at one end of the small town, the prowler would select one at the other. Apparently, he knew the officer and watched his movements. No matter what ruse the policeman tried, the thief always outwitted him.

Since McKenzie knew every man, woman, and child in Union Bay and the surrounding towns and settlements, he had eliminated them all from any possible connection with the robberies. The thing was uncanny. How could a prowler gain entry to place after place without being seen by someone and then leave no clue as to his identity?

McKenzie was discouraged, but he had a streak of Scottish stubbornness and continued to maintain his night guard over stores that he thought might be entered. If the prowler was human, McKenzie swore he would capture him. It was bad enough to be outwitted, but now citizens were beginning to criticize him.

While these mysterious robberies were occurring, two rookie cops were undergoing training under the tutorship of Provincial Constable David Stephenson at Nanaimo. The rookies were Constable Harry Westaway, an adventure-seeking lad from eastern Canada, and Constable Gordon Ross, who had enlisted in his native Scotland for service in the South African War and later immigrated to Canada. Meeting by chance, the young men enlisted in the police force in search of further adventure.

Stephenson knew McKenzie for an efficient and conscientious officer and did not blame him for the failure to make an arrest. New methods must be tried, the chief muttered as he scanned McKenzies latest report on the prowlers activities and then sent for Ross and Westaway.

Im going to assign you men to special duty, the chief announced. You may have heard of the looting of stores and dwellings at Union Bay. It has to be stopped, and Im going to give you lads a chance to do the stopping.

Whoever is responsible for these robberies seems to keep a careful watch on the officer there and breaks into one place while another is being guarded.

I am casting no reflection on McKenzie. He is a splendid man, but I think it wise to send men who are not known in Union Bay. Its to be expected that the robber or robbers will attempt to loot the big general store in which the post office is located. As yet, it hasnt been touched.

The postmaster is the only person in Union Bay who knows of my plans. McKenzie knows nothing of them. Go to the postmaster, and he will furnish you with a key to the store. You two will stand guard in the place from midnight to dawn every day.

Allow no person to see you enter the store, and by all means, dont ever be seen in company with McKenzie or disclose your identity to him until after everything is cleaned up. If you are seen with him, it might be suspected that you are police officers.

It might be best for you to pose as men seeking work, but you may use your own judgement. I warn you that I do not want you to fail.

The two young men accepted the assignment with pleasure. Freedom from tiresome routine duty with the prospect of high adventure was something to be appreciated. Kits were soon packed, and the rookies were on their way, eagerly talking over their prospects for success.

Two days after they received their assignment, they were registered at Union Bays best hotel and letting inquiring loafers know that while they were temporarily in funds, they would not pass up any opportunity for employment. They were told that work was hard to get, but there was a possibility of new hands being taken on at docks and mines in the near future. The news was just the kind the officers hoped to hear. Well stick around, then, they declared.

McKenzie, ever on the alert, did not fail to notice the arrival of the newcomers. He questioned them but dismissed them as young men genuinely in search of work.