The RCMP and the Mad Trapper of the Rat River

[Music] [Music] on july 9th 1931 a maine came into the tiny town of fort mcpherson in canada's northwest territories and there he was questioned by a constable of the royal canadian mounted police the man didn't answer very many questions but the constable noted that he had a scandinavian accent that he kept himself clean shaven that he appeared to have plenty of money with which to purchase supplies little could the constable edgard millen have realized that just six months later that albert johnson would lead the royal canadian mounted police on an epic manhunt that would among other things result in constable millan's death the story of the mad trapper of the rat river was a media circus at the time this resulted in an enduring historical mystery it is history that deserves to be remembered albert johnson arrived in the hamlet of fort mcpherson having traveled up the peel river fort mcpherson had originally the site of a post of the hudson bay company and was named after a cheap trader of the hudson bay company named murdoch mcpherson the area is home of the gwichen first nations people who are said to be very welcoming to strangers the northwest mounted police which would eventually become the royal canadian mounted police had had a presence in fort mcpherson since 1903. constable millen was said to have run into mr johnson by coincidence in a local store in october 1955 article mclean's magazine said that constable millen was highly regarded on the delta for his good humor common sense and bushcraft in the brief encounter the constable reminded mr johnson that he would need a license if he wanted to engage in trapping a february 1932 edition of the new york post said that people who tried to talk to johnson found a hearty man with muscles of iron who walked with the easy gait of men who have trekked the wilderness when milan told him he could get him a trapping license johnson replied that he had not decided if he was staying he was defensive evasive about the constable's questions but the constable's concern was for johnson who he feared did not know the area millen recommended that johnson hire a guide but johnson refused saying that he liked to live alone by december local gwitchen reported that johnson had built a cabin at the mouth of what was called rat canyon as the constable had suspected johnson was not able to make it up the rat river rapids by himself the area was known to be dangerous the mclean's article explained during the yukon gold rush hundreds of prospectors shipwrecked on rat rapids had wintered there and died of scurvy they had named it destruction city the cabin was in an area where the gwitchen did trapping and three gwitch and men william betrequa william noresu and jacob drymeet coming into town to celebrate the yuletide complained that someone had been pulling their traps from the river springing them and hanging them on trees they suspected that it was johnson their concern was not just their traps a 1948 story on the northwest territories and radio system detailed a report by sergeant major nash neary was at the time the warrant officer in charge of the royal canadian signals radio station in the area niri noted that these natives had had previous experience of this nature when some trapper became a victim of the northern solitudes and had lost his reason therefore they tarried not on the order of their going but cleared out immediately the mounties decided that they should check on the man rcmp constable a.w king set out by dog team the day after christmas with joe bernard a witchin man employed by the police it took three days to track the 80 frozen miles to the cabin the cabin was tiny and barely stuck up above the snow but ominously holes had been cut in the corners of the cabin loopholes for a rifle king pounded on the door and said while he was there but johnson refused to answer when king looked in the window he said a wide-eyed face merely stared back at him the constable was frustrated he would have to travel over 160 miles to reach the rcmp inspector in charge of the sub-district and obtain a search warrant they made the trip in two days and returned with two other constables hoping to return to fort mcpherson in time to celebrate the new year the party arrived at the cabin on december 31st this time when king knocked on the door telling johnson he had a search warrant the new york post explained the crack of a pistol shot broke the arctic silence the mad trapper had shot through the door brought king down with a shot through the chest then johnson shot again but this time the slug went wild the other mounties started shooting drawing johnson's fire the bullet struck king in the chest and the sergeant major said traveling across his body and out through his ribs king managed to crawl to the others the group considered rushing the cabin to kill johnson but king's injury was serious and so instead they packed him on a dog sled and headed for aclavic the nearest hamlet that might have a doctor the mclean's story quoted the doctor dr urquhart who said the bullet pierced his stomach missed his heart by an inch in his lungs by less but they had managed to make the more than 80 mile trip in just 20 hours despite minus 45 degree weather and so had saved constable king's life the rcmp prepared the next trip would not be to check on johnson's well-being but to arrest him for shooting king the posse was led by rcmp inspector alexander eames who mcleans described as a forceful official of 45. he took with him three constables and three native guides and constable millen contacted by radio met them at the mouth of the rat river the whole team required 42 dogs and knowing that johnson was in a dug-in cabin they brought with him 20 pounds of dynamite in case they had to blast him out the posse had to fight their way through a blizzard to get to the cabin when they got there they fanned out along the riverbank which offered chest high protection when they heard johnson inside eames shouted for him to come out he said there's no serious charge against you the man you shot isn't dead when johnson failed to answer iam shouted to him you might as well give up there's eight of us out here three trappers don't make it tough on yourself eames carefully approached the cabin but the new york post explains the mounties were met with withering fire from two automatics one in each of the hermit's hands they got uncovered and chopped back but johnson shifted to rifles and blazed away from the loopholes in the cabinet walls three times the posse tried to rush the little cabin in its sole defender only to be driven back by the searing fullest aid the cabin was small and dug in sergeant major neary explained later examinations showed that the base of the cabin had a double roll of logs and earth packed in between it thus nature freezing the earth substituted frozen earth for concrete the cabin presented a veritable pillbox the men charged and broken the cabin door but were driven back by gunfire the posse decided to use the dynamite which they had to thaw underneath their coats but as the sergeant major explained the dynamite being poorly prepared and unconfined proved ineffectual one of the constables new lang suggested he make his way onto the roof of the cabin with a large charge hoping to stun johnson the charge demolished the cabin but johnson kept firing the battle raged for 15 hours but the posse exhausted and almost out of supplies finally had to retreat and seek more help leaving behind three men to try to prevent johnson's escaping mcleans said eames still intended to take johnson alive if possible but he no longer thought him a half-crazed hermit either he was a fugitive or some crime lay on his conscience the group radioed for more volunteers and supplies among the new equipment were improvised explosives called goose eggs the sergeant-major described them the engine cylinders of an old outboard motor were filled with gun powder a half minute fuse with the length inserted to be cut as required was fed up through the intake port and then passed through a hole which had been drilled in the cylinder wall they also created bombs made out of two-inch pipe and others made from beer bottles stuffed with gunpowder which they plan to throw into the cabin to smoke johnson out the larger posse returned to the cabin on july 17th only to find the cabin empty johnson had escaped the post said old-timers shook their heads they knew that johnson's break for freedom with the mercury at 40 below zero that day was the next thing to suicide they prepared to continue the manhunt of course but they expected to find a dead man but his trail proved difficult to follow he was an expert woodsman who kept a glare ice along creeks and hard packed windswept ledges they found some caches of caribou that he apparently hunted in the fall and stashed they watched them to see if he returned but he didn't it became clear that it was headed for the divide in the direction of alaska the posse caught up with johnson on january 30th seeing his campfire smoke they surrounded him in a thicket but while trying to surround him one of the posse members slipped making noise johnson started shooting they could see the muzzle of johnson's rifle firing from the roots of an upturned spruce miller returned fire maclean said milan kneeling was coolly aiming towards the blue black gun barrel that jutted through the barricade the gun barrel flamed slowly millen rose spun and fell face down in the snow the posse fought their way to millen but he was already turning gray he was dead shot through the heart the posse withdrew again and johnson slept into the night the posse had been keeping contact via radio which was provided by the royal canadian mounted police signal corps although it was awfully hard to operate and maintain the equipment in the bitter cold the reports of the death of the popular constable millen brought in many more volunteers trackers and trappers but the rcmp had also brought in another asset a ski equipped airplane that was being flown by a famous canadian world war one flying ace wilfred wap may in april 1918 may was in number 209 squadron in the royal air force chased a german pilot on focker tri-plane with his sopwet camel that attracted another german pilot who attacked may in the pursuit that pilot was shot down either by another canadian pilot or from ground fire it was the death of manfred von richthoven the infamous red baron may continued flying through the war becoming a flying ace with 13 confirmed kills and five probable kills and now he was hunting another quarry it was may who figured out how johnson had been avoiding pursuit he'd been following caribou tracks along a frozen river this both hit his tracks and as the caribou walked down frozen streams in order to avoid predators it allowed johnson to move more quickly without the need for snowshoes they actually tried to drop a bomb on johnson but johnson had managed to find cover with the help of may the posse finally ran johnson down on february 17th rushing to cancer johnson before he could get to alaska the post reported that staff sergeant e f hershey an experienced trapper named noel verville were the first to come upon johnson his five feet and eight inches of bone and muscle shaking like a leaf hersey and verbal grabbed their rifles but johnson a gun in each hand got off the first shot hitting hersey in the knee the bullet going up his thigh and into his chest by then more posse members had arrived and started firing and the post described it the mad trapper of rat river a gun smoking in each hand fell in the snow with a dozen slugs in his body mcleans described his body as one spot of black in a white waist of snow watching from above mae was able to land his plane he collected hersey and flew him to a hospital it was only because of may in his plane that hersey survived the manned hut for the mad trapper of the rat river was a press sensation at the time being reported by radio albert johnson had managed to evade skilled law enforcement officers for 33 days traveling nearly 85 miles through trackless wilderness without the help of dogs with the weather hovering around minus 40 degrees fahrenheit on his body they found more than 2 thousand dollars in american and canadian currency some gold and another 119 rifle rounds what his body did not reveal was the actual identity of albert johnson fingerprints and photos were sent to bureaus of investigation in the united states in london in stockholm but his identity could not be confirmed there were several potential ideas maybe he was a yukon miner named arthur nelson perhaps he was a man from nova scotia named owen albert johnston maybe he was a norwegian named siegbald has gold none could be proven in 2007 researchers finally convinced the gwitchen upon whose land the body had been buried to allow them to disinter the remains and test them for dna the results were shown live on the channel canadian discovery they were able to through dna exclude 100 every single person they thought might be albert johnson all they were able to figure out was from his teeth which showed that he had grown up either in the corn belt of the northern united states or in scandinavia it seems the wily albert johnson had once again escaped the gaze of history the manhunt for the mad trapper of the rat river tested modern technologies and the skills of the royal canadian mounted police in primitive conditions and resulted in an enduring mystery as to the identity of a man who clearly had exceptional skills but whose secrets are yet to be discovered i hope you enjoyed this episode of the history guy short snippets of forgotten history between 10 and 15 minutes long and if you did enjoy please go ahead and click that thumbs up button if you have any questions or comments or suggestions for future episodes please write those in 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Channel: The History Guy: History Deserves to Be Remembered

Views: 540,313

Keywords: history, the history guy, history guy, canada, true crime, mystery, the mad trapper, albert johnson

Id: Vy6n3A7eW2k

Length: 13min 23sec (803 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 02 2020