WEBVTT - Thinking Sideways: The Mad Trapper of Rat River 0:00:04.280 --> 0:00:17.279 Thinking Sideways. The story is of things we simply don't 0:00:17.280 --> 0:00:22.360 know the answer too. Hi, there, welcome once again to 0:00:22.680 --> 0:00:25.440 Thinking Sideways. That's the show that tackles all the stuff 0:00:25.480 --> 0:00:29.240 mysteries and saulves him every time. I'm Joe, joined as 0:00:29.280 --> 0:00:33.960 always by Steve and Devin inserts Scooby Doo music for 0:00:34.080 --> 0:00:38.080 that intro. Alright, so we have a really hard hitting 0:00:38.080 --> 0:00:41.680 mystery assault and a really fresh off the boat y. 0:00:42.760 --> 0:00:45.440 So this is the story is called the Mad Tlapper 0:00:45.520 --> 0:00:53.400 of Wet waver Yeah, okay, the Mad Trapper of Rat River. 0:00:54.040 --> 0:00:55.760 And some of you may have heard of this. Actually, 0:00:56.280 --> 0:00:58.320 before I forget, I want to mention give a little 0:00:58.320 --> 0:01:01.840 shout out to our listener Jacob, who recommended this particular 0:01:01.840 --> 0:01:06.039 little story to us. Yeah, thanks Jacob. Yeah, okay, let's 0:01:06.120 --> 0:01:08.640 let's take him from the top. One day in July, 0:01:09.680 --> 0:01:14.200 a man calling himself Albert Johnson arrived in Fort McPherson, 0:01:14.280 --> 0:01:18.679 Northwest Territories, Canada, and according to some versions of this story, 0:01:18.760 --> 0:01:21.120 he stayed there long enough to build a boat that 0:01:21.160 --> 0:01:23.200 he was going to use to travel down the Mackenzie River. 0:01:23.480 --> 0:01:26.640 Constable Edgar Millan talked to him but didn't get a 0:01:26.680 --> 0:01:29.640 lot of information from him, I guess for my person 0:01:29.720 --> 0:01:34.920 is probably a pretty small place. So when this one 0:01:34.959 --> 0:01:37.960 and this is way up in the far far north 0:01:38.000 --> 0:01:40.640 of the Northwest Territories, almost to the Beaufort Sea, which 0:01:40.640 --> 0:01:44.000 is like, yeah, it's it's well above the Arctic Circle, 0:01:45.160 --> 0:01:46.880 way up there. Not a lot of people live up there, 0:01:46.920 --> 0:01:50.120 yeah not not probably a happening spot. Yeah. So anyway, 0:01:50.120 --> 0:01:53.720 Constable Millen Uh said later that he thought that Johnson 0:01:53.720 --> 0:01:58.400 had a Scandinavian accent. Yeah, and a coincidence here Johnson 0:01:58.440 --> 0:02:01.760 eventually killed Milling. But we'll get to that little bit 0:02:01.840 --> 0:02:06.480 later on. Yeah, I know exactly. Little did we know 0:02:06.600 --> 0:02:09.799 at that moment he would see Lie Day like Lie 0:02:09.880 --> 0:02:14.840 dying at the hands of Albert Johnson, not his real name. Okay. 0:02:14.919 --> 0:02:18.120 So anyway, so Johnson got his boat and left and 0:02:18.160 --> 0:02:21.760 went down the Mackenzie River and went up went up 0:02:21.760 --> 0:02:23.720 the Rat River. I don't know why they named it 0:02:23.720 --> 0:02:28.040 the Rat River because it had a lot of rats 0:02:28.120 --> 0:02:30.400 up there, that's true. I don't know about that. Rats 0:02:30.440 --> 0:02:33.320 live everywhere. Yeah, romans live everywhere. That's a good point. 0:02:33.400 --> 0:02:36.200 They're pretty hardy little creatures. Okay. So anyway, he goes 0:02:36.360 --> 0:02:38.880 uh on the banks of the rat River. He builds 0:02:38.919 --> 0:02:41.840 himself in a cozy little eight by ten log cabin. 0:02:42.400 --> 0:02:46.160 Uh and uh, yeah, it's just very cozy eight by ten, 0:02:46.200 --> 0:02:48.720 Are you kidding me? So he builds this log cabin. 0:02:48.800 --> 0:02:51.560 As it turns out, it had double log walls for 0:02:51.720 --> 0:02:53.720 about the first two or three feet of the of 0:02:53.760 --> 0:02:56.400 the of the wall. On the inside, there's an extra 0:02:56.520 --> 0:03:02.880 layer of logs with earth jammed in between layers of logs. Yeah, 0:03:02.919 --> 0:03:04.560 and a nice and a nice little spot to like 0:03:04.600 --> 0:03:06.560 hold hunker down behind with your gun if you're gonna 0:03:06.560 --> 0:03:08.480 get into shoot out. Apparently this guy was looking was 0:03:08.680 --> 0:03:11.480 expecting trouble from day one, so he not only had 0:03:11.480 --> 0:03:14.720 these double log walls, but he had he had also 0:03:14.800 --> 0:03:17.280 cut gun slits all the way around, so you could 0:03:17.320 --> 0:03:20.160 basically cover you know, everywhere around his cabin through these 0:03:20.200 --> 0:03:24.640 slits with his rifle. Yeah, paranoid guy, a little bit, 0:03:24.800 --> 0:03:28.800 a little bit. Yeah. The local Indians noticed that somebody 0:03:28.880 --> 0:03:30.880 was messing with their traps, you know, you know how 0:03:30.919 --> 0:03:33.640 traps work. Put them out there, and some hapless animals 0:03:33.639 --> 0:03:35.960 steps in him and clump, you know, and clamps onto 0:03:36.000 --> 0:03:37.920 their leg and then they chewed their leg off and 0:03:38.000 --> 0:03:39.520 run away and then you know, get eaten by some 0:03:39.600 --> 0:03:42.000 of the animals because they can't run anymore. So that's 0:03:42.000 --> 0:03:45.560 the way trapping works. So they put. Yeah, so they 0:03:45.640 --> 0:03:49.800 noticed that somebody was tripping their traps and in some 0:03:49.840 --> 0:03:53.040 cases moving them, hanging, hanging them from bushes, trees, whatever. 0:03:53.120 --> 0:03:56.520 So somebody's messing with their livelihood. And since he was 0:03:56.560 --> 0:03:58.400 the only new person around, he was the only thing 0:03:58.400 --> 0:04:01.760 that they changed over the past year, they immediately decided 0:04:01.800 --> 0:04:04.560 it probably was him. So they had complained to the 0:04:04.640 --> 0:04:09.600 Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Yes, the Mounties in Aquavic. I 0:04:09.600 --> 0:04:12.080 don't know if I'm pronouncing that town's name correctly. Which 0:04:12.120 --> 0:04:15.960 is the nearest town, obviously, And so the day after 0:04:16.040 --> 0:04:20.760 Christmas nineteen one, two constables left Aquavic and tracked the 0:04:21.000 --> 0:04:24.039 sixty miles to his cabin. And I said, I don't know. 0:04:24.120 --> 0:04:27.000 I assuming they did, did the whole dogs led routine, 0:04:27.040 --> 0:04:29.440 I'm not really sure, but yeah, I can't imagine they 0:04:29.480 --> 0:04:31.680 walked there. I can't imagine they walked sixty miles on 0:04:32.000 --> 0:04:35.960 Christmas after circle. Yeah, there's a lot of snow in there, 0:04:36.000 --> 0:04:37.440 I know, I know, I think it's I think it's 0:04:37.480 --> 0:04:42.239 dogs led time. Yeah, so they went to Johnson's cabin again, 0:04:42.279 --> 0:04:44.800 did I did I mention it? Sixty miles? Yea to 0:04:44.920 --> 0:04:48.520 question him. Johnson was home, but he refused to talk 0:04:48.560 --> 0:04:51.200 to them or really even acknowledged them. They were knocking 0:04:51.240 --> 0:04:53.560 on the door and and and stuff, and he just 0:04:53.720 --> 0:04:55.880 was pretending like he didn't even hear them, so he 0:04:56.640 --> 0:04:58.480 didn't let them in, and he wouldn't talk to them. 0:04:59.240 --> 0:05:02.120 He didn't hear of them. Yeah, maybe he was deaf, No, 0:05:02.279 --> 0:05:04.400 because I remember reading one of the accounts that he 0:05:04.400 --> 0:05:08.360 had windows, and they went to peer in the windows, 0:05:08.560 --> 0:05:11.200 and here he threw a grainsack in the window. He 0:05:11.320 --> 0:05:14.960 covered the windows so they couldn't see it. Not a 0:05:15.040 --> 0:05:18.240 very sociable fella, but you know, really, you know, he 0:05:18.480 --> 0:05:20.920 probably should have just had a polite conversation with him, 0:05:20.920 --> 0:05:22.600 because he could have avoided a lot of heartache down 0:05:22.600 --> 0:05:26.600 the line. But the constables decided that they needed to 0:05:26.640 --> 0:05:29.320 go get a search warrant, so they returned to Aklavic st. 0:05:30.000 --> 0:05:34.320 Yeah sixty how did twenty miles for nothing? Yeah? They 0:05:34.320 --> 0:05:36.040 made this round trip quite a few times. I think 0:05:36.080 --> 0:05:38.479 it was miles to find out that he's kind of 0:05:38.480 --> 0:05:41.920 a skis. Yeah, I know, he's kind of a sketchy character. 0:05:42.920 --> 0:05:46.359 Five days later they returned with two warm men. Once again, 0:05:46.440 --> 0:05:49.039 he wouldn't top, wouldn't answer the door or anything like that. 0:05:49.080 --> 0:05:52.080 But so one of the constables decided to force the door. 0:05:52.640 --> 0:05:54.680 So he's doing and while he's doing that, suddenly a 0:05:54.720 --> 0:05:57.920 shot rings out. Johnson had fired around through the door, 0:05:58.120 --> 0:06:00.880 which wounded the constable. There a bit of a shootout. 0:06:01.000 --> 0:06:03.720 Nobody else got shot, fortunately, except what would have been 0:06:03.720 --> 0:06:07.239 fortunate if Johnson had gutten shot. Uh. And so they 0:06:07.560 --> 0:06:10.359 scraped up their wounded comrade and headed back to Aklavik 0:06:10.440 --> 0:06:14.040 once again sixty miles And next time they came back 0:06:14.040 --> 0:06:16.640 they had nine men. Where there were mounties, some native 0:06:16.640 --> 0:06:19.559 guys and this is the third time. The third trip 0:06:19.560 --> 0:06:24.600 out were three d sixty miles round trip are three 0:06:24.720 --> 0:06:27.280 hundred miles round trips so far to bring a bunch 0:06:27.360 --> 0:06:31.600 more guys. This is a lot of traveling in an 0:06:31.680 --> 0:06:35.159 age where you can't travel quickly just to talk to 0:06:35.279 --> 0:06:39.720 some dude ye about trap and it's like, you know, 0:06:39.880 --> 0:06:41.520 you get a hand to these guys there for their 0:06:41.520 --> 0:06:44.400 heartiness because not just the length of the trip, but 0:06:44.440 --> 0:06:47.520 it's this is like December January above the Arctic Circle, 0:06:47.920 --> 0:06:51.120 it's freezing cold. Oh yeah, it's cold. It's like so 0:06:51.279 --> 0:06:53.920 I mean, I've never even experienced these kind of temperatures myself. 0:06:54.240 --> 0:06:55.960 I don't want to. I don't want to either. I 0:06:55.960 --> 0:06:58.680 don't need that. Besides the nine men, they also had 0:06:58.720 --> 0:07:01.279 forty two dogs, and they brought just in case, twenty 0:07:01.279 --> 0:07:06.800 pounds of dynamite. I love it. That's good planning. I 0:07:06.880 --> 0:07:11.240 just I just need to blow his ass up, so jects, 0:07:11.280 --> 0:07:13.960 we need to blow him up. I remember in the 0:07:14.000 --> 0:07:16.480 account um, one of the ones that I read, it 0:07:16.600 --> 0:07:20.560 said that they try they had to warm the dynamite up. 0:07:21.000 --> 0:07:23.600 They had to put it inside their cones and warm 0:07:23.600 --> 0:07:26.680 it up to make it even kind of useful, and 0:07:26.760 --> 0:07:30.160 they got like one usable stick out of however many 0:07:30.200 --> 0:07:34.160 they had stuck in their jackets. Imagine that, just, I mean, 0:07:34.240 --> 0:07:36.920 dynamite in that day and age, it's it's nitroglycerin in 0:07:37.240 --> 0:07:40.600 sawdust essentially, is all it is. So yeah, it freezes, Yeah, 0:07:41.640 --> 0:07:45.080 yeah I could. I I personally would not be the 0:07:45.120 --> 0:07:48.320 one who would want to get to do. Hey Kowalski, 0:07:48.680 --> 0:07:51.640 stick this stick of dynamite in your armpit and hold 0:07:51.680 --> 0:07:55.160 it there for five minutes. Did this is a frozen 0:07:55.160 --> 0:07:59.080 stick of dynamite, So it's like your jacket. Yeah, I 0:07:59.360 --> 0:08:02.720 don't know. Yeah, these guys are these guys are hardy fellows. 0:08:03.840 --> 0:08:07.040 So they succeed in throwing the dynamite into the cabin 0:08:07.280 --> 0:08:10.160 and blowing it up. So did they throw it into 0:08:10.240 --> 0:08:12.280 it or in the front of it? I was never 0:08:12.400 --> 0:08:15.080 clear on that. Yeah, I was never entirely clear either. 0:08:15.160 --> 0:08:17.760 It sounded it seemed to me like they either jimmy 0:08:17.800 --> 0:08:19.920 the door and threw it in or threw it in 0:08:19.960 --> 0:08:22.080 through the window. But it might have just like set 0:08:22.080 --> 0:08:24.559 it on the front because his window was probably open 0:08:24.640 --> 0:08:28.760 at this point. Yeah, it's such a ball afternoon. Yeah, Yeah, 0:08:28.760 --> 0:08:31.200 I could never tell him because I'm thinking that a 0:08:31.240 --> 0:08:34.120 stick of dynamite, because we're going to get into what happens, 0:08:34.200 --> 0:08:37.680 But stick of dynamite in an enclosed space like that, 0:08:38.200 --> 0:08:41.440 he's a pretty concussive blast. Yeah, yeah, that's that's a 0:08:41.440 --> 0:08:44.440 good point. So it might be that it might be 0:08:44.480 --> 0:08:46.120 that they just set it at the front door and 0:08:47.360 --> 0:08:50.600 it just blew the crap out of the whole cabin. Yeah, 0:08:51.240 --> 0:08:55.160 worse knock knock joke ever, Yeah, that reminds me of 0:08:55.160 --> 0:08:58.000 a joke. Was just kidding, but it turns out that 0:08:58.679 --> 0:09:00.920 he was even more paranoid than thought because he had 0:09:00.960 --> 0:09:03.880 dug like a foxhole in the middle of his living 0:09:03.960 --> 0:09:07.280 room I guess, yeah, or living room or bedroom or kitchen, 0:09:07.320 --> 0:09:10.360 I guess it was all. Yeah, so he dug itself 0:09:10.360 --> 0:09:13.880 a foxhole. So he he was uninjured. After they blew 0:09:13.880 --> 0:09:16.040 the crap out of the cabin and they started approaching it, 0:09:16.120 --> 0:09:20.000 and he started he opened fire again and another firefight 0:09:20.160 --> 0:09:25.040 took place, this time no casualties. So eventually the posse decides, well, 0:09:25.520 --> 0:09:27.360 it was about a fifteen hour standoff, and then they 0:09:27.400 --> 0:09:29.480 just said, well, you know what, it's really cold out here. 0:09:29.840 --> 0:09:34.480 So yeah, they left and they went back to Aklavic again, 0:09:35.240 --> 0:09:38.840 and they came back on January fourteenth, nineteen thirty two. 0:09:39.400 --> 0:09:41.520 This time they hadn't even bigger posse. I love that 0:09:41.559 --> 0:09:44.360 this possely just keeps growing and growing. Uh. And this, 0:09:44.720 --> 0:09:46.040 by the way that I mentioned that this was the 0:09:46.040 --> 0:09:50.200 biggest man hunt in Canadian history, it would become that. Yeah, yeah, 0:09:50.320 --> 0:09:53.000 eventually turned into that. When they got back this time, 0:09:53.080 --> 0:09:56.000 they found maybe their relief. I'm not sure he'd left 0:09:56.000 --> 0:09:58.679 the cabin shockingly, I mean they blew it up, he 0:09:58.760 --> 0:10:02.480 had I was just gonna, you know, take the sticks 0:10:02.520 --> 0:10:05.360 of logs and just make it into a little lean to. 0:10:05.520 --> 0:10:08.960 It'll be fine. They're definitely I've got a hole in 0:10:09.000 --> 0:10:12.160 the ground, so I'm safe. They haven't proven that they're 0:10:12.160 --> 0:10:15.480 going to come back over and over again. No, very 0:10:15.480 --> 0:10:17.720 good points. Yeah, I think I think it's a pretty 0:10:17.720 --> 0:10:19.920 fair about your shoot a cop. They're probably gonna keep coming, 0:10:20.040 --> 0:10:22.760 coming and coming and coming until they get you. Yeah. 0:10:23.120 --> 0:10:25.200 They found when they were turning with that big, huge 0:10:25.200 --> 0:10:28.080 post that he had left the cabin. So they started 0:10:28.120 --> 0:10:30.400 tracking him, and they found by the way along the 0:10:30.400 --> 0:10:32.880 way that he had left a couple of caches of 0:10:32.920 --> 0:10:36.400 food along his trail. He seemed to be really well 0:10:36.440 --> 0:10:39.080 prepared for all this stuff. So the route that he 0:10:39.360 --> 0:10:42.760 used to escape, he was hiding food along that route. Yeah, 0:10:42.760 --> 0:10:45.720 they found Check out this map. I found food caches 0:10:45.800 --> 0:10:48.080 and in these two spots here. Pulled that up to 0:10:48.120 --> 0:10:50.240 the microphone, would you. Yeah, so as you guys can 0:10:50.280 --> 0:10:55.280 clearly see, because I mean I I looked at some 0:10:55.360 --> 0:10:58.840 of the maps of his track. And by the way, 0:10:58.880 --> 0:11:01.920 anybody who has at this point you need to stop 0:11:02.000 --> 0:11:05.600 and take a look at this region. This is we've 0:11:05.600 --> 0:11:07.520 already talked about this a little bit, but it is 0:11:07.679 --> 0:11:11.000 barren and not a place you want to go to 0:11:11.120 --> 0:11:15.720 have a vacation. It is not hospitable. Yeah, that's probably 0:11:15.720 --> 0:11:17.679 one of those places that you know, just freeze in 0:11:17.679 --> 0:11:20.280 the wintertime and then summertime comes around and mosquitoes the 0:11:20.360 --> 0:11:22.880 size of Robbin's come out and suck your plot out 0:11:22.920 --> 0:11:25.240 of your body. I'm sure it's just not a pleasant 0:11:25.240 --> 0:11:28.720 place to live. Oh, I don't think so. Yeah, but apparently, yeah, 0:11:28.720 --> 0:11:31.239 this guy was. This guy was prepared for the apocalypse 0:11:31.280 --> 0:11:34.959 because again he left those food stashes there. They followed him, 0:11:35.000 --> 0:11:37.160 They followed, and they tracked him, and they caught up 0:11:37.160 --> 0:11:40.440 with him. In January thirtieth ninety two, there was another 0:11:40.480 --> 0:11:43.160 shot shootout and this is one Constable Edgar Millen, who 0:11:43.200 --> 0:11:45.880 I mentioned before, was shot and killed. He got shot 0:11:45.960 --> 0:11:56.400 through the heart, so the posse he can mount you 0:11:56.480 --> 0:12:00.240 got shot. So anyway, the posse retreated again and and 0:12:00.760 --> 0:12:03.400 they decided to start recruiting more people. So they got more. 0:12:03.559 --> 0:12:06.199 They especially wanted to get natives since they're very familiar 0:12:06.200 --> 0:12:08.480 with the area. So they got well, and they recruited 0:12:08.480 --> 0:12:11.280 people from two different tribes. Yeah. I don't know if 0:12:11.320 --> 0:12:13.560 tribes is the right, but yeah too. Yeah, but they 0:12:13.600 --> 0:12:17.120 did two different groups. Yeah, and also like just it 0:12:17.280 --> 0:12:19.920 was just a militia at this point, right practice they 0:12:20.000 --> 0:12:22.800 referred to it as I think the local militia just 0:12:23.040 --> 0:12:24.880 coming out and yeah, coming out to go out to 0:12:24.960 --> 0:12:28.719 this Albert Johnson Villa his real name. Uh. So it 0:12:28.880 --> 0:12:31.320 looked like from his tracks that he was headed west 0:12:31.600 --> 0:12:34.240 to the Yukon territories. So one of the first things 0:12:34.280 --> 0:12:36.599 that Matis did is they blocked the passes over the 0:12:36.720 --> 0:12:40.760 Richardson Mountains, which lay between Albert Johnson and the Yukon. 0:12:41.160 --> 0:12:44.240 So there were two passes there. And which way is 0:12:44.720 --> 0:12:48.280 is that mean he's going He's going west west? Okay? 0:12:48.320 --> 0:12:50.880 So he's heading west. Yeah, so headed west kind of 0:12:50.960 --> 0:12:54.360 southwest actually in too Alaska, kind of towards Alaska. Yeah, 0:12:54.800 --> 0:12:56.560 into the Yukon. And then if he kept going at 0:12:56.600 --> 0:12:57.760 the rate that he was going, he would have reached 0:12:57.800 --> 0:13:01.079 Alaska and about another two days. Yeah, the guy traveled fast. 0:13:01.160 --> 0:13:05.839 He covered a lot of ground. That's amazing, especially with 0:13:05.880 --> 0:13:08.280 snow shoes, although they were he figured out a way 0:13:08.320 --> 0:13:10.040 to not use his snow shoes. We'll talk about that 0:13:10.080 --> 0:13:13.480 in a minute. So he's heading for the Yukon. They 0:13:13.559 --> 0:13:16.839 blocked the passes. So in order to get around that, 0:13:17.200 --> 0:13:22.719 Johnson just climbs over a seven thousand foot mountain. Yeah, yeah, 0:13:22.840 --> 0:13:26.480 no special gear and it's January above the Arctic Circle 0:13:26.559 --> 0:13:33.720 and you're at seven thousand feet of altitude. Everything aside 0:13:33.800 --> 0:13:38.240 of what Johnson did, he was tough. He was super 0:13:38.400 --> 0:13:40.880 tough dude, you know he and I was just I 0:13:40.960 --> 0:13:43.760 recently had read about this is he makes me think 0:13:43.880 --> 0:13:46.480 of there's the what are they call him the uk 0:13:46.720 --> 0:13:49.640 or the Utah Killer, the Utah mountain Man. Have you 0:13:49.720 --> 0:13:53.640 heard of this guy? His name is Troy James Knapp, 0:13:54.440 --> 0:13:59.240 and he avoided the authorities for six years, living off 0:13:59.320 --> 0:14:02.040 the land in Utah. I mean he would break into 0:14:02.080 --> 0:14:04.839 cabins and steal food and booze and stuff. But he 0:14:05.000 --> 0:14:09.640 just and they were that kid in Washington, just like 0:14:09.720 --> 0:14:12.440 a couple of years ago, Washington State. Do you guys 0:14:12.520 --> 0:14:15.719 remember this. I can't remember what they called him, the 0:14:15.800 --> 0:14:19.720 Barefoot bandit maybe, And he was like stealing people's planes 0:14:19.800 --> 0:14:22.160 and stuff, and like it took him like three or 0:14:22.240 --> 0:14:23.800 four years to find him. And he was just like 0:14:23.960 --> 0:14:26.720 was living up in the forests in Washington, chilling out 0:14:26.720 --> 0:14:29.240 in the woods. Yeah, and he was laid out eighteen 0:14:29.320 --> 0:14:32.760 or nineteen at the oldest. So yeah, I think there 0:14:32.800 --> 0:14:35.200 are some people like this in history that it takes 0:14:35.280 --> 0:14:39.160 quite the constitution. Yeah, it really does. But none of 0:14:39.200 --> 0:14:43.600 them have climbed over a seven thousand foot mountain. I'm 0:14:43.640 --> 0:14:47.200 assuming he didn't climb seven thousand feet. He just went 0:14:47.320 --> 0:14:50.320 over a mountain that was seven thousand feet tall. Yeah, 0:14:50.360 --> 0:14:53.040 he might not have actually summited. The mountain has probably 0:14:53.600 --> 0:14:55.640 a couple of thousand feet, but still that's a couple 0:14:55.640 --> 0:14:58.520 of thousand feet in the middle. And I don't know 0:14:58.520 --> 0:14:59.880 if you know this is in the wintertime or not, 0:15:00.040 --> 0:15:01.760 when you're sort of up in the mountains and stuff. 0:15:01.800 --> 0:15:04.640 And he had on an uphill road you'll start I 0:15:04.680 --> 0:15:07.280 remember this up at Mount Saint Helens some some years 0:15:07.360 --> 0:15:09.480 back when caving at night with some princes. Don't ask 0:15:09.520 --> 0:15:12.240 me why. So we had we the road was gated, 0:15:12.320 --> 0:15:14.960 so we had to park our cars and start walk 0:15:15.080 --> 0:15:17.760 hiking up this road. So where we parked our cars 0:15:17.800 --> 0:15:19.960 and snow was about two inches deep and there was 0:15:20.000 --> 0:15:21.840 a gentle rise in the in the road. By the 0:15:21.960 --> 0:15:24.280 time we got to our objective, which was maybe a 0:15:24.360 --> 0:15:26.680 mile off the road, the snow was a foot deep 0:15:29.000 --> 0:15:32.360 and we're not talking to changing altitude here, so yeah, 0:15:32.400 --> 0:15:34.280 I can't imagine how deep the snow must have been 0:15:34.360 --> 0:15:36.760 up in the in that mountain side. Well, so anyway, 0:15:36.800 --> 0:15:40.320 you have to to reiterate he was badass. He was 0:15:40.440 --> 0:15:45.160 like the nineteen thirties equivalent of the honey badger, because 0:15:45.200 --> 0:15:49.720 they didn't have honey badgers I think not in the 0:15:49.840 --> 0:15:52.720 UK the UK. Yeah, okay, one the way back to 0:15:52.800 --> 0:15:56.240 our tail. So the Mounties hired a pilot named Wop 0:15:56.440 --> 0:15:58.120 me and I don't know why he was called Whopp. 0:15:58.200 --> 0:16:01.360 That was a nickname obviously that he had hippies for parents. 0:16:01.760 --> 0:16:03.760 It was a name. It was a nickname. Was w 0:16:04.480 --> 0:16:10.280 P May I think? Yeah, we're his initials. Yeah. So anyway, 0:16:10.360 --> 0:16:14.200 so WAP was was detailed to scout for tracks and 0:16:14.280 --> 0:16:16.840 such things from the air. He spotted Johnson's tracks on 0:16:16.880 --> 0:16:19.120 the far side of the Richardson Mountains, which alerted the 0:16:19.200 --> 0:16:22.360 Mounties that he had escaped and gotten past the past 0:16:22.400 --> 0:16:24.760 their guys in the passes and it was in the Yukon. 0:16:25.160 --> 0:16:28.040 Another thing that May figured out is that the reason 0:16:28.080 --> 0:16:30.400 they couldn't find tracks for Johnson is that he was 0:16:30.520 --> 0:16:32.360 traveling on the on the Eagle River, which is of 0:16:32.400 --> 0:16:37.440 course frozen solid. And so apparently Cariboo carrible herds like 0:16:37.560 --> 0:16:40.840 to like to travel on frozen rivers because that gives 0:16:40.880 --> 0:16:43.040 them a little bit more space from the trees, so 0:16:43.120 --> 0:16:45.560 they can see predators from a little further away. So 0:16:45.720 --> 0:16:47.240 I'll travel up and down the river. And so he 0:16:47.360 --> 0:16:49.560 was just walking in their tracks, and you couldn't spot 0:16:49.680 --> 0:16:52.920 his tracks and from because all these Cariboo tracks, very 0:16:52.960 --> 0:16:56.880 clever and not using his to be able to not 0:16:57.040 --> 0:17:01.920 use his snowshoes, because those those are very obvious, definite tracks. Yeah, 0:17:02.240 --> 0:17:04.760 and so yeah, because it's and and so that sped 0:17:04.840 --> 0:17:07.679 him up of course, because you guys are snowshooting before, right, 0:17:08.520 --> 0:17:12.680 that's not speedy. The way that what May was able 0:17:12.680 --> 0:17:14.760 to spot this is he was he was traveling up 0:17:14.800 --> 0:17:16.760 the river in his plane, and he spotted some tracks 0:17:16.920 --> 0:17:19.000 leading from the river up the bank. And so there 0:17:19.040 --> 0:17:21.600 were some obvious tracks in the snow, so you could travel, 0:17:21.640 --> 0:17:23.720 but as sooner, you know, he'd have to stop and urinate, 0:17:23.920 --> 0:17:26.240 or maybe stop and make camp for the night, that 0:17:26.320 --> 0:17:29.320 kind of thing. I think, yeah, it was for camping. Actually, 0:17:29.320 --> 0:17:30.800 I don't know why you I mean, you know, if 0:17:30.840 --> 0:17:33.000 it's if you're the only one out there and you're 0:17:33.040 --> 0:17:35.879 trying to like hide yourself, you would just like pe 0:17:36.520 --> 0:17:39.320 on the trail, right, I mean, you would just stop. 0:17:39.400 --> 0:17:42.240 You wouldn't. I would probably just wet myself because you're 0:17:43.400 --> 0:17:50.280 you're as warm. It's warm util that starts evaporating freezes 0:17:50.280 --> 0:17:53.280 and then get rid of your legs. So what may 0:17:53.400 --> 0:17:56.480 figured this out, And so the mounties started following him 0:17:56.560 --> 0:17:59.119 up the Eagle River, and he was he was a 0:17:59.200 --> 0:18:01.560 crafty guy. He to do stuff like backtrack to throw 0:18:01.680 --> 0:18:03.440 them off and throw them off the trail, and he 0:18:03.600 --> 0:18:05.639 was he was. He was all over the place. They 0:18:05.720 --> 0:18:07.080 calculated at the end of this whole thing, and he 0:18:07.160 --> 0:18:10.399 traveled like, I forget, what, a hundred plus miles in 0:18:10.520 --> 0:18:14.800 three days something. We're diating some huge yeah, an amazing 0:18:14.840 --> 0:18:18.280 amount of yeah, and over a mountain and over a 0:18:18.359 --> 0:18:21.840 mountain and up frozen rivers. They were following off the 0:18:21.920 --> 0:18:23.919 river for quite a while, and then they caught up 0:18:23.960 --> 0:18:27.960 with him on February seventeenth, nineto. It came around a 0:18:28.280 --> 0:18:31.000 bend in the river and there he was. One of 0:18:31.040 --> 0:18:33.560 the one of the constable spotted him first, grabbed his 0:18:33.720 --> 0:18:37.159 rifle and the other ones eventually figured out where he was, 0:18:37.240 --> 0:18:39.959 where he was hiding. There was a big firefight. Uh, 0:18:40.320 --> 0:18:43.639 one of the Mounteins was wounded, but luckily not fatally, 0:18:44.040 --> 0:18:47.359 and then Johnson got killed. And did you did you 0:18:47.440 --> 0:18:50.639 read the accounts of how the how the guy actually 0:18:50.680 --> 0:18:52.959 managed to get the lucky shot, the shot that killed him. 0:18:53.520 --> 0:18:56.679 Is they when they came around the bend and everybody's 0:18:56.720 --> 0:18:59.440 there and Johnson, I guess what he did is he 0:18:59.560 --> 0:19:02.920 just laid flattened the snow, make you know, smaller target obviously, 0:19:02.960 --> 0:19:06.320 and he's shooting back and everybody's shooting at him from 0:19:06.359 --> 0:19:08.080 the edge of the river so that they're not as 0:19:08.080 --> 0:19:11.920 easy to get. But they dispatched one guy to go 0:19:12.960 --> 0:19:16.840 around him in the woods and he and he basically 0:19:16.920 --> 0:19:19.800 got you know, where Johnson's laying in the snow, got 0:19:20.280 --> 0:19:22.520 at about a forty five degree or a ninety degree 0:19:22.600 --> 0:19:25.560 angle away from him, came over a small rise and 0:19:25.680 --> 0:19:29.320 saw him and just took a shot. And that's what 0:19:29.560 --> 0:19:31.119 ended up being the shot that killed him. But it 0:19:31.200 --> 0:19:33.960 was just one guy that somebody had the fourth foresight 0:19:34.080 --> 0:19:37.800 say go flank him, just try and flank him, and 0:19:37.920 --> 0:19:40.959 it worked obviously enough. Yeah, that's actually, when you think 0:19:41.000 --> 0:19:43.040 about it, kind of an obvious thing to do. Yeah, 0:19:43.600 --> 0:19:45.719 but either way, they so they finally bagged their man, 0:19:45.840 --> 0:19:51.440 because amounts he's always bagged there man. So they searched 0:19:51.480 --> 0:19:54.680 his body and they found a little over in currency 0:19:55.080 --> 0:19:59.959 US and Canadian, which is the equivalent of about sixty too. 0:20:01.119 --> 0:20:03.760 It's a lot of cash. Yeah. They found miscellaneous said 0:20:03.800 --> 0:20:05.800 of stuff too, like a dead bird, a dead squirrel. 0:20:06.080 --> 0:20:10.120 And the food. Yeah that's food. Yeah, sure, that's definitely food. Yeah, 0:20:10.680 --> 0:20:13.919 or maybe just lucky charms. I don't know. He had 0:20:14.000 --> 0:20:15.800 some gold and he also had a small jar that 0:20:15.880 --> 0:20:18.280 had gold teeth in it, which led some people don't 0:20:18.280 --> 0:20:20.879 wonder if maybe perhaps he wasn't a serial killer on 0:20:21.200 --> 0:20:24.040 the top of being all around nice. So they were 0:20:24.200 --> 0:20:27.680 his Yeah, I wasna that they thought it was his teeth. 0:20:27.720 --> 0:20:29.680 Maybe his teeth were falling out. He probably living in 0:20:29.760 --> 0:20:32.360 that cabin. He probably got scurvy and his teeth fell out. Well. 0:20:32.480 --> 0:20:35.399 And the other thing that I heard is that, Okay, 0:20:35.480 --> 0:20:37.920 in this how long was he on the round? A month? Yeah, 0:20:38.000 --> 0:20:39.800 a little over a month, a little over a month. 0:20:39.840 --> 0:20:44.480 And at times he's he was burning The estimate the 0:20:44.560 --> 0:20:48.160 equivalent of about ten tho calories a day with all 0:20:48.240 --> 0:20:51.840 the exertion, and if he's not eating right, and the 0:20:51.920 --> 0:20:56.600 photos that they have of him, he's obviously emaciated. Yeah, seriously, 0:20:56.720 --> 0:20:58.560 not a pounce of fat on him. So I just 0:20:58.680 --> 0:21:01.280 wonder if his tea started falling out. I mean, the 0:21:01.359 --> 0:21:04.000 other thing that they talk about is that you know 0:21:04.320 --> 0:21:07.720 he had guns, but obviously he's on the lamb. He 0:21:07.840 --> 0:21:12.080 can't shoot guns to hunt because it'll give away his location. 0:21:13.000 --> 0:21:17.359 So he like either hand kill or with a knife 0:21:17.840 --> 0:21:22.040 or trap everything that he got. And I don't know 0:21:22.200 --> 0:21:26.080 that he was in particularly fertile land. Yeah, there's not 0:21:26.200 --> 0:21:28.679 that many critters. And you know, you can't really tackle 0:21:28.720 --> 0:21:32.520 a caribou because they're big. They're really big. They're big. 0:21:33.040 --> 0:21:34.760 This guy was. This guy was tough. But you know 0:21:34.840 --> 0:21:36.359 the other thing about it is at least kind of 0:21:36.359 --> 0:21:38.560