Hi listeners of Dying to be Found. If you're fans of Deb and Beth like we are, we hope that
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Bailey and we are True Crime B&B. We do a podcast every week. We release on Fridays and every week
we'll bring to you two different true crime stories. First we'll bring you a disturbing story
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No. I hope you join our crime family. Bye. Bye.
Hi everyone. This is Deb from Dying to be Found. Before we get started today, I just wanted to
mention that episodes contain disturbing discussions on harmful acts and crimes against animals and or
humankind. Recordings are not intended for young or sensitive audiences due to the content nature of
this podcast. Listener discretion is strongly advised.
Hello everyone. This is Deb. And this is Beth. And we want to thank you for joining us today on our
next episode of Dying to be Found. How are you doing today Beth? I'm doing awesome. How about you?
I'm doing really good. You know I think by now you probably know that I like to go shopping and I
wanted to tell you about a purchase that I came across while I was out. So I was out shopping with
a friend and we found a really cool outdoor mat that you put at your front door and it's one of
those that you wipe your feet on before you come in the house. Well it said on there, hide packages
from husband. That's hilarious. I know. I thought it was kind of cool because if anybody knows me,
I love Amazon, but I was kind of hemming and hawing a little bit on buying them that anybody
coming up to my door, it's pretty much an open invitation that I shop Amazon and people are
going to leave packages on my front porch. So I was trying to decide, do I buy this or not?
I think that's a cute idea. It's hilarious. But what if he takes it to be true and he hides it
somewhere and you can't find it? That's what I was thinking. But the other thing is, is with my
girlfriend, what she mentioned to me was, well, it's telling people that you have a husband.
So extra security, right? Oh, very true. Needless to say, I didn't get it, but I thought it was
really cute and I might go back another day. Who knows? Well, you'll, you'll find it on your
shopping trips. I'm sure. I'm sure. Hey, anything else you want to add? Do you have anything going
on? Well, I found a new knitting store out in the country and OMG, it was so awesome. And I have
never had such personal service before. I found some wool that I wanted to use on a project,
but I didn't have a project to use. I showed her a pattern that I wanted to make. That's the way
it usually goes. You take a pattern in and you find your yarn. So I found this yarn on sale and
she said, I can find exactly what you want that will fit that pattern. So she printed out a new
pattern for me and I was able to use that yarn. That's great. It's really nice when you get people
who are extra helpful like that. I've run into people who really don't know their business
and I think it's so important, especially when you're the customer for sure. That's great.
She was so intelligent on everything. Okay. Well, are we ready to get started? We certainly are.
Okay. Guess what you all, Beth is going to take the lead on this. She found a really cool topic
to talk about that I had not heard of. Of course, I did a little bit of research after she told me
what she was going to be saying today. So Beth, I've got a couple of surprises for you too.
That's exciting. Yeah, let's go. All right. So this is a story about a man named Arthur Johnson,
and it's a story that has intrigued me for years. Originally, I read The Mad Trapper of Rat River
in my twenties and again in my forties. And here I am reading an updated version of his book entitled
The Mad Trapper of Rat River, a true story of Canada's biggest manhunt. Arthur Dick North
stated in his forward that this account consists of two stories, one about the desperado and the
other a 30 year search for the mad trappers identity. Today I'm going to cover the desperado.
To keep things easy to follow, I've kept all temperatures reported in degrees Fahrenheit
and the distance will be in miles. I'm questioning the 30 year search for his identity.
How does that come into play? Was he a mad trapper for 30 years? Well, after he died, they
never were able to come upon who this man was. Okay. And then just over time, they were able
to identify him. Well, the weird thing is this three quarters of the book went into discussing
who this man really is, which I still have to read. When I went on Wikipedia, it still says
his identity is unknown. Oh, okay. So he was just an unknown, unidentified person. Exactly. For 30
years after the incident. Okay. Got you. Keep going. Thanks, dad, for introducing me to this wild ride.
I hope you enjoy this intriguing tale as much as I did. And Deb, I hope you like this tale as well.
It sounds pretty intriguing. I can't wait. I'm going to start by giving a visual of the Northwest
Territory so our listeners understand where these events took place. Canada's Northwest Territories
are located North of British Columbia, Alberta, and Saskatchewan. Can I stop you for a moment?
Yeah. I love the word Saskatchewan. I have always loved that word. I want to go visit Saskatchewan
just because of the cool word Saskatchewan. What intrigues you by it? I don't know. I don't really
know why I like the name. I think it's just cool to say. Just like that name that we came across
in a couple episodes ago where it was Detective Moose. Do you remember him? Yes. Same thing. I
don't know. Words catch me. And Saskatchewan is just one of those words that grabs my attention.
And again, I just want to go visit because of the word. Well, if you do let me know. Oh, no,
you're going with me. So if you were to look at a map of North America, they would be considered a
Midwest region, but much further North. And that's for Canadians. I want to give a visual for
the American listeners that this is due North of Washington State. On July 9th, a stranger entered
the North Northern Traders Limited in Fort McPherson to gather supplies. Fort McPherson, by the way,
is located in the far Northwest region of the Northwest territories and is somewhat of an
underdeveloped area. So naturally this area was well known for trading posts. The stranger
purchased a 16 gauge single barrel shotgun and 25 shells. He was a great customer because he
appeared to have a lot of cash with him. If he had a lot of cash with him, that's great. But why did
he only buy 25 shells? He wasn't anticipating anything to happen. He just needed 25 shells to
do his shooting of his food. Going hunting? Yes. Got you. Okay. So it was a day trip. It was a day
trip. Gotcha. On July 21st, 1931, Constable Millen with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police or the RCMP
met up with this stranger who turned out to be Arthur Johnson and asked where he was heading.
Johnson did not offer up much information, but did say he was in the area to do some trapping.
The Constable worried that Johnson was not experienced enough to be hauling such a large
pack on his back and working as a trapper and hunter. Trapping and hunting was not for the weak.
So Constable Millen wanted to make sure that Johnson could work independently because
rescuing men took its toll on the RCMP. Johnson assured Constable Millen and went on his way,
mentioning that he was just checking things out to decide if he was even going to stay in the area.
Constable Millen also suggested that Johnson hire a guide, but he refused because he said he preferred
to be on his own. As he went on his way, Johnson faced a pretty tough struggle as he worked his
way toward an area where he planned to build an 8 foot by 10 foot cabin just south of the winter
trail. He planned to live as a hermit because as I mentioned, he preferred to be alone. This journey
was a very hard trek indeed and as the trail ran through a series of lakes that cut off a bend of
the Rat River. This location happened to be along the trap lines of three men, William Vetrecois,
Jacob Drymeat and William Neriso. On December 25th, Christmas Day in 1931, William Neriso went to the
authorities and spoke with Constable Millen to tell them that someone was pulling their traps from
the Rat River and was springing traps. On July 26th, Millen followed up on these complaints and
eventually ordered Constable Alfred Buns King and Special Constable Joe Bernard to go to Johnson's
Cabin to serve him a warrant regarding these traps being sprung. Can I ask another question? I don't
really know much about trapping but what does it mean to spring a trap? Men would have traps all
along the river and they would have big sticks if they want to spring it so that if an animal gets
caught in a trap, it touches a particular spot on the trap and it snaps onto their leg. Oh, so are
these guys that were complaining to the law authorities, are they trapping in the river or
are they trapping land animals? You can do both. In this particular case, I'm assuming it's in the
river because it's the mad trapper of Rat River so we're discussing the area. To spring, you would
use a long stick and just place the stick exactly where the animal would touch and that's called
springing a trap. Okay, like a bear trap? Yes. Okay, gotcha. Going to confront Arthur Johnson
about springing the traps was no easy feat. Constable King and Special Constable Bernard
had to lead two dog teams to Fort McPherson along with two other constables. These law enforcement
team set out on a 60-mile trek up north under frigid temperatures of 40 below zero. It took two
days to reach Johnson's cabin through temperatures so cold that a loss of even a mitten would cause
a frostbite immediately. If not tended to with a fire, there would be permanent damage or even a
loss of life. After two days of travel and heavy snow, the RCMP team reached Johnson's cabin with
a warrant in hand. King called out and shouted, are you there Mr. Johnson? And there was no answer.
Beth, because I did my own little research on parts of this story, which is pretty cool. First
of all, you're a great storyteller. I love the inflection in your voice. But secondly, I'm going
to go along the lines of this thought that I had earlier. You had mentioned that when Mr. Johnson
first met up with Constable Millen, that he had mentioned that he preferred to be on his own,
right? Yes. Do you know what snow blindness is? No. So when you are in a snowy area, like up in the
Northwest territories of Canada, you get snow. So you know what it's like when everything,
fresh snowfall, everything's beautiful and white and you're surrounded by nothing but snow. Like
you can't see anything. Even the trees are white, right? Apparently when people are exposed to that
visually, you get something called snow blindness and it's basically, it messes with your mind a
little bit. And I'm not going to say that it makes you think differently or act differently. But
my point is that there's something also that happens when you are out all by yourself. So
snow blindness disorients people because you can't really see anything around you besides just white.
Interesting. Yeah. So with the fact that Johnson describes himself as a loner,
when people are by themselves for too long, then it kind of goes along the same lines. They
become out of sorts because we're social creatures, right? If he's by himself, then being up in that
snowy area all by yourself also kind of plays tricks with the mind. I don't know the technical
term or the psychological term of that, but I found that to be interesting. The fact that when
somebody is isolated all by themselves, then it kind of makes them go into a different mindset.
Does that make sense? Yes. So I think that's kind of where Mr. Johnson's mindset is maybe heading
because he is a loner and he's just not interacting with anybody. So being up there where all the snow
is at and probably the temperatures too, they've got to have some kind of play into his behaviors.
That sounds very neat. I did not realize any of that.
Yeah. So anyway, I just wanted to kind of put that out there, but you can keep going because,
you know, I'm random and I'll keep interrupting you.
Good. I'm sure our listeners do enjoy the tidbits of information from you. So King saw some smoke
coming out of the chimney. So he knew Johnson was in the cabin. Anticipating trouble, King ran to
the side of the door and reached out to his side to knock on the door. Without a word from Johnson,
a shot rang out and a bullet went through the door hitting King.
Oh no. Your oh no should be more exciting.
Why should my oh no be more exciting? King got hit.
Oh, okay. Yeah, you're right. I forgot.
Because of King's injuries, the police gave up their pursuit of Johnson and chose to take care
of King immediately. King was loaded into the sled and the constable started back on their 80-mile
trek to get King back to the hospital. The weather was raw with temperatures minus 40 degrees below
zero. The wind blew so strong that the dogs who were already so tired from the trek to Johnson's
cabin had to mush through untracked snow because the trail disappeared under the snow flurries that
occurred after the first arrival at Johnson's cabin. The combination of wind, snow, and cold
temperatures were excruciating. And 20 hours later, they arrived at Acklevic, which is even
further north. Once there, Constable King was rushed to the hospital. It was discovered that
the bullet had passed to the left side of the chest and had come out to the right side. The slug had
missed vital organs. Being as healthy as he was, King was up and back to himself in just three weeks.
Wow. That's pretty quick, isn't it? Yeah, for sure. I mean, I don't know how old he was,
but good for him as far as that. I'm just thinking he must've been in really good physical shape for
him just to be up and running within three weeks. That's incredible. It is.
Between three RCMP posts, Inspector Ems was assigned to the lead case. Ems chose a team of 11 men
and get this, 42 dogs to go after Johnson. How many dogs are on a sled team? They usually have
about five. They have four dogs and a lead. So there's two dogs in front of each other.
And then the lead dog is in between the whole four section. Okay. So is it like two by two?
Yes. Okay. Two by two and then the one. Got you. Okay. That poor lead dog, that is a lot of weight
to carry. It is, especially on this 250 mile trek that we're going to find out that they're on.
Holy cow. After two days of trekking, the team stopped briefly to pick up Constable Edgar Millen
and an Indian guide, Charlie Rat, where they continued their way back to Johnson's cabin.
Do you think they named the Rat River after him or his family line?
I think so. When I read it, that was my first impression. Two days later, they thought that
Johnson's cabin was only a mile or two away, but they were in fact wrong. It was seven or eight
miles back in the opposite direction. And that would be a lot of work because seven or eight
miles is a very long distance, especially when there's no trail and they're having to lead the
way through fresh snow. So they basically got lost. Yes. I wonder if it's because of that snow
blindness. Could be. So the cabin was only a mile or two away, but they ended up traveling seven or
eight miles. Wow. Wow. They had to have been caught up in that snow blindness. Yeah. And then you can
imagine how tired they would be. And the dogs, the poor dogs. I know. It was January 9th, 1932,
when the team finally arrived at their destination and surrounded Johnson's cabin. While the men
stood around fires to get warm, they asked each other why Johnson never left the cabin when the
first team rushed back to Acklevic to seek medical help for Constable King. They did not have a lot
of time to contemplate this any further because of an immense amount of gunfire began as Johnson
proceeded to take aim at the constables. For 15 hours, both Johnson and the authorities began
shooting as Johnson refused to back down and stand off and sued. At one point, one of the constables
made his way through the doorway to the cabin by hitting the butt of his rifle against the door.
Once inside, he yelled to his partners that Johnson was in the pit and was firing two handguns at one
time. All right. So Johnson's inside shooting up like a little Western cowboy here and he's got two
handguns. Where's he shooting from? Is he shooting through windows? Is he, I don't, I can't really
picture how he is participating in this gunfight. How's he keeping himself undercover so that he's
not getting hit? Well, we'll find out a little bit about how he managed not to get hit, but I
have no idea how the bullets were coming out. I do know that I've been in some cabins in museums
and there were little pit holes, just enough for your rifle to go through to shoot. And I would
imagine that this is what happened in this case. Okay. Once inside, he yelled out to his partners
that Johnson was in a pit. So that's how he was able not to get hit. He must have had protection
during those days. That's why he didn't leave the cabin. He would have dug that pit around the whole
cabin. So he had a place to hide in. So he was like in a foxhole of sorts. Yes, exactly. Okay.
As it turned out, Johnson had made sure that when he built his cabin, he left several small openings
at the corners of the building so that he could shoot his rifle out if he needed to. Well, there
you go. I'm answering my own questions here. And thank goodness I was right. Hey, so when the
constable went into the cabin, did he confront Johnson head on after he yelled out to his partners
that Johnson was in a pit? Oh no, you all guess what happened. I asked Beth a question and there
she goes off again. All right. It's story time. While we're waiting, let me tell you about when
we were kids growing up in Canada. And since we're talking about snow here, I loved my snowy winters
because we used to go out to the cow pasture and there was a cow trail that the cows would come up
and come into the field every day. Well, we used to go tobogganing down the cow trail every winter.
And it was so much fun because we'd take the sled and we had to really be careful about maneuvering
a certain corner of that trail. Cause if we didn't maneuver it and shift just right, we would slam
into some trees and we were really careful about that. I don't think I really slammed into any
trees, but we just had a good time. I'm back. Hey Beth, I have a question for you. Okay. Did you go
tobogganing with me down the cow trail? Oh, we were growing up. Yes. Yes. Yes. Loved it.
I thought you did. I couldn't remember cause I always remember going outside to play with the
neighborhood kids, but I'm pretty sure you always joined us for the tobogganing. So I sure did.
Yeah. Did you ever hit the trees? I think I did. I don't ever remember hitting the trees. If anything,
I came to a sliding stop just as I was coming up on it, but I'm pretty sure that you and I probably
were on the same toboggan from time to time as well. And boy, did we have to work as a team.
We did just like we are now. Yeah. And just like on the dog teams too. But yeah, it was, I can see
how everybody has to work together, but boy, was that ever fun. Okay. Now that we're back,
I had a question for you before you dropped. And I wanted to know when the constable went into the
cabin, did he have any kind of confrontation with Johnson head on? No, no, that's it. No, he didn't
about face and he got out of Dodge. Gotcha. Before they left Fort Macpherson authorities packed a
kit, if you will, containing firearms and other equipment they needed during a standoff. One of
the things they included in this kit was dynamite. Due to the frigid temperatures, the dynamite had
to be thought very carefully underneath each man's parka jacket. Once thought out, the dynamite was
thrown against the cabin in the hopes that logs or the roof would be dislodged, but this proved to
be ineffective and Johnson continued to remain in his cabin. Did they not have enough dynamite?
I don't know, but this man has nine lives. Yeah, he does. The next morning, dynamite was thrown
onto the cabin's roof and the constable successfully achieved what they had hoped would happen.
The roof caved in. However, their joy was short-lived when Johnson shot a flashlight
out of the hand of one of the constables as he quietly and patiently lay in wait. This failed
attack had Ames and Garland retreat back to safety of the riverbank. During the standoff,
Constable Millen was caught in the crossfire and was shot through the heart where he died on the
scene. By this time, the majority of the RCMP team wanted to burn Johnson out of his cabin,
but Ames insisted they bring him out alive. I wonder why at this point, if he's being so
standoffish, why would he want him to come out alive, do you think? I have no idea. That is kind
of crazy, isn't it? Yeah, I mean, human being, I get that for sure. Maybe that's why. However,
Johnson was proving himself to outwit the law who were now beginning to prepare their first ever
tracking by plane. At this point, Inspector Ames thought a plane was necessary because it was quite
difficult to feed teams of dog sleds. For example, one team requires a two pound fish a day. Five
teams of dogs for five days would require 500 pounds of food for 10 days. That's quite a lot,
eh Deb? Holy cow, yeah. I have two very big dogs and we go through quite a bit of dog food in a
month, but that's a lot of planning for the dog teams. It is. At this point, while the team was
tending to the dogs, Johnson managed to slip away undetected and the trackers had no idea where
Johnson was headed. How in the world could he slip away undetected? There's 11 RCMP officers.
Do you think that maybe they never went behind the cabin because he was shooting out front?
I can't imagine that not surrounding it in its entirety, but that's what it seems like.
I agree. And then two, we know, or at least I know with the dogs that I have, when they detect
something, they're going to bark. So why didn't any of the dogs bark? There were two full teams
of dogs. This whole thing about the mad trapper is strange. It's like this isn't a true story.
It's almost like a comedy of errors. It really is. It would be interesting to make a Broadway show
out of this. Absolutely. I'd go see it. Me too. Maybe they'll hear our podcast. We're definitely
getting noticed. On January 21st, 1932, the Alaskan radio station reported that there was
a large manhunt on the east side of the Richardson mountains. It turns out Johnson avoided all men by
crossing the Richardson mountains and headed west. Wow. He climbed a mountain. He climbed that mountain
in snow shoes. Have you ever worn snow shoes? I think dad had us put some on. Remember his shoes
he had? I do remember. I know I wore them. They were fun. They certainly were. And they were from
the military. Yep. Sergeant Hersey, one of the RCMP's team in the Northwest Territories, had one
of the fastest dog teams and gathered up a large posse to start their pursuit after Johnson. Orders
went out from Edmonton, Alberta for patrols to leave Whitehorse in the Yukon and meet a team sent
from Fort Norman, Northwest Territories 500 miles away. Patrols and airplanes were dispatched from
Dawson City and mail inside the Yukon just west of the Northwest Territories in east of Alaska.
Hey Beth, can I give you a little trivia here? I would love it. Have you heard of the Red Barrett?
Yes. What do you know about him besides pizza? Snoopy drives him.
I forgot about that. Snoopy flies him. He is known for pizza and Charlie Brown peanuts.
No, actually I was looking up a little bit about this since you told me that we were going to be
doing this story. Yes. And the pilot that they hired to patrol this area on this manhunt,
was the Red Baron. That's cool. Yeah, I thought so too. The first break in the case was on February
12, 1932 when an Indian trapper, Pete Alexi, went through the Rat Pass with a message that several
Indians had spotted strange snowshoe tracks east of the Prairie House. This house was a Hudson Bay
Company fur trading post that was established in 1846 near Fort McPherson, Alberta. The
manhunt took place in 1846 near Fort McPherson, Yukon. Getting back to the RCMP bringing a plane
to help the team out, the pilot was looking hard for any signs of Johnson. After searching
persistently up and down, finally a trace of Johnson's trail was found. Johnson had hoped to
circle around and come up from behind to get food that he kept hidden. But he kept coming up into
of the posse instead of behind him. Now that's quite a mistake isn't it? Do you think he's
starting to get lost? Yes. Well that's where either the snow blindness is coming in that we
talked about or the fact that he has been living alone for so long and his mindset is beginning to
waver. I agree, totally agree with that. It never occurred to me but I do agree. Yeah and I'm
flabbergasted that he has been able to escape the law as long as he has. When he's out in the elements
I mean we're talking about being extreme north not just up in Canada but extreme north in the
northwest territories that's almost near the north pole. Well folks if you are trying to think how
cold it was add 100 times the cold on that because this is really frigid dangerously freezing
temperatures. Johnson had been on the run for 33 days now that's a lot so he has been alone for a
long time. He had escaped during a blizzard and several more blizzards went through the area
totally obliterating all signs of Johnson by the RCMP. I feel like certainly Johnson has to have some
kind of tactical training of sorts. He wasn't in the military was he? We don't know anything about
who this man is. That's right. So he may very well have some military experience. Yeah he's got to
have some kind of tactical experience especially with living out in those elements for sure. Exactly
it's not like it's almost like he was on the run from something. Temperatures were 30 to 40 degrees
below zero while he was being pursued so breaking trails with snowshoes and deep snow would have been
excruciating. Being constantly on the run would cause a lot of sweat and dampness that would
require clothes to be dried out. Being cold requires food for energy and heat yet Johnson
didn't shoot his rifle for fear of giving himself away. Instead he resorted to setting snares.
Johnson couldn't build a big fire because that would give him away. Everything worked against
him yet after 30 days he continued to elude capture. At some point Johnson had stored a caribou that he
had killed earlier in the year. Authorities eventually came across the caribou and watched
this area to see if Johnson would return for food but he never did. On February 9th a blizzard tore
through rat and barrier areas where the hunt for Johnson continued. This blizzard swept through the
entire Mackenzie Delta grounding the plain and stopping the posse from pursuing Johnson at this
point. Johnson on his trek of 250 miles chose to bolt across the ridges of the Richardson Mountains
which is an extension of the Rockies. Now what do you think of that Deb? He walked 250 miles in 30
days? Yes. And he was never spotted. That's incredible. This guy is catch me if you can.
Exactly. Wow. That's why I wanted to do this story because it is one of my favorite stories.
It's like the bad guy is winning and then in a way you're rooting for him. Yeah I have never
heard of this story before. You told me about it. I'm surprised. We were never taught it in school.
You know you'd think that you would hear about the world's biggest manhunt in some parts of our
history. Absolutely. Now interestingly enough that you say that because when we were talking about
H. H. Holmes, the book that you had read, The Devil in the White City, that's being taught in
American schools. Is it really? Yeah kids are reading that in their literature classes.
Well reading the book it certainly gives you a lot of history as we know that came out of the story
but it talks a lot about building and and how it sinks into the ground if the ground isn't made up
of certain materials and yeah wow cool I agree with you I'm not I'm surprised I never read this
when well yeah I was in high school there so I'm surprised at some point even when I was in high
school I never read about this and you didn't either. No it's not uncommon to see temperatures
go to 100 degrees below zero. The local Indians and White Trappers said Johnson would never go
straight across the mountains especially after being chased for 30 days but they were wrong.
Johnson indeed made it over the mountain. To this day no one knows how he managed to successfully
ascend the peak. I agree with that because what equipment did he have was he just with his snow
shoes is that it he's he's superhuman he is so now we've reached an area called the shootout
and unfortunately we're going to find out that Johnson isn't too successful. Okay. On February
17, 1932 the RCMP ran head on to Johnson while he was backtracking stepping in his old tracks
because he thought the police were behind him. He startled and quickly put on his snow shoes
and ran to the bank of the river. I know snow shoes snow shoes.
It's not that funny but it is.
He started and quickly ran up post snow shoes and ran to the river on the bank. Hey boy Newfoundland.
Beth I didn't know you were so witty. I am actually the girls at work often come hilarious
because I have a very dry sense of humor like dad. Me too people you have to have a dry sense
of humor to get people and I definitely have that too but wow. He startled and quickly put on his
snow shoes. Okay I'll be real this time. He startled and quickly put on his snow shoes and ran to the
bank of the river. One of the trackers grabbed his rifle and started shooting. Johnson ran off and
then quickly turned around and hit one of the officers. The bullet went through the elbow,
left knee and then ripped through his chest. As luck would have it he survived the ordeal. That's
shocking thank goodness. I know. Shouts to surrender were yelled to Johnson who was standing in the
middle of the Eagle River. The posse then spread out and started to shoot. One of the bullets hit
the ammunition in Johnson's pocket causing it to explode. Johnson lost a large chunk out of his thigh.
Another bullet struck his shoulder and then his side. Another shout to surrender filled the air
and still Johnson continued to shoot at the authorities. The authorities then started firing
at Johnson. Finally Johnson was dead from a bullet to his spine. Wow so he was pretty much in front
of the firing squad. Yes. Wow. Johnson's body was taken to La Peer House by dog sled and the next
day he was flown into Acklevic where a full exam of his body took place before the burial in an
Arnmark grave. And there you have it. The mad trapper of Rat River. The ending's sad. It is.
Poor guy. Okay. Not poor guy because he's obviously not a good human being but his ending is,
I don't think that it was necessary. That's sad. You're right. It's so many men but I guess they're
protecting their own lives. Oh absolutely. You can't help but understand how everything
occurred but wow the sequence of events here was very interesting. Okay before we continue
I wanted to take a look at this picture here of the mad trapper. Is that him? Is this is this
after the shootout? Yes. No this is not funny but he looks awfully happy there. You know who else?
He kind of looks like oh what's his name? He's an actor. He played in 24. Well I don't know about
24 but I think you mean the Canadian actor Kiefer Sutherland? Yes. He's Canadian. Wow. Yeah does he
not look a little bit like? Well he had I guess he does because I picked it out when you said you
couldn't remember his name. Yeah I was about to go look him up but I had no idea he was Canadian.
Oh isn't he he's Donald Sutherland's son. He certainly is. Okay yeah. Anyway the mad trapper
looks awfully happy in this picture. He must have been tired of running. I can't imagine 250 miles
33 days minus 100 degrees. Yeah that's that is something else. So Deb do you have a teachable
moment from this story? What are you ready to hang up? No. I do have a teachable moment and I
always try to work one in based on what we're talking about and I think it's important. As
you can see with the RCMPs you have to work as a team and it takes a village for the most part.
Don't you agree? Yes. It's like the dogs worked in a team, the RCMPs worked in a team and it's
important to get to the finish line that way. And it really is. But that's all I got. Yeah that's a
good one and that's a wrap. And that's a wrap. Okay so let's talk about social media. Thanks for
listening. We hope you enjoyed it. We will be back next week. In the meantime you can find us on
DyingToBeFound.com or social medias at Instagram, Twitter and Facebook at DyingToBeFound. Thanks so
much and we will talk to you next week.
you