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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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you'll give us a try. We like them a lot and we hope that you'll like us too. I'm Beth and I'm

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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

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we'll bring to you two different true crime stories. First we'll bring you a disturbing story

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and then one that will hopefully uplift your spirits a little bit. We'd love to have you

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listen to our podcast. Yeah so join us every week on Friday. Find us anywhere you find your

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podcasts on Spotify, Apple, Google Podcasts. I don't know anywhere else. And also you can find

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us on Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook at True Crime B&B. Did we even mention that we're mom and daughter?

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No. I hope you join our crime family. Bye. Bye.

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Hi everyone. This is Deb from Dying to be Found. Before we get started today, I just wanted to

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mention that episodes contain disturbing discussions on harmful acts and crimes against animals and or

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humankind. Recordings are not intended for young or sensitive audiences due to the content nature of

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this podcast. Listener discretion is strongly advised.

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Hello everyone. This is Deb. And this is Beth. And we want to thank you for joining us today on our

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next episode of Dying to be Found. How are you doing today Beth? I'm doing awesome. How about you?

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I'm doing really good. You know I think by now you probably know that I like to go shopping and I

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wanted to tell you about a purchase that I came across while I was out. So I was out shopping with

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a friend and we found a really cool outdoor mat that you put at your front door and it's one of

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those that you wipe your feet on before you come in the house. Well it said on there, hide packages

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from husband. That's hilarious. I know. I thought it was kind of cool because if anybody knows me,

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I love Amazon, but I was kind of hemming and hawing a little bit on buying them that anybody

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coming up to my door, it's pretty much an open invitation that I shop Amazon and people are

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going to leave packages on my front porch. So I was trying to decide, do I buy this or not?

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I think that's a cute idea. It's hilarious. But what if he takes it to be true and he hides it

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somewhere and you can't find it? That's what I was thinking. But the other thing is, is with my

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girlfriend, what she mentioned to me was, well, it's telling people that you have a husband.

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So extra security, right? Oh, very true. Needless to say, I didn't get it, but I thought it was

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really cute and I might go back another day. Who knows? Well, you'll, you'll find it on your

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shopping trips. I'm sure. I'm sure. Hey, anything else you want to add? Do you have anything going

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on? Well, I found a new knitting store out in the country and OMG, it was so awesome. And I have

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never had such personal service before. I found some wool that I wanted to use on a project,

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but I didn't have a project to use. I showed her a pattern that I wanted to make. That's the way

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it usually goes. You take a pattern in and you find your yarn. So I found this yarn on sale and

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she said, I can find exactly what you want that will fit that pattern. So she printed out a new

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pattern for me and I was able to use that yarn. That's great. It's really nice when you get people

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who are extra helpful like that. I've run into people who really don't know their business

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and I think it's so important, especially when you're the customer for sure. That's great.

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She was so intelligent on everything. Okay. Well, are we ready to get started? We certainly are.

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Okay. Guess what you all, Beth is going to take the lead on this. She found a really cool topic

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to talk about that I had not heard of. Of course, I did a little bit of research after she told me

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what she was going to be saying today. So Beth, I've got a couple of surprises for you too.

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That's exciting. Yeah, let's go. All right. So this is a story about a man named Arthur Johnson,

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and it's a story that has intrigued me for years. Originally, I read The Mad Trapper of Rat River

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in my twenties and again in my forties. And here I am reading an updated version of his book entitled

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The Mad Trapper of Rat River, a true story of Canada's biggest manhunt. Arthur Dick North

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stated in his forward that this account consists of two stories, one about the desperado and the

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other a 30 year search for the mad trappers identity. Today I'm going to cover the desperado.

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To keep things easy to follow, I've kept all temperatures reported in degrees Fahrenheit

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and the distance will be in miles. I'm questioning the 30 year search for his identity.

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How does that come into play? Was he a mad trapper for 30 years? Well, after he died, they

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never were able to come upon who this man was. Okay. And then just over time, they were able

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to identify him. Well, the weird thing is this three quarters of the book went into discussing

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who this man really is, which I still have to read. When I went on Wikipedia, it still says

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his identity is unknown. Oh, okay. So he was just an unknown, unidentified person. Exactly. For 30

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years after the incident. Okay. Got you. Keep going. Thanks, dad, for introducing me to this wild ride.

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I hope you enjoy this intriguing tale as much as I did. And Deb, I hope you like this tale as well.

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It sounds pretty intriguing. I can't wait. I'm going to start by giving a visual of the Northwest

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Territory so our listeners understand where these events took place. Canada's Northwest Territories

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are located North of British Columbia, Alberta, and Saskatchewan. Can I stop you for a moment?

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Yeah. I love the word Saskatchewan. I have always loved that word. I want to go visit Saskatchewan

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just because of the cool word Saskatchewan. What intrigues you by it? I don't know. I don't really

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know why I like the name. I think it's just cool to say. Just like that name that we came across

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in a couple episodes ago where it was Detective Moose. Do you remember him? Yes. Same thing. I

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don't know. Words catch me. And Saskatchewan is just one of those words that grabs my attention.

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And again, I just want to go visit because of the word. Well, if you do let me know. Oh, no,

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you're going with me. So if you were to look at a map of North America, they would be considered a

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Midwest region, but much further North. And that's for Canadians. I want to give a visual for

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the American listeners that this is due North of Washington State. On July 9th, a stranger entered

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the North Northern Traders Limited in Fort McPherson to gather supplies. Fort McPherson, by the way,

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is located in the far Northwest region of the Northwest territories and is somewhat of an

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underdeveloped area. So naturally this area was well known for trading posts. The stranger

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purchased a 16 gauge single barrel shotgun and 25 shells. He was a great customer because he

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appeared to have a lot of cash with him. If he had a lot of cash with him, that's great. But why did

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he only buy 25 shells? He wasn't anticipating anything to happen. He just needed 25 shells to

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do his shooting of his food. Going hunting? Yes. Got you. Okay. So it was a day trip. It was a day

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trip. Gotcha. On July 21st, 1931, Constable Millen with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police or the RCMP

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met up with this stranger who turned out to be Arthur Johnson and asked where he was heading.

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Johnson did not offer up much information, but did say he was in the area to do some trapping.

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The Constable worried that Johnson was not experienced enough to be hauling such a large

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pack on his back and working as a trapper and hunter. Trapping and hunting was not for the weak.

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So Constable Millen wanted to make sure that Johnson could work independently because

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rescuing men took its toll on the RCMP. Johnson assured Constable Millen and went on his way,

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mentioning that he was just checking things out to decide if he was even going to stay in the area.

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Constable Millen also suggested that Johnson hire a guide, but he refused because he said he preferred

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to be on his own. As he went on his way, Johnson faced a pretty tough struggle as he worked his

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way toward an area where he planned to build an 8 foot by 10 foot cabin just south of the winter

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trail. He planned to live as a hermit because as I mentioned, he preferred to be alone. This journey

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was a very hard trek indeed and as the trail ran through a series of lakes that cut off a bend of

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the Rat River. This location happened to be along the trap lines of three men, William Vetrecois,

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Jacob Drymeat and William Neriso. On December 25th, Christmas Day in 1931, William Neriso went to the

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authorities and spoke with Constable Millen to tell them that someone was pulling their traps from

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the Rat River and was springing traps. On July 26th, Millen followed up on these complaints and

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eventually ordered Constable Alfred Buns King and Special Constable Joe Bernard to go to Johnson's

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Cabin to serve him a warrant regarding these traps being sprung. Can I ask another question? I don't

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really know much about trapping but what does it mean to spring a trap? Men would have traps all

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along the river and they would have big sticks if they want to spring it so that if an animal gets

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caught in a trap, it touches a particular spot on the trap and it snaps onto their leg. Oh, so are

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these guys that were complaining to the law authorities, are they trapping in the river or

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are they trapping land animals? You can do both. In this particular case, I'm assuming it's in the

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river because it's the mad trapper of Rat River so we're discussing the area. To spring, you would

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use a long stick and just place the stick exactly where the animal would touch and that's called

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springing a trap. Okay, like a bear trap? Yes. Okay, gotcha. Going to confront Arthur Johnson

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about springing the traps was no easy feat. Constable King and Special Constable Bernard

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had to lead two dog teams to Fort McPherson along with two other constables. These law enforcement

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team set out on a 60-mile trek up north under frigid temperatures of 40 below zero. It took two

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days to reach Johnson's cabin through temperatures so cold that a loss of even a mitten would cause

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a frostbite immediately. If not tended to with a fire, there would be permanent damage or even a

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loss of life. After two days of travel and heavy snow, the RCMP team reached Johnson's cabin with

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a warrant in hand. King called out and shouted, are you there Mr. Johnson? And there was no answer.

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Beth, because I did my own little research on parts of this story, which is pretty cool. First

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of all, you're a great storyteller. I love the inflection in your voice. But secondly, I'm going

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to go along the lines of this thought that I had earlier. You had mentioned that when Mr. Johnson

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first met up with Constable Millen, that he had mentioned that he preferred to be on his own,

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right? Yes. Do you know what snow blindness is? No. So when you are in a snowy area, like up in the

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Northwest territories of Canada, you get snow. So you know what it's like when everything,

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fresh snowfall, everything's beautiful and white and you're surrounded by nothing but snow. Like

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you can't see anything. Even the trees are white, right? Apparently when people are exposed to that

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visually, you get something called snow blindness and it's basically, it messes with your mind a

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little bit. And I'm not going to say that it makes you think differently or act differently. But

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my point is that there's something also that happens when you are out all by yourself. So

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snow blindness disorients people because you can't really see anything around you besides just white.

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Interesting. Yeah. So with the fact that Johnson describes himself as a loner,

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when people are by themselves for too long, then it kind of goes along the same lines. They

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become out of sorts because we're social creatures, right? If he's by himself, then being up in that

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snowy area all by yourself also kind of plays tricks with the mind. I don't know the technical

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term or the psychological term of that, but I found that to be interesting. The fact that when

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somebody is isolated all by themselves, then it kind of makes them go into a different mindset.

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Does that make sense? Yes. So I think that's kind of where Mr. Johnson's mindset is maybe heading

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because he is a loner and he's just not interacting with anybody. So being up there where all the snow

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is at and probably the temperatures too, they've got to have some kind of play into his behaviors.

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That sounds very neat. I did not realize any of that.

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Yeah. So anyway, I just wanted to kind of put that out there, but you can keep going because,

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you know, I'm random and I'll keep interrupting you.

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Good. I'm sure our listeners do enjoy the tidbits of information from you. So King saw some smoke

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coming out of the chimney. So he knew Johnson was in the cabin. Anticipating trouble, King ran to

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the side of the door and reached out to his side to knock on the door. Without a word from Johnson,

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a shot rang out and a bullet went through the door hitting King.

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Oh no. Your oh no should be more exciting.

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Why should my oh no be more exciting? King got hit.

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Oh, okay. Yeah, you're right. I forgot.

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Because of King's injuries, the police gave up their pursuit of Johnson and chose to take care

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of King immediately. King was loaded into the sled and the constable started back on their 80-mile

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trek to get King back to the hospital. The weather was raw with temperatures minus 40 degrees below

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zero. The wind blew so strong that the dogs who were already so tired from the trek to Johnson's

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cabin had to mush through untracked snow because the trail disappeared under the snow flurries that

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occurred after the first arrival at Johnson's cabin. The combination of wind, snow, and cold

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temperatures were excruciating. And 20 hours later, they arrived at Acklevic, which is even

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further north. Once there, Constable King was rushed to the hospital. It was discovered that

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the bullet had passed to the left side of the chest and had come out to the right side. The slug had

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missed vital organs. Being as healthy as he was, King was up and back to himself in just three weeks.

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Wow. That's pretty quick, isn't it? Yeah, for sure. I mean, I don't know how old he was,

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but good for him as far as that. I'm just thinking he must've been in really good physical shape for

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him just to be up and running within three weeks. That's incredible. It is.

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Between three RCMP posts, Inspector Ems was assigned to the lead case. Ems chose a team of 11 men

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and get this, 42 dogs to go after Johnson. How many dogs are on a sled team? They usually have

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about five. They have four dogs and a lead. So there's two dogs in front of each other.

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And then the lead dog is in between the whole four section. Okay. So is it like two by two?

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Yes. Okay. Two by two and then the one. Got you. Okay. That poor lead dog, that is a lot of weight

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to carry. It is, especially on this 250 mile trek that we're going to find out that they're on.

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Holy cow. After two days of trekking, the team stopped briefly to pick up Constable Edgar Millen

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and an Indian guide, Charlie Rat, where they continued their way back to Johnson's cabin.

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Do you think they named the Rat River after him or his family line?

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I think so. When I read it, that was my first impression. Two days later, they thought that

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Johnson's cabin was only a mile or two away, but they were in fact wrong. It was seven or eight

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miles back in the opposite direction. And that would be a lot of work because seven or eight

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miles is a very long distance, especially when there's no trail and they're having to lead the

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way through fresh snow. So they basically got lost. Yes. I wonder if it's because of that snow

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blindness. Could be. So the cabin was only a mile or two away, but they ended up traveling seven or

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eight miles. Wow. Wow. They had to have been caught up in that snow blindness. Yeah. And then you can

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imagine how tired they would be. And the dogs, the poor dogs. I know. It was January 9th, 1932,

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when the team finally arrived at their destination and surrounded Johnson's cabin. While the men

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stood around fires to get warm, they asked each other why Johnson never left the cabin when the

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first team rushed back to Acklevic to seek medical help for Constable King. They did not have a lot

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of time to contemplate this any further because of an immense amount of gunfire began as Johnson

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proceeded to take aim at the constables. For 15 hours, both Johnson and the authorities began

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shooting as Johnson refused to back down and stand off and sued. At one point, one of the constables

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made his way through the doorway to the cabin by hitting the butt of his rifle against the door.

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Once inside, he yelled to his partners that Johnson was in the pit and was firing two handguns at one

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time. All right. So Johnson's inside shooting up like a little Western cowboy here and he's got two

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handguns. Where's he shooting from? Is he shooting through windows? Is he, I don't, I can't really

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picture how he is participating in this gunfight. How's he keeping himself undercover so that he's

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not getting hit? Well, we'll find out a little bit about how he managed not to get hit, but I

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have no idea how the bullets were coming out. I do know that I've been in some cabins in museums

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and there were little pit holes, just enough for your rifle to go through to shoot. And I would

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imagine that this is what happened in this case. Okay. Once inside, he yelled out to his partners

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that Johnson was in a pit. So that's how he was able not to get hit. He must have had protection

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during those days. That's why he didn't leave the cabin. He would have dug that pit around the whole

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cabin. So he had a place to hide in. So he was like in a foxhole of sorts. Yes, exactly. Okay.

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As it turned out, Johnson had made sure that when he built his cabin, he left several small openings

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at the corners of the building so that he could shoot his rifle out if he needed to. Well, there

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you go. I'm answering my own questions here. And thank goodness I was right. Hey, so when the

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constable went into the cabin, did he confront Johnson head on after he yelled out to his partners

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that Johnson was in a pit? Oh no, you all guess what happened. I asked Beth a question and there

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she goes off again. All right. It's story time. While we're waiting, let me tell you about when

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we were kids growing up in Canada. And since we're talking about snow here, I loved my snowy winters

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because we used to go out to the cow pasture and there was a cow trail that the cows would come up

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and come into the field every day. Well, we used to go tobogganing down the cow trail every winter.

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And it was so much fun because we'd take the sled and we had to really be careful about maneuvering

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a certain corner of that trail. Cause if we didn't maneuver it and shift just right, we would slam

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into some trees and we were really careful about that. I don't think I really slammed into any

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trees, but we just had a good time. I'm back. Hey Beth, I have a question for you. Okay. Did you go

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tobogganing with me down the cow trail? Oh, we were growing up. Yes. Yes. Yes. Loved it.

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I thought you did. I couldn't remember cause I always remember going outside to play with the

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neighborhood kids, but I'm pretty sure you always joined us for the tobogganing. So I sure did.

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Yeah. Did you ever hit the trees? I think I did. I don't ever remember hitting the trees. If anything,

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I came to a sliding stop just as I was coming up on it, but I'm pretty sure that you and I probably

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were on the same toboggan from time to time as well. And boy, did we have to work as a team.

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We did just like we are now. Yeah. And just like on the dog teams too. But yeah, it was, I can see

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how everybody has to work together, but boy, was that ever fun. Okay. Now that we're back,

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I had a question for you before you dropped. And I wanted to know when the constable went into the

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cabin, did he have any kind of confrontation with Johnson head on? No, no, that's it. No, he didn't

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about face and he got out of Dodge. Gotcha. Before they left Fort Macpherson authorities packed a

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kit, if you will, containing firearms and other equipment they needed during a standoff. One of

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the things they included in this kit was dynamite. Due to the frigid temperatures, the dynamite had

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to be thought very carefully underneath each man's parka jacket. Once thought out, the dynamite was

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thrown against the cabin in the hopes that logs or the roof would be dislodged, but this proved to

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be ineffective and Johnson continued to remain in his cabin. Did they not have enough dynamite?

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I don't know, but this man has nine lives. Yeah, he does. The next morning, dynamite was thrown

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onto the cabin's roof and the constable successfully achieved what they had hoped would happen.

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The roof caved in. However, their joy was short-lived when Johnson shot a flashlight

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out of the hand of one of the constables as he quietly and patiently lay in wait. This failed

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attack had Ames and Garland retreat back to safety of the riverbank. During the standoff,

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Constable Millen was caught in the crossfire and was shot through the heart where he died on the

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scene. By this time, the majority of the RCMP team wanted to burn Johnson out of his cabin,

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but Ames insisted they bring him out alive. I wonder why at this point, if he's being so

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standoffish, why would he want him to come out alive, do you think? I have no idea. That is kind

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of crazy, isn't it? Yeah, I mean, human being, I get that for sure. Maybe that's why. However,

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Johnson was proving himself to outwit the law who were now beginning to prepare their first ever

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tracking by plane. At this point, Inspector Ames thought a plane was necessary because it was quite

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difficult to feed teams of dog sleds. For example, one team requires a two pound fish a day. Five

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teams of dogs for five days would require 500 pounds of food for 10 days. That's quite a lot,

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eh Deb? Holy cow, yeah. I have two very big dogs and we go through quite a bit of dog food in a

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month, but that's a lot of planning for the dog teams. It is. At this point, while the team was

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tending to the dogs, Johnson managed to slip away undetected and the trackers had no idea where

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Johnson was headed. How in the world could he slip away undetected? There's 11 RCMP officers.

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Do you think that maybe they never went behind the cabin because he was shooting out front?

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I can't imagine that not surrounding it in its entirety, but that's what it seems like.

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I agree. And then two, we know, or at least I know with the dogs that I have, when they detect

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something, they're going to bark. So why didn't any of the dogs bark? There were two full teams

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of dogs. This whole thing about the mad trapper is strange. It's like this isn't a true story.

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It's almost like a comedy of errors. It really is. It would be interesting to make a Broadway show

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out of this. Absolutely. I'd go see it. Me too. Maybe they'll hear our podcast. We're definitely

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getting noticed. On January 21st, 1932, the Alaskan radio station reported that there was

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a large manhunt on the east side of the Richardson mountains. It turns out Johnson avoided all men by

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crossing the Richardson mountains and headed west. Wow. He climbed a mountain. He climbed that mountain

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in snow shoes. Have you ever worn snow shoes? I think dad had us put some on. Remember his shoes

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he had? I do remember. I know I wore them. They were fun. They certainly were. And they were from

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the military. Yep. Sergeant Hersey, one of the RCMP's team in the Northwest Territories, had one

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of the fastest dog teams and gathered up a large posse to start their pursuit after Johnson. Orders

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went out from Edmonton, Alberta for patrols to leave Whitehorse in the Yukon and meet a team sent

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from Fort Norman, Northwest Territories 500 miles away. Patrols and airplanes were dispatched from

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Dawson City and mail inside the Yukon just west of the Northwest Territories in east of Alaska.

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Hey Beth, can I give you a little trivia here? I would love it. Have you heard of the Red Barrett?

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Yes. What do you know about him besides pizza? Snoopy drives him.

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I forgot about that. Snoopy flies him. He is known for pizza and Charlie Brown peanuts.

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No, actually I was looking up a little bit about this since you told me that we were going to be

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doing this story. Yes. And the pilot that they hired to patrol this area on this manhunt,

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was the Red Baron. That's cool. Yeah, I thought so too. The first break in the case was on February

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12, 1932 when an Indian trapper, Pete Alexi, went through the Rat Pass with a message that several

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Indians had spotted strange snowshoe tracks east of the Prairie House. This house was a Hudson Bay

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Company fur trading post that was established in 1846 near Fort McPherson, Alberta. The

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manhunt took place in 1846 near Fort McPherson, Yukon. Getting back to the RCMP bringing a plane

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to help the team out, the pilot was looking hard for any signs of Johnson. After searching

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persistently up and down, finally a trace of Johnson's trail was found. Johnson had hoped to

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circle around and come up from behind to get food that he kept hidden. But he kept coming up into

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of the posse instead of behind him. Now that's quite a mistake isn't it? Do you think he's

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starting to get lost? Yes. Well that's where either the snow blindness is coming in that we

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talked about or the fact that he has been living alone for so long and his mindset is beginning to

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waver. I agree, totally agree with that. It never occurred to me but I do agree. Yeah and I'm

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flabbergasted that he has been able to escape the law as long as he has. When he's out in the elements

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I mean we're talking about being extreme north not just up in Canada but extreme north in the

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northwest territories that's almost near the north pole. Well folks if you are trying to think how

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cold it was add 100 times the cold on that because this is really frigid dangerously freezing

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temperatures. Johnson had been on the run for 33 days now that's a lot so he has been alone for a

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long time. He had escaped during a blizzard and several more blizzards went through the area

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totally obliterating all signs of Johnson by the RCMP. I feel like certainly Johnson has to have some

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kind of tactical training of sorts. He wasn't in the military was he? We don't know anything about

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who this man is. That's right. So he may very well have some military experience. Yeah he's got to

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have some kind of tactical experience especially with living out in those elements for sure. Exactly

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it's not like it's almost like he was on the run from something. Temperatures were 30 to 40 degrees

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below zero while he was being pursued so breaking trails with snowshoes and deep snow would have been

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excruciating. Being constantly on the run would cause a lot of sweat and dampness that would

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require clothes to be dried out. Being cold requires food for energy and heat yet Johnson

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didn't shoot his rifle for fear of giving himself away. Instead he resorted to setting snares.

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Johnson couldn't build a big fire because that would give him away. Everything worked against

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him yet after 30 days he continued to elude capture. At some point Johnson had stored a caribou that he

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had killed earlier in the year. Authorities eventually came across the caribou and watched

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this area to see if Johnson would return for food but he never did. On February 9th a blizzard tore

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through rat and barrier areas where the hunt for Johnson continued. This blizzard swept through the

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entire Mackenzie Delta grounding the plain and stopping the posse from pursuing Johnson at this

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point. Johnson on his trek of 250 miles chose to bolt across the ridges of the Richardson Mountains

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which is an extension of the Rockies. Now what do you think of that Deb? He walked 250 miles in 30

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days? Yes. And he was never spotted. That's incredible. This guy is catch me if you can.

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Exactly. Wow. That's why I wanted to do this story because it is one of my favorite stories.

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It's like the bad guy is winning and then in a way you're rooting for him. Yeah I have never

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heard of this story before. You told me about it. I'm surprised. We were never taught it in school.

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You know you'd think that you would hear about the world's biggest manhunt in some parts of our

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history. Absolutely. Now interestingly enough that you say that because when we were talking about

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H. H. Holmes, the book that you had read, The Devil in the White City, that's being taught in

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American schools. Is it really? Yeah kids are reading that in their literature classes.

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Well reading the book it certainly gives you a lot of history as we know that came out of the story

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but it talks a lot about building and and how it sinks into the ground if the ground isn't made up

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of certain materials and yeah wow cool I agree with you I'm not I'm surprised I never read this

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when well yeah I was in high school there so I'm surprised at some point even when I was in high

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school I never read about this and you didn't either. No it's not uncommon to see temperatures

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go to 100 degrees below zero. The local Indians and White Trappers said Johnson would never go

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straight across the mountains especially after being chased for 30 days but they were wrong.

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Johnson indeed made it over the mountain. To this day no one knows how he managed to successfully

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ascend the peak. I agree with that because what equipment did he have was he just with his snow

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shoes is that it he's he's superhuman he is so now we've reached an area called the shootout

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and unfortunately we're going to find out that Johnson isn't too successful. Okay. On February

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17, 1932 the RCMP ran head on to Johnson while he was backtracking stepping in his old tracks

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because he thought the police were behind him. He startled and quickly put on his snow shoes

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and ran to the bank of the river. I know snow shoes snow shoes.

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It's not that funny but it is.

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He started and quickly ran up post snow shoes and ran to the river on the bank. Hey boy Newfoundland.

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Beth I didn't know you were so witty. I am actually the girls at work often come hilarious

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because I have a very dry sense of humor like dad. Me too people you have to have a dry sense

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of humor to get people and I definitely have that too but wow. He startled and quickly put on his

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snow shoes. Okay I'll be real this time. He startled and quickly put on his snow shoes and ran to the

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bank of the river. One of the trackers grabbed his rifle and started shooting. Johnson ran off and

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then quickly turned around and hit one of the officers. The bullet went through the elbow,

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left knee and then ripped through his chest. As luck would have it he survived the ordeal. That's

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shocking thank goodness. I know. Shouts to surrender were yelled to Johnson who was standing in the

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middle of the Eagle River. The posse then spread out and started to shoot. One of the bullets hit

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the ammunition in Johnson's pocket causing it to explode. Johnson lost a large chunk out of his thigh.

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Another bullet struck his shoulder and then his side. Another shout to surrender filled the air

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and still Johnson continued to shoot at the authorities. The authorities then started firing

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at Johnson. Finally Johnson was dead from a bullet to his spine. Wow so he was pretty much in front

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of the firing squad. Yes. Wow. Johnson's body was taken to La Peer House by dog sled and the next

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day he was flown into Acklevic where a full exam of his body took place before the burial in an

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Arnmark grave. And there you have it. The mad trapper of Rat River. The ending's sad. It is.

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Poor guy. Okay. Not poor guy because he's obviously not a good human being but his ending is,

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I don't think that it was necessary. That's sad. You're right. It's so many men but I guess they're

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protecting their own lives. Oh absolutely. You can't help but understand how everything

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occurred but wow the sequence of events here was very interesting. Okay before we continue

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I wanted to take a look at this picture here of the mad trapper. Is that him? Is this is this

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after the shootout? Yes. No this is not funny but he looks awfully happy there. You know who else?

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He kind of looks like oh what's his name? He's an actor. He played in 24. Well I don't know about

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24 but I think you mean the Canadian actor Kiefer Sutherland? Yes. He's Canadian. Wow. Yeah does he

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not look a little bit like? Well he had I guess he does because I picked it out when you said you

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couldn't remember his name. Yeah I was about to go look him up but I had no idea he was Canadian.

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Oh isn't he he's Donald Sutherland's son. He certainly is. Okay yeah. Anyway the mad trapper

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looks awfully happy in this picture. He must have been tired of running. I can't imagine 250 miles

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33 days minus 100 degrees. Yeah that's that is something else. So Deb do you have a teachable

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moment from this story? What are you ready to hang up? No. I do have a teachable moment and I

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always try to work one in based on what we're talking about and I think it's important. As

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you can see with the RCMPs you have to work as a team and it takes a village for the most part.

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Don't you agree? Yes. It's like the dogs worked in a team, the RCMPs worked in a team and it's

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important to get to the finish line that way. And it really is. But that's all I got. Yeah that's a

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good one and that's a wrap. And that's a wrap. Okay so let's talk about social media. Thanks for

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listening. We hope you enjoyed it. We will be back next week. In the meantime you can find us on

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DyingToBeFound.com or social medias at Instagram, Twitter and Facebook at DyingToBeFound. Thanks so

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much and we will talk to you next week.

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you

