himself up, gather his pack and start off up
the river, reeling like a drunken man. His
face was cut and bruised. Then, horrified
at what had happened, she ran to her
brother’s camp about 300 yards away.

Her brother was not at home. Trembling,
fearful at what might transpire, Agnes
screamed. She saw an Indian coming to-
wards her. She soon recognized him as an
employee of W. T. Smith, a miner work-
ing a claim on the creek. She told him what
had happened; urged him to tell Mr. Smith.
The Indian ran away at top speed and re-
turned a few minutes later with Mr. Smith.
They went at once to the Thiverge house
where they saw Thiverge lying on the
ground.

Thiverge was still alive. Mr. Smith
turned him over and examined his wounds.
Even as he did so, Thiverge gasped, a shud-
der ran through his muscular body and he
breathed his last.

“This,” said Smith, “is murder.”

Casper Phair, coroner at Clinton, held an
inquest on Thiverge’s body. He took the
evidence of the witnesses and a jury re-

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turned a verdict that Archie Thiverge had
died as a result of gunshot wounds inflicted
by a person or persons unknown but recom-
mended that Benjamin Blakely be arrested.
Casper Phair immediately issued a warrant
for Blakely’s arrest.

Two men, Special Constable Williams
and Thomas Manson set out after Blakely.
From what Agnes had told them he must
have gone back towards his cabin. They
went up Gun Creek to Blakely’s first cabin.
He was not there, nor were there any signs
that he had been there. They went on to
his next cabin, seven miles farther on.

‘“He’s been here,” Williams remarked,
“there is his trail. It leads on up the creek
to the mountains.”

For 16 miles they followed the trail, high
up past the snowline. There it ended
abruptly, as if in thin air. Mystified, the
two special constables returned.

By this time, Joseph W. Burr, Chief
Constable at Yale, was on his way to Lil
looet. He stopped at Lytton to pick up
Constable Fitzgerald and later added
Special Constable Russell to his party be-
cause Russell knew the country well.

Chief Constable Burr was a man with
wide experience in this type of work. He
soon arrived at the scene of the crime and
after taking all particulars started up the
Bridge River Trail on the fugitive’s tracks.
He discovered that a cabin had been broken
into and an axe, moccasins and a black
mackinaw coat were taken. No one was
in the cabin at the time but the occupants
were particular friends of Blakely’s.

“Blakely outfitted himself with cold
weather clothing, Burr decided. “He's
probably heading for the mountain passes.”

Burr’s theory was founded on the fact
that the weather was fairly warm at the
lower elevations and the spring sun had
melted the snow until the creeks were boil-
ing rivers of muddy water and had over-
flowed their banks in many places making
a huge swamp of the surrounding country.
The last visible trace of Blakely had been
at the Wayside Gold Mine on Gun Creek
and that was the last anyone seemed to have

heard of him.

“Blakely is an expert mountain man and
a good logger. He probably lashed a couple
of logs together and crossed the river here,”

Burr summed up. “He would cut away be-
hind the mining camps above the South
Fork of Bridge River and then go down by
Anderson and Harrison Lakes; down Har-
rison River to the railroad and out by the
way of Mission Junction. Weill get back at
once and send a telegram to Constable Lane
at Mission to be on the lookout for him.”

Burr telegraphed a description of Blakely
to Lane at Mission Junction. Then he sent
a report of his search to Supt. F. Hussey at
Victoria. Some idea of the difficulties he
faced may be gathered from his report from
which we quote a part...

_ and it is a terrible country to travel in
after you leave the beaten trails, and owing to
heavy storms in there previous to my going in,
the fallen timber and underbrush were very
thick, necessitating our cutting our way for
miles in places to get through with saddle horses.
We travelled in all about 180 miles on horse
back.”

However, despite the hard work and all
other efforts, Blakely vanished into the un-
known.

Supt. Hussey considered Burr’s report on
the case. Const. Burr had questioned Agnes
rather closely and had turned up some very
interesting information. Since «she was the
only eye-witness to the killing there was
little doubt that her testimony would carry
weight in any court.

“According to the evidence of Agnes Jack,
Thiverge’s woman,” Supt. Hussey observed,
“Blakely was first knocked down by Thiverge
and as he lay on the ground, Thiverge beat him
over the head with the butt of his rifle. Then
Thiverge stepped back. It looked as though he
were getting ready to shoot. Blakely shot Thi
verge while he, Blakely, was lying on the ground.
This tallies in substance with what Agnes told
at the inquest.”

Burr’s excellent report stated that
Blakely had many friends who, after hear-
ing the testimony at the inquest, were of
the opinion that if he could be reached he
could be persuaded to give himself up as it

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