PAINTER’S FISHING RESORT Phone 60 CAMPBELL RIVER Vancouver Island, B.C. Campbell River Steam Laundry and Dry Cleaners D. B. WOLLESEN, Proprietor x RIGHT ON THE HIGHWAY CAMPBELL RIVER, B.C. QUINSAM HOTEL JIM ENGLISH, Proprietor Loggers’ Hotel LICENSED PREMISES Campbell River, B.C. SSS — eee BELL & VANSTONE General Merchandise e Campbell River, B. C. FORBES LODGE FORBES LANDING BOATS SUPPLIED “Where Fish and Fishermen Meet’ Campbell River P. O., British Columbia CAMPBELL RIVER GARAGE O. F. Thulin E. Anderson 1 REPAIRS AND ACCESSORIES GAS, OILS, Etc. Phone Campbell River 4 ————— CAMPBELL RIVER MEAT MARKET E. LAMBIE and HERB. HIQUEBRAN, Props. Government Inspected Meats Phone 45 CAMPBELL RIVER, B. C. Page Forty in that Prince’s story of being induced to drink against his will in one case and of having had to shoot Pfeuffer to protect himself against the vengeance-seeking trapper constituted a sound defence in the second case. Unaware of the ace-in-the-hole re- trieved at the autopsy, he carefully studied the terrain about the cabin. Bottles of lemon extract within the cabin were found to be non-alcoholic. An empty bottle was recovered from the slop pail. So far, the mechanics of crime favoured the Indian. Sergt. Clark reviewed the notes taken at Finlay Forks, the admis- sions which were later to be thrown out in higher court. An impartial appraisal indicated the Crown’s cases were none too strong. Yet the exhibits secured from the Ospiko River cabin where Prince stayed with his foster-parents, the Pierres, and from his quarters in Finlay Forks linked him with the deaths beyond ques- tion. The admissions were more of a hindrance than a help. It required police work of a kind to convince a jury. And in the “field notes” of Const. McKenney, Sergt. Clark recognized the answer. Const. McKenney had painstakingly made measurements in relationship to the cabin of the position in which both bodies were found, and of salient features writ- ten in the snow. Reassured that the police could present an overwhelming case in court, Sergt. Clark cheerfully returned to Prince George. An hour before the Spring Assizes opened in 1944, Alex McB. Young, K.C., was appointed defence counsel by the De- partment of Indian Affairs, although federal authorities had been promptly notified by Bob Howe, Indian Agent at Vanderhoof, as soon as Prince was ar- raigned. Traverse to the Fall Assizes was the only fair way British justice could enable a proper defence, and was so ordered by Mr. Justice J. A. Wilson. A further delay resulted when the latter trial was aborted before Mr. Justice Mac- Farlane when a witness, unversed in the legal niceties, said that accused had ad- mitted killing not one but two men. The trial was set over to Spring. And on June 4th, 1945, with almost be- wildering speed, Crown, represented by Attorney General R. L. Maitland, K.C., and P. E. Wilson, K.C., established its case, before Chief Justice Wendell B. Farris of the Supreme Court of B.C., in under an hour and a half. Sergt. J. A. “Jake” Young, ballistics expert, of Victoria headquarters, testified how the minute fragment recovered from the shoulder of Messmer and the .30-30 rifle of Prince contained grooves in which one groove was 11/100 of a millimetre narrower than the others. Prince reiterated his story of how he had one drink, “then knew nothing.” But in the minds of the jury there was the hidden factor which Sergt. Clark had BEE HIVE Lunches Ice Cream, Confectionery, Tobaccos, Magazines and Daily Papers Agents for "THE SHOULDER STRAP" CAMPBELL RIVER, V. 1. recognized. Messmer’s body was fo 826 yards from the cabin, around a b in the river with two bullet wounds clo spaced in the back. How drunk « Prince have been? BRILLIANT HANDLING OF CASE “That completes the case, m’lord. the latter trial,’ said Attorney Gen Maitland, “the crown tried to prove _tain admissions. I don’t intend to in duce any statement.” Mr. Young immediately asked for an hour to consult his client who visibly disturbed by surprise tactics the crown. When Mr. Young opened defence next morning he submitted whole basis for the tragedy invol Messmer was the drinking of lemon tract. In one of the ablest summations ‘ heard in Prince George Courts of As: Chief Justice Farris reviewed the fact Crown’s circumstantial evidence and defense’s submittals. The jury retired at 12:07 p.m. ani 2:03 p.m., Francis G. Ward, foreman, toned “Guilty.” Asked if he had anything to say, convicted slayer, in scarcely coherent : turals, as though his native tongue y supplanting his command of English, : plicated : “Me believe in God. My father, Pierre, is come to travel here. My mot she no walk. They have nobody to with; him, too. He look after me f little kid. Appeal! Appeal!” An appeal was launched, by the Na Brotherhood of B.C., with tribes throughout the province contributing funds which enabled Gordon S. Wis of Vancouver to have the case revie by the Appellate Court of B.C. The sentence was unanimously tained by all five judges and on Wed day, November 28th, 1945, Alex Pri Sikannee renegade, dropped through scaffold to expiate the crime of sla Messmer, within seconds of asking official executioner at Oakalla Priso1 adjust the noose “a little lower, plea and as a last-minute effort in Ottawé Mr. Gordon Wismer failed to se sentence being commuted to life impri ment. The second charge of murder fa Prince had been dropped when he found guilty on the first count. THE SHOULDER STR