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In May 1906 TAYLOR was a lawman in Spokane, WA, USA. He was living in 1906 in Spokane, WA, USA. He brought the bloodhounds to Quilchena. Taylor had shot the outlaw Smith previously in Oregon. He was with Seavey at Quilchena.

 

In 1907 Member of Parliament James Davis TAYLOR43,115,531 was a managing director of the Daily Columbian in New Westminster, B.C., and he took part in the debate after the escape of Miner.  He was elected as federal Member of Parliament on 26 Oct 1908 for New Westminster. He led the attack on the Liberal government of Laurier for allegedly aiding and abetting Miner's escape, utilizing the disaffected ex-Deputy Warden Bourke as his source of information.
  He was in the Conservative opposition party of future Prime Minister Robert Laird Borden


Taylor, James Davis, 288 Yates St, Reporter, VicC (1898 Voter’s List)

(NW DlyClmbn, 27 Sep 1907)
The month following Miner's escape from the B.C. Pen, Taylor is elected as the Liberal-Conservative candidate for the House of Commons. He is the editor of New Westminster's Daily Columbian, and beat out Sir Charles Hibbert Tupper for the nomination. R. L. Borden, the leader of the Conservatives, was in attendance at the convention where Taylor received the nomination. This took place on the 26th Sept.

Taylor was elected on the 26 Oct 1908 as an opposition Conservative in the federal electoral district of New Westminster. Taylor was again elected in the next election on 21 Sep 1911, when Borden's Conservatives formed the government.

Throughout February 1909 and into May, Taylor attacked the government and the Minister of Justice, Aylesworth, for their handling of the affair of Miner's escape. His accusations and questions were no doubt fueled by information received from the troubled former deputy warden of the B.C. Pen, Bourke. However, Prime Minister Laurier managed to thwart the attempts of the opposition to have an inquiry, and after the letter was received from Lord Shaughnessy, the C.P.R. President, to the House of Commons denying the existence of any Australian bonds, the matter died an ignominious death, leaving unanswered questions to this very day.

Cowboy Jake TERRY113 was an well-known outlaw in the Pacific North-West, and he was rumoured, which was added to by Miner, to have met with Miner in the company of Mcintyre at the B.C. Pen. It is well documented that he and Bullick met with Miner in the B.C. Pen in New West in the summer of 1906. Terry was a known partner of Miner's but details of their relationship are scanty at best. Boessenecker and Dugan in the "Grey Fox" give considerable more detail on this petty crook.  Documents show that Mcintyre was not at the meeting with Miner, Bullick and Terry.

A Bourke letter in the 3 Mar 1909 Daily Columbian states that Terry, Bullick and Mcintyre met with Miner in the B.C. Pen prior to his escape, however Mcintyre was later found not to be involved.

See http://www.historylink.org/essays/output.cfm?file_id=5485 for details of Terry's smuggling of Chinese aliens.

THIEL DETECTIVE AGENCY.57,73,78,532,533 (In the advertisements at the beginning of the 1905 Henderson's Directory is a full page from the Thiel Detective Service Co. This organization played a major role in the story of the investigation of Bill Miner's robbery at Ducks. They were in competition with the Pinkertons, and actively cultivated the C.P.R. and the B.C. Provincial Police for business.)

Thiel Detective Service Company
Head Offices in Chicago Ill, St. Louis Mo, New York NY, St Paul Minn., Kansas City Missouri, Denver Co, Seattle Wash, San Francisco Ca, Winnipeg Man, Portland Or, City of Mexico, Montreal Canada, Spokane Wash. and Toronto Canada.
In Seattle they are in the New York Block and the manager is W.S. Seavey.
“We transact business with precision and dispatch in every quarter of the United States, Canada and Mexico. Our operatives are of known integrity and ability. Among them are numbered men proficient in every language, trade and profession. The company has special facilities for securing evidence, and witnesses, furnishing operatives for mines, ranches, lumber mills and transportation companies. Our services are especially valuable to lawyers, to prosecuting attorneys, to lawyers who have not time to personally secure evidence in intricate cases, or to find witnesses whose identity or addresses are unknown, to prosecuting attorneys and law and order needs who wish to secure evidence against any class of law breaker, to bankers and others who have suffered losses through forgery, robbery, embezzlement or other means, to mine owners and operators for good protection against depredation against dishonest employees and attaches of high grade ore producing mines, to owners and shippers of livestock, for recourse against rustlers, horse thieves and dishonest employees in all matters appertaining to the ranges, feeding stations, stockyards, or stock in transit and the verification of eastern and local market sales, to lumbermen, cannerymen, and private individuals who find our services valuable for the protection of their respective interests, to rail, water and stage transportation companies and other corporations who may wish to avail themselves of secret service, to fire insurance companies who wish investigations made with regards to the origin of fires where there is grounds for suspicion as to the honesty of the policy holder, and the legality of the claim, to life or accident insurance companies where there is cause to believe that there is a claim that is made through fraud or the policy is obtained through false warranties, to merchants and others employing a number of men of whom some may have positions of trust who find our services in this branch a satisfaction and a safeguard.
For further particulars address, wire or phone.
Office Telephone Sunset Main 812
Independent 812
Residence telephone Sunset Main 6309
W.S. Seavey, Manager
Member International Chiefs of Police Assoc.
513 - 514 New York Block,
Seattle, Washington.

The Thiel Detective Agency was founded by an ex-Pinkerton's man; former Sup't Gus Thiel. Thiel's was sometimes consulted by the B.C. Provincial Police, however Pinkerton's received the bulk of the business. Reviewing the documents available shows that Thiel's was rarely, if ever, successful in their investigations in B.C. Also, it could be said that price gouging on their part also was prevalent. The C.P.R. availed themselves of their services in May of 1906 to assemble more information on the 1904 Mission Junction robbery.

A report dated 19 May 1906, sent by the initials "L. C." to an unknown source, presumably B.C.PP Sup't Hussey, gives a detailed description of the items found at Camps 1 and 2 of the Ducks robbers. "LC" was accompanied on the site investigation by a driver Richard Blair, C.P.R. Special Service Detective W. F. Foy and F. E. Carter, one of the posse members from the beginning. It is assumed that "LC" is Thiel detective Calhoun.

Vancouver Province, 4 June 1908
In an interview with Sup't Hussey of the B.C.PP, the Vancouver Province quoted him as saying that contrary to the interview given to the Vancouver News-Advertiser, neither Detectives Calhoun nor Seavey of the Thiel Detective Agency in Seattle had any role to play in the capture of Miner and his fellow bandits. Hussey stated that he did not even see Calhoun until he (Calhoun) was leaving Kamloops for the Coast. Hussey was quick to point out those that should receive the credit, and it has to be surmised that the Thiel Detective Agency did not do too much future work for the B.C. Provincial Police.

On Monday May 24th 1906, and at the request of the C.P.R.'s Sup't Marpole, the Thiel Detective Agency's Seavey dispatched "Operative #38" from Seattle to undertake investigations of the Mission Junction robbery as part of the Ducks robbery investigation. The operative arrived in Harrison B.C., and then in Chilliwak, on the 22nd. He spent his time interviewing various people in the area about the movements of Edwards and his friends, in the fall of 1904. The operative submitted the results of his investigations to Marpole's attorney in Vancouver on the 26th, and returned to Seattle on the 27th.

Charles E THOMAS26,31,36,43,74 was living from 1898 to 1906 in Princeton, B.C. He told investigators that both Budd and Dunn purchased cartridges at his store. Dunn bought .32 cal. smokeless. In Bill Miner’s time, Thomas was a store proprietor and postmaster in Princeton, B.C. He provided a witness statement to Constable Hunter in Princeton.

 

 1898 B.C. Voters List
Thomas, Charles Edward, Princeton, Merchant, YW

On the 21 Mar 1906, Shorty Dunn bought two boxes of semi-automatic pistol cartridges at C. E. Thomas's store.

On 12 Apr 1906 Jack Budd bought some goods at Thomas' store which consisted of 1 box of .22 cal. cartridges and a box of .32 cal. smokeless. Edwards bought goods at the same store on April 5, 1906. Both Budd and Edwards kept an account at this store.

Charles was a brother to Herbert Heald Thomas and William Thomas (m Caroline Elizabeth Allison). Together they moved to Princeton around 1897. Charlie started his store near the Tulameen River bridge. Built from logs, the store supplied goods throughout the Princeton area.

Herbert Heald (Bert) THOMAS43,506,534 was born in 1874 in England. He met Jack Budd in the 1890s at the Douglas Lake ranch.  He knew Miner, Budd and Dunn around the Princeton area. He had some of Dunn's paintings hanging in his ranch house. He died on 14 Nov 1973 in Princeton, B.C. He was living in the 1890s to 1970s in Princeton, B.C. He provided background information on the characters involved in the events of 1903-1907.

 

Okanagan Historical Society Vol 38, 1974
Herbert Heald Thomas was the youngest son of Charles and Alice Thomas. He first came to Princeton in the 1890s. He left Southampton, England, in 1892, and while going past Ducks, B.C. he got off the train to go and visit his brother at Nicola. Bert went to work at the Douglas Lake Ranch where he met Jack Budd. Later he would run into Budd again in Princeton. Budd was a ranch hand at the Douglas Lake Ranch.
By the late 1890s, Bert and his 3 brothers were all living in Princeton. Bert had moved into the area in 1897.
After Shorty Dunn's release from the B.C. Pen in 1918 (sic), he came to work at Bert's ranch in Princeton. There one of the ranch house walls was hung with Shorty's paintings. One was a huge canvas painting of the railroad engine involved in the robbery. It's smokestack occupied more space than did the engine in the painting. "Shorty later moved on to Ootsah Lake, where (as William Grill (sic) ) he was drowned in Tahtsa River in 1928." (This excerpt from the Okanagan Historical Society Journal probably has some errors in it.)

From the Princeton book. p 596.
Bert and Grace had 7 children. His brother William married Carrie Allison, and they had 4 children.

Bank of B.C. Pioneer News, 1984, VB Cawston
Cawston notes in this article that Thomas lived in the Princeton area for 76 years, and quotes him as saying, "Fine fellow, George Edwards. Always came to (church) service and put five dollars on the collection plate."
Cawston also quotes Thomas as saying that he first met Jack Budd at the Douglas Lake cattle ranching 1892, before either of them came to Princeton.

Thomas, Herbert H., Nicola Lake, Farmer, YN (1898 Voter’s List)

Spouse: Valerie Helen Grace (Grace) ALLISON. Herbert Heald (Bert) THOMAS and Valerie Helen Grace (Grace) ALLISON were married on 27 Oct 1902 in Vancouver, B.C.

Reverend L. THOMAS. The Reverend L. Thomas of Hedley City was one of the Methodist ministers travelling to a conference in Victoria that was on the Ducks robbery train.

 

The Van. World of 9 May 06, p1, interviewed him on the next day. Thomas was awake at the time of the robbery, and he saw one of the robbers (probably Stevens) circling around the field from the back to the front of the train.

 

Sergeant Percy G. THOMAS Reg. No. 318680 In 1906 he was a R.N.W.M.P. officer in Okotoks, AB. He died on 3 Dec 1946 in High River, AB. He took part in the pursuit, but missed the capture of Miner and his gang. Percy Thomas had come to Canada in 1889 to be a farmer but, like so many other young Englishmen, was lured by the adventures of the North West Mounted Police and joined the force in 1897. He was also among the detail assigned to assist the survivors of the Frank Slide in 1903. He was a policeman's policeman and described by his fellow officers as, "Dapper, Suave, an experienced and efficient police officer". He became a magistrate in High River after leaving the force.

Thomas is buried in the Union Cemetery in Calgary, AB
From http://www.acs.ucalgary.ca/~dsucha/mountie/thomas.html

 

William Mungo THORBURN43,535 was born about 1862. In 1904 he was a mail clerk in Vancouver, B.C.1

In the 1907 Voter’s List he is described as a "railway mail clerk". He was with the C.P.R.1

The 1907 Voter’s List notes him as being at 1030 Pender Street in Van. He died on 15 Aug 1944 in Vancouver, B.C. He was a witness at the Kamloops trial, and had been one of the robbed clerks at Mission F.W. Anderson, p34

Frank W. Anderson notes that Thorburn was the mail clerk at both Mission and Ducks robberies, but this is in error.

Thorburn, William Mungo, 828 Hamilton St, Post office clerk, Van (1898 Voter’s List)

John Grenville (Jack) THYNNE18,43,536,537,538,539 was born on 15 Mar 1865 in England. He emigrated in 1883 from England. In 1901 he was a farmer in Princeton, B.C. and was a member of the Church of England. He often had Miner stay at his roadhouse. He died in 1943 in Penticton, B.C. He related stories about Miner while he stayed at his roadhouse.

 

Murphy Shewchuk told the writer 26 Feb 2002 that Miner often stopped at Thynne's roadhouse between Aspen Grove and Tulameen on the Otter Lake Road. Thynne's daughter, now quite elderly, lives in Okanagan Falls. Her last name is now Broderick.

Nicola Valley Historical Quarterly, Vol 1, # 4
"The Thynne's, in time, built a two story stopping house, with fine old English furnishings. Among the more notable guests to enjoy the Thynne hospitality were Pauline Johnson, Father Pat and Bill Miner."

According to the 1901 Census, Thynne lived close to the Francis Garcias between Princeton and Aspen Grove. There he was noted in April of 1901 as a farmer, living with his wife Mary (31), daughter Ethel (13) and son James (6). The son James was born in the North West Territories, so the Thynnes must have been there at least 6 years previous to the Census date.

1904 and 1905 B.C. Directories-
Aspen Grove
Thynne, John George. rancher. (Thynne's second name was often given as "George", however his granddaughter Mollie (Batstone) Broderick has to be the authority, and she gives "Grenville".)

For some reason, Thynne appears both in Aspen Grove and in Nicola in the B.C. Directories for those years.

1898 B.C. Voter's List-
Thynne, Bevil Granville Carteret, Nicola, Farmer, YN
Thynne, Bevil V., Otter Valley, Farmer, YW
Thynne, John G., Otter Vally, Farmer, YW
(Are the first two additional relatives of Jack Thynne's?)

From the Princeton book, p 593.
John (Jack) Grenville Thynne followed his older brother William to Yorkton, Saskatchewan in the 1880s. Jack served during the Riel Rebellion as a scout, and then in 1887 in Pelley, Sask. he married Mary Elisabeth Linklater. Their only child was Ethel, who was born in 1888. For some reason, granddaughter Mollie doesn't mention older brother James, described as such in the 1901 Census. The Thynnes first moved to Nicola where Jack's father had purchased an interest in the Pooley ranch. The Pooleys were friends of the Thynne family in England.
There in Nicola we find Jack Thynne in the 1904 Henderson's B.C. Directory, described as a "farmer", along with William Pooley, "stockraiser" and James Pooley, "farmer".

In the Princeton book, his granddaughter Mollie notes that Jack and Mary sold their interest in the Pooley Ranch (in 1890?), and moved to a larger acreage in the Otter Valley, eight miles north of Tulameen. There Thynne built a three story frame house with outbuildings that served for many years as a roadhouse, and is still standing. After many years, Jack and his wife Mary retired to Penticton, where Mary passed away in 1957.

Cyrus TILTON43,162,275,540,541 was born about 1833 in Kansas, USA. In 1891 he was a farmer in Spallumcheen, B.C. He was of the Methodist faith and was the father of Bob Tilton, a close friend of both Miner and Dunn.

Cyrus Tilton is found in the 1891 Census as the father of the Tilton family that eventually came to the Rose Hill area of Kamloops with his wife Emma.  In the 1891 Census, Cyrus and his family are noted as being in the Spallumcheen District near Armstrong, and making a living as farmers.

 

Elvin McDonald Notes state that Cyrus was born in Bradford Morach (?) in New Hampshire in 1833.

 

Research of old newspapers in the Armstrong Spallumcheen Museum notes two instances of Cyrus Tilton showing up.

 

In the Spallumcheen Council section of the Armstrong Advertiser of 19 June 1902, it reports that Cyrus Tilton and one Fletcher submitted a tender of $115 for roadworks to Swanson Road, and it was accepted.

 

In the Council Notes of the Armstrong Advertiser of 18 Sept 1902, p1, it reports that Cyrus Tilton's road contract to Swanson's may be forfieted if he didn't hurry up and finish it.

 

52nd Annual Report of the Okanagan Historical Society (1988), "Working Together," page 151. In 1888 Cyrus Tilton, described in the sources as “a farmer and American Civil War veteran,” was Tyler for the first Masonic Lodge in the Okanagan (Spallumcheen Lodge #13). It was formed in Lansdowne, quite close to Armstrong, and was later moved to Armstrong proper.

In the Montieth letter to the Armstrong Museum, it mentions that a Dave Blackburn went to school with the Tilton boys, and his father Joshua Blackburn worked with Miner and Bob Tilton in the summer of 1903 haying at Lansdowne.  Lansdowne is to the east of present day Armstrong, up against the mountain.At the time the letter was written, (Dec 1991) it mentions two Tilton girls, Doris and Ivy.  Doris is 77 and Ivy is older and in her 80s.  Ivy is now Ivy Lanaway residing in Vernon.  Museum notes associated with the letter note that Bob Tilton, a son of Cyrus, was supposed to have held the horses for the Ducks robbers, but something went amiss.

 

The senior Tiltons followed their children from Kansas to Washington on a twenty-seven wagon train.  They eventually moved to Canada to settle at Rose Hill from 1908 (?) to 1917.  They then left to retire in California.  (Bunchgrass and Barbed Wire)  (Note.  It appears that the Tiltons went to Kamloops sometime after 1904.)

 

In Bob Tilton's 1963 letter to Desmond Vicars in Kamloops, he states that his mother and father originally homesteaded in Kansas, where Bob was born in Bloomington.  Cyrus's youngest brother, Will, was wounded by a musket ball in the American Civil War.  He was 16 years old at the time.  He was later killed in an automobile accident.

Cyrus Tilton and his wife Emma hit the Oregon Trail with 27 other wagons, and first went to Bellingham in Oregon.  From there they moved into BC, briefly settling in Sumas Prairie, Kamloops, Grande Prairie, and Knob Hill (?).  They were apparently in Knob Hill in 1885, before they came to Kamloops.

 

In CPR Det. Bullick's investigation report of 18 May 1906, he interviewed "the old man Tilton" (Cyrus).  Apparently Edwards and the senior Tilton came from Phoenix, BC where they had been working together.  They first went to Armstrong (the 1891 Census mentions that the Tiltons were in the Spallumcheen-Armstrong area as early as 1891) in August of 1904, where they worked for a few days in the hay field of Jake Laws.  They told Angus McKay, who was living in that area at the time, that they were going to head south.  Edwards was going to visit his sister in Washington, and then to proceed on to Mexico. Tilton was to accompany him as far as California.  This was shortly before the Mission hold up.  I suppose "Mexico", according to Edwards, was a euphemism for his next robbery.

Other sources mention that the Tiltons had a relative (brother of Cyrus named John) in California.

Further on in his report, Bullick continues with his interview of Tilton.

From these interviews it was plain that when Edwards was in Kamloops, he made his headquarters at either the McKay's or the Tilton's.  Both places were located about 5 miles south east of town in the Rose Hill area.

Tilton told Bullick that Edwards had a cheque for one thousand dollars cashed in Kamloops.  Bullick stated in his report that he was waiting on the banks to substantiate this.

Spouse: Emma TILTON (PARKER). Cyrus TILTON and Emma TILTON (PARKER) were married before 1867 in Kansas, USA. Children were: Elmer TILTON, William TILTON, Grace TILTON, Robert (Bob) McKendree TILTON, Edgar TILTON.

Edgar TILTON was born about 1881 in Kansas, USA.540 He was living in 1891 in Spallumcheen, B.C. He was the son of Cyrus and Emma B.C. Archives Vital Events Index.

Groom Name: Edgar Bennet Tilton

Place Rose Hill Reg.

Number: 1915-09-143339 Digital Image On-Line
Bride Name Sarah Emma Carman

Date: 1915 7 7 (Yr/Mo/Day)

Event: Marriage

Microfilm #: B11384 (GSU # 1983977)

Name: Edgar Benner Tilton

Place White Rock Reg.

Number: 1962-09-015748
Date: 1962 12 25 (Yr/Mo/Day)

Age: 81

Event: Death

Microfilm #: B13259 (GSU # 2033501)

Parents: Cyrus TILTON and Emma TILTON (PARKER).

Elmer TILTON540 was born in 1867 in Kansas, USA. In 1891 he was a farmer in Spallumcheen, B.C. He was the son of Cyrus and Emma Elmer (spelt Elmar in the 1891 Census) apparently lived with his parents and siblings on the farm at Spallumcheen. Elmer was the eldest of five children at that time. Parents: Cyrus TILTON and Emma TILTON (PARKER).

Grace TILTON was born about 1875 in Kansas, USA.540 She was the daughter of Cyrus and Emma Parents: Cyrus TILTON and Emma TILTON (PARKER).

Nellie Grant TILTON125,542 was a daughter to Cyrus Tilton, who eventually moved his family from Spallumcheen to the Rose Hill area of Kamloops.  Elvin McDonald notes say Nellie was born in Bloomington, Kansas in 1873.

 

Albert (Bert) McKay was Nellie's son from a former marriage.  Nellie eventually married Angus McKay and had more children.  Elmer and Edgar McKay were her brothers, and are mentioned in Miner's letter to Bert.

 

Marriage certificate, Elvin McDonald Fonds, 17 July 1890, Charles W. Williams in the Village of Lansdowne in the County of Yale, BC married Nellie Tilton of Lansdowne 17 July 1890.  Witnessed and registered in Kamloops.

In the same E. McDonald documents is the copy of an obituary from a newspaper.  Charles Williams was drowned fording the Similkameen River "a few miles above the ferry last Tuesday Week, was son-in-law to Mr. C.C. Tilton of Spallumcheen.  A George Walker was with him at the time, and said that when Williams' horse plunged into deep water, Williams never came up again.  He had been married to Nellie two years.  "His widow and child live with Mr. Tilton and Williams was travelling up to fetch them down to the Lower Country."  Elvin McDonald says that the family was always suspicious of Williams' death, as he had considerable money on him at the time from the sale of stock, and it was felt that Walker had dispatched him.

Remembrance card.  "Died July 6, 1892.  Aged 28 years, 10 months 5 days."

 

Nellie Tilton was previously married to Charles Walter Williams, who is noted as marrying Nellie Tilton in the Vernon District on 17 Jul 1890.  Albert (Williams) McKay was born on 16 Sep 1891.

 

A death search prior to 1900 for Charles Walter Williams does not come up with anything, however other documentation confirms that Nellie was a widow.

 

A Jean McLeod anecdote from "Bunchgrass and Barbed Wire" mentions her mother, Nellie, moving to Armstrong where later she would meet  Angus McKay.  Nellie was then a young widow with a small son Albert, and she and Angus were later married in Kamloops (sic).  (BC Archive marriage index actually notes that they were married in the Vernon district.)  In 1904, after a number of moves and the births of three children they settled in the Rose Hill area.  The choice grazing land they settled on had been part of William and John McLeod's ranching spread, and the McLeods were very upset.  However, she (Jean McKay) and her brother Angus would go on to marry McLeods.

Jean mentions that her parents thought very well of Miner.  She repeats that Miner once helped her mother paper a room.  (This would have been when they were in the Armstrong/Spallumcheen area.)  The McKays attended Miner's trial and just couldn't believe he was a train robber.

 

Groom Name: Charles Walter Williams

Place Vernon District

Reg. Number:1890-09-167017

Digital Image On-Line

Bride Name Nellie Tilton

Date: 1890 7 17 (Yr/Mo/Day)

Event: Marriage  Microfilm #:B11387   (GSU # 1984108)

 

Groom Name: Angus McKay

Place Vernon District

Reg. Number: 1895-09-167737

Digital Image On-Line

Bride Name Nellie Grant Tilton

Date: 1895 11 28 (Yr/Mo/Day)

Event: Marriage  Microfilm #: B11387   (GSU # 1984108)

Spouse: Angus MCKAY Senior. Angus MCKAY Senior and Nellie Grant TILTON were married on 28 Nov 1895 in Vernon, B.C. Children were: Albert (Bert) MCKAY, Angus MCKAY, Jean MCKAY.

Robert (Bob) McKendree TILTON173,424,540,541,543,544,545,546

In the time since publication of the book, "Interred With Their Bones," numerous descendant relatives of the Tiltons have come forward to the writer to give some of their family history of the Tiltons; particularly of Bob Tilton.  It is now quite obvious that considerable anecdotal family history exists for assuming that Bob Tilton was involved with Bill Miner.  Oral history not only exists for the relationship, but also for Tilton's involvement with Miner and the robbery near Ducks.  It is possible that other sources might be describing Bob Tilton when they talk about the young fellow that failed to look after the horses for the three robbers.

There is also anecdotal evidence for some familial relationship between Miner and the Tiltons.  Descendants all maintain some relationship, but no evidence has yet been found.

Elvin MacDonald Fonds, Mission, BC.  (Tiltons and McKays)

 

Glenn Maw, Armstrong, IPE, 30 August 2006.   (Tiltons)  I met Glenn at the Armstrong Fair in 2006, and he was reluctant to tell me who the mysterious man was who was a partner of Bill Miner, and that he was telling me about.  When I mentioned the name Tilton, he reluctantly nodded his head and admitted Bob Tilton was the man, and that Bob Tilton was his uncle.  He agreed that Bob Tilton was the black sheep of their family, and that the family disassociated themselves from him.  He was known as a man who never did do a day's work, and did not have a very good reputation.  Once Glenn knew that I was somewhat knowledgeable about the Tiltons, he opened up and didn't want to stop talking.  He eventually did buy a book

 

Craig McKechnie, Armstrong, IPE, 29 August 2006.  (Tiltons)  Craig is a very knowledgeable individual about the North Okanagan, and lives in the Knob Hill area close to where the Tiltons and the McKays lived.  He is a member of the Okanagan Historical Society and might even hold a position with the organization.  He told me that a Jack Morrison of Vernon, now retired from the OHS, might be able to help me a bit with the Tilton photos.  He lives on Crawford Road, and has the water rights to the Tilton Spring in Knob Hill, registered in 1888.

 

Nigel and Reta Rees, Armstrong, IPE, 31 August 2006.  They live on the original property that the Tilton house was on.  I took Elvin MacDonald's photos of the original Tilton house to the Armstrong Fair and they raised some interest with the old timers.  Craig McKechnie told him to come and see me.  Nigel doesn't remember clearly what the house looked like on his property when he and Reta first moved onto it in the 1930s.  They have lived on the property close to 72 years, having moved on in 1934. 

 

In the 1891 Census, Bob (Robert) Tilton, age 13 years, and his brothers and sisters and parents are noted as being in the Spallumcheen District near Armstrong, and making a living as farmers.  Bob Tilton would have been 28 at the time of the Ducks robbery.  This seems to have been an age when young men were easily led astray by Miner's tales of easy money and adventure.

Tilton brought Miner to the Schisler homestead on Bald Mountain in late 1903, where Miner stayed over the winter.  Bob Tilton probably took him down to the Similkameen from his father's place near Armstrong.  Tilton was a neighbor of the Schislers.

Shorty Dunn did some trapping around Princeton with Bob Tilton prior to the Ducks robbery.

 

J.W. Montieth Letter to Armstrong Museum, 27 Sept 1991.

Montieth at 90 years of age, was researching the time Bill Miner spent in the Armstrong area.  He mentions that R. (Bob) Tilton and Miner were great friends.  The two of them had a contract putting up hay in the Armstrong area in the summer of 1903.(sic)  Montieth requested information from the museum.

Notes on the back of Montieth's letter (done by museum staff?) indicate that Bob Tilton "was the man who held the horses," supposedly at the Ducks robbery.  Other notes indicate that a Dave Blackburn went to school with the Tilton boys, and that their father Joshua worked with Bob Tilton putting up hay near Lansdowne.

 

Bunch Grass and Barbed Wire

A Robert Tilton and his parents had a farm in Rose Hill, and in "Bunch Grass and Barbed Wire" Jean McLeod relates that Miner was a frequent visitor to the senior (Cyrus) Tilton's residence.  This Bob Tilton is one and the same as the one mentioned in Princeton.  Other information, including the 1891 Census, confirms that the father was Cyrus Tilton.  Miner was considered by the senior Tiltons as a perfect gentleman as he often read and quoted from the Bible.

 

A. Jackson, Post Master and Gen. Merchant of Quilchena, provided the following statement to Det. Seavey 16 May 1906 that mentions Miner's relationship with Bob Tilton.

"This man Geo. Edwards who was arrested near Douglas Lake is supposed to one of the men who held up the train near Kamloops on the evening of May 8th '06, he has been at Quilchena at different times, first time I met him was about two years ago in company with two young fellows by the name of Tilton and the other young fellow can't remember name called here at the store got a few things, stayed a little while and left for Princeton.  Have seen he (sic) Geo. Edwards different times passing back and forth between Princeton and Kamloops. He passed through here one time with a bunch of horses which he claimed at the time he was taking over to the Tilton Bros., who live on a ranch near Kamloops."

 

In the Okanagan Historical Society 56th annual report, p 112, it states that the family of Cliff Hardwick moved from Princeton to Armstrong around 1914.   The moved into the "Old Mills House" on Patterson Ave.  One year the two Hardwick brothers, Cliff and Gradien, along with the two Dodd brothers, were teasing Chinamen in Armstrong.  The Chinamen captured Gradien Hardwick and took him to their quarters.  Cliff, in a panic, ran into a local bar for help.  In the bar was an old friend Bob Tilton, "a bit of a character in his own right and reported to have been a close associate of Bill Miner". Tilton was not known to exert any great work effort, but always had money in his pocket.  He also carried a small derringer in his vest pocket.

Tilton responded to the boys' call for help and soon Cliff's brother Gradien was let loose by the Chinamen.  Tilton would have been 36 at this time.

 

On 18 May 1906, CPR Det. Bullick interviewed 15 year old William McLeod at the McLeod Ranch on the Nicola Road.  Edwards had showed up at the McLeod's 20 July 1905, when Edwards was in the company of Bob Tilton.  They both had come from Princeton, and were driving eight horses, riding two and leading the remainder, to the Tilton ranch, 4.5 miles from Kamloops.  Both Bob Tilton and Edwards stopped with the McLeod's for dinner, and young William did not know when they had again passed by on their return to Princeton.

Bob Tilton was the brother to the William Tilton in Kamloops, and had first met Edwards when Bob's father Cyrus and Edwards first came into the interior, supposedly from Phoenix, where they had worked together.

 

In the Kamloops Museum and Archives upright files, is a letter from Bob Tilton to Desmond Vicars who was then serving as a major figure with the Kamloops Museum.  They apparently knew each other well, but nowhere in Bob Tilton's letter does he mention his relationship with George Edwards

(Bill Miner).  It appears now that Tilton was only too eager to have everyone forget his rumoured relationship with Bill Miner.

The letter was sent from Trepanier BC, near Kelowna in 1963, and by 1973 Bob Tilton had died.

 

From Peachland Historical Society, "Peachland Memories," Vol. 2., ISBN 0-9691557-0-0.

By 1932 Tilton, a widower, had made his way to the Peachland country with his three daughters.  They were Iveigh, Doris and Frances.  He had left Kamloops for his daughter Iveigh's health.  He had a army disability pension, so he must have served during WWI.  (His army records should be accessed, as well as his 1941 Registration records.)

In Peachland he lived on the Trepanier Bench.

In the article it traces some of his family history.  His father served during the American Civil War, and his silver engraved sabre was eventually lost when Bob's house burned down at Peachland.  His mother and father had met in Tennessee during the Civil War, and they married after the war was over.  Bob was born in Wellington, Kansas (sic) where his family had settled at that time.  (The 1891 Census states that Bob was born in Bloomington, Kansas.  His information in the BC Death Index also indicates his birth in the late 1870s.)  However, dry-land farming in this area was difficult and Cyrus Tilton and his family pulled out and joined a 26 covered-wagon train over the Santa Fe Trail and ended up at Walla Walla, Washington Territory.  In Portland, Cyrus sold all his horses and mules, and they moved to Sumas Prairie in BC.  Shortly after, a doctor told Cyrus to move to the interior for his health.  They travelled the Fraser Canyon to Kamloops as the Dewdney Trail couldn't handle wagons.  They arrived in Kamloops just before the CPR (1886) and continued on to the Okanagan.  They followed "an old cow trail" to Armstrong where they settled.  Armstrong didn't yet exist, and the nearest community was Lansdowne, just east of the present town of Armstrong.  There was a post office at Lansdowne.

In the article, Bob mentions that when he was twelve, they "went down to Kamloops" where he attended school.  (This probably referred to the fact that Bob had been moved down from Rose Hill above Kamloops to attend school in the main town.  It seems unclear in this article.  At that time there was no school in the Rose Hill area.  Also, the 1891 Census states that Bob was born about 1878, making him rather old to be attending school in Kamloops around the turn of the century.  Some facts must be mixed up, and this requires further research.  The Census should be the basis for his birth date.)  His mother and younger brother moved down into town at that time also.  They moved in with his older brother who was a fireman with the CPR.

Bob's daughter Iveigh recovered her health in the Okanagan, and became a nurse in the Kelowna General Hospital.  She married a Joe Lanaway.  Her sisters Doris and Frances also married, but where they spent their lives is not known.  It is speculated in the article that Doris may have spent time in Kamloops, and Frances at the coast.

When Bob Tilton died he was in his 90s, and he was supposedly buried in Kamloops.  (The writer will check this out in the Kamloops Cemetery Records.)

 

Name:

Robert Mckendree Tilton

Place Kamloops

 Reg. Number:1973-09-007588

Date:1973 3 19 (Yr/Mo/Day)

Age:94

Event:Death

Microfilm #:B13325   (GSU # 2050138)

(Born abt 1879?)

Parents: Cyrus TILTON and Emma TILTON (PARKER).

William TILTON15,540,544 was born about 1870 in USA. In 1891 he was a farmer in Spallumcheen, B.C. He was a son of Cyrus and Emma Tilton. William Tilton, like his older brother Elmer, is noted in the 1891 Census as living and working on the family farm at Spallumcheen

B.C. Archives Vital Events Index
Name: William Tilton
Place Rose Prairie
Reg. Number: 1931-09-465588
Date: 1931 4 22 (Yr/Mo/Day)
Age: 60
Event: Death Microfilm #: B13143 (GSU # 1952654)
(Born 1871?)
Parents: Cyrus TILTON and Emma TILTON (PARKER).

Emma TILTON (PARKER) was born in 1841 in Kansas, USA.540 In 1891 she was a housewife in Spallumcheen, B.C. She was of the Methodist faith in 1891 in Spallumcheen, B.C.  She was the wife of Cyrus Tilton.  Emma's mother was born in England. Her son Bob wrote that her maiden name was Moor(?) Parker.

Spouse: Cyrus TILTON. Cyrus TILTON and Emma TILTON (PARKER) were married before 1867 in Kansas, USA. Children were: Elmer TILTON, William TILTON, Grace TILTON, Robert (Bob) McKendree TILTON, Edgar TILTON.

Helena (Ellen) TODD18,383 was born on her parents ranch along the South Thompson River 18 Nov 1868 in B.C. She was a member of the Church of England in 1901 in Kamloops, B.C. She died in 1948. Helena married Reignford Knapp, who was to die young, leaving Helena with three small children. A few years after Knapp's death, she married Robert Pratt, the brother of another pioneer rancher in Barnhartvale, William Henry Pratt. Helena and Robert Pratt were the parents of the writer's good friend Toddy Pratt.

Parents: James (II) TODD.

Spouse: Reignford KNAPP. Reignford KNAPP and Helena (Ellen) TODD were married on 17 Aug 1884 in Kamloops, B.C. Children were: Ezra KNAPP, Nettie KNAPP, David KNAPP.

Spouse: Robert PRATT. Robert PRATT and Helena (Ellen) TODD were married on 27 Apr 1892 in Kamloops, B.C. Children were: Ezra KNAPP, Nettie KNAPP, David KNAPP, James (Kingfish) PRATT, George PRATT, Joseph PRATT, Edwin Cecil (Toddy) PRATT, Robert Jr. PRATT, Doris PRATT.

James (I) TODD died in 1885 in Kamloops, B.C.

Children were: James (II) TODD, Joseph TODD.

James (II) TODD18,31,383 was born on 8 Apr 1835 in Ontario. The following notes are taken from John Stewart's two articles on the Todds and Pratts in the Kamloops Museum and Archives.
James Todd (II) was one of the early settlers in the Kamloops and Barnhartvale area. Todd Hill and Todd Lake are named after him, and he was the first settler along upper Campbell Creek.
He was one of the early immigrants to the West, taking part in the great California Gold Rush in 1849. When gold was discovered in British Columbia, he, like many other of his countrymen, moved up to Canada to try his luck. As in California, he was to apply his trade of packing in B.C. for the Hudson's Bay Co., arriving in Hope in 1861. He turned to ranching in the interior in 1865 when he took up land near Pritchard in 1865. However, that same year he sold out to G.B. Martin, who subsequently gave his name to Martin Prairie and Martin Mountain.
He went on to do some prospecting with some luck at Scotch Creek, and in 1869, purchased some land closer to Kamloops on the South Thompson. This also was sold, this time to the Harper Ranch. Finally in 1870 James settled for good on the fine ranch he was to develop at upper Campbell Creek
In 1870 he was joined by his brother Joseph who purchased a ranch beside him in Barnhartvale in 1874. That same year the father of the two brothers, James (I), came out from Ontario to live on Joseph's ranch until he died in 1885.
James (II) had two sons and three daughters. One of his sons, James (III), married Margaret Manson of the pioneer fur trade family of William Manson. William had served at Fort Kamloops in the 1850s and 1860s, before settling in Lac La Hache in the Cariboo.
One of James' (II) daughters, Helena, married Robert Knapp, who was to die young, leaving Helena with three young children. After Knapp's death, Helena married Robert Pratt, the brother of another pioneer rancher in Barnhartvale, William Henry Pratt.

Another of James (II) daughters, Margaret Todd, married the Paul Stevens that features in the story.

The 1904 Henderson Directory for B.C. notes the following in Campbell Creek:
Pratt, Henry. Rancher
Pratt, Robert. Farmer
Sutherland, Granville. Teamster
Todd, James Sr. Farmer
Todd, James Jr. farmer
Todd, Joseph C. farmer
Parents: James (I) TODD.

Children were: Helena (Ellen) TODD, James (III) TODD, Mrs. Margaret (Todd) STEVENS.

James (III) TODD18,31,125,383 was born on 7 Apr 1871 in Kamloops, B.C. He was Presbyterian. He died in 1943 in Kamloops.  James (III), married Margaret Manson of the pioneer fur trade family of William Manson.
James' sister, Helena, married Robert Knapp.
In the 1901 Census, it notes that James III, and his wife Maggie and James' father James II, are all Presbyterian by religion.

The 1904 Henderson Directory for B.C. notes the following in Campbell Creek:
Pratt, Henry. Rancher
Pratt, Robert. Farmer
Sutherland, Granville. Teamster
Todd, James Sr. Farmer
Todd, James Jr. farmer
Todd, Joseph C. farmer
The James Jr. is this James (III). Note the proximity of the Pratt and Todds' appearances in the Directory, no doubt reflecting their locations in Barnhartvale. Parents: James (II) TODD.

Spouse: Margaret MANSON. James (III) TODD and Margaret MANSON were married on 1 Jan 1896 in Kamloops, B.C.

Joseph TODD18,31,383 was born on 5 Sep 1831 in Ontario. By about 1870, Joseph's brother, James (II) had settled on the fine ranch he was to develop at Upper Campbell Creek.
In 1870 he was joined by his brother Joseph who purchased a ranch beside him in Barnhartvale in 1874. That same year the father of the two brothers, James (I), came out from Ontario to live on Joseph's ranch until he died in 1885.

The 1904 Henderson Directory for B.C. notes the following in Campbell Creek:
Pratt, Henry. Rancher
Pratt, Robert. Farmer
Sutherland, Granville. Teamster
Todd, James Sr. Farmer
Todd, James Jr. farmer
Todd, Joseph C. farmer
Parents: James (I) TODD.

In 1906 Phillip TOMA (THOMAS)138,547 was a Shuswap Nations tracker, probably from the  Skeetchestn Band.  He was one of the leading Indian trackers responsible for the capture of the robbers Member of Fernie and Pearse's posse. He picked out the boots that made the tracks on the trail of robbers.

C.P.R. Telegram, Pearse in Kamloops to Hussey in Victoria, "Posse members, non-N.W.M.P.", 4:20 pm, 12 June4 1906. In this telegram, Pearse identifies "Phillip Thomas" as one of the main contributors to the successful capture of the robbers.

The surname is alternately spelled as "Thomas" and "Toma" depending upon the source.

In 1915 Thomas was one of the trackers who helped Fernie capture the killer of Mike Syrnyk on the Kamloops Indian Reserve lands. (Date 3 January 1915.) He was accompanied by Charlie Thomas, a brother. Their tracking skills here, undertaken under extremely adverse weather conditions of snow and alternate freezing and thawing, were exceptional. It was largely due to their skills that the killer was apprehended and successfully tried and hung in Kamloops on Friday the 13th of August in 1915.

 

Trails and Wagon Roads

Background on the main trails and wagon roads in the Boundary, Similkameen, Okanagan, Nicola, Kamloops and Fraser Valley during the period 1903 to 1907, and that would have been used by the characters in the book.

(Sewchuk, etc.)

 

Kamloops and points east, west and south.

 

"Carving The Western Path", Harvey.

Between 1872 and 1876, a trail was built from Hope, through the Coquihalla and Nicola to Kamloops.  This would be used for foot and mounted traffic, as well as for driving horses and cattle to the Fraser Valley.  It remained in use until it was partially destroyed when the Kettle Valley Railway went through the same area in 1916.

 

The Cariboo Road, which was built through the Fraser Canyon in the 1860s, was partially destroyed when the CPR was built.  Railroad building activities also destroyed a portion of the road, 20 miles in length, between Spence’s Bridge and Lytton.  These two incidents served to cease wagon traffic between the interior and the coast until 1927.

East of Kamloops a wagon road led to Salmon Arm and to Vernon.  At Salmon Arm, if a traveller wanted to get to Sicamous by wagon, the route led south from Salmon Arm to just north of Enderby, then headed north again to make Sicamous.  No road existed between Salmon Arm and Sicamous until the 1930s.  The trip by stagecoach to Vernon via Monte Lake and Grande Prairie took two days.

 

"The Dewdney Trail.  Hope to Rock Creek."  Frontier Book #19, Frank W. Anderson.

During the period 1903 to 1907, access to the Coast from Princeton was via the original Dewdney Trail to Hope.  It was commissioned by Governor Douglas to service the gold mines at Rock Creek, and to thwart American advancement into the southern interior.  The trail to Hedley, Keremeos, Osoyoos and Rock Creek was completed by 1861.

The original Dewdney Trail, completed to Princeton in 1880, was 4 feet wide, however in practice only the middle 2 feet were serviceable.  The section between Princeton and Osoyoos slowly improved over the years, and wagon access east from Princeton became available.  By 1900, gold had been discovered in Hedley, and a new road was completed east over the mountains from Hedley to join up with the Penticton-Keremeos road.  W. E. Welby of Penticton started a stage service over this section between Hedley and Penticton in 1902.  He used open wagons for both freight and passengers.

The route from Princeton to the Fraser Valley was considerably north of the present Hope-Princeton Highway, and met up with the Brigade Trail from Kamloops.  It would follow the same route as the Brigade Trail from west of Tulameen to the Coast.  On that section of the trail, Hope, Miner, Budd and their cronies would herd cattle and horses, more often than not rustled stock, for sale in the Fraser Valley, sometimes as far as New Westminster.  They would drive them to Hope, where they would load them on steamers for the trip down the river.  This would bypass the notoriously muddy, and sometimes impassable Old Yale Road.  Miner would justify robbing the CPR by complaining that the rates the steamers charged, some owned by the CPR, were unfair and exorbitant.

 

From Hedley and Princeton north, trails and wagon roads joined the Similkameen, Granite City, Aspen Grove and Nicola to Kamloops and Spence's Bridge and the mainline of the CPR.

 

Fraser Valley.

While the north shore of the Fraser was serviced by the CPR, the south shore had the Old Yale Road.  This was almost impassable for much of the year, and contributed to the use of steamboats up until 1911, when the BC Electric Railway was operating from New Westminster to Chilliwak.  One of the worst areas was at Popkum, just 30 kilometres west of Hope.  Miner would use the steamboats and barges to transport his cattle and horses, most likely rustled, to market in New Westminster.  he used the excuse of high transport rates on these boats, some owned by the CPR, as justification for robbing the CPR.  He felt that the big corporation exploited the ordinary working man.  Or at least, that was his stated reason.  He didn't need that excuse on previous robberies of stagecoaches and individuals.

 

Dick TREHEARNE. On 7 January 2006, the writer spoke to Dick Trehearne in Princeton by telephone. He told the writer that when he was a young boy of 5 years, Budd would often come over to his mother and father's ranch house at the noon dinner. He would sit himself down and wait for Mrs Trehearne to get dinner ready. He was never asked to pay. One day he was sitting by the table, and put young Dick on his lap. He asked Dick what his name was and Dick told him. Then Dick asked Budd what his name was. Mrs. Trehearne listened intently from the kitchen without betraying her interest. Budd said to young Dick, "Persons around here call me Mr. Budd." That was a bit of an anti-climax, because everyone one in the Princeton area always wondered what Budd's real name was. Trehearne also told the story of an especially difficult horse to break. It was given to Jack Budd to train, and nothing was heard from him for a number of weeks. Then someone saw Budd mounted on the horse, a splendid big black. Budd was chasing a run away black sow with the horse. And everyone that has ever chased a pig knows that they are very clever at taking the paths difficult for humans or animals to follow. But the big black, which it seems Budd was successful in training, had no trouble keeping up to the pig and weaving in and out among the trees and bushes, sticking to the pig's tail through all the obstacles the porcine escapee could find.

M. Stoneberg of Princeton refers in her penciled notes that a Margaret Trehearne Gibson has tapes relating to Miner and Budd. She also refers to a Dick Trehearne who didn't think Budd and Miner were related, but merely had a "community of background and interests".
Margaret Trehearne Gibson appears in the P&DM&A's files in handwritten notes. Who was she? It also mentions some tapes that she had done. Where are they? The notes also mention a Dick Trehearne, and that he didn't think that Miner and Budd were related.
Emailed Penticton and Princeton Museums re info on Trehearnes 10 Dec 02. Did not receive any answer.

In the Princeton book we find more info. (p 609, 610)
Frank Trehearne. Came to Canada 1906, Princeton 1909. Went overseas in WWI, met and married his nurse Christina. They had 3 daughter and 4 sons. Emma, Isabel, William (Bill), Harry. Harry took over the ranch at Jura in 1921, and married Eleanor in 1922. 2 sons, Dick and Larry, and daughter Barbara. In 1949 Dick took over ownership of the ranch. He married Margaret in 1949, and had Catherine and Ian. They sold the ranch in 1982, but still live in the area.

Dick Trehearne says his wife's name is Margaret (Maggie) but there is no Gibson involved. Trehearne confirmed that he didn't think Miner and Budd were related. Also he says that Budd's original cabin burnt down, and any papers he did have would have been lost in the fire. The cabin that the Princeton Museum ended up in was built after the fire on Budd's property. He says neither he nor his wife know anything about any tapes that were made about Miner or Budd.

Trials

Deputy Attorney General Mclean's trial notes indicate that the prisoners were in irons throughout their journeys to and fro from the Kamloops Goal.  When the defendants were seated in their box, the irons were taken off.

 

In the 31 May 1906 transcript of the "Change of Venue" argument before the start of the second trial, McIntyre argues to Chief Justice Irving for a change of venue for Edwards, Dunn and Colquhoun.  The reasons he gives include the undue excitement in the town, pre-trial speculation in the papers (Victoria Colonist and Vancouver Province), defence counsel has not had time to prepare for the defence, absence of material witnesses, lack of means of prisoners, the setup of San Quentin Warden Kelly and the picking of an additional 24 jurymen in Kamloops, potentially prejudiced against the accussed.  McIntyre is seen to fight hard for his clients, using all the tricks he knows.

Deputy Attorney General Maclean plays a very non-adversarial role throughout this argument, other than to step forward to protect Sup't Hussey, who McIntyre accuses of setting San Quentin Warden Kelly up outside the Kamloops Court House, to exclaim upon his recognition of Edwards as the old outlaw, Bill Miner.

Chief Justice Irving is in command of his court, and McIntyre's attempts to quote precedence are to no avail.  The argument is dismissed.

 

Nicola Herald, 31 May 1906, p1.

"The Jury on Robber Trial Disagree"  The Herald lists the entire membership of the Ducks trial jury.

DJ. Morrill, foreman.

J.M. Menzies

DJ. Kinnear

Chas. Tucker

J.S. Howie

DJ. Manson

W.H. Alcock

G. Clapperton

Ed. Cooney

DJ. Johnson

F. Bradwin

C. Leighton

 

In May 1906 George Christie TUNSTALL21,283,520,548,549 was a government agent and gold commissioner, and the registrar of the supreme and county courts in Kamloops, B.C.520 He took part in the search for the robbers and in assisting B.C.PP Sup't Hussey. He was sending telegrams to the Deputy AG Victoria on behalf of Pearse and Hussey during the pursuit of the robbers. George Tunstall was a member of the original Overlanders party of 1862. They came, first by rail and steamship, and then, as the frontier pressed in on them, by wagon and raft to Kamloops. Tunstall came from Acton originally, and travelled with the group from Montreal.

In the early 1870s, Tunstall served as Government agent, mining recorder, issuer of marriage and mining licenses, assayer and collector of customs in the original government offices and goal two doors east of the Cosmopolitan Hotel. (Forsell p53
There is some indication that he was later a Judge. (Forsell, p55)

GR1323
Microfilm Reel B2061
Files 3686/08 to 5046/08.
B.C. Attorney General Correspondence Files, Inward and Outward, 1902 to 1937
In October of 1908 and during the trial of Alfred Goodwin for rustling and defacing brands, Tunstall was the Court Registrar.
Tunstall was appointed government agent in Kamloops in 1879, gold commissioner at Granite Creek in 1885, and City Assessor in Kamloops in 1907. He became registrar of the county court for the District of Yale in 1886, gold commissioner in Revelstoke in 1890 and returned to Kamloops to be gold commissioner and Government agent.

In the 1906 Annual Mining Report, Tunstall is noted as being the Gold Commissioner in Kamloops, and was responsible for the submission of the report for the Yale Mining District, which included Yale, Kamloops, Ashcroft, Similkameen and Nicola Mining Divisions.

Tunstall was telegraphing Hussey during the posse's search for the robbers.
Telegram 11:25 am, 10 May 06, "Pearse Still on Trail".
Telegram 4;35 pm, 10 May 06, "Cache Found".

In May 1906 Dr. George Henry TUTHILL MD, CM480,550,551,552 was a rural general practitioner in Nicola, B.C. He attended to the wounded Shorty Dunn at Douglas Lake and Quilchena.

 

The Nicola Valley Historical Quarterly Vol 3, #1, Jan 1980 states:
It appears that Dr Tuthill may have purchased the Dr Sutton practice. Dr Sutton advertised in April, 1902 and Dr Tuthill was appointed Resident Physician September 1, 1902, replacing the resigned Sutton. In October, 1905, Dr Tuthill became Coroner and in February, 1906, Justice of the Peace.
In the spring of 1905, Dr Tuthill married Grace Douglas in the English Church in Nicola. To this union, one child, a son, was born May 28, 1906, at Nicola.
In July, 1905, Dr Tuthill was placed in charge of the railway construction medical services from 22 mile to Nicola. It is believed that the hospital built for the rail construction employees later became Dr Tuthill's Hospital at Merritt.

Dr, Tuthill purchased Dr. Sutton's practice at Nicola in 1902, and was also appointed resident physician by the government.
During construction of the rail lines, Dr Tuthill was in charge of the service from 22 mile to Nicola.
He became a practitioner at the Nicola Valley General Hospital in Merritt after it was built in 1912.
(Merritt and the Nicola Valley, p83)

Kamloops Semi-Weekly Inland Sentinel, p4.
Friday 8 April 1904.
Shooting Affray
Smoky Chisholm Shot At Manning's on Princeton Road
" .... Brooks shot Smoky.
Brooks was promptly arrested and taken to Nicola, Dr. Tuthill be sent out to attend the wounded man. The extent of the injury sustained cannot be ascertained until the Doctor's return, however, that a flesh wound in the leg covers the damage."
(Dr Tuthill probably took his horse and buggy from Nicola to attend to Smoky Chisholm's wound at Manning's, just south of the Thynne's on the Princeton Road. It would be Doctor Tuthill that would be called upon to treat Shorty Dunn's leg wound at the Douglas Lake Ranch two years later. It seems the good doctor had considerable experience in treating gunshot wounds.)

Nicola Herald, Thur. 1 June 05, V1 #3.
In the "Local News" column, the marriage announcement of Miss Grace Douglas to Dr. Tuthill on Wednesday 7 June 1905 was made.

Nicola Herald, Tue. 20 June 1905, V1, #6.
The first fraternal order to be formed in the Nicola district, the Ancient Order of Foresters, held it's inaugural meeting with 35 charter members. Walter Clark, Carrington, and Tuthill were members.

Nicola Herald, Thur. 6 July 1905, V1 #8.
Dominion Day (1July) celebrations were held at the Quilchena Hotel in Quilchena. Mrs. Tuthill won the ladies married rowing race.

Nicola Herald, Thur. 13 July 05.
The Local Notes column advised that "Dr. and Mrs. Tuthill spent a few days along the Nicola Road and at Spence's Bridge this week."
"Mrs Tuthill held her post nuptial reception at 'Rose Cottage' Tuesday and Wednesday of this week."
This edition also noted Dr. Tuthill's appointment as assistant chief of construction medical staff for the railway work from 22 Mile to Nicola.

14 May 1906. Bill Miner and the Ducks robbers are captured, and put up in the Quilchena hall overnight. Dr. Tuthill was contacted by Slim Jim Benyon at Nicola to attend to Shorty Dunn at the hall in Quilchena.

Nicola Herald, 17 May 1906.
The Herald interviewed Dr. Tuthill as to Shorty Dunn's wound. The wound "... is a puncture about 4" below the right knee passing through the upper part of the calf from behind, running forward and outward carrying pieces of garments. The would was carefully investigated by Dr. Tuthill and he states there may be a danger of blood poisoning for a few days on account of infection carried into the wound by the clothing."

By July of 1908 both Dr. Tuthill and Constable Clark had probably moved into Merritt. Dr. Tuthill had been appointed Justice of the Peace sometime before, as the following letter attests.

GR0055
Box 39, File 5
Const. Walter Clark in Merritt to Burr in Ashcroft, 8 July 1908
(Re recent celebrations of 24 May in Merritt there was two Indians drunk and he arrested them and had them tried before JP Tuthill on 26 May 1908 at Merritt.)

Sheriff Oliver J. VAIL270 was living in 1905 in Kamloops, B.C.

 

The 1905 B.C. Directory notes that Vail was out of Vernon.

Inland Sentinel, Tue 18 Apr 1905, p1.
"The funeral of the late Sheriff Vail, who died last Friday, took place at Vernon on Sunday and was largely attended."

Vail's name has come up a couple of times in my research, but what role he played in the time Miner spent in Canada is unclear.

VANCOUVER DAILY PROVINCE.553 The Vancouver Daily Province was owned by Senator Bostock of Kamloops. It was a daily paper with a readership throughout the province. It had copious coverage of the Mission and Ducks robberies and the escape of Bill Miner from the B.C. Penitentiary. However, while some of the information is factual, reporters were apt to make up facts and interviews if they weren't available from legitimate sources. During the Ducks robbery, this scenario took place during the pursuit of the bandits. The paper had an almost entirely fictitious interview with Constable Fernie of Kamloops. The local Kamloops papers were quick to accuse the Province of "yellow journalism," with the resultant loss of credibility in its journalistic integrity as a source of factual information for historians. The reporter covering the Ducks robbery, as detailed by the Enderby Progress of 25 May 1905, was R.H. Hill. Based in Vancouver, Hill passed through Enderby on the train on Monday 21st May 1906. He was en route to the Similkameen country to seek further information on the three Ducks robbers.
It is more than likely that Hill was the creator of the fictitious Fernie interview.

During the Mission robbery the Province's reporter was C.L. Gordon. He seems to have done an extremely competent job.

Beatrice VICARS was born on 9 Jul 1864 in Ontario. She was the daughter of Colonel Vicars

Spouse: Captain John Richard Odlum VICARS. Children were: Beatrice VICARS, Desmond O VICARS, Hugh VICARS.

Beatrice VICARS was born on 29 Apr 1894 in B.C. She was the daughter of Warden Vicars Parents: Captain John Richard Odlum VICARS and Beatrice VICARS.

Desmond O VICARS538,554 was born on 27 Mar 1897 in B.C. He wrote an unpublished manuscript on Miner and the events at Ducks and Kamloops.  He was the son of Warden Vicars.

 

In the Okanagan Historical Society Vol III, #1:
Desmond Vicar's father John Vicars took the job of Warden in the Kamloops jail. While on this station in 1906 he had Bill Miner as an inmate. Des Vicars remembered, "I remember talking to him (Miner) and he told me to go to Mexico when I grew up. He seemed like a fine old prospector type, very likeable, but had taking ways."

Des Vicars was appointed commander of A Company of the Rocky Mountain Rangers in 1932. In 1937 he was promoted to Commander of the entire RMR with headquarters in Kamloops.
In early 1940, and as Commander of the Rocky Mountain Rangers, he left to join the CASF. Parents: Captain John Richard Odlum VICARS and Beatrice VICARS.

Hugh VICARS was born on 23 Sep 1890 in B.C. He was the son of Warden Vicars Parents: Captain John Richard Odlum VICARS and Beatrice VICARS.

Captain John Richard Odlum VICARS18,76,555,556 was born on 15 Apr 1853 in Ireland. He was Church of England in 1901. In 1905, Vicars was Captain and Commanding Officer for the Rocky Mountain Rangers militia, No.3 Co., in Kamloops.  In May 1906 he was a prison warden in Kamloops, B.C.270 During 1905, Alex G Brown and Frederick Buse were convict guards at the Kamloops Provincial Goal under Capt. Vicars. Robert Bell and JC Bunbury were jailers. He was with the Kamloops Goal, Attorney General's office in Kamloops, B.C.270 He died on 26 Dec 1929 in Kamloops, B.C. He was the warden responsible for the security of the prisoners during their trial.

In the 1901 Census, Captain Vicars is living in Kamloops with his wife, Beatrice (36), daughter Beatrice (presumably) and sons Desmond (7) and Hugh(1). At that time he was noted as having the occupation of warden.

Vicars became warden of the Kamloops Provincial Goal before 1900 until he resigned for service in the 1st WW. He had settled in Kamloops in 1892, after being a surveyor in the NWT and in B.C.
In October of 1916, Colonel Vicars took the RMR 172nd Battalion to England.

Captain Vicars was appointed warden at the Kamloops Goal in 1897. (Forsell, p55)

Spouse: Beatrice VICARS. Children were: Beatrice VICARS, Desmond O VICARS, Hugh VICARS.

VICTORIA COLONIST. The Victoria Colonist seems to be the newspaper of record in British Columbia in the first decade of the 20th Century. It had reporters and stringers throughout the province and its reporting of the robberies, escape and inquiry is very competent and factual.

WADDELL130,514 He was with the C.P.R. Special Services in Mission City, B.C.  He was one of the Mission robbery investigators.  Waddell was a C.P.R. detective apparently based in Vancouver, and was involved with the Mission robbery investigation.

The Van Prov of 12 Sep notes that Detective Waddell and ex-jailer Grady, with others, were sent from Vancouver to join in the investigation of the Mission robbery.

VP 14 Sep 04
Detective Waddell, with B.C. Provincial Police Constable Spain and Special Constable Smith were guarding roads in the district on Wednesday the 14th. Waddell was described as looking gaunt and haggard, and had had barely four hours sleep since he had started out in the early hours of Sep 12th.

He came into New Westminster on the Sunday evening of 18th after being out all week, then was back on the chase the next morning. (DlyClmbn, 20Sep04)

New Westminster Daily Columbian, 13 Feb 09, p1.
In the House of Commons in Ottawa on the 12th, Minister of Justice Aylesworth detailed a list of persons that had visited Miner prior to his escape. On the list was Detective Waddell who had accompanied Chief McIntosh and R.N.W.M.P. Staff Sergeant Wilson to the pen to visit Miner on 27 June 1907. Wilson wanted a release from Miner so that he could obtain the automatic pistol obtained at Miner's capture in May 1906.

Dr. MS WADE557,558 was living in 1905 in Kamloops, B.C. About 1906 he was a medical doctor in Kamloops, as well as the publisher of the Inland Sentinel newspaper. He provided excellent newspaper coverage of the Ducks robbery, the capture and the trial.  Doctor M.S. Wade is noted as being the publisher of the semi-weekly Inland Sentinel newspaper. He was an active liberal and had opened his medical practice in 1895. He became owner of the paper in 1905, and sold it in 1912.

Wade was also the author of a number of books on the early history of Kamloops and the surrounding area. These included "The Overlanders" and "The Cariboo Trail."

In 1905/6 Oliver WALKER302,559,560 was a cowboy in Douglas Lake area. He helped Goodwin rustle 26 Douglas Lake purebred mares.

 

Campbell Carroll in "Three Bar. The Story of Douglas Lake" states that in 1905-1906, Alfred Goodwin of the Fish Lake Ranch was charged by J. B. Greaves of the Douglas Lake Ranch with horse stealing. Carroll also notes that Jack Budd was an accomplice of Goodwin's, and that charges were laid against him also. Despite the testimony of a young cowboy employed by Goodwin named Oliver Walker, who testified that he and Goodwin had rounded up 28 of the Douglas Lake Company's purebred mares, the charges were dismissed. Walker also testified that 11 of those Douglas Lake horses had their brands treated to an application of a blistering agent such as lump jaw or spavin cure. This caused the hide to raise and the Douglas Lake brand to come off in three or four days. Walker testified Goodwin said that he intended to ship the animals once they were back in good shape.

1905 Henderson's Directory:
Douglas Lake
Walker, Oliver. Labourer

A "Walker, Edward. Farmer" is also noted in the 1904 Henderson's Directory for Nicola. This may have been a relative (father?) of Oliver Walker.

Bud WALTERS139 was living in 1905 in Douglas Lake, B.C. He told the story of Miner and the Chinaman killed falling from his wagon.  He gave an interview to Desmond Vicars in 1962 about the Chinaman incident.

 

Walters was interviewed by Desmond Vicars in 1962. At that time, Walters was living at Chase.
"Bud told me he worked at Douglas Lake in 1905. One day Mr. Greaves sent he and Joe Coutlee to Aspen Grove to get George Edwards to work at Douglas Lake."
"It was in the summer time and everyone was away at the cow camps except Mr. Greaves, George Edwards and himself."
Walters goes on to relate the story of the Chinaman killed when Miner was transporting them in a wagon.
"In the bunkhouse at night Bud said that he and Miner would talk by the hour about the central United States and the different ranches they had both worked. He said that Bill was most likeable and never mentioned that he had been in trouble. He was the most surprised man when he heard that George Edwards was Bill Miner the most wanted train robber in North America."

The same story, almost word for word, is related in Woolliams' "Cattle Ranch". The author may have obtained the information from the Kamloops Museum and Archives.

In February of 2003, Ken Favrholdt gave me an email he had received from a Chris Green in Savona. In that email, Green repeats the same story about Walters, and Green notes that he received the information from Mrs. June (Walters) Charlton, Bud Walters' daughter. The story is further detailed by descriptions of the loose boards that made up the wagon bed, and the attempts by the Chinamen to hold on by grabbing these loose boards. Two Chinese were killed. She also notes that Miner had an intense dislike for Chinese people.

Green's notes mention that June had a sister Rita, and that they were the first two women licensed as hunting guides in B.C. June would later be inducted into the B.C. Cowboy Hall of Fame. "Bud Walters later operated the Circle W, the famous and popular guest ranch on the Deadman's (sic) River during the 30s and 40s."
Green also gives some details of Walter's career before working at Douglas Lake. He was a driver for the BX stage line out of Ashcroft, and an anecdote about transporting Chinese passengers during the winter is narrated.

Conductor John WARD43,389 He was with the C.P.R. and in 1906 he was a railroad conductor in New Westminster, B.C.1   Ward was living on 752 Richards Street in New Westminster in 1907.  He warned the passengers that a robbery was taking place.

 

Ward, John, Richards St East, near Georgia, Train-hand, Van. (1898 Voter’s List)

Conductor Ward dispatched the rear brakeman back four miles to Mission City to warn the authorities that a robbery was in progress west of Mission Junction. He also warned the passengers that a robbery was in progress, leading them to quickly attempt to hide their valuables and to barricade the coach doors.

AJ WHITE16 was telegraphed from Ootsa Lake to provide information on Dunn's relatives.  He employed Shorty Dunn as a store manager at his store in Princeton after Dunn's parole.   A.J. White was the owner of a general store in Princeton.  White was telegraphed by store owner C.H. Hansen from Ootsa Lake when Dunn lost his life in a drowning accident. Hansen was looking for any relatives of Dunn's, but White could supply no information.

Warden Lieutenant Colonel John Connal WHYTE13,38,43,284,561 was living in 1907 in New Westminster, B.C. He was with the B.C. Penitentiary in New Westminster, B.C.  In Aug 1907 he was a prison warden in New Westminster, B.C.  He was extremely ill at the time of Miner's escape.  John Connal Whyte was the Warden during Miner's escape, however he was incapacitated at the time due to tuberculosis.

On 4 Jul 1906, C.P.R. Police Inspector Bullick wrote Marpole with regards to letters intercepted and held by B.C. Pen Warden Col. J C Whyte from Miner to Tom Arnold. Bullick advises that he suspects some connection between Miner and Arnold. Miner requested that Arnold sell some of his horses for him, and for Arnold to give his regards to the boys around Princeton.

Whyte, John Connal, B.C. Penitentiary, Warden, NWC (1898 Voter’s List)

Whyte was Warden of the B.C. Pen at least from 1898 to 1907, when Miner escaped. In 1907, however, Whyte was seriously ill, and Bourke, the Deputy Warden, acted in his place.

In the Anthony Martin Collection, George Edwards Correspondence file, Whyte received a letter dated 8 June 1906 from Greenfield, the Postal Inspector, inquiring into the nature of the banknotes on Edwards when he was captured. The total amounted to one $10 and one $5 note, and Greenfield was trying to have them returned to their rightful owners.

On 11 June 1906, Whyte wrote back to Greenfield, noting that Edwards had $50.10 in his possession when captured, and requested that Greenfield provide a description of the two bills in question. (A. Martin Coll., Geo. Edwards Corr. file.)

In a letter dated 12 June 1906 to Detective McLeod of the C.P.R. Police, Whyte advises him that he has sent under separate cover, photos of the three robbers; both shaven and unshaven. (A. Martin Coll., Geo. Edwards Corr. file.)

On the 12 June 1906, B.C. Pen Warden Whyte wrote Colin Campbell of the B.C.PP in Vancouver that he had, at Campbell's request, sent to him copies of the photos of the three robbers under separate cover. (A. Martin Coll., Geo. Edwards Corr. file.)

On the 12 June 1906, B.C. Pen Warden Whyte wrote Sup't Hussey of the B.C.PP in Victoria that he had, at Hussey's request, sent to him copies of the photos of the three robbers under separate cover, complete with Bertillon measurements. The photos of the three were taken shaven and unshaven, and Whyte cautioned Hussey, as he did with all other recipients of the photos, that they were not for publication without the prison administration's permission. (A. Martin Coll., Geo. Edwards Corr. file.)

On the 12 June 1906, B.C. Pen Warden Whyte wrote C.P.R. Gen. Sup't Marpole in Vancouver that he had, at Marpole's request, sent to him copies of the photos of the three robbers under separate cover. The photos of the three were taken shaven and unshaven, and Whyte cautioned Marpole, as he did with all other recipients of the photos, that they were not for publication without the prison administration's permission. He went on to note that C.P.R. SS Detective Bullick had also requested copies of the photographs, and asked Marpole to pass copies on to him. (A. Martin Coll., Geo. Edwards Corr. file.)

(Also in B.C. Archives.)

GR0055
Box 77, File 6
Letter from Warden Whyte to Hussey,
12 June 1906
New Westminster
As promised I am sending under separate cover pictures with Bertillon measurements of the three “gentlemen of the road” whom you recently handed over to our care. I had them taken shaven and unshaven, descriptions being only on the shaven card. Of course you will understand that these pictures are not to for publication unless with our permission.
Yours truly,
Whyte, Warden


On 12 June 1906, B.C. Pen Warden Whyte sent Dominion Police Commissioner Sherwood in Ottawa copies of photos, shaven and unshaven, of the three robbers. He notes that the prison authorities "used up our last plates on them." Descriptions were written on the back of the shaven photos. (A. Martin Coll., Geo. Edwards Corr. file.)

Does this comment mean that after the photos of Miner, Dunn and Colquhoun were taken, that the prison authorities no longer used glass plates for their negatives, but changed to the newer method of celluloid negatives?


4 July 1906 - Letter to Greenfield
Warden Whyte wrote a letter 4 July 1906 to Postal Inspector Greenfield advising him that the convict Edwards wishes to use his funds ($50.10) now in the Warden's possession for his own requirements. Whyte requests the description of the bills from the Ducks robbery from Greenfield. (A. Martin Coll., Geo. Edwards Corr. file.)

6 July 1906 - Letter to Warden Whyte
Referring to Whyte's letter of the 4th July, Greenfield in Vancouver states that the matter of the $15 and compensation to those who lost cash in the Ducks robbery is now in the hands of provincial Attorney General Fulton, and may have to be referred to the federal Minister of Justice. (A. Martin Coll., Geo. Edwards Corr. file.)

In a letter to B.C.'s AG dated 6 July 1906, Postal Inspector Greenfield inquires of Fulton whether the monies found in Edward's (Miner's) possession after the robbery might be used to compensate the persons who sustained losses during the Ducks robbery. He quotes a letter he received from the Warden of the B.C. Pen June 11th that notes that Miner wishes to use his money now in the Warden's possession. The Warden had described the banknotes found with Miner.

On the 9th of July, Greenfield again continued with his pursuit of the $15.00 realized by the Ducks robbers in another two page letter to Whyte, adding nothing really substantial.
Another followed on the 11th July on the same subject.
(A. Martin Coll., Geo. Edwards Corr. file.)

On the 20 July 1906, B.C. Pen Warden Whyte writes to a Frank Conley (?) and Tom McTague (?) in Deer Lodge, Montana. The names of the two recipients of the letter are difficult to read on the letter Whyte sent to them, however the letterhead on the letter they sent him requesting photos is quite legible. They are contractors for the Montana State Penitentiary, and an engraving of the facility is part of the letterhead. The body of the request letter is almost illegible. In his letter Whyte advises them of the photos of the three robbers he has sent to them under separate cover, and requests that they advise him if any of the three have been in Montana at any time; especially "981 or 980". "980" is obviously Edwards, and "981" is probably Dunn, as other evidence shows he had spent some time in Montana. "981" is probably the file number that any of Shorty Dunn's prison correspondence would be under. (A. Martin Coll., Geo. Edwards Corr. file.)


On July 7th, and on July 25th, 1906, B.C. Pen Warden Whyte received letters from the San Quentin State Prison in California. The first requested copies of the photos of the robbers, and the second extended thanks for the receipt of same. The signature of the sender is obscure, but looks like a F. H. De Pine, and he is noted as the "Director of the Criminal Bureau of Identification". On the letterhead is also noted the Warden of the penitentiary's name, but it is quite obscure. It looks like "J. W. Akins Warden". This is interesting, as it is not the same warden's name (Kelly) who possibly visited Kamloops during the trial and identified George Edwards as Miner. In the letter of the 25th, the writer notes that Miner's photo shows that he has aged considerably since the writer last saw him, but is still readily identifiable as "Billy Miner". (A. Martin Coll., Geo. Edwards Corr. file.)

Gr0055
Box 77, File 6.
Letter from Warden Whyte to Hussey
7 Feb 1907
New Westminster
Dear Sir,
Reply to yours of the 5th instant you might have Dunn and Colquhoun's effects the first time one of your Kamloops officers are coming, as we have no fund from which we could pay freight or express charges on same.
Yours respectfully,
Warden Whyte, Warden
B.C. Penitentiary.

GR0055
Box 77, File 6
Letter from Const. Fernie to Hussey,
Kamloops
8 Feb 1907
Sir,
Re convicts Edwards, Dunn and Colquhoun, I beg to state that the effects of the three train robbers are still in the vault here. In the case of the Crown confiscating these effects or the weapons, both Mr. Pearse and myself would like to have one of the automatic pistols if it could be arranged. I enclose Constable Hewat's report for January.
Yours obediently,
W.L. Fernie, Chief Constable

On 26 Aug 1907, a letter was written by a Mrs. A. E.(?) Miner to Warden Whyte. She had read about the escape of Bill Miner from the B.C. Pen, and she requested that the Warden send her a photo of Miner, and to let her know how old he was and where he came from. She "would like very much to see his pictures". (A. Martin Coll., Geo. Edwards Corr. file.)
(This intriguing letter, signed by a woman with Bill Miner’s real initials and surname, deserves to be followed up more.)


Finally, in November of 1906, a letter exchange between Greenfield and Whyte put the $15.00 in bills question to rest. As the bills found in Edward's possession were not marked, it was impossible to determine if they were part of the Ducks robbery loot. So the monies became available to Edwards for paying some outstanding debts he said he had. (A. Martin Coll., Geo. Edwards Corr. file.)

In the DlyClmbn of 10 Oct 1907 B.C. Pen Warden and Lieutenant Colonel Whyte succumbed the day previous after a long struggle with tuberculosis.

Vice-President Sir William WHYTE396,398,562,563,564 was born in 1843 in Scotland. In 1906 he was a VP in charge of western lines in Winnipeg, MA. He probably received a telegram from Marpole re the R.N.W.M.P. attending to assist in the pursuit of the Ducks robbers.  V.P. William Whyte was the ranking C.P.R. official in charge of the Miner investigations. Based in Winnipeg, it was he who requested of the federal Solicitor General that R.N.W.M.P. officers be used to apprehend the train robbers.

In the Daily Columbian of New Westminster for 20 Sep 1904, Lord Shaughnessy gave a brief comment on the Mission robbery, (p1) and on page 3 there was a lengthy column on a meeting of C.P.R. officials in Vancouver.
Shaughnessy arrived in Vancouver Sunday (18th) evening with his two private cars; the "Cornwall" and the "York". In these cars with Shaughnessy were Sir George Drummond, VP of the Bank of Montreal and a director of the C.P.R.; R. B Angus and E. B. Osler of Toronto and C. R. Hosmer of Montreal. William Whyte, then 2nd VP of the C.P.R., arrived in his car the "Manitoba" from Winnipeg. With him was the C.P.R.'s chief engineer Mr. Tye.
Western divisional general superintendent R. M. Marpole's private car #10 was occupied by Marpole, Superintendent H. E. Beasley, engineers Cambie and Webster, and Mr. and Mrs. C. G. Henshaw.
Shaughnessy advised the reporter that the meeting that took place on Monday the 19th was to discuss expansion plans for the railway in B.C. He noted that the C.P.R. had spent $31,000,000 on repairs and improvements since the previous January, and when questioned about the issuance of a further C.P.R. $25,000,000 in stock, he noted that this was for improvements to the line west of Winnipeg.
Shaughnessy and his party left later that afternoon on a steamer for Victoria.

From "The C.P.R. West",
"The manager of the C.P.R.'s lines in the west and Shaughnessy's chief advisor on prairie policy was William Whyte. Born in Scotland in 1843, Whyte had worked as a station agent for a Scottish railway before emigrating to Canada in 1863. He started as a brakeman with the Grand Trunk in Toronto and rose gradually to become divisional superintendent there in 1882. In the following year (1883) he moved to the Ontario and Quebec Railway as a general superintendent and when the C.P.R. acquired this line in January of 1884 he became general superintendent of the railway's Ontario division. He was transferred from Toronto to Winnipeg in 1886 to become general superintendent of the western division; in 1897 this position was raised to that of Manager, Western Lines. Whyte seems to have been well regarded by most of the men on the division. As recalled by a friend, "Mr Whyte's door was always on the swing, and a wiper from the roundhouse could see him just as readily as a captain of industry". His approachability and determination to be fair to his men "gave him enormous personal influence with all of them". Most importantly, he had a fervent belief in the west, "and when other men were in despair over bad years and slow settlement, he never lost the knack of hoping." He was a vigorous supporter of expansionist policies for the prairie region during Shaughnessy's presidency." (page 128)

"In May 1901, Shaughnessy made some major changes in senior staff positions, several of which affected operations in the prairie west. William Whyte was made assistant to the president, though he would continue to reside in Winnipeg. Whyte was now an important policy advisor on "all matters connected with colonization, proposed extensions of the Company's railway system, the development of industry along the company's lines, the establishment of new business connections and the administration of the Company's lands, town sites and other properties of that description."" (page 133)

"In December 1903, the C.P.R. board elected William Whyte as 2nd vice-president and put him in charge of western lines." (page 137)

"Whyte was re-appointed vice president in charge of western lines in 1909 for a 2 year term though he had reached retirement age. He retired as vice president in September 1911 and was appointed to the Board of Directors." (page 140)

Note: Whyte was responsible for the building of the $2,000,000 Palliser Hotel in Calgary that was completed in 1914. (page 142)

"Sir William Whyte, vice-president of the C.P.R. Western lines, and namesake of Whyte Ave. on Kitsilano Point." (Vancouver The Way It Was, p158)

Kamloops Inland Sentinel, Tue. 30 May 1905, p4.
Vice President of the C.P.R. Whyte is in B.C. for final negotiations for the Esquimalt and Nanaimo railway. He will also inspect the proposed Spence's Bridge to Nicola branch line location.

William Whyte was 2nd Vice President of the C.P.R. Western Lines at the time of the Ducks robbery. He sent a letter of congratulations to Sup't Marpole 13 June 1906 upon the successful capture and sentencing of the Ducks robbers.

In the VDC of 18 May 06, p1, in Marpole's editorial after the capture of the Ducks robbers, Marpole states that it was Whyte's suggestion that the R.N.W.M.P. be called in to assist the B.C.P.P. in the pursuit of the Ducks robbers. The C.P.R. was less than impressed with the lack of success the B.C.P.P. encountered in their pursuit of the Mission Junction robbers.

In Sep 1904 Chief Constable Otway J.J. WILKIE43,565 was with the B.C. Provincial Police in New Westminster, B.C. He led the posse in search of the Mission Junction robbers.

From Langley Story Illustrated
An Early History of The Municipality of Langley by Donald E. Waite
See http://members.tripod.com/~LisaPeppan/6amodern.html

When Canada's first train robbery took place on the evening of September 10, 1904, at Silverdale, a small community 40 miles east of Vancouver on the north bank of the Fraser River, Langley's Otway J.J. Wilkie went after the robbers. Wilkie, in the capacity of Chief Constable of the British Columbia Provincial Police in New Westminster and the Fraser Valley, formed a posse which consisted of the Shortreed brothers of Aldergrove and other local talent. Their hunt was not a success.

Wilkie, Otway John James, Pt. Lot 19, Tp.11, Langley, Farmer, WDel (1898 Voter’s List)

In 1906 Walter WILLIS566 was a mail clerk in Vancouver, B.C.1

In the 1907 Voter’s List he is still described as a "railway mail clerk" and living at 1735 Pendrill Street in Van.  He was with the C.P.R. in Vancouver, B.C.  Willis, together with McQuarrie, were the two C.P.R. mail clerks robbed at the Ducks robbery.

Willis, like McQuarrie, gave a witness statement the day after the robbery to the Postal Inspector's office in Vancouver.
Dated 9 May 1906, the statement details Willis's interaction with the Ducks robbers.
Willis had brought McQuarrie with him in the mail car to Kamloops due to the extra heavy amount of mail being encountered on that run. Willis was lying down in his bunk at the time of the robbery, and McQuarrie was running the mail car. McQuarrie shook Willis by the shoulder and told him that something was wrong and that he had better get up. Willis heard voices outside the mail car and at first he thought the train had encountered some accident. He followed McQuarrie to the door, and upon it being opened, immediately followed McQuarrie's example and put his hands up. Willis looked outside the car and saw "three or four men". The two clerks were asked if they had any firearms, and they were searched. When the leader of the robbers saw that Willis still had his hands in the air, he jokingly told Willis to "Put your hands down. I don't want to see you fly just yet".
He asked Willis if he was the Express Messenger, and Willis advised that he was merely the Mail Clerk. The lead robber then ordered McQuarrie into the mail car to retrieve the registered mail, and Willis was kept outside with the fireman and engineer, (under the guns of Shorty Dunn?). A third man (Stevens?) then appeared from around the engine, and as the robber and McQuarrie had been in the mail car some time, he told them to hurry up. Willis heard McQuarrie tell the bandit leader that he was not the registered mail clerk, and Willis then saw McQuarrie ordered out of the mail car, and he was ordered in. Willis found the sorting table in the mail car filled with bags and registered parcels. Willis was ordered to provide more registered mail pouches, and he replied to the robber that he had opened all the registered mail pouches. Willis started to sort through the registered bags on the table and the bandit then got out of the car and ordered McQuarrie back in with Willis.
Shortly afterwards, the train started up again, and travelled west a ways and stopped. Willis heard the bandit leader tell the engineer to take care of himself, and after the robbers had made their get away, the engine tender and mail car backed onto the rest of the train that had been left behind.
Willis described Miner, the bandit leader in the mail car with him and McQuarrie, as tall and rather thin and wore glasses. He appeared to be the eldest of the trio. The robber that had kept the engineer and fireman and mail clerks covered with a revolver while Miner was in the mail car was Shorty Dunn, and Willis described him as being "short and rather thick set." Willis described the Third man as tall and slight. All three wore masks.
Willis noted that the robbers only got a small portion of the total amount of registered mail. Registered mail in lock bags or in the case in the car was not taken. Willis said he also told the bandit that all the registered mail was in the striped bags which the robber had inquired about.
Willis commented that the robbers seemed disappointed that the express car had been left behind, and asked Willis what was aboard that car. Willis replied (incorrectly) that it was only used for storing paper mail.

WILSON198,199,200 was part of the Mission robbery investigation.  He watched the Hope trail for the robbers. Provincial Special Constable Wilson, along with (City Police officer) Davies and one J. Gault, were sent by rail up to Hope to watch the Hope Trail over Hope Mountain, thinking perhaps that the bandits had made for the boundary country and by that route attempt to make their escape across the border. The Hope Trail branched off to the mining towns of Granite Creek and Princeton, and Constable Hunter in Princeton had been alerted. Long distance telephones located at Abbotsford and Nicola aided in communications, while the three officers made their way along the trail to Princeton.

In the Chilliwack Progress of 21 Sep 1904, in the "Local and Personal" column, it mentions that "Messrs Wilson, Galt (sic) and Davies, private detectives, were in the village registered at the Harrison House last week. They are out searching for the train robbers. They started at Hope and are making their way down towards Vancouver."

The New Westminster Daily Columbian of 15 Sep 1904 also mention Wilson, Davies and Gault leaving for Hope on the morning of the 14th (Wed.). There they were to "cross the river and work along the trail".

In 1906 Acting Sergeant John J. WILSON Reg. No. 256680,567 was with the R.N.W.M.P. in Calgary, AB.  He died on 13 Mar 1933 in High River, AB. He was the officer in charge of the R.N.W.M.P. troop during the search and capture of the Ducks robbers.  R.N.W.M.P. Sergeant Wilson, after he had retired from the force, wrote an eleven page document giving his impressions of the Bill Miner affair in Kamloops. It was obtained from the RCMP Archives in Regina, and adds considerably to the story as it goes over and above the dry writing of official reports.

Wilson was the ranking officer for the R.N.W.M.P. posse. He retired as a Staff Sergeant and was later killed in a car accident.
Wilson, along with Shoebotham, Stewart and Peters and Browning, were actually the ones to make the arrest. Thomas and Tabuteau were out searching nearby when the rest of them encountered the robbers.

Vancouver World, 9 Aug 07, p1
The World stated that one month previous to Miner's escape from the B.C. Pen, Sergeant R. DJ. Wilson of the R.N.W.M.P. accompanied Detective Waddell with two prisoners to the B.C. pen. The prisoners had burgled the G.T.P. Hotel (Grand Trunk Pacific?). Wilson, with Waddell, met Miner working in the brickyard, and Miner greeted him in a friendly way. As a result of their conversation, and to show the fact that he held no hard feelings against Wilson, he signed an order to give over to Wilson his rifle that was presently with a friend in the upper country.
"I'll have no more outside engagements", said Miner to Wilson.
When Wilson, upon leaving the penitentiary, had been interviewed by a reporter, he remarked, "I would be greatly surprised if Bill Miner is not at this very minute framing up a plan of escape."
(It should be noted that it was probably the Luger that Wilson obtained from Miner.)

After Miner's escape from the B.C. Pen, Wilson was quoted by the Vancouver Daily News Advertiser of 13 Aug 07 as saying that he was of the opinion that Miner would not be re-captured because he has too many friends who are willing to help him in the Similkameen country.

Vancouver Daily News Advertiser 19 Feb 1909
In February of 1909 Wilson was returning a horse thief, Ted Webb, from Owen Sound, Ont. to Calgary. At Winnipeg he was interviewed by a reporter and give his thoughts on the debate now taking place in the House of Commons on Miner's escape. In his interview Wilson stated that it was "the general belief that Bill agreed to return to the C.P.R. the bonds that were stolen at the Mission Junction hold-up, and to spare all C.P.R. trains in the future, and there haven't been any of their trains stopped since". Wilson described Miner as one of the smoothest men he had ever seen, easy and generous with his money, and went out of his way to make friends with women and children. "He gave me an order for his automatic gun - and it was the wickedest-looking one I ever saw - saying he did not expect to have any more use for it".
Wilson went on to speculate that the recent train robbery near Denver Colorado "the other day looked very much like Bill's work".

Clerk of the Works Robert WILSON389 was with the C.P.R. in Unknown He was on the train robbed at Mission Junction He provided an interview to the Province reporter on the state of the passengers. "Talk about queer hiding places, I saw more odd hiding places for valuables discovered in a few minutes than I ever thought was possible. As soon as the news of the holdup was communicated to the passengers, there was the greatest scramble I ever saw to hide money, watches and other valuables. The majority of the women passengers resorted to the usual hosiery receptacle for their jewelry and valuables, while the men stowed rolls of bills away in their shoes, hatbands and other unlikely places. For a while it was generally believed among the passengers that the robbers would go through the passengers as soon as they were finished with the express car," described passenger Robert Wilson, C.P.R. clerk of the works, to a Province reporter.

The NWC of 13 Sep 04, states Wilson as "Alex", and he was a fellow passenger with H. B. Walkem of the C.P.R. engineering staff.

Mary Ann WILSON (CAVANAUGH)314 was born about 1855. She was the wife of Joseph Greaves, the Douglas Lake Cattle Co. owner.  Mary Ann's mother was a Lillooet Indian. She was deceased at the time of Mary Ann's marriage to Greaves. Her real father was Tom Cavanaugh, a gold miner, and her mother married John Wilson, a neighbour of Greaves when Greaves had his ranch on the Thompson River.

Spouse: Manager Joseph Blackburn GREAVES. Manager Joseph Blackburn GREAVES and Mary Ann WILSON (CAVANAUGH) were married about 1875.314 Children were: Joseph Benjamin GREAVES, Peter GREAVES, Alice GREAVES, Mary GREAVES.

George Edgar WINKLER1,504 was born in 1875. He was probably living during the period 1903 to 1907 in Princeton, B.C. This however has to be confirmed. He died in 1978, probably in Victoria.  He maintained a correspondence with Dunn while he was in prison, and rode with both Miner and Budd. Winkler was a prospector and mine owner in the south-central interior in the early decades of the 20th Century. By 1923 he was living in Victoria, where he was interviewed by the Victoria Daily Colonist. In 1966 he was interviewed by Cecil Clark on a lost mine in the Okanagan country.

Rec'd phone call from Helen Martens in Hedley 3 Dec 2001. With regards to George Winkler, she thinks he is related to Anton Winkler in Hedley.

Elisabeth Duckworth, "Another Bill Miner Story"
Princeton resident George Winkler knew Jack Budd, Bill Miner and Shorty Dunn well. He maintained a correspondence with Dunn throughout his prison term and even found him a job when Dunn first got out."
"Winkler claimed there was a mysterious link between Miner and Budd. It was reported that they had been boyhood friends in Texas but Winkler thought there might be more. He recalled one instance when he, Miner and Budd were riding together and Miner began telling a story about a 60 mile ride he had to make along the Hope-Princeton trail. Winkler noticed that while Miner was speaking, Budd shook his head in warning at Miner who immediately dropped the subject."

From the Victoria Daily Colonist, Sunday Dec 16, 1923, p10
Those who, by their actions, showed their faith in Shorty's inherent good character were the Rev. E. E. Hardwick formerly of Victoria, Mr. George E. Winkler formerly of Princeton and then of Victoria, Mr. W. Knight and Mrs. S. M. Allison of Princeton and Archie McKinley of Lac La Hache.

(From the Victoria Daily Colonist, Sunday 2 Oct 1966, “The Islander” weekend supplement.)
“McDougal's Lost Mine”, Cecil Clark
This article details incidents around the discovery of a potential gold mine supposedly across the lake from Kelowna. It includes photos of Shorty Dunn, Alex Crawford and George Winkler.
Clark interviewed Winkler when he was 91 years old in Victoria in 1966. Clark described him as “the dean of B.C.'s mining community” and a friend of Shorty Dunn's for almost 30 years.
Albert McDougal shot and killed his cousin at a camp he was in with his brother Dan and his father Ed. He was sentenced to life at the B.C. Pen. There he met Shorty Dunn who knew Al's old stomping grounds in the Similkameen country. Dunn and McDougal talked about potential mines and mother lodes in the Similkameen country, as well as McDougal's Lost Mine. When Dunn was paroled in 1918, he remembered the stories of the lost mine that McDougal had told him about.
During research for his article, Clark remembered that there were some individuals around that still remembered Shorty Dunn. One was George Winkler, so Clark subsequently met with him in his Government Street office, where, during the morning hours, he kept in touch with B.C.'s mining industry. Winkler was a pioneer in the Boundary and Similkameen country, and knew many of the original settlers of the area. When Clark mentioned the McDougal's lost mine, Winkler immediately remembered it. He told Clark that when Shorty first got out of prison, he first worked for Jack Hanna building the tramway for the Blakeburn Mine on Granite Creek. After that he did some trapping and prospecting, sending Winkler the occasional sample. Knowing Dunn was somewhat knowledgeable about minerals, Winkler staked Shorty to a six weeks, $120 course at UB.C. under the direction of Professor J. M. Turnbull. Winkler showed Clark a photo entitled “Short Term Class, Geology and Mineralogy, 1917.” This was the first class; Shorty was in the second one in 1918. Winkler told Clark that he and Dunn were once in the Missezula Lake country and bedded down near the ranch owned by Chris (Kit) Summers on Summers Creek. Dunn told Winkler there that he had an idea that the mine was on Summers Creek. This was some 60 miles away from Crawford's camp site, which also was supposedly close to the site of the lost mine of the McDougal's.

In the 1907 Voter's List there exists a "Winkler, Anton, Hedley, Hotel keeper".

Provenance: Winkler, George Edgar, 1875-1978
Title: George Edgar Winkler fonds
Dates: 1920-1940
Physical desc.: 512 photographs
Bio/Admin History: George Edgar Winkler was a poet and prospector active throughout B.C.
Scope/Content: The fonds consists of photographs depicting mine sites throughout British Columbia, as well as personal photographs of G.E. Winkler's family and friends.
Title source: Title based on the contents of the fonds.
Record No.: 97908-16
Repository: British Columbia Archives
Names: Winkler, George Edgar, 1875-1978

George Winkler Fonds.
B.C. Archives
Record #-97908-016
Photographs 1920 to 1940
Box 1.
(Visit to B.C. Archives Oct-Nov 2005)
Large photograph
On the back of the photo is written “First U.B.C. Term Class Geology in Mineralology in 1917.”
The photo was reviewed by the writer very closely with a magnifying glass, and there are a couple of possibles that might be John Grell, but it is difficult to say. The photo was marked for copying.
The following is from the writer's database, and is partly taken from Cecil Clark's interview with George Winkler.
Also in the Winkler fonds is what looks to be a 6X8 inch black and white by Mary Spencer in Kamloops. Jailbirds 1907. Front row - Gladden and Edwards. Back row Winkler and Mitchell.
Photos of Princeton and of Hedley were also marked for copying.

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