The Wolf Point herald. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1913-1940, 1930-01-24
THE DRLuE HILLS MURDER"


/ must confess to participation
in one of the very few instances
in which a fugitive from the Roy
al North West Mounted Police
made good his escape. In this
case, the members OF the force
acquainted with the circumstances
are content with the outcome OF
the man-hunt. AS for the official
records, they probably will forev.
er remain Enclosed. To this day,
our successors periodically are
asked for a report of the }deyel-
opments in what is formally re-
ferred to as the Blue Hills Muir
DER.
In the early autumn of 1910 I
was stationed at Grayelburg, a
small FTench-Canadian settlement
of some 200 souls. Starting on
Sunday morning, l made the sew
enty-mile ride from my post to
Moosejaw with my annual report.
Upon arriving at my destination.
put up at the Brunswick hotel,
where l was informed of the STAY
ing the day before of a settler.
Immediately advised the Officer
Commanding the district and was
ordered to hold myself in readi-
ness subject to the orders Of Ser
geant R. B. c.. Mundy of the
Moosejaw sub-district, who already
was advised of the tragedy and
had taken up the Investigation.
A few hours later I received in
structions from Mundy to proceed
at once to the scene of the muir
der and take what steps I regard
ed necessary to the apprehension
of the assassin.
As sat in the hotel eating in
preparing for the ride, I engaged
a farmer sitting next to me in
conversation. He knew the victim
personally.
According to this informant the
slain man. Frank Sutten, had
lived on a homestead in the Blue
Hills, south of M~oosejaw, near
Johnson Lake. in Southern Sas-
katchewan. and about sixty miles
north Of the international bound
airy. He was an honest, unprepo-
ssessing farmer, typical Of the
class we liked TO see proving up
claims, for these thrifty and con-
scientious tillers of the soil made
for permanence and stability.
Like the beginning of all settle
ments. the homesteaders had
erected their shacks within a
stones throw of one another.
each, however, on his own quart
er section of land. In one of
these lived John Preel. On the
previous Sunday morning Preel,
who was addicted to drinking
and habitually carried a 5000
Winchester, borrowed a horse and
buggy from Sutten to make the
trip to the Blue Hills %postofice,
where he wanted to mail a letter
TO a young woman friend. Preel
was about five feet six inches
tall. and he invariably wore a
peaked cap. Another distinctive
mark was a mole under his right
eye.
Whenever under the influence
Of liquor he threatened in a loud
voice to shoot up any place he
happened to be in.
After interviewing the others
living nearby, I decided that SUIT
en- came to his death through a
succession Of events about as fol
lows:
At 4 p. M. on the day of the
murder Preel returned to the
Sutten shack astride the horse.
He had been drinking. He told
the owner that his outfit had
been busted up, and made some
disparaging remark about anyone
who would send a friend on a
trip in such a wreck. The two
men engaged in a verbal battle
and later actual fisticuffs, but
they were separated. Later, their
rancor somewhat assuaged by fire.
quent nips from PreeIs bottle,
they apparently patched over
their differences. The task of
questioning the witnesses was not
facilitated by the hang-overs they
suffered from as a result Of