The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1932-01-14
MAD TRAPPER
ROUTS POLICE
IN GUN DUEL
Maniac, Hidden in Tunnel
of Cabin, Fights Off
Royal Mounted.
FORT is GYNAMITED
Crazed Man Rains Bullets
on Attackers, ThWartS
Capture Attempt.
By United Press

DH CHtttu 4FcoS
AKLAVIK, Northwest Territory,
Jan. 14.-Secure in his Arctic for
tresS, a mad trapper waited today
while the Royal Canadian mounted
police fitted a third expedition to
follow the two which fought I'M
successfully with guns and dyna-
mite to capture the maniac.
A weary squad of eight half-frozen
officers brought the story of the
latest fight-a f1fteen-hour gun bat
tie in the twilight of Arctic winter
to this little outpost more than
$50 miles north of the Arctic circle.
The officers said that Albert john
son, the blush crazy" trapper,
poured volley after volley at them
from a dungeon-like tunnel built
under his fortified cabin. The man,
driven mad by the isolation of the
dreary northern bush country. is
wanted for attempted murder of
Constable A. w. King, who enter
tanned Colonel and Mrs. Charles A.
Lindbergh on their flight to the
Orient.
Dynamite Attack Fails
The roof of the cabin was torn
off by dynamite, but Johnson, in his
underground shelter, was unframed
and fought on.
For thirteen hours the fight
ragged, then, suffering severely in
the sub-zero temperatures and with
only scanty food supplies left, the
constables reiterated here for re-
Inducements.
Constable King first attempted to
apprehend Johnson Dec. 81. In
dams had reported the trapper was
tampering with their trap lines and
the officer sought to question him.
When King approached the cabin,
johnson fired, seriously wounding
him.
r. G. Mcdowell, northwest mounted
officer accompanying King, placed
the wounded officer on dog sled
and carried him eighty miles
through a terrific blizzard to Ak
lavik. The officer is recovering in
a hospital here now.
Posse Held Off
AS soon as the report of the
shooting was made, inspector A. N.
Eames, in charge of the area, or
ganized posse, determined to cap
ture the crazed man at any cost.
Hampered by heavy snow and Bit
terly cold weather, the eight officers
spent four days reaching Rat river,
where the cabin is located.
They found the trapper had bar
ricaded his cabin. The hut re-
sembled tiny fort. The door was
reinforced and windows were heav-
lily barred.
Inside the cabin, which projects
only a few feet above ground, john
son had dug tunnel and under
ground room, where he took re-
treat when firing became heavy.
Earth was thrown up about the
walls to halt bullets penetrating the
heavy log structure.
The officers called on the traps
per to surrender. His only repM
was a rapid burst of revolver shoN
from one of two automatics with
which he was armed.
Fights From Tunnel
The posse deployed about the
structure, seeking cover behind
clumpS Of scrubby bush and
boulders. At signal, general fir
ing was begun. For hours the
battle continued. Every attempt of
the officers to approach the cabin
was met with shots from the
fortress.
One officer, protected by bar
rage from his comrades, advanced
! on the cabin and battered down
the door, but retreated under heavy
fire from Johnson, who had taken
refuge in his tunnel.
Dynamite bombs were tossed and
ripped off the roof Of the cabin
with terrific blast. The officers
again advanced, but found the
trapper's fire undiminished and
were forced to retreat. They said
the trapper apparently was unin-
jured by either the blast or the
stream of bullets.
Realizing the party would be cut
off if an Arctic blizzard came up
and food for their dogs, only
method Of transportation through
the heavy snow, was insufficient,
the officers were forced to give up
the fight.
Trappers said Johnson came in
to the northwest territory from
Yukon last fall. He brought only
a pair Of snowshoes as his equip
ment, but was supplied plentifully