Williams NEWS EXCHANGE OF THE CARIBOO Lake Tribune Volume 20 —Number 50. WILLIAMS LAKE, B.C. Thursday, December 18, 1952. Single copy 10c. $2.50 per year. PROGRAM ON TOWN PROVES INTERESTING Hearing their neighbors talk about their lives and the old home town over the radio Monday night proved intensely interesting.to Wil} liams Lake residents. The program was the first of two that will be car- ried by CBC. Next Monday the pro- gram will deal with the district. Seven townspeople made up last Monday’s broadcast and the selec- tion gave a good cross-section of opinion. The program was started off by historian D, A. H. Bayne, who spoke on the life of original settler William Pinchbeck and his which stood on the site of the pres- ent town. Arthur Haddock, one time stage driver om the Cariboo Trail also took in the Klondyke rush brought the early freighting days to life with his commentary. Roderick Mackenzie, who built the first store in the town of Williams Lake back in 1920, described the growth of the village from that small start. Behind the town at that time, as today. was the wealthy cat- tle industry Mr. Mackenzie told the interviewer. Prominent in the indus- try throughout the growth of the town were men like R. C. Cotton and Charlie Moon, he said. Two women were interviewed on the program. Hazel Exshaw. whose responsibility it is each sum. mer as village pound-keeper to keep the village free of stray horses and cattle, told of coming to Williams Lake when the first building was be- ing constructed. She also described social life in the village in the early days. Govrnment Agent Miss Jessie Fos- ter admitted it had been tough get- ting her unusual famous farm Bulk Of Vote Won By Present Commissioners Confidence in the present civic administration was indicated in the results of last Thursday’s election when Commissioners Stan Goad and Alastair Mackenzie secured the bulk of the popular vote. Commissioner Goad topped the polls again this year with 152 votes and present commission chairman Mackenzie was right behind him with 147. There were 163 ballots cast, three of them spoiled. Riding into office on his first at- tempt at gaining a seat on the board of commissioners was Alf Eagle who obtained 109 votes. Defeated in the four-way race was former commis- sioner C. H. Poston who trailed with 84 votes. The number of voters who exerels- ed their franchise was also an Indi- cation that there were no matters of major civic policy at stake in the election. With 284 on the voters’ lst, slightly more than a 57 per cent vote was recorded. PUBLISH DECEMBER 24 Christmas Day falling on Thursday next week, the regular edition of The Tribune will be published on Wed- 1942. Thep owers that he were prob- ably hesitant about setting a prece- dent in appointing a woman govern- ment agent, she said. Miss Foster went on to describe what sports and other diversions were available to Cariboo residents. Newcomer to town Bruce Magoftin gave his impression of Wiliams Lak saying that he had had a marvelous reception irom the townspeople. He went on to say that if anyone was looking for a place to come to wher® the peple were friendly, and where much of the picturesque past has been retained they shonld come to Williams Lake. The program wound up aint an interview with Stampede Associa- tion president Benny Abbott. Benny dealt almost exclusively with the town’s big annual show, giving it as big a build up as he could manage. nesday, D r 24 APPEAL If you would like to help out a family hit by sudden dis- astér, the local Emergeucy Disaster Committee “is provia- ing the opportunity. Cooking utensils, crockery, cutlery and other kitchen sup- plies are needed to supply a town family wiped out by fire this week and a family at Like- ly. Extra supplies that are re- ceived will be put in the com- mittee’s’ stoek room for future emergencies. You can leave supplies at the committee depot at the Elks Hall any night- between 7 and 9 o'clock. Completion of 20 Years Service By Local Fire Chief Marked Fire Chief Claude Huston, who has directed the destiny of the local] volunteer Fire Brigade for the past 20 years, was accorded official appreciation of his efforts at the last Village Commmissioners’ on his knowledge of the history of the fire brigade to describe the achievement of the man who “has done a wonderful job of organizing and maintaining the brigade.” The chairman said that although Mr. Huston had not organized the first brigade here, the credit of start- ing the present well-knit organiza- tion certainly belonged to him. Prior to 1932 the brigade had been or- ganized several times but had not managed to survive. ‘What had probably been the chiet’s first experience in fire fighting in town was recalled by the chairman. One day in 1930, Mr. Mackenzie said he was standing talking to Claude at the latter's livery stable when a fire proke out next door. There was a vit- lage fire reel located nearby and the two men grabbed the cart with ics jJoad of hose and started off down the street. In their enthusiasm they took the cor went the reel. be hooked up. Fire Chief Huston has learned a fire fighting since those days and probably more about how to maintain discipline in gn organiz- Jot about too fast and over This was righted and the would-be firefighters arrived at the scene of the blaze only to dis- cover that they didn’t have the faint- est idea of how the equipment should meeting of the) year Tuesday night. Chairman Alastair Mackenzie drew ; vineiig the commissioners from time ;to time that the young brigade need- ed more equipment. His biggest ar- gument in this respect resulted in the village buying the present fire truck, but Mr. Mackenzie said you wouldn’t find a taxpayer who didn’t agree that the investment had been worthwhile. “Chief” Huston was presented with a smart wrist watch asa token of the commissioners’ appreciation of 20 years service, In thanking the board, Mr. Huston passed the responsibility of the fire brigade’s success to the men who drop whatever they are doing at the sound of the siren and become work- ing firemen until the danger is over. XMAS LIGHTING CONTEST MONDAY Again this year the Junior Cham- ber of Commerce will pr annual Christmas decoration chal- lenge plaques for competion among merchants and householders. The plaques are given to the bu nesshouse or home that presents the best exterior decorative effect. BXx- ation where your men receive no pay terior lighting and decorations an‘ ‘and could be expected to walk out window decorations are taken into anytime if they didn’t like the way | peerternton. Judges will tour the the brigade was being run. own Monday night making their He also had another job in con-, aan, sent thé} Photo by Blackwell’s Alf Eagle, one of the three com- missioners elected to office at lust Thursday’s civic election. NEWCOWIERS LOSE POSSESSIONS IN FIRE Newcomers ‘to Canada, Mr. and Mrs. Ronald Weil face a bleak first Christmas as a result of a disastrons fire Monday morning that razed their small home on the property of Jack Smedley about two miles north of “|town. Mr. and Mrs. Weil were in Ques- nel when the fire was discovered by neighbours. Their eight-year-old son was at school. The fire was first no- ticed about 10.30 a.m. and neighbor Jim Deutch drove to Lignum’s to turn in the alarm. Firemen reported to the firehall where Chief Claude Huston directed 14 of the volunteers to go out to the scene leaving the fire truck in town with tle remainder of the brigad>, There i§ not watel availuie where the fire occurred and firemen had to confine their efforts to‘trying to save what furniture they could. In order to do this they braved the smoke- filled rooms time and time again to bring out the contents of the living room and one bedroom. In order t get the bed out in one piece the men literally tore out one section of wall. While the men worked at one end of the house, the other end was rap- idly engulfed by flames. The fire ap- peared to have started at floor level as flames could first be seen under- neath the house. Mr. and Mrs. Weil were unable to hazard a guess as to where the fire could have started. They had left a small fire in the living room heater, but the blaze apparently started at the far end of the house. Lost in the fire was the family dog, a seven- year-old purebred Belgian collie that was overcome by smoke before it was dragged out of the building. Mr. and Mrs. Weil estimate about $2000 worth of furnishings went up in smoke and that the volunteers saved furniture valued at $1000 Had the firemen known of the ex- istence of crates of furniture stored in the attic of the house they could have undoubtedly saved much cf this. The furniture had heen shipped a month ago from England. No in- surance was carried The house, which was owned by Mr. Smedley “was valued at $2500 and insured. This is the second time a disastrous fire has occurred in the small frame structure. It originally tood on the lane between Oliver and Yorston Streets and was partially burned three years ago in a fire that took the life of its lone nt, John R. Hamilton on April 2, 1950. Mr. Smedley later bought the build- ing, moved it out to his property and repaired it. Left with only were wearing and what household furnishings were saved, the Weil family received emergency assistance from th Red Cross, town merchants ocen the clothes they and the Emergency Clothing Com- mittee. They have moved into an- other small building on the same | Property which Mr. Smedley is giv- ing to them rent-free for the winte: Mr. and Mrs. Weil came to Canada from England last May, living first at the 150 Mile before moving to town in August. Mr. Weil is em- ployed by the PGR. Constable Fred Brown, who was posted to the local RCMP detach- ment early this year, has been trans- ferred to Boston Bar, and WHO IS THE MYSTERY MAN? Who is the mystery man shot down by a police bullet near Sugar Cane reserve? Police still haven’t the ans- ~wer to that question and will not know until a report on his fingerprints-comes back from Ottawa. Although the local detach- ment of the RCMP have not re- leased any names, it is known “that he was first thought to be travelling under the name ot: Arthur Redford. Subsequent investigation proved that the real Redford is a patient at Tranquille Sanatorium outside of Kamloops. It also believed that the man worked here for two months at Crescent Lumber company camp six miles north of town under the name of Henry @ din. This man stayed near the camp when he first arrived end did not venture into town until he had grown a full beard. He left Crescent Lumber Novem- Go= ber § The man -under guard at War Memorial Hospital is about five foot ten in height with sandy hair. He is a mag- nificent specimen of a man, heavily muscled and weighing about 200 pounds. The clothes he was wearing were good quality, showing cnservative taste. He is believed to be about 35 years old, Retail Merchants Set Clesing Hours led The Retail Merchants Associaiioa) a SManudunesd thesstore houre/ that will he observed by town merdhants next week. Stores will be open all day Wed- nesday, December 25, but will be closed Christmas Day and Boxing Day. Stores will close each day at 6 p.m. as usual, with no evening hours being observed. S BOARD OF TRADE RETURNS ROBERTS AS PRESIDENT C. F. ‘Bert’ Roberts was returned as president of the Williams Lake and District Board of Trade at the annual meeting last Thursday. Mr. Roberts, who had originally planned on retiring from the board’s chiet mind at the insistence of several of the members who had urged him to carry unopposed. executive post, changed his on for another year, He was Vice-president for the coming year is Tribune publisher Clive Stan- goe. Secretary is Doug Adair of the Bank of Commerce staff and Bank of Montreal manager Jack Purser was returned as treasurer for a second term. Directors elected were Ed. Follis. Bruce Magoffin, Tony Woodland, Ray Hargreaves, Bert Levens, Len Hellyer and Clarene Singer. Hono’ ary president is B. D. Fulton, M.P honorary vice-president 1s Hon. Ralph Chetwynd. Prior to the election of officers, the meeting agreed to press for es- tablishment of a new airport on the once-surveyed site on the Spring- house Road. Chosen to head a com- mittee to prepa brief on the eb- vious advantage of such an airport as opopsed to the present large Dog Ceerk establishment, was a man who had much to do with previous at- tempts by the board to have this Bert choos project undertaken. Levens was empowered to his own committee of two more members to re the written evidence. pre] The promis of former goyern-| ments to construct an addition to} the present provincial building were the board and repre: ill be made to the So- discussed sentationss cial Credit government to see what their policy in this regard will pe, |beyond the town dump. Setting off ja Bandit Suspect Wounded in Capture Manhunt Ends In Gulley Near Sugar Cane Reserve A fusilade of shots Tuesday morning in a small ravine near Sugar Cane reerve ended in the wounding and capture near Sugar Cane reserve ended in the wounding and capture officers. In hospital in fair condition, sut-j fering from a bullet wound in the chest is the man who police believe wounded Len Hellyer, local Bank of Commerce branch manager in an at- tempt to rob the bank ten hours éarlier. f Mr. Hellyer, who was shot through the fleshy part of the ee is in good condition. The story of the attempted bank hold-up started about 11:15 Monday night as the manager left the bank after working late in his office. Mr. Hellyer was just . pulling away from the curb in his car whea the door opened and a ‘heayy-set man slipped into the seat beside him and said “Going my way Mr. Hellyer said he couldn’t make out his unexpected passenger’s face in the darkness and didn’t know whether he was a stranger or some- one he might have had a nodding ac- quaintance with as he answered “That depends on where you're going.” The man assured him he- just wanted to go up the street so the manager pilled away. Half way along the first block he felt the bar- rel of a gun pushed in his ribs and his passenger growled “This is it, fellow. This is a hold-up.” Drove to Village Dump Assuring Mr. Hellyer that noth- ing would happen to him if he did what he was told, the handit directed him to drive out to the village dump road. Once there he ordered him to stop just off the highway and ex- plained his plan of action. ‘‘We’ll go back to the bank,” he said, “you'll open the door, go to the vault, open that and put the money in this sat- chel until I tell you to stop.” The manager was then directed to drive backrcto the bank but “as a group of people were standing out- side the front door he was told to drive on. As they toured the town the gunman kept warning the bank manager what would happen to him if he didn’t obey instructions, At one point oe Hellyer said ints awites)ai Accountant Stops at Bank While these events. were taking place, bank accountant Don Mars, accompanied by local businessman Tony Kallaur had conie downtown following a Canadian Legion meet- ing. This must have been just after Mr. Hellyer had first left on his forced ride. Mr. Mars stopped at the bank to leave some papers and then the two men walked over to a cafe for a cup of coffee. Back at the bank again the bandit ordered Mr. Hellyer out of the car and told him to leave the motor running. Then he handed him the small satchel and followed him up to the front door. The manager open- ed the door and walked in, the ban- dit prodding him and warning him not to touch any buzzer wires. As he approached the vault Mr. Hellyer began to worry about what would happen when it came to the point of trying to get in the inner safe. He had tried to warn the bandit | before that this was on a time lozk! and couldn’t be opened until banking) would be expecting him home and the man said he knew he was mar- ried and had two children and a cocker spaniel. “Do as you're told,” he said, “and you'll be with your kids for Christmas.” The journey out to the dump road was repeated a second time and again the bandit ordered Mr. Hell- yer to park and gave him his instruc- tions for the planned robbery. This time he opened the car door and fired his automatic into the ground say- ing “Now you see J mean business. this wouldn’t be the first time.” He also relieved the manager of his wal- let as they sat in the parked car and stuffed it in his pocket before order- ing oe to start back to town. hours in the morning. Fortunately this impasse was never reached. He had just opened the vault doors when a rattling noise was heard at the front door of the bank. Coming back from the cafe, Mr. Mars and Mr. Kallaur had noticed the bank door ajar and entered to investigate. ~ When the door rattled the bandit dashed towards the front of the bank warning Mr. Hellyer not to move or he’d be shot. As the two men came into the bank he ordered them to put their hands up with the same warn ing. The two men, unable to make out who was talking to them, thought it was some kind of a joke and didn't put up their hands, although ths bandit repeated his command. Then he turned to Mr. Hellyer and ordered him to come towards him. The men- ager started walking the length of the bank and as he neared the te ler's cage the gunman suddenly fired at him and dashed out of the bank. Manhunt Touched Off Fearing that more wild shots might be fired, Mr. Mars yelled ‘get down and don’t turn on the liglits."" When nothing happened, Mr. Hell- yer picked up a phone nearby and called the police. This touched off one of the largest manhunts the town has ever seen. Loeal police put out a call for re- inforcements from neighboring de- tachments and south and north highway. roadblocks were set up. In the meantime the local con- stables reported for duty and started a systematic search of stree:s and hotels. The first good coating of snow the valley has had this season proved to be the man’s undoing. Casting about for possible trails out of town, police first became suspicious of a set of footprints leading up a logging road on this trail the men believed-they were on the right one when it led to barbed wire fence and evidence showed the hunted man had walked along the bottom strand of wire for 50 feet in an attempt to throw any pursuers off. This type of ruse was repeated as the man back-tracked and made every attempt to confuse his followers throughout the loxg morning. Reinforcements were arriving on the scene and at its peak the hunt saw 14 constables from Williams Lake, Kamloops, 100 Mile, Alexis Creek and Quesnel .taking up the chase. Also in the group was preda- tor animal hunter Marius Mortenson, whose trained eyes proved invalu+ able to the trackers. The end of the chase came sud- denly at 10:30. A group of three constables. two from Quesnel and one from town walked. to the rim of a small gulley almost on top of the man. He was crouched in a bunch of willows and as the first policeman approached at a distance of about 20 feet he levelled his automatic and warned the officer to drop his rifle. Instead the policeman ducked be- hind a tree and the hunted man fired. The other two policemen opened fire too and after the man yelled that he’d been hit. The officers found one of their shots had struck him in the chest. a brief exchange, Skaters are still waiting for the necessary ice at the arena. Last Thursday’s warm Chinook melted the ice that had been made and aren manager Bd. McGibbon sa: building is still about ten degrees* too warm.