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Connections between the crime scenes begin to tell a story... but is it enough to uncover the who did it?
Blood on the Prairie is a historical true crime podcast unravelling the century-old mystery of Grande Prairie's "Murder of Six," Alberta’s largest unsolved mass murder.
Episode 3: Person or Persons Unknown
Chris: The following is based on a true story that happened in Grande Prairie, Alberta, Canada in 1918. The story is based on historical primary sources including surviving case files, criminal reports, and other contemporary documents and accounts. The first-person accounts spoken throughout this narrative are taken word-for-word from the surviving transcripts. We have engaged voice actors to read portions of these transcripts, and while these quotes have been at times abridged or slightly rearranged for clarity, every word is based on the historical record.
Cris: Some of the scenes described include details of violent acts. Listener and parental discretion is advised.
Chris: As author Wally Tansem wrote in his book "The Foulest of Murders," detailing the events of the 1918 Six Murder Case, Coroner Percy Hugh Belcher was, quote:
Wally Tansem, Foulest of Murders: …an impressively large white-goateed and austere magistrate, he came to preside over Grande Prairie's frontier court, striking terror in every culprit's heart..."
Chris: Appointed in 1916, at the age of 60, Belcher...
Wally Tansem, Foulest of Murders: ...was the first travelling magistrate for the Province of Alberta. ...colourful and crotchety.
Chris: Belcher had formerly served for 15 years in the Northwest Mounted Police, and he would prove to be central to this case, serving in Grande Prairie in 1918 as both the official coroner, and the only magistrate in the region.
He presided over the official inquests into the Snyder and Patan murders, as well as the preliminary criminal court trials, some two years later. We'll get to those trials eventually, and we'll also learn a lot more about author Wally Tansem in a future episode.
But in this episode, we're going to take a look at the first week after the murders: the impact on the community, the details of the official inquests, and the capture of the first real suspects.
Cris: On the morning of June 20, 1918, Coroner Belcher arrived at the Snyder scene while the fire in Joseph Snyder's cabin was still too hot to approach. With only one body discovered at the north end of the building, Belcher returned to town to write up an "Affidavit of Coroner." This document formed his official opinion that the body found:
Percy Belcher: did not come to his death from natural causes or from mere accident or mischance but that he came to his death from violence or unfair means, under circumstances requiring investigation by coroner's inquest. So help me God. PH Belcher, Coroner of the Province of Alberta
Cris: Later that day, Belcher signed a second document, a "Warrant to Summon Jury". This document officially commanded Corporal Allen of the Alberta Provincial Police, to summon "Six Good and Lawful men" to attend the crime scene as jurors. He commanded that this jury, and Allen, return to the Snyder scene at noon to begin the official inquiry.
Cpl. Allen summoned John E. Thomson, Ross McMillan, Herbert W. Matherson, John A. Crerar, William C. Pratt, and William M. Salmond. Failing to answer this summons would have cost each man a $40 fine to be paid to the Crown. Whereas fulfilling their duty would earn each man a fee of $2 per day, plus meals and eligible expenses.
All six men turned up at the Snyder Place as summoned. And the same six men were called again as jurors in the Patan inquest— the two crimes already inextricably linked.
Six Dead Men.
Six Good and Lawful Men, tasked with overseeing their justice.
I'm Cris Seppola.
Chris: I’m Chris Beauchamp.
This is Blood on the Prairie.
With a population of about 500 people in 1918, the remote Village of Grande Prairie lacked a permanent courtroom. The Snyder inquest took place on June 26, at the Grande Prairie Club. By this time, both murder scenes had been discovered. Witnesses gave their testimony to the assembled jurors, under the watchful gaze of Percy Belcher, and the curious townfolk who packed the small community hall rented for the occasion. The Patan Inquest was called in the same place, two days later, on June 28.
The Attorney General's Department of the Government of Alberta, paid $10 per day for the hall rental—one of the numerous expenses incurred as part of the investigation.
It's worth noting that everyone involved in the inquest proceedings was paid for their time. From the driver, AV Thompson, for his car service, or Doctors Conroy and MacDonald — who were paid $10 for each of the six post-mortem examinations — to fees for witnesses, jurists, investigators, — and, our favourites: the stenographers, Marie A. Schenk and Marjorie Clark.
In a case where almost every voice documented in the historical record is that of a man, it is thanks to the work of these two women, and others like them, that we know this story at all. They faithfully transcribed hours of testimony, in real time, and then spent considerable additional time typing up copies and organizing the material. Marie A. Schenk earned $11.30 for her work on the Snyder inquest files. These women were truly the first to process and understand the case documents, and we owe them a debt of gratitude over 100 years later.
Cris: In the archival material we have from these inquests, there are almost as many pages of accounting records as actual documents about the testimony and evidence. There are no photographs in these files. No maps or drawings of the crime scenes. No detailed lists of the physical evidence found. We don't have the initial investigative crime reports from Corporal Allen and Det. Sgt. Eagan. Nor do we have any documents prepared directly by Dr.'s Conroy and MacDonald.
All we really have is their spoken testimony as recorded in these inquest files, typed up a few days after the crimes. Everything else has been lost to time, if it ever existed at all.
And yet there is still a lot here. Almost all of the spoken testimony we've heard on the podcast to date has come from these two initial inquest files, and these documents are only a fraction of the material we have uncovered about the case.
We've done our best to tell the story to this point based on what was known at the time. As more testimony and evidence emerged in the coming weeks, some of this information will get challenged and reconsidered. But for the purposes of the inquests, the primary goal was to record the immediate evidence and to refer the case for official investigation.
Chris: As an aside, we've occasionally heard some of the questions posed at the inquests in our voice actor segments. We've brought these questions to life for our purposes in the voice of Percy Belcher, but it's likely that some or all of the questions posed were actually asked by Crown Prosecutor M.W. Eager.
Cris: At the conclusion of the two inquests, The Six Good and Lawful Men added their signatures to the Inquisition documents drawn up by Belcher, certifying that the testimony and evidence collected was true, and that all six dead men had been murdered at the "hands of some person or persons unknown."
Chris: While the inquests were documenting the known facts, people in the area were also sharing the story of the murders, through the tried and true mechanisms of gossip, rumor and myth. As one local homesteader, William Stanley Bird, from the nearby community of Laglace, wrote, in a letter to his father:
William Stanley Bird: Dear Dad, I got your letter alright and was very glad to hear from you. This is a pretty nice country, but everybody’s hair is on end just now. Two cowboys from Montana came up here last week and murdered seven men. Six Germans & a Russian. There was a report that the government was going to seize all money that Germans had in the bank so they all drew out their money. That’s the reason for the murders. Seven Mounted police came from Edmonton and rounded up the two punchers. One had $1700 on him and the other $3000. One was shot before he was caught. Everybody in town who could pack a gun had to scour the country for them. Some of the victims were drowned some burned one had his head cut off some were shot. They were all killed two at a time except the seventh. Nearly everybody is carrying a gun now.
Chris: Of course, knowingly or not, Bird was exaggerating most of the details of the crimes — including the number of victims and their causes of death.
But William Bird did get a few things right: the local police had just captured two suspects South of the Wapiti River — Norman "Shorty" Keeler, and Edwin Salisbury. We'll learn about them soon enough.
Bird was also right in noting that the victims were all of Eastern European descent. A fact which was polarizing within the community.
Cris: Settlers of predominantly British heritage, were already talking about the "immigrants," convinced that the crime was carried out by other Eastern Europeans, and that the victims were caught up in some sort of plot gone awry.
According to local historian Alyssa Curry, former executive director of the South Peace Regional Archives, the dynamic between these competing ethnic groups was inflamed by the tensions of the First World War.
Alyssa Currie: These victims are from Eastern Europe, and particularly around the time of the First World War, there seems to be a little bit of I don't want to say conflict, but a little bit of tension between those settlers and the predominantly British Western European settlers, particularly when many of these community members are seen the British or Western European settlers step up and volunteer to to serve in the war.
They use the term often immigrants to refer to these Eastern European immigrants, in spite of the fact that they themselves are also immigrants, simply from a different place.
There seems to be a lot of investment on the part of the government in persecuting bootleggers. But when things like a murder of six recent immigrants happens, things seem to kind of fall apart. And what the citizens are seeing or feeling is that it's not getting the same degree of attention.
Cris: On the same day that William Stanley Bird wrote that letter to his father, June 27, 1918, The Clairmont Independent, a local newspaper, reported on the case under the headline:
The Clairmont Independent: Wholesale Murder on the Prairie: Four more corpses to add to the two already found. Six men were sent to their doom in one night apparently, within four or five miles from Clairmont and Grande Prairie. Such are the bare facts that confront us. Zimmer, Paton, Russian Jack, and Palowski were found at Paton's farm in a badly decomposed state on Monday last by Sandy Peebles, who went to see why Paton's horses were running wild in his wheat fields.... Robbery, it is presumed, was the motive, as both Zimmer and Paton were known to have money in large quantities."
Cris: And while this report also got a few details wrong, including two of the four victim's names, it did accurately capture the mood of the community at the time. As the paper continued:
The Clairmont Independent: That such a wholesale murder has taken place on the Prairie is too appalling, as it is the worst crime that has ever been perpetuated in Western Canada and perhaps all of Canada. No Clues have so far been obtainable and the murderer or murderers have a good start, as Joe Snyder and his nephew were sent to their death a week ago this morning [...]
"It is a most gruesome affair and every effort will have to be made to apprehend the guilty party or parties, as people on lonely farms — and elsewhere for that matter — will not feel like staying around their places at night with such desperados at large."
Cris: The article went on to briefly editorialize about the state of policing in the region.
The Clairmont Independent: "We have nothing to say against the Provincial Police in so far as what they do is concerned, but not only from here but from all over Alberta, there is an insistent demand for the Royal Northwest Mounted Police back again. The Dominion Government made a stupendous blunder when they took them away, and it should be rectified without any further delay."
Cris: The recently formed Alberta Provincial Police had taken over policing in Alberta from the Royal Northwest Mounted Police a year earlier in May of 1917. And it's clear that the handful of police in the region were a bit underprepared for a case like this. To be blunt, they were in over their heads, more accustomed to chasing down bootleggers than uncovering mass murderers.
What most people want to talk about what most people have recorded or comment on? Often in relation to what they feel is the police's in competence is related to bootlegging. And they There seems to be a lot of investment on the part of the government in persecuting bootleggers. But when things like a murder of six recent immigrants happens, things seem to kind of fall apart. And what the citizens are seeing or feeling is that it's not getting the same degree of attention.
Cris: The local police failed to secure the crime scenes, which allowed curious onlookers to poke around and almost certainly disturb valuable evidence. Over time, other criticisms emerged about the Alberta Provincial Police's handling of the case, and we'll explore some of those policing issues, in future episodes.
Chris: In addition to the bare facts of the crime scenes, the inquest testimony also provided some human insights into the relationships between witnesses and victims.
As we've made clear by now, the crimes at the two properties were almost certainly related. The murders occurred on two consecutive nights, a mere 3-4 miles apart. Let's review the direct physical evidence linking the crime scenes: which included Patan's missing .38 revolver, a similar gun found on Snyder's sod roof, the five spent shells, and Patan's key ring found at Joseph Snyder's farm.
But there were also a number of personal connections discovered in the inquest testimony linking the men we've met to date. Even a cursory review of some of these connections raises interesting questions:
Cris: Patan's partner, Charles Zimner, found murdered in the wagon at the Patan farm, had actually sold his farm to Daniel Lough a mere month before for the sum of $2,000. It would emerge later that Joseph Snyder had been in talks with Zimner about buying the same property, but Daniel Lough beat him to it.
Chris: Ignace Patan had allegedly sold his crops to Daniel Lough as well, as part of his effort to clear up his business in Grande Prairie before heading north. It appears that Lough had not yet settled that account at the time of the murders
Cris: Joseph Snyder had actually visited Ignace Patan's place the Sunday before they were both killed. According to Sandy Peebles, Snyder would visit Patan occasionally to procure fish from the Bear Creek. He would always stop in for a visit at Peebles' place on the way. On this Sunday, the Patan crew didn't have any fish, but insisted Joseph wait while they put a net in the creek so they could send him home with some.
Chris: And of course, Daniel Lough had visited the Snyder house earlier on the night of their murders, a few short hours before someone killed Joseph Snyder and his nephew Stanley
Daniel Lough: The night of the 19th I was over to Snyders about one hour. I did not look at the watch, but I think it was about 8 and I stayed about one hour. "We were in the barn putting a pair of boots on a colt — or putting leggings on — as the colt had week legs. I had been there other times.
Chris: During questioning, Lough was prompted to describe an unusual event that occurred on that visit. Something or someone had spooked Joseph Snyder's horses, and some of the animals ended up down in the slough.
Daniel Lough: I noticed horses come out of slough at one time. I think just before we left. I think we had one of the leggings on the colt, probably about twenty minutes after nine, I would judge if I were guessing.
"Snyder's nephew ran down to the slough by the well. He was the first one to run down and Snider, who was up in the barn, where he and I was putting the boot on the colt, jumped up and he said, "What the world is the matter, something is scaring the horses,' or something"
"The horses had got out of the slough when we got there and were all in the yard."
Chris: It's not made clear in the inquest documents whether investigators thought this incident was related to the crime, but it was apparently odd for the horses to behave like that. Investigators later speculated that someone may have been hiding near the slough, biding their time until dark.
Or perhaps the incident meant nothing.
Daniel Lough went home around 9:30pm, and went to bed within an hour or so. He woke up only a few hours later, at 2:30am, when he heard the cries for help and the gruff man's voice.
Cris: There's a lot to unpack in these complex inter-relationships, and we'll be revisiting some of these connections again in the future.
In 1918, these types of connections invited all sorts of theories and speculation. People love to talk.
But as historian Alyssa Currie, explained to us, the settler lifestyle was difficult, and it necessitated communal trade, barter, and connections among the locals. It shouldn't be surprising that most of the people in this area knew and associated with each other. It was a small community, and to survive, settlers had to rely on one another.
Alyssa Currie: You do see neighbours coming together and supporting one another for the mutual benefit of the community.
If you don't get the potatoes in the ground, or if you don't get the your, your kitchen garden going, you're gonna have real problems, and no, not, you know, I might go hungry for a few days, but I might have to pack up and leave because I don't have enough food to feed my me or my family. And you often at that point, you don't see a lot of families. At that point. You see mostly single men, which is also the case for most of the victims here. I believe.
Chris: When dealing with so many names and facts in the archival material, it's easy to get a bit lost. It's also easy to forget that these crimes carried a very real human cost. There are glimpses of this, among the invoices, receipts, crime reports, and transcripts, but these moments are fleeting, and easily missed when treating the case as a simple whodunnit.
Sandy Peebles had been friends with Joseph Snyder, and we talked last episode about how Snyders death likely affected Peebles. But Sandy Peebles had also been friends with Ignace Patan. It was Peebles who reported the eerily quiet Patan house to police, and it was Peebles who accompanied them to investigate the scene.
It's hard to imagine that Peebles was unaffected by his grim discovery, and by the task of trying to identify the badly decomposing bodies of the men he knew. This is from the Patan Inquest testimony, where Sandy Peebles identified his friend Ignace Patan.
Percy Belcher: This is Exhibit B Frame Building [...] Did you see two bodies lying in there?
Sandy Peebles: Yes.
Percy Belcher: Could you identify one or both of them?
Sandy Peebles: I could say that the one to the east as that of Patan, by his moccasins as when he was at our place he said he had killed the moose and made the moccasins himself. He put his foot up on the chair and I took particular notice to the moccasins, and they were on the man."
Percy Belcher: As to his general build would you say that it was the body of Patan?
Sandy Peebles: Yes.
Chris: The Patan victims were buried in the Roman Catholic Church Cemetery, although according to Wally Tansem, their bodies were later moved when the church burned down. They now lie in the Grande Prairie Cemetery — the same resting place as Joseph and Stanley Snyder.
Cris: With the formal inquests wrapping up, the community was eager to bring the "person or persons unknown," to justice. As author Wally Tansem wrote in "The Foulest of Murders:"
Wally Tansem, Foulest of Murders: Fear permeated the small community following the finding of the six murdered men. Doors were kept locked, loaded guns were kept under settler's pillows or near at hand during the day. Neighbours eyed neighbours with suspicion.
Cris: So, it was a huge relief when word arrived in town that there were two confirmed suspects, even though they were currently at large.
The Patan inquest had heard testimony about a break-in and robbery south of the Wapiti River. A witness described seeing a man there who matched the description of one Norman Keeler. Keeler was a known associate of Igance Patan and John Wuwand. He had been seen leaving Grande Prairie with another man on the night of the Snyder murders.
This lead was enough for Corporal Allen to report the matter up the chain and he was ordered to form a posse to go after the suspects. Allen had no trouble finding some willing men to join the posse and pursue the men.
At the bottom of the front page of the June 27th Clairmont Independent, which we quoted from earlier in this episode, another article appeared — clearly added at the last minute:
The Clairmont Independent: Two Suspects Captured. Word Came just before going to press, that two of the supposed murderers were captured last night on the south side of the Wapiti River one of them was wounded twice before surrendering.
Cris: With two suspects in custody, and the inquests concluded, the community was likely feeling some much needed relief — a mood that would prove to be short-lived.
Chris: In the next episode of Blood on the Prairie, we'll follow the posse in pursuit of Norman Keeler & his partner Edwin Salisbury. We'll meet investigator J.D. "Bulldog" Nicholson, appointed by the Attorney General's Office to take over the case from the local police. Nicholson's arrival would open a new chapter in the investigation — and his suspicions would soon land on some familiar names.
Cris: Blood on the Prairie is produced by Cris Seppola and Chris Beauchamp.
We'd like to thank the South Peace Regional Archives, the Provincial Archives of Alberta, Alyssa Curry, Karen Simonson, Dr. David Leonard, Brenda Lacroix, the family of Wallace Tansem, Jason Halwa, Al Peterson, Kasper Townes, Gordie Haakstad, Richard Podsada, and Laura Beauchamp.
Blood on the Prairie was developed thanks to funding provided by TELUS STORYHIVE. Special Thanks to Tara Jean Stevens, Jessica Gibson, and the National Screen Institute.
Music used in this episode by: Unrealsfx, Roie Shpigler, The David Roy Collective, Matt Stewart Evans, James Paul Mitchell, Oakfield, Muted, Yehezkel Raz, Ohad Ben Ari, Michael Vignola,
Our voice actors in this episode included: Clint Webb, Scott Maitland, Kasper Townes, Grant Buchanan, Lyle West and Richard Podsada
Blood on the Prairie is available on all major podcast platforms. For show notes and access to archival sources and other documents relating to the case — as well as photographs from both the 1918 era, and the crime scenes in 2021, find us at bloodonthepriaire.com.