Wakopa

10. Pioneer Stories

Stories From Wakopa - told in no particular order….

Lynx Attack

Jesse Robbins and sister Jane came to Holmfield in the spring of 1894. Jane married William Barber whom she had met in Ontario. Barber homesteaded 18-1-18 in 1881. He walked to Deloraine to file for it and carried a lunch to eat on the way. William, a plasterer by trade, plastered many houses in Killarney. He once went to the sawmill in Wakopa for a load of lumber and while there, a lynx jumped at the horse's head. William hit the animal with a 2 x 4 and after quieting down the team, succeeded in killing the lynx. The horses bridle had deep claw marks cut in the leather.
A Well-Travelled Horse.
The story is that a horse used by General Custer at the Battle of Little Bighorn, complete with saddle, was brought to the Wakopa area by Dakota warriors who were still wearing scalps of the Seventh Cavalry on their belts.
Sounds a bit far-fetched, but according to www.american-tribes.com, Noisy Walker, the son of the Wahpekute, Chief Inkpaduta, captured Custer’s horse after the battle.  We know that Inkpaduta and some of his family came to southwestern Manitoba soon after Little Bighorn.
So while there is no proof, at least there is a rationale behind the story that takes it past the rumour stage. We might I suppose consider it a plausible theory, keeping in mind the other unsubstantiated stories about Custer’s horse.

The Strangler

Earle Nelson, an American, was responsible for over two dozen murders across the US and Canada, and was therefore the most dangerous serial killer of his time, in fact he is seen as the first American serial killer. Moving form place to place he would rent rooms in Boarding Houses, then kill the landlady and steal her husband’s clothes

Earle Nelson

Near the end of his crime spree, he crossed into Canada, and after killing two people in Winnipeg he went to Regina, and from there back to southwest Manitoba.

Thanks to a Wakopa storekeeper, he was caught by Canadian authorities as he attempted to flee across the US border.

Killarney historian Lawrence Smith tells it this way…

“ he hitchhiked with a travelling salesman coming all the way down the back roads, cops looking for him all over the place, but they can’t cover all the roads, he hitched to Boissevain, and at that time the railroad ran south into Bannerman down into St. John’s, he was trying to get back to the States. He got as far as Wakopa and Mrs. Morgan,( he stopped in at the Morgan’s store), Mrs. Morgan said she got a real funny feeling in the back of her neck about this character so she told Les and Mr. Dingwall to keep an eye on him. He was hiking down the old railway line. Les went up on top of the elevator to keep an eye on him while Mrs. Morgan phoned the police. And they caught him in Bannerman.”

Jim Whiteford was driving a team and wagon going to Bannerman and had given him a lift.
Mr. Morgan and Mr. Dingwall each received $300. Two other persons also participating in the capture, George Dickson and Dunc Merlin, each received $150.

Recounting the experiences, Mr Dingwall said the CN train had just left when he met a stranger who had just left the Morgan store. “It was the boots he was wearing that made me suspicious”, said Dingwall. “I told Les (Morgan) who I thought the man was, and suggested to Mrs. Morgan that she should phone the police at Killarney. “
Nelson appeared in Winnipeg police court for preliminary hearing on June 23rd. A trial date was set for Nov. 1, 1927 before Crown Prosecutor RB Graham, QC where the jury declared him guilty. He was sentenced to hang Friday, January 13, 1928 at the Vaughan St Jail in Winnipeg.

The Murder of Joseph Deslaurier by Leveque - 1880

In 1880 Wakopa had its first burial. Two Metis working for La Riviere got into a heated argument during milking one evening. One fellow got up off his stool and threw it at the other hitting him on one of the temples which resulted in instant death. The aggressor took flight and hid in a coil of hay northeast of the townsite. R.N.W.M. Police next day noticed the displaced hay by the coil and with help toppled the coil which uncovered the milk stool hurler.
Leveque was sentenced to hang, but received a “writ of error” which delayed the execution. He ended up with a sentence of seven years.

Peter and Mary’s Love Story - A Romance on the Prairies

Peter Bryan operated a successful dry goods store in Liverpool, England, before he was lured to the Canadian West, influenced by the descriptive promotional literature and tales of great opportunities (and perhaps adventure?) in Western Canada. After working on railroads for some time he ended up in the Wakopa area.

Mary Harrison came to the same area with her family. She helped at the store run by the William’s family.

That is where they met and it seems some mutual attraction developed.

But, according to Mary’s daughter, Mary was an attractive girl and others had noticed this as well. One in particular, a “gallant young Scotsman” named Robert Douglas would also drop by the store, sometimes with his, “prancing steed and gig” to take Mary for a ride.

All was going well until the day they went across the line to St. Johns and young Robert made a serious mistake. He went off and got drunk, leaving Mary to find her own way home.

That as they say, was that. With Peter waiting in the wings, Mary had options.

Things went slowly. Mary had moved with her mother to her Uncle’s farm. Peter lived nearby. On a fine day he would take his gun over to Victoria Lake and later drop by with a few ducks, which Mary would roast and they all would enjoy a tasty meal.

Life went on this way for some time until Mary decided to be a bit more proactive.

According to her daughter, Mary had a sense of humour and was fond of jokes, “practical as well as verbal.” She tells the following story, - a classic happy ending…

“…One chill Halloween afternoon she ambled over to Peter’s shanty with a bundle of rags under her arm. He was busy in the field harvesting. She climbed to the top of the shack and stuffed her rags into the smoke-stack. She then returned home. Peter came from the field ravenous and lit a good fire. To his consternation the shack was soon full of smoke. We leave it to you to imagine how he unraveled the plot. But mother’s little joke worked and she got her man.”

As with any good romance movie, there has to be that final scene, where the happy couple rides of into the sunset. In this case they seem to have made quite a fashion statement while doing so.

“on the morning of May 29, 1889, they set of for St. Johns North Dakota, in the wagon drawn by Dad’s pair of prancing blacks – Prince and Maude. Sitting on the spring seat they made a jaunty pair. Mother wore a beautiful wine basque which reached to her ankles – with high-buttoned black shoes. On her head she wore a black sun bonnet beneath which dangled golden curls. Dad wore a suit fashioned in his Liverpopol tailor shop. It consisted of pants in fine woolsheperd’s check with high waist after the style of sailor’s pants. His coat was a black swallow-tail and his vest was white. His hat and gloves made his costume complete. On reaching St. Johns the only minister they could find was a Catholic priest, and he agreed to marry them”

By all accounts they lived happily ever after.