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Outlaws of the Canadian West
The Canadian West has a history littered with tales of robbers and murderers. These frontier days were long before faxes, DNA analysis and e-mail, and the bad guys could hide in plenty of empty country before they met up with the mighty Mounties. From Manitoba and Saskatchewan to British Columbia and the North, come tales of Billy Miner, the Mad Trapper, Charcoal, Almighty Voice and more.
- GenresNonfictionHistory
232 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 2003
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
July 25, 2015
An easy read, certainly not challenging. I always get drawn in to this type of book when I should be taking on some more important reading. The book gives brief accounts of 17 Canadian criminal Cases dating from Confederation to the 1930s. Most of the perpetrators were not initially native to this country, the vast majority being American. Of the Canadian "outlaws", the majority were Indians who might well be argued to be trying to live within the bounds of their time-honoured beliefs and traditions, some of which were not in keeping with the white man's legal system. The Indian named Charcoal, for example, probably didn't understand why the white man was chasing him so relentlessly simply for shooting his wife's lover...wasn't that the normal thing to do?
The cases presented by Macpherson are all very interesting and each would probably provide sufficient subject matter for a separate book, but to cover everything in such a short book requires much glossing over and leaving out of details.
One thing that put me off was that Macpherson uses some weird terminology. For example, on page 23 she reports that during an Indian attack a member of Boon Helm's party was killed by a "stray arrow". Now it seems to me that, if you're in the middle of an Indian attack and hit by an arrow, that arrow was anything but stray! there is nothing random about that missile; it was deliberately aimed. By using the term "stray arrow" Macpherson has me wondering what she wants us to believe...that the Indians are so inept that they can't hit you save by mischance? Or perhaps they are so well-intentioned in their attacks that they don't want to kill anyone? Or perhaps she is lazy in the use of her words and doesn't see that the use of the word stray might not be appropriate here? I suspect the latter as there are other instances:
p.128 Little Saulteax and Almighty Voice were atop each other in the rifle pit, both killed by cannon fodder
P.213 (referring to a woman hanged for murder) Florence Losandro's stand was more heroic than it was wise. She paid an awesome price.
There are many other errors and malapropisms, but it would be tedious work to list them all. Another annoyance is the total lack of any notes: no endnotes, footnotes, bibliography, or anything else to indicate the writer's sources. She might have dreamed half of these tales, for all I know.
Still, assuming that there is some truth to what Macpherson writes, there are some very engaging tales here. The capture of Butch Cassidy associate Henry Wagner by an unarmed Canadian constable is particularly engaging, involving a tense and bloody bit of knuckle-and-skull to rival any struggle you could find in the best works of fiction. And then the gruesome story of Swift Runner, who killed and ate pretty much his whole family...in fact, every character in this book is fascinating in one way or another. Fortunately, Macpherson provided photographs so the reader has a pretty good idea what these characters looked like.
This book has value as a moderately interesting diversion, easily read on plane or train. With a little more work, it could have been a much more respectable work. It leaves one with the impression that it was hastily thrown together in order to get a paycheque.
The cases presented by Macpherson are all very interesting and each would probably provide sufficient subject matter for a separate book, but to cover everything in such a short book requires much glossing over and leaving out of details.
One thing that put me off was that Macpherson uses some weird terminology. For example, on page 23 she reports that during an Indian attack a member of Boon Helm's party was killed by a "stray arrow". Now it seems to me that, if you're in the middle of an Indian attack and hit by an arrow, that arrow was anything but stray! there is nothing random about that missile; it was deliberately aimed. By using the term "stray arrow" Macpherson has me wondering what she wants us to believe...that the Indians are so inept that they can't hit you save by mischance? Or perhaps they are so well-intentioned in their attacks that they don't want to kill anyone? Or perhaps she is lazy in the use of her words and doesn't see that the use of the word stray might not be appropriate here? I suspect the latter as there are other instances:
p.128 Little Saulteax and Almighty Voice were atop each other in the rifle pit, both killed by cannon fodder
P.213 (referring to a woman hanged for murder) Florence Losandro's stand was more heroic than it was wise. She paid an awesome price.
There are many other errors and malapropisms, but it would be tedious work to list them all. Another annoyance is the total lack of any notes: no endnotes, footnotes, bibliography, or anything else to indicate the writer's sources. She might have dreamed half of these tales, for all I know.
Still, assuming that there is some truth to what Macpherson writes, there are some very engaging tales here. The capture of Butch Cassidy associate Henry Wagner by an unarmed Canadian constable is particularly engaging, involving a tense and bloody bit of knuckle-and-skull to rival any struggle you could find in the best works of fiction. And then the gruesome story of Swift Runner, who killed and ate pretty much his whole family...in fact, every character in this book is fascinating in one way or another. Fortunately, Macpherson provided photographs so the reader has a pretty good idea what these characters looked like.
This book has value as a moderately interesting diversion, easily read on plane or train. With a little more work, it could have been a much more respectable work. It leaves one with the impression that it was hastily thrown together in order to get a paycheque.
August 19, 2011
Informative. Efficient. But not particularily entertaining. Perhps the author intention is to be brief rather than in depth but I would probably have prefered more of the latter. I think more background information and societal norms/culture for each story would have been benificial. that being said, it's a good "glimpse" into our exciting history and it was fun to read about places I've either lived or visited (including Lacombe!)
October 25, 2019
This was a nice diversion that true crime readers will enjoy, although I did do some skimming towards the end because the narration dragged a bit. Still, there were plenty of interesting cases outlined here so if you enjoy Wild West or true crime books this is worth checking out.
October 16, 2022
There were some slippery criminals out there evading the law. But also some misunderstood persons.
January 12, 2012
Lots of good Canadian History for a change. Bill Miner is one of my favorite guys.....really cool.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews