REMARKABLE CASE

Hokitika Guardian, 25 November 1933, Page 2

REMARKABLE CASE

LAW IN THE ARCTIC

STIRRING POLICE WORK

VANCOUVER, November 21

' The. recent death of Inspector Joy, of the , North-west- Mounted Police, recalls many stirring patrpls done by that officer, ... culminatingf in the farthest north trial :. by jury,. .which attended: his' most notable achievement in the administration of the-white man’s law ini the Arctic.

Robert Si Janes, a Newfoundlander,, while -serving as second ttiate on the Government exploration ship Arctic, saw' poslbUities of reaping a fortune in furs in Northern Baffin Laud; He chartered a schooner in St. John's, loaded it with trade goods for exchange for fox pelts and walrus ivory, and landed at ‘.Patricia River. The schooner promised to return for him in two years. The venture' was successful beyond his dreams. His store shed was jammed with furs worth a fortune. The schooner never returned. In the fourth year, Janes essayed to reach civilisation, a sled journey of 1500 miles. Bidding adieu to his precious furs, he set out in midwinter, heading for Admiralty Sound. Near Gape Crawford he came ■ up with a parry of'Hskimo sealers. Short of meat for his dogs, but with nothing to trade in return, he reminded them of past favours; he demanded food. A quarrel ensued, in which Janes was killed. In the summer of 1921, Inspectorthen Sergeant—Joy set out for Ponds Inlet, where the Hudson Bay Company had decided to open a station. With an Eskimo interpreter, he reached Patricia Bay and found Janes old post. The store was empty. Turning south, Joy eventually learned where Janes was killed.' Six months after leaving his post, .he located the body, frozen stiff and wrapped in a blanket, beneath a cairn of. rocks that shielded if from wolves. Loading it on his sled, he set out for Arctic Bay, where, in an Eskimo village, he learned the identity of the three who had killed Janes. Returning to Ponds Inlet, he held an inquest, buried the body, and recommenced his search for the slayers. After travelling hundreds of miles Sergeant Joy had three men under arrest at the end of six months.. In the summer of 1923 the trial opened at Ponds Inlet, before Mr Justice Rivet, of Montreal, and a jury of six men from the ship’s crew, which is legal in the Arctic. Red-coated mounted policemen marshalled the Eskimos, many of whom had travelled tOOmilea to see the trial. In an open-air court the murderer was sentenced to ten years’ imprisonment. Oorooreungnok was ordered to be confined for two years at Ponds Inlet. Arteetah was acquitted. In the shadow of the North Pole, the white man’s justice was vindicated.