CRIME & NOTORIETY

DEATH MASKS OF THE BENITO BANDITS

On Oct. 5, 1935, Joseph Posnikoff, Peter Woiken and John Kalmanoff killed two police officers who were taking them in for questioning about a bank robbery. The residents of Benito, Man., located three kilometres east of the Saskatchewan border, then led police on a three-day manhunt all the way to Banff, Alta.

“There was a shootout when they finally ran out of gas,” said exhibit curator Jodi Ann Eskritt.

Two more police officers, and the three fugitives, were killed.

The bandits’ death masks are on display in this exhibition.

THE ROPE THAT HANGED “BLOODY JACK”

Reputed bank robber John Krafchenko was found guilty of murdering a bank manager in Plum Coulee, southwest of Winnipeg, in November 1913.

While escaping out a window — not his first escape from incarceration — he fell 30 feet and was recaptured within 72 hours.

He was executed by hanging on July 9, 1914. A piece of the rope that hanged him is part of the RCMP’S collection — as are some ropes that were used in other hangings.

“They give you a little shiver, especially today since we don’t have the death penalty,” said Eskritt.

THE MAD TRAPPER’S BULLET AND SKULL

Northwest Territories resident Albert Johnson shot a police officer who came to question him on charges of stealing from fellow trappers. That began a standoff and foot chase that ended when Johnson was killed on Feb. 17, 1932, in the Yukon. It was the first time in RCMP history an airplane was used in a manhunt — during which Johnson also killed an RCMP officer, Const. Edgar Millen.

Nicknamed the Mad Trapper of Rat River, he had almost $2,500 on him when he died. When Johnson’s body was exhumed in 2007, a bullet fell out. That bullet is on display at the museum, along with a 3D-printed copy of his skull.

A REGINA RIOTER’S PIPE

Among a few makeshift weapons in the RCMP collection is a pipe found on July 1, 1935, in Regina. The brown-paper tag affixed to the pipe states it was found by a Mrs. Foy, who lived in the 1800 block of Mcintyre Street. It is believed to have been used during the Regina Riot.

Eskritt calls the pipe a “weapon of opportunity,” and points to others in the display: a weight tied to the end of a rope; a bunch of wire fashioned into a club shape; a bicycle chain.

“It gives a sense of how people can turn ordinary items into weapons,” said Eskritt. And, “It gives you a little sense of what the officers are facing on the other side.”

A LADY’S PALM PISTOL

Displayed near an old advertisement from the Chicago Fire Arms Co. is a palm pistol.

“Revolver protects loaded or not,” the ad states.

“They were very popular in the ’20s and ’30s,” said Eskritt.

This pistol is displayed near sawed-off shotguns and other weaponry the RCMP has confiscated over the years.