Barry Bradley’s Old Newspaper Clippings

Throughout his career in the Force (1960 – 1995), Veteran Barry Bradley developed a newspaper scrapebook containing notable news stories about the RCMP in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia.

Each week, we will post three of these old newspaper clippings for the interest of Veterans and their families. This week’s webpage includes notable stories for 1962 – 1963 which RCMP members were involved in.

Two Riders Corralled At Border: Head For Mexico

November 14, 1962 (The Province Newspaper) – The U.S. Border Patrol came to the rescue Tuesday of the Mounties who didn’t get their man.

Rancher Allan Dozin, 45, and his daughter  Elaine, 20, were captured in bushland outside Republic Wash.

Inspect Dale Mathis of the U.S. Border Patrol got the drop on them as they were resting their horses.

Polzin, wanted on charges of possessing an offensive weapon, said he and his daughter were headed to Mexico.

They were about 1,500 miles short of their destination – and rapidly running out of horsepower – when they were cut off at the pass.

They had fled into the hills the previous Tuesday following a shooting incident on the Polzin ranch at Grand Forks (BC).

The Mounties, whose unofficial  motto is that they always get their man, had given up the search.

They said the hunt was hopeless.  Their police dogs couldn’t pick up a scent because of the heavy rain had washed it away.

U.S. authorities entered the picture after Mrs. Matt Oversy, of Wauconda, Wash. said a man and a girl had slept in their barn Monday night and then rode away on horseback early Tuesday.

Inspector Mathis got his break when he noticed tracks of horses along side of the road he was patrolling near Republic.

“I stopped my car, grabbed my rifle, and crept into the bush after them,” Mathis recounted.

“I hadn’t gone very fare before I spotted them resting their horses.  They were beat – both them and the horses.  I told them I had the drop on them and that I was a pretty good shot.  They didn’t move.”

Mathis, who won a master’s medal for marksmanship while serving in the army during the Second World War, said he kept them covered for about a quarter of an hour.

He moved in and made the arrest after other officers he had radioed before leaving his care arrived to help.

Mathis said the pair were armed with two rifles, a revolver, several rounds of ammunition and two knives.

“The man (Pelzin) said he was heading on horseback for Mexico,” Mathis said.

“He said he’d had some trouble with the RCMP.”

The pair were turned over to the Grand Forks RCMP late Tuesday.  Polzin is to appear in court today.  The daughter is not charged.  Police said the shooting incident on the ranch last week occurred when two men went there to request the return of $10 paid for a rifle scabbard.

Polzin is alleged to have fired a shot at the feet of one of them and to have fired a second shot as they left.  No one was hurt.

Bridge Jumper Lives: Rescued After Pattullo Plunge

Photograph of the Pattullo Bridge at the level of the Fraser River and on the New Westminster side.

(February 10, 1963) John R. Anderson, 32, jumped 150 feet from the Pattullo Bridge in New Westminster Sunday – and lived.

His wife Marion was injured in a traffic accident on the same bridge Saturday night.

Both are now in Royal Columbian Hospital.  Mrs. Anderson is in good condition with multiple lacerations.  Anderson is in critical condition with internal injuries.

He was rescued – when going down in the Fraser River for the third time – by George Ballantyne, 20, of North Surrey, and Peter Griff, a New Westminster fisherman.

Here is Ballantyne’s account of the rescue:

“I was walking with a friend on the Standard Oil dock on the New Westminster side of the river when I heard a yell and turned around.  I saw a man falling feet first.  He was yelling all the way.  I ran to where Griff was painting his fish boat, and we took off in a hurry.  When we reached the man he was kicking and splashing feebly.  His jacket was badly ripped in the fall.  He was bleeding from the mouth and nose.  He was very cold and just about done for.  He was still conscious.  He said he tried to kill himself and left his wallet and a note on the bridge. We laid him on the floor of the boat, and he tried to get back into the water. We held him back, but I think he was too badly hurt to have made it.”

According to Barry Bradley – “I remember the bridge jumper. At that time attempt suicide was still in the code, Sgt. Brucker (11105) said ‘no we won’t charge him’, which I dutifully mentioned in the report. Only to be chastised by S/Div. telling me that decision was not for me to make. I think I was still a 2/Cst. then.”

Brass Fete RCMP Corporal

Photograph of RCMP Corporal Garry Frazer.

A quiet, unassuming RCMP corporal, Garry G. Fraser, was the star Monday of a type of ceremony he has often attended as a member of a red-tunicked honor guard.

Cpl. Fraser, who lost a leg while foiling a bank holdup in Terrace in March 1962, was honoured by senior officers of the force and 60 fellow members at a presentation at Fairmont RCMP barracks.

Fraser, received the George Medal last month for ‘courage of a high order‘ in foiling the holdup.  Monday he received a cheque for $2,000 on behalf of the RCMP Benefit Trust Fund from the the Canadian Banker’s Association.

J. Leonard Walker, Bank of Montreal deputy general manager and Pacific chairman of the Canadian Bankers’ Association, also presented an inscribed sterling silver cigarette box to Cpl. Frazer and a $500 purchase order to Mrs. Fraser to buy home furniture.

Among those attending the outdoor ceremony in the barracks parade ground was another Canada’s handful of George Medal winners – who received the award seven years ago for a similar feat.  He is RCMP Sgt. H.M.C. “Bud” Johnson, shot nine times in foiling a bank holdup at the Cariboo shopping centre in Burnaby.

Fraser, now wearing an artificial limb, said after the ceremony that he is enjoying preparations for his new career in RCMP administration.  He has just completed his first year at UBC in commerce and law, sponsored by the RCMP.  It is a seven year course.

He will spend the summer working in the office of the RCMP’s B.C. division Fairmont Barracks.

Fraser said he received his George Medal from Governor-General George Vanier the night before the envoy suffered his first heart attack. “Not much attention was paid to the presentation at the time, but it wasn’t surprising,” he said.  “It was the night of the federal election.”