Whitehorse Star, August 23, 1902

A RECORD OF A CRIME SPREE

LaBelle and Fournier - COLD BLOODED KILLERS

PETER FOURNIER UNDER ARREST

SUSPECTED OF BEING ONE OF THE BOUTHILLETTE MURDERERS.

Had four hundred dollars in Bank of Quebec notes when arrested -- Police hot on the trail of Fournier's partner.

Dawson, Aug. 23rd. - Yesterday Peter Fournier, who was known to have left Whitehorse on June 16th in a small boat with Leon Bouthillette and Guy Joseph Beaudoin, whose bullet pierced bodies were found about a month ago in the Yukon river near Ogilvie, was arrested here.

Four hundred dollars in Quebec bank notes were found on his person. The police are hot on the trail of a man named LaBelle, Fournier's partner, and who is also known to have been one of the party when it left Whitehorse.

A man from Whitehorse has identified Fournier as being one of the party of five leaving Whitehorse for Dawson on June 16th inst.

It is believed by the police that there is still another body in the river.

August 30, 1902

HAS GONE TO THE OUTSIDE

ED LABELLE, PETER FOURNIER'S PARTNER, LEFT DAWSON JULY 22ND.

His name appeared in the printed passenger lists -- Fournier arraigned and remanded for seven days -- did not plead.

Dawson, Aug. 30 - It has been ascertained that Ed LaBelle, the partner of Peter Fournier, who is now under arrest here suspected of being implicated in the murder of three men near Ogilvie the middle of last June, left for the outside on July 22nd as a first-class passenger on the steamer Columbian and though there hangs over his head a suspicion of having abetted in the commission of two or three murders, he traveled under his real name and made no secrecy of his having departed.

His name, with the other passengers, was printed in the local papers at the time, and the list is now on file at the police station and at the White Pass office.

Fournier was arraigned on the 23rd inst. in the police courts on the charge of murder in the first degree, in having killed Leon Bouthillette. He did not plead, but was remanded for seven days, when he will enter a plea.

It is now stated that the report published that $400 was found on the person of Fournier, is erroneous, and that he had no money when arrested.

The police have received the photographs of three of the five men who left Whitehorse together on the trip down river. They are Leon Bouthillette, Alphonso Constantin and Beaudoin.

The body of the former was found near Indian river, and from a tag on a key chain was the name which led to the identification of the remains. The body contained three gunshot wounds which told that he was shot from behind, and as he turned to see his assailants was shot twice through the head.

The body of Beaudoin was found with a rope on one arm and one on an ankle with slip knots and loops on the ends, which convince the police that the man was murdered and then weighted with stones, which dropped off by the continual jolting over the gravel bottom of the river. His head was crushed and there could be no doubts that he also was murdered.

Alphonso Constantin, not showing up in Dawson, can be set down as being the third victim. He came to this country in ‘98, and became interested in Last Chance.

Beaudoin was a native of Beauce county, Quebec, and had just graduated from college when he concluded to come to the Klondike probably on the representations of Constantin. He was 23 years of age and a bright young man, with the physique of one who is not satisfied with the humdrum life of the east.

The three left Montreal June 4 and reached Whitehorse June 12. June 16 they started in a small boat, in company with two other men, who joined the party at Whitehorse.

The body of Bouthillette was found on July 16, and that of Beaudoin on August 1. The remains of a man found near Selkirk so badly decomposed that the body was hardly to be recognized, may be the third man of the latest river mystery.

September 13, 1902

CONFESSION OF ED. LABELLE

CLAIMS THAT HE WAS NOT A PARTY TO THE MURDERS.

Says that Fournier killed the men and threw their bodies into the river while he was absent from camp on a hunting expedition.

Ed. LaBelle, the self-confessed accomplice of Peter Fournier in the cold blooded murder of three men on the 23rd of last June on a small island below the mouth of Stewart river, passed through Thursday in the charge of Detective Welch on his way to Dawson to stand trial for his life.

LaBelle has shown a disposition to talk and we have been able to learn the following particulars of the crime as told by LaBelle and his subsequent arrest on Sept. 1st at a railroad construction camp in the desert wilds of Western Nevada.

Fournier and LaBelle arrived up the river from Dawson on the first trip of the Clifford Sifton early in June. Shortly after reaching here they visited several business places and arranged to secure provisions for a trip down the river in a small boat, also purchasing a rifle at the same time. They said they were expecting a party of friends from the outside who would go down with them. They also purchased a boat and had everything in readiness to leave as soon as their friends should arrive.

That Bonthillette, Boudoin and Constantin, the murdered men, were the ones they were waiting for is shown by the fact that immediately after the arrival of the train at Whitehorse on the night of the 16th of June, Fournier and LaBelle, in company with the three men, called at a store, secured the goods they had purchased, placed them on board their boat and left the same night for Dawson.

On the night of June 22nd the party camped on an island on the west limit of the Yukon about ten miles below the mouth of the Stewart river. The next morning while breakfast was being prepared by one of the unfortunate men, Fournier said to LaBelle that he thought it would be a good idea for him (LaBelle) to take his rifle and go to the other side of the island, as by so doing he might get a shot at a moose.

LaBelle took the rifle and started, but owing to the thick underbrush made slow progress, and had only got a short distance from camp in the half hour that he had been absent when he heard five rifle shots fired in rapid succession.

[Here, according to LaBelle's own confession, occurs one of the most damaging proofs of his previous knowledge of the contemplated crime, and shows that the death of the men had been possibly deliberately determined upon conjointly days before its consumation. - Ed.]

As soon as he heard the shots LaBelle suspicioned what had taken place and through fear of his own life remained away from camp for a period of two hours. On his return Fournier had removed all traces of the men and their personal belongings, and Fournier claimed that he had only got $145 from the bodies of the three men, and after giving $40 of this to LaBelle, the two men loaded their things into the boat and went onto Dawson, which place they reached in about eight hours time.

After getting to Dawson Fournier gave LaBelle $15 more, in payment of an old debt, and a gold watch. This was all that LaBelle ever realized out of the crime.

On Tuesday, July 22nd, LaBelle purchased in his own name a first class ticket to Whitehorse on the steamer Columbian. The boat reached here Saturday after the departure of the train and he had to remain over until Monday. He went to the Windsor hotel and secured a room, but did not register, nor was he required to do so by the proprietor during his stay.

From Whitehorse LaBelle went to Seattle, where he remained only a few hours, from there to Spokane, Rossland, Nelson, Thompson Falls, Missoula, Butte, Pocotello, Ogden, then to Wadsworth, where he was arrested. He traveled under an assumed name and changed it constantly. In Butte he pawned the gold watch he had received for $16, but has forgotten the name he gave at the pawnshop.

It was on the 12th of August when Detective Welch left Whitehorse on the murderer's trail. He first went to Vancouver but he did not succeed in finding any trace of LaBelle, then onto Seattle. He spent ten days in Western Washington in visiting the logging camps and then came back to Seattle where he gained the first trace of the fugitive from a Frenchman who knew LaBelle and had seen him during his brief stay in that city.

From this man he learned the direction in which LaBelle was heading and from that time on did not lose track of him for an instant. He followed him through his devious wanderings in Eastern Washington, British Columbia, Idaho, Montana, Utah and Nevada until he was finally located at Wadsworth.

On arriving at Wadsworth on the first of the month it was arranged that a person in the confidence of the detective should assume the part of a newly appointed time-keeper and go around with the construction foreman and take down the names of the men employed in the work gang.

It was early in the day when the party made their rounds and LaBelle, who was on the night crew, was still in bed. The party entered the sleeping quarters and took down the names as they went along until reaching the rear end where LaBelle and another Frenchman bunked. To carry out the part, however, they inquired his name, which he informed them was Stone.

Accepting the name in apparent good faith the party went on and finished their work, passed on to the outside and hunting up Welsh told him that the search was ended.

As soon as possible LaBelle was placed under arrest. At first he did not appear to realize his situation and took the matter very coolly, but on the journey back the nearer he reached the scene of the murders the more nervous he appeared to become and is now fully aware of the peril that confronts him.

LaBelle is a man 35 years of age, is about 5 feet 7 inches in height, has a rather florid complexion and wears a light brown mustache. He has a pleasant countenance and is very genteel in appearance, apparently being one of the last men who would implicate himself either directly or indirectly in such a crime.

We understand that LaBelle will secure the services of a prominent Eastern Canadian French lawyer in his defense and that he is hopeful of an escape from the consequences of his act through the influence of his brother-in-law, who he claims is a member of Parliament from LaValle, Quebec. We opine, however, that for political, or for any other reason except absolute proof of innocence, his chances are as slight as usually fall to the lot of man.

To much praise cannot be given the authorities for their successful conduct of the affair and Detective Welsh is to be especially commended for his work, which is on a par with that done in the celebrated O'Brien case few months ago. Mr. P.A. Rook, one of our fellow townsmen is also entitled to recognition for valuable information and his participation in the arrest of LaBelle.