Simon Gunanoot's 13-Year Escape and Acquittal

Simon Peter Gunanoot, also known as Simon Peter Johnson, was a Gitksan businessman born around 1874 in Kispiox, BC. He owned a store in Kispiox, ran a ranch and packtrain near Hazelton, and had a trapline.

Things changed for Gunanoot on June 19, 1906, near Hazelton. Alexander MacIntosh and Max Leclair were killed by single shots to the back. The BC Provincial Police charged Gunanoot with MacIntosh's murder, because Gunanoot had threatened MacIntosh during a drunken brawl earlier. Gunanoot and his brother-in-law, Peter Himadam, were also charged with Leclair's murder. Both men, with family members, escaped into the wilderness.

Gunanoot managed to avoid capture for 13 years. He traveled on foot, sometimes with his family and sometimes alone, covering a wide area from Bear Lake to Telegraph Creek to McDames. He sold furs when he could. There was a $2000 reward for information leading to his arrest, and many people in the north who thought he was guilty actually saw him, but no one ever betrayed him.

Finally, in June 1919, Gunanoot surrendered. He did this with help from a rancher named George Beirnes and a well-known defense lawyer, Stuart Henderson. In October of that year, an Assize Court jury in Vancouver found him not guilty of murdering MacIntosh. The Crown then decided to stay the Leclair murder charge. Himadam, his brother-in-law, surrendered in 1920 and was discharged at his preliminary hearing. Gunanoot himself died of pneumonia in October 1933, northeast of Stewart, BC.