Edgar Millen's death was a heavy blow to the pursuit team. Not only was he the only mounted police officer in the pursuit team who had come into direct contact with Johnson, but he was also highly regarded as a leader with a wealth of experience, strong snow survival and tracking skills, and a leader in the hunt. Later, the mounted police and hunters remembered the man, and a monument was later erected for Millen, and a stream near his sacrifice was named Milen Creek. In the movie "Death Hunt", he is treated as an opponent who feels sorry for Johnson, played by the old tough guy bone Lee Marvin.
Old tough guy plays Bone Lee Marvin, who plays Edgar Millen in the Death Hunt
Grief or nostalgia, for now the pursuit team can only continue to track. Realizing that Johnson was a formidable opponent, the pursuit team once again grew in manpower, hiring the native InnewYAleuil and The Goweyins. These natives were more familiar with the environment of the snow-capped mountains than the hunters. With the help of these men, the pursuit team locked Johnson's escape route, confirming his intention to flee to eagle river canyon in Yukon. With a warm climate, lush vegetation, and abundant prey, Johnson is a paradise for survival and hunting in the wild.
To escape into the Eagle Valley, you have to climb the local Richard Peak. The peak is 2,100 meters high, and it is a harsh winter at this moment, the snowstorm has sealed off the entire mountain, and the entire Richard Peak is covered with ice and snow, and the visibility is almost zero. Even the local natives were convinced that no one could climb Richard's Peak on this snowy day. But the hunting team, learning from Johnson's might, did not dare to take it lightly, and they blocked only two passages to the Eagle Valley. After several days in a row, Johnson was still missing. Just when the hunting team was overwhelmed, an Indian hunter came from the other end of the mountain road. He told the Mounted Police that on the other side of the mountain he had found fresh snowshoe prints upstream of the Eagle River, heard about the hunt, and guessed it was Johnson's. In other words, this Johnson avoided the Mounted Police, and a man climbed Over Richard's Peak in the snow and ice!
It is entirely conceivable that the crowd is mad. Faced with such a formidable opponent, the Mounted Police decided to ask Wilfrid May, Canada's ace fighter pilot, to get out of the horse and pilot the plane to reconnoiter the other side of the mountain. This Wilfrid May is handled as a playboy-style mission in the film. In fact, this man is a very accomplished pilot in the history of world aviation, who has made great achievements in the First World War, not only flying skillfully, shooting down german ace pilots, but also once fighting against the famous "Red Baron". The Red Baron was shot down by the Allies in order to track his plane. After the war, he became a commercial pilot and opened the first commercial route to the remote areas of northern Canada, thus opening the prelude to the great development of northern Canada.
Canadian ace pilot Wilfrid May
With the addition of planes and pilots, Johnson's life has entered the countdown. On February 14, Wilfrid May spotted Johnson. He still used the old method to avoid hunting, that is, to step on the footprints of a herd of reindeer. The reindeer of northern Canada are social ungulates, a herd of thousands of people, wandering around. Johnson walked on their footprints, and only camped by the river along the way, which naturally could not be detected by the people tracking on the ground. But with airplanes, this trick doesn't work. Wop May immediately used the radio to inform the ground pursuit team of the directions, and the morale of the crowd was greatly boosted and pounced. On February 17, the pursuit team, guided by May's planes, surrounded Johnson in the Eagle Valley.
At this time, Johnson was also deserved to die, and he somehow lost a very important snowshoe, which affected his speed and physical fitness. Surrounded, Johnson desperately ran toward the riverbank, but was soon surrounded. The encirclement was shrinking, and the two sides began to exchange fire.
At this time, the mounted police still decided to persuade Johnson to surrender, and they sent an insured mounted policeman out to negotiate, only to be shot by Johnson and seriously injured. In the confusion, the pursuit team fired a volley of gunfire, and Johnson was shot nine times before he died. At this moment, May piloted the plane to land, took the injured mounted police on the plane, re-lifted off, and took him to the doctor. This saved the life of the mounted policeman.
A sketch of Johnson drawn when the police hunted down Johnson
For the opponent who fell under the muzzle of his gun, the pursuers generally had full admiration. Although this man was a fugitive, he carried nearly 40 kilograms of weight alone, fled for 33 days in cold weather and harsh terrain, traveling more than 137 kilometers, burning about 10,000 calories a day. Hunters who participated in the hunt for Johnson later recalled that Johnson's marksmanship was very good, and it was a Snap shoot that is highly respected by today's tactical shooting, which is what we often call "raise the gun and fight", never aiming, and shooting completely based on muscle memory. Throughout the escape, he never uttered a word. Many believe that without the involvement of the plane, johnson would probably never have been captured.
But the story doesn't end there. While searching Johnson's body, the pursuers found it again. Johnson's backpack contained some jerky and the like, clothes and pots and pans, and two thousand four hundred dollars in cash—a huge sum of money to buy a house in a big city at the time. The most frightening thing is that Johnson's backpack also has a red sweater sock full of gold teeth! Obviously, these are all pulled out of people's mouths. It seems that this Johnson is by no means a kind man, and has killed a lot of people before. No wonder he was so nervous in the face of the mounted police.
This is the photo taken after Johnson was killed. At that time, the body was somewhat weathered, and it was difficult to reflect its true appearance. There are also some heavy taste photos that are not posted.
After Johnson's death, the RCMP sent a series of photographs across Canada and the United States in an attempt to understand his true identity, but without success, his true identity was never determined. The only information about him is that he is around 30-45 years old, has a bit of a Nordic accent, and that's it. In 2007, some researchers dug up Johnson's grave with permission from the local government. Genetic studies suggest that Johnson may indeed have Scandinavian ancestry. However, his tooth enamel suggests that his diet is dominated by corn, suggesting that he may have spent some time in the Midwest.
There are many theories about the speculation about Johnson's identity. Some believe he was a reclusive hunter, others thought he was a serial killer who had once roamed the Western United States, and others thought he had taken refuge in the Rat River in search of the local legendary gold mine. The latest explanation is that he was a world war veteran who became an anti-social serial killer after PTSD and then took refuge in the Yukon. Albert Johnson is undoubtedly a pseudonym, and his true identity remains a mystery. To this day, the debate over Johnson's true identity has never stopped, and research continues.
Although Albert Johnson is a fugitive and is likely to kill people, his tenacious survival skills and superb wilderness survival skills make Canadians love him. To this day, the Rat River, where Johnson is hiding, has been developed as a scenic area, and his escape route has become a tourist route. There is also a museum built in the area, which houses some of Johnson's objects. The rifle he used is still preserved in that museum.
Akravik today
The cemetery of Albert Johnson