Eugene Scott Prince, 23, and James William (Sonny) Johnson, 44, were both victims of the same 19-year-old killer who shot them to death on consecutive days in the British Columbia interior. On Monday, January 23, 1967 Mr. Prince picked up the man in Smithers and drove him out of town. Mr. Prince had just started working for Totem Taxi. He arrived in Smithers from his home town of Fort St. James a few days earlier and was hired by Totem owner Bud McBurnie. Mr. Prince almost returned to Fort St. James to attend a funeral, but may have been reluctant to take time off from his new job. About 15 miles (24 km) north of Smithers on the Morricetown Highway the killer ordered Mr. Prince to stop the car, clubbed him with a .22 calibre pistol and then shot him seven times in the back. He left the victim's body in the ditch and abandoned the taxi in Quesnel when it ran out of gas. Mr. Prince was partially buried by a passing snowplow and his body was not discovered until the following Friday night. In the meantime the killer turned up in Cache Creek where he called for a taxi from nearby Ashcroft and asked to be driven to Savona. He was picked up by Mr. Johnson, 44, the married father of two daughters and the owner of Aschcroft Taxi. On the Trans-Canada Highway about six miles east of Cache Creek the killer asked Mr. Johnson to stop the car. The killer got out and when he returned a few minutes later he pointed the pistol at Mr. Johnson and said "This is a stickup." According to the killer Mr. Johnson grabbed for the gun and it "went off". Mr. Johnson was shot eight times in the right side of his body. As the killer took his wallet, Mr. Johnson "got out and walked away." His body was found on the roadside. The killer drove Mr. Johnson's cab to the Savona hotel where he registered and stayed overnight. As a result the police quickly identified him as a suspect. The killer apparently hopped a freight train and rode into Kamloops, about 26 miles to the east. There, while riding as a passenger in a third taxi he threw the murder weapon out the window and into the Thompsaon River. Divers retrieved it from the murky water after five days of searching. The killer was arrested in Kamloops and charged with Mr. Johnson's murder. After Mr. Prince's body was found he confessed to that murder as well. The preliminary hearing was delayed pending a psychiatric report which found that the killer was "mentally destitute of the things that would prevent him" from carrying out the murders and also that he was "unable to feel the meaning" of his crimes. Neither Mr. Prince nor Mr. Johnson were robbed and no motive was determined for the killings. Neverthless, the jury at a sanity hearing found the killer fit to stand trial. He was convicted of murdering Mr. Johson and sentenced to be hanged on August 29, 1967, although the jury recommended clemency. The killer was not charged with Mr. Prince's murder. Canada at this time was moving toward the abolition of the death penalty. The last execution was carried out in 1963 and since then the federal government had commuted more than 40 death sentences to life imprisonment. The killer's sentence was commuted in January, 1968. [Next column]

"Smithers, British Columbia, Highway 16. The Main Street with a picture window!" Postcard circa 1966 [detail]. (Dorse McTaggart: Scenes by Dorse, Vancouver B.C., via flickr.com) A taxi driver who knew Eugene Prince remembered him on his web page: This Story is about a friend a real Taxi Driver named Eugene. Eugene was four or five years older than me. We met by way of his brother Kenny who was one of my childhood buds. Eugene worked for a taxi operator full time in a sparsely populated Area in Northern British Columbia. Fort St. James is small community one hundred miles north east of Prince George. In the old days most of the native population got around by taxi as cars were luxuries. The Cab Company at the time would give credit for the ride home plus other lucrative benefits e.g. (Bootlegging) On the merit of your word or ability to pay for services rendered. So on with the story one night I was late from a basketball game played at the Saint Mary Gorette Catholic School. Our Farm was some six miles from town and I had made the trek several times before so I headed out for the long clay gumbo trail. I had walked about two miles when Eugene came along and give me a free ride home. On the way home we discussed may things as Cab Drivers often do. He told me if I ever need a ride that I had good credit with him and if in need call. So I did on several occasions and we became friends. Well the years went by and I left the town explore the world to see where it would led me. Little did I know I would soon be driving my own Taxi and remembering an old friend. (Source: www3.telus.net/THE_WOODS/taxistories.html#EUGENE)