The Christmas Day Murders – Part 4 (The Trial, the Sentence and Visiting the Site)

The Trial

George O’Brien had been in jail in Dawson since late March on a charge of cache theft, which was enough to keep him in custody until the NWMP could gather their evidence and bring a charge of murder against him.  On June 20, 1900, he was formally charged with murder, and a later preliminary hearing resulted in him being committed to stand trial in June 1901.

Laying of the murder charge started a process that was as equally laborious as the investigation, particularly the matter of tracking down witnesses, getting them to Dawson City, and keeping them there.  Some of them, such as Kid West from Washington, had to be located and brought from some distance away.  As well, the physical evidence all had to be assembled, identified and kept secure, and the maps and photographs produced to assist the lawyers, judge and jury in understanding the context of where and how the murders were carried out.

On June 10, 1901, people lined up outside the courthouse doors in hopes of getting a seat or at least a place to stand to witness the George O’Brien murder trial.  It went on until June 21, after 63 witnesses had been called to give evidence ranging from Kid West’s jail conversations with O’Brien to identification of the stove with the peculiar damper holes to identification of the big yellow dog that was always seen with O’Brien.  In addition, over 150 exhibits had been prepared as evidence to assist the prosecution with its case.  Cst. Pennycuick and detective McGuire spent many hours on the witness stand explaining the evidence.

After all the evidence was presented and summations given by the crown and defence, the jury retired to consider it all.  They deliberated for slightly less than two hours and just after midnight on June 22, they rendered a verdict finding George O’Brien guilty of first degree murder.

The Sentence

Later the same morning of June 22, Judge Dugas passed down his sentence.  He said he believed George O’Brien to be rightfully convicted and that on August 23 he was to be put to death by hanging.

O’Brien hadn’t testified on his own behalf, but he protested his innocence in outbursts a number of times during the trial.  After his sentencing and up to the time of his hanging, he refused all overtures to make a confession and steadfastly maintained his innocence.  He even wrote a statement to that effect on the day prior to his hanging. 

In July he wrote a letter to the Dawson Daily News that demonstrated him to be relatively well educated and having a good understanding of the legal system, although naturally critical of it.  He gave his full name, gave the name of his brother Charles in England, stated that he is an Irishman, and that “my hands are clean of human blood”.

100 passes were issued to people to come into the Dawson City courtyard to witness the hanging.  At 7:34 A.M. on August 23, 1901, George O’Brien’s life ended there on the gallows.  He was buried in an area of Dawson alongside the bodies of other executed men.

Did the NWMP get the right man?

Was George O’Brien the right man to pay with his life for the murders of Frederick Clayson, Linn Relfe and Lawrence Olsen?  It didn’t take the jury long to come to that conclusion, despite the fact that all the evidence was circumstantial.  There were no known witnesses to the murders and no smoking gun in the hands of O’Brien.  His conviction based solely on circumstantial evidence can instill some doubt, but a look at his case in England in 1888 is illuminating. 

A young man and young lady walking along a lane near Birmingham, England were approached by O’Brien, who levelled a revolver at them and demanded their money. When they didn’t respond quickly enough, O’Brien fired at the man, but fortunately he put his arm in front of his face just in time.  O’Brien then ran away, leaving the man with a serious arm injury and his traumatized lady friend.

Evidence brought up at O’Brien’s trial in England shows striking similarities to the Yukon murder case.  The British prosecutor produced evidence that “[O’Brien] had on previous occasions proposed to stop a mail-train, to stop a mail-cart, shoot the drivers, and rob the mail.  He had suggested this to several young men.”  And as with the Yukon case, O’Brien had outbursts during the trial and still protested his innocence while he was being dragged out of the courtroom and off to prison.  Any doubts about George O’Brien being the murderer of Frederick Clayson, Linn Relfe and Lawrence Olsen are greatly diminished by the knowledge of his modus operandi in England.

Visiting the Murder Site

On trips over three summers along the Yukon River south of Minto, Ron Chambers and I spent time trying to determine the actual place where the murders occurred.  It eventually fell into place after a look at the files on this murder case at Library and Archives Canada in Ottawa.

The photos in the files enabled confirmation of the cutbank where the bodies were taken down to the river, as shown in the photo replications below.

With the photos confirming the cutbank location, the trail measurements taken by Pennycuick and McGuire then allowed the other locations associated with the murders to be plotted with a moderate degree of accuracy.  This information took us to the murder site where we reflected on the three innocent men whose lives were callously taken there on Christmas Day almost 120 years ago.