T. C. Burnett
T. C. Burnet was the purser on the sternwheeler Ora and an employee of the Bennett Lake and Klondyke Navigation Co. in 1898. He discovered that another employee, assistant steward Jim Cowie, was making money for himself and some of the crew by selling the crew’s rations to passengers at an exorbitant rate. Burnett quit his job rather than inform on Cowie and his friends. He did one last trip on the steamer Flora as a favour to his employer. The company was shipping gold and Burnett was issued a gun. At Canyon City, he went aboard the Ora to settle with the purser and was confronted by Cowie who accused him of planning to expose the fraud. Cowie was a self-described prize fighter and he beat Burnett until he feared for his life. Burnett pulled his gun and shot Cowie in the gut, but Cowie continued to pursue Burnett even though he had a fatal wound.1)
Burnett was disarmed by W. D. Oregel and A. Wallace, a storekeeper with the shipping line, and was later arrested by Constable Frans Linblad. Constable Dixon arrived to hold the prisoner until the arrival of Sergeant Henry Joyce. Joyce had heard of the shooting when H. Freese, the purser of the Ora, came to the detachment seeking a doctor. Burnett was sent to the Tagish police post and held in a tent with two guards. He was then transferred to Dawson to await trial for manslaughter but was released in 1899.2) The Yukon population was transitory at the time and witnesses had moved on.