Murder in Midway

Lovely Midway.

 By Maryanna Gabriel 


Charles L. Thornet was shot here. 

The valley I am travelling through in the boundary area of southern British Columbia is lovely. The way the sun sets the golds and greens of the pastoral landscape alight, framed by undulating mountains, and where pine trees veer away from the Kettle River is post card perfect.

One sometimes bashes through places, clicking along as the kilometers whizz by unaware of the history but here I pause and walk. Today, about three hundred people live in Midway, so called, it is thought, because the town is midway between the Rockies and the Pacific. Midway seems a sleepy and serene place but it was not always. A deathbed confession adds further mystery to the unsolved murder of Charles L. Thornet.

In the 1890s cattle were being rustled across the line. Midway is close to the American boundary and unsavoury types were up to no good raiding the surrounding ranches. Charles Thornet was a tall, striking man - a crack-shot, and a good tracker, with the perfect resume. He was hired as the lawmen and he did a good job of it and as a consequence put a few people in jail.

Charles L. Thornet - a striking man. 

For some reason, there was a war in Midway. It had to do with two railroads. The owners were rivals and sworn enemies and right of way was contested. It led to a confrontation between hundreds of men armed with pickaxes and shovels who proceeded to bloody one another. The Midway War of 1905 made headlines across Canada and in the European papers. Thornet's job was to put a stop to it.

He did. A notable feat. Miraculously, no lives were lost, but a lot of men were put in lock up. 

Thornet went on to leave the job (gee, I wonder why) and bought the Midway Hotel. He was a good businessman, and the hotel thrived. In 1908, one hot August night at 7:00 pm, two men wearing masks entered the bar. They leveled their guns at Thornet. Thornet picked up his rifle from behind, fired off several rounds and wounded one of his assasins. Thornet, however, was mortally shot. The gun men jumped on their horses and galloped up the dirt street.

A few doors away, two men named Lou Salter and Bing The Chinese Cowboy were playing poker on the verandah of the Spokane Hotel. Someone yelled. 

"They've shot Thornet!" 

Lou reached behind for his twelve gauge and with a clear view took aim. As the gunmen approached, listing in the saddle, the masks fell away. Salter hesitated, lowered his gun, then raised it once more. He came to a decision and lowered his rifle one last time The men galloped away in a cloud of dust and rode over the line never to be heard or seen again.

In 1969, when Lou Salter was long gone, Bing The Chinese Cowboy lay dying in the Nelson Hospital. He told the tale of Salter's opprtunity and what he did. If Bing The Chinese Cowboy knew the identity of the galloping escapees it went with him to the grave. We can only speculate. Thomet's murderers remain a mystery to this day. 

Except for a small government sign, no trace of this exciting history remains. And that said she is that. 

And now I drive like the wind. 

Source: Bill Barlee (historian) "Gold Trails and Ghost Tales - Midway".