This week in Prince George history, Sept. 18-24:
Sept. 22, 1955: City dogcatcher P.M. Evans and his nine-year-old daughter Laura had a close call with death when someone fired a rifle at their vehicle while they were driving on Victoria Street, The Citizen reported.
The incident occurred around 8:30 p.m. on Sept. 21, 1955 as they were driving along Victoria Street between 10th Avenue and 11th Avenue.
"Evans told The Citizen that RCMP said it was a small calibre bullet which had gone through the right-side window," The Citizen reported. "The window was open on the driver side when the bullet whizzed in front of his face and behind his daughter's head as she was leaning against the dashboard of the car."
Evans said there was a considerable amount of brush along the side of the road, which is where he believes the rifleman was hidden.
"Prior to the incident on Victoria Street, Evans was called to South Fort George where a dog had been shot with a .22 rifle. South Fort George being outside of his jurisdiction, Evans could not take any further action," The Citizen reported. "Someone had reported that the animal was lying on the street badly wounded. (And) they could not find the owner."
Evans said he returned to the municipal pound in Central Fort George after getting the phone call and found that someone had attempted to break into the pound by smashing a window. However, the person had not been able to gain access to the pound and damage was limited to the window.
Evans had only moved to the city with his family in May of that year. He had impounded an average of 25 dogs per month during his time in the city.
Prince George RCMP never did get to the bottom of the attack, if The Citizen's archives are to be believed.
In an interview later, Evans told The Citizen there was nothing he could do but carry on and hope that the shooting was a one-time incident. He was still the city's dog catcher a year later, according to reports in The Citizen, so apparently the mysterious sniper didn't strike again.
Sept. 19, 1924: A precocious tot caused her parents some consternation when she suddenly disappeared on Sept. 14, 1924.
"Audray Houghtaling, the little daughter of K.A. Houghtaling, caused her parents a lot of uneasiness on Sunday," The Citizen reported. "Early in the afternoon she appeared before her mother and announced she was going away on the train, and would like to have her face cleaned. This request was attended to by her mother, who started the little one out to resume her play."
When her mother went looking for her an hour later, Audray could not be found. Search parties were organized, but no trace of her could be found.
"Verging on the point of desperation, the mother recalled child's statement that she was going away on the train," The Citizen reported. "The train was caught at Giscome, but word came back that nothing had been seen of Audray. But between Giscome and Hansard the conductor located the little traveller. She was transferred to the westbound train and arrived home in the evening very proud of herself."
As parents, we all have days we're not proud of. But I am glad to say my daughter has never stowed away on a train and made it halfway to McBride before she was found.
Audray (or, more likely, Audrey -as it was later reported) Houghtaling seemed to have survived her ordeal just fine, and in February 1938 it was reported she was a contestant in the city's Hockey Queen competition.
To explore 100 years of local history yourself, visit the Prince George Citizen archives online at: pgc.cc/PGCarchive. The Prince George Citizen online archives are maintained by the Prince George Public Library.
