True and Fascinating Canadian History
The Mystery of A Mountie
And Little Mercy for Murder
And Little Mercy for Murder
by J. J. Healy
Yesteryear and today too, the RCMP remains the place to be if a young Canadian seeks an adventurous job and accepts the real danger that is almost always lingering nearby. And, if an applicant also wants to be a witness to countless deaths, blood and frightening crime scenes, he or she is guaranteed of these experiences in the life of a Mountie. The police officer's career is offered as a bundle.
First and foremost, the RCMP is a police organization. The RCMP's good reputation for honesty, fairplay and practicality is known and admired around the world. And it is valid to note that only a very small fraction of members have ever brought discredit to the Force and in those cases, the rogues were summarily denounced and swiftly removed.
By far, down through the years, the vast majority of RCMP members have performed their daily job with hard work, loyalty, respect and a high degree of professionalism. This effort is expected by Canadians. Generally speaking, though, a lot of the RCMP's general investigative work goes unnoticed. Hundreds of incidents have been documented across the country where an RCMP member has had to arrest a dangerous suspect or had to face a very unpleasant scene or even untangle an explosive situation and the cases were resolved peacefully. As so often happens, the majority of these incidents do go unnoticed or have been forgotten in spite of the fact that varying degrees of bravery were evident by the RCMP who were involved.
It is as true today as it was years ago, that while on Detachment, a police officer can never predict the wide spectrum of incidents which might happen during his or her shift. It is true that a police officer may respond to hundreds of low level calls from the public over many years and then very suddenly be asked to attend at a tragic accident or a particularly dangerous incident which will forever remain on the police officer's mind.
And so, it was almost an ordinary morning when the telephone rang at the Stettler, Alberta RCMP Detachment one day in June 1959. But, in a flash, Staff Sergeant Albert Allan Morrison's life was unexpectedly turned completely upside down. It was a multiple murder of a very different kind and it shocked all of Canada. One can be sure that Staff Sergeant Morrison would have opted out that day if he had been offered a choice. Surely, it was a case which he never sought to investigate. And, when the criminal trials finally came to a close, two years later, only more sadness and questions were left. But, there may be a lesson for all police officers in The Mystery of A Mountie And Little Mercy for Murder.
A very short time later that June morning, Staff Sergeant Morrison arrived at the Cook farmhome. He quickly designated the farm a crime scene. It was there, in the garage, that he discoverd the bodies of Raymond and Daisy May Cook and their five children. They had been shot and clubbed to death. Author Greg Gazin described the blood at the crime scene. Gazin wrote, 'The act was so savage that the bodies were almost unidentifiable'. In his mind, Staff Sergeant Morrison concluded that in all likelihood the family had been shot while they slept in the house and then they had been dragged one at a time, to a grease pit in the farm's garage.
Then Staff Sergeant Morrison turned his mind to the principle suspect, the eldest boy in the family, Robert Raymond Cook.
Robert Cook had a history of teenage delinquency, mostly related to cars. But, Staff Sergeant Morrison could not overlook the fact that Cook had been released from prison just days prior to the murders. Soon, Staff Sergeant Morrison had Cook under arrest. Cook was sent to the Ponoka Mental Institution for evaluation, but he escaped. A manhunt ensued. Over 100 RCMP and tracking dogs searched for Cook and a few days later Staff Sergeant Morrison had Cook in custody again.
Two trials were held for the accused over an 18 month period and by the end, Cook was convicted of the murder of his father, his stepmother and his five siblings.
At sentencing, the trial judge held out little mercy for Cook. He was sentenced to death. And then, Cook escaped again, but he was found several days later, hiding in a straw stack.
At midnight, on November 14, 1960, Robert Cook walked to the gallows from his Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta cell. Minutes later he was hanged and, at 12:18 am, he was pronounced dead.
But, the story of Cook and the murders of his entire family did not end at the gallows. As it so happened, Cook made history as he was the last person to be executed in Alberta. Also, what was of equal interest in the Cook execution is that Staff Sergeant Morrison was a witness to Cook's death. He had been asked to attend the hanging and to represent the Cook family as the last chapter of the murder case.
Police officers may take a lesson from the Cook case. A career in policing with its diverse kinds of calls for public assistance is not meant for everyone. At times, it is best to leave policing and to enter into a different career due to the traumatic events that one may be exposed to. For certain, there will be several unpleasant experiences, including car accidents and suicides which the police officer must face in the course of a long career. Police officers must learn to cope with death. Other colleagues, friends, family and health experts can help. It is surely recommended that early intervention by medical experts can help support the police officer.
The full motives for Cook to murder his entire family remain part of the mystery even today. No one knows for sure what effects the murders, the two trials and the execution of Cook had on the life of Staff Sergeant Morrison. He probably did not go to the execution of Cook as a volunteer spectator but rather rationalized the event as an obligation and as part of his police duties.
But, one can speculate that the whole affair would likely have left some unpleasant marks on the remainder of Staff Sergeant Morrison's life. Over the years, he may have been drawn back to the case time and time again. However, he continued to carry out his police duties serving both the Force and Canada throughout the remainder of his career. Notably, he was Head of Security for Queen Elizabeth's visit to Regina, SK for the 1973 Centennial of the Force. He, like many other police officers, learned to carry on and to cope by trying to focus on the many good aspects of the police officer's job and not become overwhelmed by the tragedy which can also be encountered.
Reg.#15877, Staff Sergeant Morrison died in 2001. He was buried in British Columbia, Canada. R. I. P.
Sources:
Blanco, Juan Ignacio. Murderpedia.org. [http://murderpedia.org/male.C/c/cook-robert-ray.htm]
Gazin, Greg. The last man to hang in Alberta.. SmokyLake.com.
The Quarterly. Summer. 2001. V66(3). Obituaries. p. 109
I am also appreciative to Archives Alberta and to the RCMP for the photos used in this piece. Thank you.
Reporting from the Fort,
J. J. Healy
April, 14, 2015
