Background
John Etter Clark was born in Stettler, Alberta in 1915. Clark inherited the 1,000 acres (40 km2) farm founded by his father.
John Etter Clark was born in Stettler, Alberta in 1915. Clark inherited the 1,000 acres (40 km2) farm founded by his father.
He became a part-time school teacher and a farmer. Clark ran for a seat in the Alberta Legislature, representing the Stettler district, in the 1952 Alberta general election as a Social Cr candidate. Clark ran for a second term in the 1955 Alberta general election.
On June 3, 1956 Pete Parrott, a neighbor residing on a farm leased from Clark next to his farm in Erskine, Alberta, stopped over for a social visit.
He found six bodies and one wounded person, each shot at least once through the head with.22 caliber bullets, and one shot multiple times. The wounded victim was taken to a local hospital and died shortly after.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police descended on the scene with 14 special field agents. He was expected to travel to Saskatchewan on June 1, 1956, to help manage the Social Cr campaign in the 1956 Saskatchewan general election, but failed to show without explanation.
Police found Clark"s body lying on the edge of a dugout approximately 600 yards from the farmhouse where the murders took place.
lieutenant had wounds from a single self-inflicted bullet through the head and the murder weapon lying at its feet. lieutenant was found adorned in night attire as if Clark had been preparing to go to bed. Thirty-two RCMP Officers who traveled the range on horseback with a team of tracking dogs conducted the search.
A team of three mounties on a Royal Canadian Air Force Otter conducted an aerial search.
The mounties spotted Clark"s body from the air a few hours after the search began. Clark was hospitalized for a month and a half after a nervous breakdown in 1954, and had another during the legislature"s 1956 spring session.
lieutenant was the deadliest mass murder in Alberta"s history, until Phu Language killed nine in Edmonton in December 2014.
The four-way race was hotly contested, and Clark won on the second vote count to hold the district for his party.
He was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta from 1952 until committing one of the deadliest mass murders in Alberta history and killing himself.
