SUITCASE MURDER STONE FRUIT ALE
Our Stone Fruit Ale is inspired by the town's most notorious piece of local lore: a dispute over a borrowed suitcase and an axe that ended in a gunshot and a twenty-year sentence.
Like this sun-drenched golden ale, the situation appeared simple on the surface, but a deep complexity brewed beneath. Just as the argument between two settlers was sparked by an exchange gone wrong, this ale starts smooth and finishes with a tart intensity, much like the flash of gunpowder that cut through the evening air that night.
ABV
4.5%
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TBA
The Rest of The Story
The trouble began not with malice, but with a simple loan. John Bosserman, a local homesteader, had borrowed a suitcase from his neighbor, Joe Starling. When Starling eventually went to Bosserman's cabin to retrieve it, the interaction took a sour turn.
Bosserman refused to return the suitcase until Starling returned a broad axe he had borrowed. The argument escalated when Starling asked for three dollars back—money he had paid Bosserman for a furniture transport job that was never completed. Bosserman reacted with unexpected hostility, threatening to shoot Starling and denying he owed a cent.
Hoping to resolve the matter and needing the suitcase for upcoming work, Starling returned the following evening, May 27, 1922. This time, he brought his brother-in-law, Lewis Davies (sometimes recorded as Davis), a First World War veteran.
When they arrived at the Bosserman cabin and knocked, the atmosphere was immediately volatile. Bosserman shouted from inside, "Clear out, or I'll blow your brains out." Hoping to de-escalate the situation, Davies rushed toward the door with his hands raised, shouting that they didn't want any trouble or shooting. His peaceful gesture was met with violence. Bosserman struck Davies in the head with the butt of a rifle before firing a fatal shot into his head.
Joe Starling fled the scene and returned with a group of local men to apprehend Bosserman. Upon his arrest, Bosserman claimed he had acted in self-defence, alleging he was "temporarily insane" and feared Davies was going to stab him with a knife hanging from his belt.
The community was shaken. On October 4, 1922, John Bosserman was sentenced to 20 years in the Prince Albert penitentiary. The tragedy didn't end with the sentencing; the Bosserman family was largely shunned by the community in the years that followed and eventually forced to move away.
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