Summer 2024 IGW Magazine.

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VANISHED

THE MYSTERIOUS DISAPPARANCE OF IDAHO DEPUTY GAME WARDEN ELLSWORTH A TEED.
By Dan Kelsey, Senior
Conservation Officer (retired)
Idaho Dept. of Fish and Game

By most accounts, Ellsworth Arthur ‘Art’ Teed was a popular and well respected deputy game warden, passionate about his job and with a reputation for being an aggressive pursuer of game violators. When Teed failed to return home after investigating a possible outof-season deer poaching near Mullan, Idaho, his wife Alma became concerned; and that evening, August 28, 1934, she contacted local authorities. It had been his custom to inform his wife whenever his game warden duties required him to be away overnight. And before he left he stated that he would return home in time to attend a funeral in town that afternoon. Now she feared her husband had met with an accident or with violence while investigating the poaching report. What transpired next would be an all-out effort to locate Teed, dead or alive.

Teed had originally come to Shoshone County, located in the panhandle of northern Idaho, to work in the area’s booming lead and silver mines. An avid sportsman and capable outdoorsman, he had a good knowledge of the local mountains and seized on the opportunity to become a deputy game warden. This was a relatively new profession, and in the 1930’s there were only a handful of game wardens in Idaho. Each was assigned to a specific district; Deputy Ellsworth Arthur Teed was appointed to the position on June 1, 1934.

What would become the largest search in the history of Shoshone County began in earnest at first light on Wednesday morning, the day after the 39-year-old Teed failed to return home. It had been too dark to start searching the night before when Teed’s Model A Ford coupe was found parked near Mullan Cemetery, at the entrance to Boulder Gulch. His jacket and lunch still inside, Teed was wearing only light clothing for the hot summer day. Shoshone County’s Sheriff Fred May was joined by city,county, state and federal officers along with about 50 volunteers to begin looking for the missing game warden. Initially, it was thought that Teed had become injured in the rugged terrain and was unable to walk out of the canyon.

I served as a Waterways Conservation Officer for 24 years. I’ve been retired for awhile but some people still remember me. Last year one of those people sent me a news feed. It was about a guy being extradited to PA for felony Game charges and for threatening the life of a PA Game War- den. I’d been waiting for that little pig sucker to pop on my radar again. It had been several years since I’d busted him, but he was a hard man to forget. Let’s call him Jack. He had a live-in girlfriend we’ll call Jill. Jack and Jill were running an illegal reptile rescue operation out of their trailer in Mifflin County. I was the special investigator assigned to the case.

It was an easy case to build. Jack’s number was listed on Facebook, he answered his phone and he had loose lips. He told me about a rattlesnake den in the state forest by his place and offered to take me hunting, even though they were out of season and he had no license. He even sent me a picture of a large black phase timber rattlesnake in a tank at his home. He had just caught it and asked if I wanted to come see it – stupid question. I planned to meet him two days later. We secured the search warrants and put a team together con- sisting of officers from the Fish & Game Commissions, local police, animal con- trol & Jack’s probation officer (he was on probation for Game violations). My job was to meet him, see the rattler & scout for other violations in the home. I was to call my handler with an update before we left for snake hunting and then the team would move in to execute the war- rant while we were gone. It was a good plan that went south quick.

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