Jacko, the Yale ape-boy

On 4 July 1884 the Daily Colonist of British Columbia reported the capture of a gorilla-like creature named Jacko near Yale. Two other papers said within days that no such animal had been caught.

On 4 July 1884, the Daily Colonist of British Columbia published an article titled "A British Columbia Gorilla". Wikipedia says the original describes Jacko as a gorilla. BC Magazine's later retelling says the paper recorded the capture, by a railway line in Yale, of a creature that perhaps was a young sasquatch, and that the creature, named Jacko in captivity, vanished on the way to London.

On 9 July 1884 the Mainland Guardian of New Westminster stated that no such animal had been caught, and called it strange that the Colonist was duped by such a story. On 11 July the British Columbian said some 200 people had visited the jail where Jacko was supposedly kept. The paper said the crowd met only a man at the jail, who answered questions about a creature that was never there.

The Colonist's report is the earliest account here. The sasquatch reading appears in the later retelling.