Nothing is known of the early life of the criminal that became known as the Trapper until he appeared in Gotham City in mid-1949.  As criminals and costumed vigilantes began a war of increasing technology in the post-war science boom, the Trapper became convinced that they and the police were too reliant on modern methods and that a series of crimes using more traditional methods would catch the tech-dependent authorities unprepared.

    His initial targets were a bank courier Mack and his friend Budd, an off-duty police officer providing security service to bank who accompanied Mack on his runs.  The Trapper kidnapped Mack and left Budd seriously wounded.  Using knowledge acquired from Mack, he conducted a series of daring robberies, ultimately attracting the attention of the Green Lantern.  After interrogating Budd on his encounter with the Trapper, he intercepted the woodsman robbing an armored truck using lamp-posts as a log jam.  As the Trapper threw his axe, Green Lantern easily deflected the blade, not realizing the handle was a wooden boomerang, which circled back and felled the hero.  The Trapper then retreated to his lair in the sewers beneath Gotham and bound Green Lantern with wood-based ropes, inadvertently applying the heroes one weakness: wood.   The Trapper disposes on the hero by tossing him into the sewer drain to drown but the Lantern uses the cement lining to break the ropes and quickly subdue the Trapper, rescuing Mack.  The Trapper is then presumably sent to prison.

    It is unlikely the Trapper even came to trial before the House Un-American Activities Committee forced the JSA to disband in 1951.   His subsequent activities, if he ever returned to crime, have not been recorded.