Skip to main content

The murder that doomed Louis Riel



The Sarnia Observer, April 1, 1870
          
             NEWS FROM RED RIVER

The latest news of any importance from Red River, is the particulars of the shooting, by the usurper Riel, of a Canadian of the name Thomas Scot, for alleged faithlessness to the Provisional Government.  It appears Scott was one of the imprisoned Canadians, but had been released on condition that he would not take up arms against the insurgents, a promise to this effect having been extorted from him as the condition of his liberation.

This was during the time  the Boulton-Schultz movement was in progress, and it seems Scott, in all probability having his temper excited by the conduct of Riel towards those who had been his fellow prisoners, and anxious to secure their liberation, and the downfall of this upstart French half-breed, joined the movement referred to, on the evening of the same day on which his release took place. He was captured with others of Major Boulton's party, when the sally took place from the Fort a few days afterwards.

Being thus found in arms against Riel's usurped authority, it was determined to try him by Court-martial. The result, as might have been expected was, that he was found guilty, and sentenced to be shot; and on the 14th of March, he was actually brought out and shot in front of the Fort.

----  Since writing the above, we learn by the Globe of yesterday that four Canadians who left Fort Garry towards the end of February, had arrived in St. Paul on Tuesday last; and they report that the mass of the people have no sympathy with Riel or his revolution, and that nothing but the lack of arms and an authorized leader prevented the loyalists from putting down the insurrection.

They are on their way to Ottawa to urge upon the government the necessity of taking prompt steps to extend protection to the settlers, the bulk of whom are staunchly loyal. They state positively that Scott was not paroled, but an escaped prisoners (sic), who afterwards joined Boulton's party; and that Riel had him shot because he was an Orangeman and obnoxious to the priesthood, and that the priests favoured his execution.


(Halifax) Morning Chronicle, April 21, 1870

   Further Particulars of the Execution of Scott

The Toronto "Telegraph" which has gone wild over this Red River business, publishes the following statement of the manner of Scott's death, received from a gentleman just arrived from Red River: ----

Scott, who was a fearless, brave, manly fellow, was continually defying Riel. On one occasion he shook his fist in Riel's face , saying, "If we ever meet on equal terms I will take the worth of this imprisonment out of your hide."

One who was standing by at the time tells me that Riel's usual swagger dwindled into tremulous fear before the defiant words and gestures of young Scott.

His dispatch was shortly after decided upon, and a so-called military tribunal was convened, the members of which, with one exception, decided that Scott should be shot.  One Lepine, the adjutant, and, of course, the tool of Riel, was the presiding worthy of that tribunal. The decision was arrived at six o'clock, p.m., and it was decided to carry out the sentence at an early hour the next day.

Scott was not apprised of this until about an hour before the time fixed for his execution, and when he did hear of it he laughed at it, believing it to be but another specimen of Riel's previous unexecuted threats.

In the meantime Rev. Mr. Young had supplicated Riel, and had obtained a reprieve until noon, at which time Riel swore he must die. At noon he was brought out in front of Fort Garry blind-folded and placed in a kneeling position, his hands and knees bound together tightly, the hands being bound behind his back.

Six of Riel's half-drunken adherents were detailed to execute him. The words were given and the shots were fired intermittently, so bungling or so drunken were the murderers. This was further indicated by the fact that but four of the bullets entered his body, and none of these touched a vital part. Poor Scott fell over on his side on the snow, writhing terribly. When it was seen that life was not extinct, one of the fellows pulled out his revolver and placed the muzzle close to his right ear and discharged it, but the ball glanced through the jaw and emerged from the mouth without touching the brain; and while it probably increased the anguish, it did not hasten death. The writhing, contortionizing body was then picked up and thrown into a rough box, which was about a foot too short, and which was carried into the Fort and placed behind one of the bastions. This occupied about three-quarters of an hour.

At half-past six o'clock, nearly six hours afterwards, a file of men sent to bury him found so strong was the vital tenacity of the man that life was not yet extinct. and the intermittent workings and jerkings of the muscles denoted that his horrible pains had not ceased. One of the burying party ran away affrighted to Riel, who ordered them to blow his brains out and be d____d to him. This order was obeyed and poor Scott, who was the essence of bravery, manliness, and fearlessness paid his last reckoning and died for his country a death---which would have been considered a crime if rendered to a dog.

The unusual strength of the man was indicated by the fact the the spasmodic writhings of the nether limbs had broken the foot board of his coffin away from the nail fastenings. A more horrible death in these days of civilization is hard to conceive.

Father Richot was privy to his murder, and approved of it, if, indeed, he did not actually inspire it. I have had ample evidence of an indirect, but conclusive character that this is correct.  One word from him would have saved poor Scott's life. That word remained unuttered; and yet the Canadian government, I hear, propose to treat with Richot, who is quite as much accountable for Scott's murder as is Riel, and indeed actually and unconvincingly expresses his avowal of its necessity and its legality. He says that it was absolutely necessary for state reasons.

Ottawa Citizen, Jan. 11, 1904
 
                    GRAVE OF SCOTT 
   After 34 years Silence the Disposition of His Body is Confessed

Winnipeg, Jan. 19---The secret of the disposal of the remains of Thomas Scott, Riel's victim, has been revealed by a rebel lieutenant after 34 years silence.

This man is today a well-known Manitoban but there are reasons why his name should not be given.

He met Mr. McFarlane, who was a Hudson's Bay factor at the time of the Riel rebellion, at the funeral of Pierre D'Eschambault yesterday. Riel's confederate divulged to Mr. McFarlane that after the murder a grave had been dug within the fort, and a coffin supposed to contain the body lowered in the presence of a battalion of Riel's soldiers. But Scott's remains were not in that coffin, the mock interment being but a ruse on the part of Riel who did not choose to trust many of his followers with this knowledge. 

After the mock interment the body was dragged by a few trusty men to the bank of the Red River and at a point near where the Broadway bridge now stands was put through a hole in the ice and sunk by means of a weight tied about the neck. This weight was a Hudson Bay grindstone.

Mr. McFarlane believes that an investigation will reveal this grindstone and perhaps of bones of poor Scott.

It is likely an investigation will be undertaken.

Popular posts from this blog

The unreported bombshell conspiracy evidence in the Trudeau/SNC-Lavelin scandal

Wow. No, double-wow. A game-changing bombshell lies buried in the supplementary evidence provided to the House of Commons Judiciary Committee by former Attorney General Jody Wilson-Raybould. It has gone virtually unreported since she submitted the material almost a week ago. As far as we can find, only one journalist-- Andrew Coyne, columnist for the National Post--- has even mentioned it and even then he badly missed what it meant, burying it in paragraph 10 of a 14 paragraph story. The gist of the greatest political scandal in modern Canadian history is well-known by now. It's bigger than Adscam, the revelation 15 years ago that prominent members of the Liberal Party of Canada and the party itself funneled tens of millions of dollars in kickbacks into their own pockets from federal spending in Quebec sponsoring ads promoting Canadian unity. That was just venal politicians and a crooked political party helping themselves to public money. The Trudeau-Snc-Lavalin scandal is

Crips and Bloodz true cultural anchors of Winnipeg's aboriginal gangs

(Bebo tribute page to Aaron Nabess on the right, his handgun-toting friend on the left) At least six murder victims in Winnipeg in the past year are linked to a network of thuglife, gangster rap-styled, mainly aboriginal street gangs calling themselves Crips and Bloods after the major black gangs of L.A. The Black Rod has been monitoring these gangs for several months ever since discovering memorial tributes to victim Josh Prince on numerous pages on Bebo.com, a social networking website like Myspace and Facebook. Josh Prince , a student of Kildonan East Collegiate, was stabbed to death the night of May 26 allegedly while breaking up a fight. His family said at the time he had once been associated with an unidentified gang, but had since broken away. But the devotion to Prince on sites like Watt Street Bloodz and Kingk Notorious Bloodz (King-K-BLOODZ4Life) shows that at the time of his death he was still accepted as one of their own. Our searches of Bebo have turned up another five ga

Manitoba Hydro is on its deathbed. There, we said it.

Manitoba Hydro is on its deathbed. Oh, you won't find anyone official to say it. Yet . Like relatives trying to appear cheery and optimistic around a loved one that's been diagnosed with terminal cancer, the people in power are in the first stage of grief -- denial. The prognosis for Hydro was delivered three weeks ago at hearings before the Public Utilities Board where the utility was seeking punishingly higher rates for customers in Manitoba. It took us this long to read through the hundred-plus pages of transcript, to decipher the coded language of the witnesses, to interpret what they were getting at, and, finally, to understand the terrible conclusion.  We couldn't believe it, just as, we're sure, you can't--- so we did it all again, to get a second opinion, so to speak.  Hydro conceded to the PUB that it undertook a massive expansion program--- involving three (it was once four) new dams and two new major powerlines (one in the United States)---whi

Nahanni Fontaine, the NDP's Christian-bashing, cop-smearing, other star candidate

As the vultures of the press circle over the wounded Liberal Party of Manitoba, one NDP star candidate must be laughing up her sleeve at how her extremist past has escaped the scrutiny of reporters and pundits. Parachuted into a safe NDP seat in Winnipeg's North End, she nonetheless feared a bruising campaign against a well-heeled Liberal opponent.  Ha ha.  Instead, the sleepy newspeeps have turned a blind eye to her years of vitriolic attacks on Christianity, white people, and police. * She's spent years  bashing Christianity  as the root cause of all the problems of native people in Canada. * She's called for  a boycott of white businesses . * And with her  Marxist research partner, she's  smeared city police as intransigent racists . Step up Nahanni Fontaine, running for election in St. John's riding as successor to the retiring Gord Macintosh. While her male counterpart in the NDP's galaxy of stars, Wab Kinew, has responded to the controversy over

Exposing the CBC/WFP double-team smear of a hero cop

Published since 2006 on territory ceded, released, surrendered and yielded up in 1871 to Her Majesty the Queen and successors forever. Exposing the CBC/FP double-team smear of a hero cop Some of the shoddiest journalism in recent times appeared this long August weekend when the CBC and Winnipeg Free Press doubled teamed on a blatant smear of a veteran city police officer. In the latest example of narrative journalism these media outlets spun stories with total disregard for facts that contradicted the central message of the reports which, simplified, is: police are bad and the system is covering up. Let's start with the story on the taxpayer funded CBC by Sarah Petz that can be summed up in the lead. "A February incident where an off-duty Winnipeg officer allegedly knocked a suspect unconscious wasn't reported to the province's police watchdog, and one criminologist says it shows how flawed oversight of law enforcement can be." There you have it. A policeman, not

Winnipeg needs a new police chief - ASAP

When did the magic die? A week ago the Winnipeg police department delivered the bad news---crime in the city is out of control. The picture painted by the numbers (for 2018) was appalling. Robberies up ten percent in  a single year.  (And that was the good news.) Property crimes were up almost 20 percent.  Total crime was 33 percent higher than the five year average. The measure of violent crime in Winnipeg had soared to a rating of 161.  Only four years earlier it stood at 116. That's a 38 percent deterioration in safety. How did it happen? How, when in 2015 the police and Winnipeg's police board announced they had discovered the magic solution to crime? "Smart Policing" they called it.    A team of crime analysts would pore through data to spot crime hot-spots and as soon as they identified a trend (car thefts, muggings, liquor store robberies) they could call in police resources to descend on the problem and nip it. The police