Reminiscences of a Raconteur, Between the '40s and the '20sHam, George H. (George Henry)
History
Reminiscences of a Raconteur, Between the '40s and the '20s
Ham, George H. (George Henry)
Canada; Ham, George H. (George Henry), 1847-1926; Journalists -- Canada -- Biography
Louis Thomas, an Indian, was found guilty of murdering a white man down
near Morris, and was sentenced to death. A few days previous to the
execution, a friend of mine who was a guard at the jail, which was then
located at the bend on Main Street, near the city hall, tipped me off
that the Indian wanted to see me. Although it was against the
regulations, I managed to smuggle myself into his cell, and he told me
the story of the crime. He had just got to the point of saying that two
French-Canadians had taken the victim by the legs and thrown him into a
well, when the sheriff appeared and ordered me out of the place and
demanded my notes. Of course, I had to go, and backed out as
dignified-like as I could, protesting that I was willing to give up my
notes, until I reached the street door. Once outside the jail, I made a
mad rush for the _Free Press_ office, wrote up my report of the day’s
exciting event, and that evening there was so much indignation expressed
around town that next morning the Government appointed Hon. D. M. Walker
to investigate the affair, and I was allowed to be present. The Indian
had given me a couple of pages of foolscap on which he said was
scribbled a confession in the Iroquois language, but it could easily be
seen that it was merely scribbling and nothing more. When Mr. Walker
confronted the prisoner he retracted every blessed word he had told me,
and when next I saw him on the scaffold, he looked at me in a most
careless, half-amused way, and, waving his hand towards me, cheerily
said with the greatest nonchalance: “Bon jour, boy, bon jour.” Five
minutes later, he dropped into eternity.
Schofield’s Escapade
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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