An episode in connection with the attack on St Denis left a dark stain on the _Patriote_ escutcheon and embittered greatly the relations between the two races in Canada. This was the murder, on the morning of the fight, of Lieutenant Weir, a subaltern in the 32nd regiment, who had been sent with dispatches to Sorel by land. He had reached Sorel half an hour after Colonel Gore and his men had departed for St Denis. In attempting to catch up with Gore's column he had taken the direct road to St Denis and had arrived there {80} in advance of the British troops. On approaching the village he was arrested, and by Wolfred Nelson's orders placed in detention. As the British attack developed, it was thought better by those who had him in charge to remove him to St Charles. They bound him tightly and placed him in a wagon. Hardly had they started when he made an attempt to escape. In this emergency his warders seem to have lost their heads. In spite of the fact that Weir was tightly bound and could do no harm, they fell upon him with swords and pistols, and in a short time dispatched him. Then, appalled at what they had done, they attempted to hide the body. When the British troops entered St Denis a week later, they found the body lying, weighted down with stones, in the Richelieu river under about two feet of water. The autopsy disclosed the brutality with which Weir had been murdered; and the sight of the body so infuriated the soldiers that they gave the greater part of the village of St Denis to the flames. In the later phases of the rebellion the slogan of the British soldiers was, 'Remember Jack Weir.' Another atrocious murder even more unpardonable than that of Weir was perpetrated {81} a few days later. On November 28 some _Patriotes_ near St Johns captured a man by the name of Chartrand, who was enlisted in a loyal volunteer corps of the district. After a mock trial Chartrand was tied to a tree and shot by his own countrymen. [1] According to a report twelve _Patriotes_ lost their lives during the engagement. Among them was Charles Ovide Perrault, member of the Assembly for Vaudreuil, a young barrister of considerable promise. He seems to have been Papineau's closest follower and confidant During the last sessions of the Lower Canada legislature Perrault contributed many letters to _La Minerve_. {82} CHAPTER IX _FORCE MAJEURE_