History of the Ojibways - Chapter 9a

This bloody tragedy was perpetrated in the spring of the year, when the Indians were all away at their sugar camps on the main shore, and at a time when the ice on the lake had become so weak and rotten as to make it unsafe to cross or travel on it. Notwithstanding the state of the ice, the guilty man, who could not bear to remain in solitude surrounded with the evidences of his bloody deed, attempted to make his escape, but having twice broken through the ice, and with difficulty saved his life, and (as he confessed) being drawn back by an invisible power, he returned to the scene of his crime, to patiently await its consequence.

When the ice had disappeared and melted away under the rays of the spring sun, the Indians once more frequented the Fort, and on their inquiring for the trader, the murderer told them the plausible story, that his master had started with his family on a dog train, while the ice was still on the lake, to pay them a visit at their sugar camps. And as he had never arrived amongst them, all naturally supposed that he had broken through the bad ice, and drowned with his family. The Ojibways faithfully, hunted the shores of the island and adjacent main land, for the remains of their lost trader, but as may be supposed, they searched in vain.

In the course of the spring a light canoe arrived from Montreal by way of Grand Portage, containing one of the factors of the fur company, to who belonged the post.

At first the plausible tale of the murderer was credited, but marks of blood having been discovered on the walls of the room where the trader's wife had been murdered, and his evident confusion on being asked the cause of them, led immediately to suspicion, and he was from that time arrested and confined.

Shortly after this, the factor, while walking around the precincts of the fort, endeavoring to discover further traces of the murder, happened to push his sword cane into the pile of rubbish where the murderer had buried the bodies of his unfortunate victims, and the stench on the end of his canted to a complete discovery. The bodies were immediately disinterred in presence of the guilty wretch, who now confessed his crime.
The fort was evacuated, and the cannon and iron works were thrown into the adjacent pond, which having a deep and miry bottom, they have never been discovered by the Indians, who often afterwards searched for them. The site of this old post is still plainly discernible from small mounds of stone and rubbish, which once formed the chimneys of the dwellings, which are still to be found on the spot where it once stood. The murderer was taken to Montreal, and the Indians at this day say that he was torn to pieces by horses being attached to each of his arms and legs, and caused to pull in different directions.

Another account has it, and coming from the lips of old traders and half-breeds, I am disposed to believe it as the truth, that the guilty wretch managed to escape from his keepers on the route to Montreal, and seeking refuge among the Hurons, he adopted their dress and customs, and learned to speak their language. On one occasion being present at a war-dance, when the Indian warriors were striking the "red stake" and telling their different exploits performed in war against their enemies, the murderer stepped into their midst, and likewise striking the stake, he related his deed of treachery and blood, expecting to be honored by the red men as a brave man, for the exploit. He was however mistaken, for before he had finished his tale of the bloody deed, an Indian warrior arose, and stepping up to him with the single exclamation of "Dog," he buried a tomahawk deep into his brain. The narrative of this event has been carefully preserved and handed down by the old traders, and it is presented here as I have learned it from them.

The tale as the Indians tell it, is somewhat mixed with the superstitious and unnatural, though in the main incidents they fully agree with the trader's account. They give as a cause for the murder, that the "Coureurs du Bois" had pilfered goods during the winter to such an amount that his master threatened to report his conduct to the Factors on their first visit, and have him taken to Quebec as a culprit. To prevent this disgrace and punishment, the man first killed his master, as has been related, and then attempted rape on his wife, who forced him to kill her by her active self-defense with the Indian spear. Only in this respect do the Indians differ in the account from that which I have given, and which is said to have been the confession of the murderer himself. (This story as told by the trader, William Morrison, in August 1822, appeared in the Detroit Gazette, and is reprinted in Vol. VIII. Of  Wisconsin Historical Collections. The published account says the tragedy of killing the traders his wife and child, occurred during the winter of 1760--61, and that on his way to Montreal for trial he was released on the St. Lawrence River, and fought with the Indians against the British. His boasting of his murders took place at a dance near Sault Ste. Marie. The Indians, disgusted with his tale of cruelty, invited him to a feast, and as soon as he commenced to eat, he was informed by the chief that as soon as he stopped, he would be killed. He ate for a long time, but at last had to stop, when he was soon lifeless. His body was boiled, but the young men would not eat, for they said "he was worse than a bad dog."--E. D. N.)

I learn from Michel Cadotte, and the venerable John Baptist Corbin, who came into the Ojibway country when he was twenty years of age and has remained fifty-six years, that this event occurred just one hundred and thirty years ago, in the year 1722.

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