I must confess that almost up till now I have had a prejudice against [John] Schultz I don’t know why. Probably it was that I never met him before, but since I have met him here, he gives me the idea that he is a man, not only to lead, but to be followed. And from the influence he has with the people, and the way they look upon him as their champion, combined with his noble, manly bearing, it is little to be wondered at that Riel and his party were so anxious to put him out of the way.
— Robert Cunningham, Daily Telegraph, September 6, 1870
It is a great pity that the 60th are withdrawn from Winnipeg this winter…. The Volunteers are excellent men, and, it is hoped, are well-disciplined soldiers; but it is impossible to disguise the fact that very little provocation would be necessary to create a disturbance in which Ontario or Quebec Volunteers would take part, and which might end only in bloodshed.
— Molyneux St. John, Globe, August 27, 1870
The departure of the British troops stoked “great fear” in locals about the Dominion army. R-SJ said that both English- and French-speaking residents believed the Regulars embodied the Queen’s authority and as such could be trusted as they were “without any partisan feeling in local matters.” The same couldn’t be said of the Canadian soldiers. While the Volunteers might very well turn out to be “well-disciplined soldiers” and “excellent men,” R-SJ wrote that “very little provocation” would be needed to draw the Ontario and Quebec Volunteers in and “which might end only in bloodshed.”
Cunningham was also worried about provocation and bloodshed. On September 3, he wrote that he “no longer felt safe” — stores and houses were being “broken into and goods stolen,” drunken revellers were “firing off their revolvers at midday on the open streets,” and four fights broke out in the streets before 11:00 a.m. And to top it off, John Schultz’s father-in-law, James Farquharson, offered a public reward “of twenty pounds each for the capture of Riel, O’Donoghue, and Lépine.” R-SJ said that “there never was such a chaos of public sentiment, such a muddle of political affairs, as now exists in Manitoba.”
Archibald’s arrival on Saturday evening, September 3, proved to be little balm. In the afternoon, Wolseley had ordered the guns out and an honour guard to parade “about the hour at which he was expected.” But Archibald didn’t arrive until 8:00 p.m., by which point the guns and guard had long been removed. Only Donald Smith and Colonel Wolseley came down to the wharf to welcome the amiable Nova Scotian “on his safe arrival,” and then they “quickly disappeared inside the fort.” Except for a salute at eight the next morning, “all other ceremonies are deferred until next week.”
Archibald and the Volunteers weren’t the only arrivals in Red River the first week of September. On Sunday, September 4, John Schultz, James Lynch, and the other “refugees” who had spent the previous months stoking indignation across Ontario arrived home, and, in R-SJ’s words, “commenced to work.”
Schultz’s first order of business was to attend a meeting at St. John’s Cathedral that Archdeacon John McLean had convened to draft “an address to be presented to the lieutenant governor.” According to Cunningham, McLean opened the meeting by declaring that as a member of the clergy he had “no peculiar desire” to “mix himself up with politics” but did think “the time had now arrived when the laity ought to take political matters into their own hands.” McLean then read a draft of an address to Archibald that had been “circulated round the various parishes.”
Dr. John Christian Schultz, Senator.
R-SJ mentioned that the address was more of a “formal document intended merely to welcome the arrival of the governor” and made no reference to “the misdeeds of Riel or the expectations of the English settlers.” As Cunningham reported, this prompted Schultz to the floor to tell the audience that he found the archdeacon’s aphorism ne sutor ultra crepidam to be a “capital one” but hinted “henceforth the clergy had better mind their own business and leave politics alone.” Schultz then moved to strike a committee to draw up a new, more substantial address to the lieutenant governor with respect to “affording redress to those who have been injured and protection to others who may have been compelled to act against their better judgment.” He then charged the committee to meet at his house that evening and continued talking about Thomas Scott at some length, saying he wanted Scott’s body disinterred and a “Christian” burial provided. The resolution carried unanimously.
Later that evening, “quite a party” turned out at Schultz’s house. “The doctor” started the proceedings by calling on supporters to “demand the body from Mr. Donald Smith” and then deputized James Lynch, Michael Power, and William Farmer to deliver the following message to Smith:
WINNIPEG, September 5, 1870
To Donald A. Smith, Esquire, Governor Hudson’s Bay Company, and Acting Chief Magistrate of the District of Assiniboia
SIR, — A large meeting was held tonight of the comrades and loyal friends of the late Thomas Scott, who was so barbarously murdered outside the walls of Fort Garry on the 4th of March, 1870. After mature consideration they have deemed it their duty to approach you as the acting Chief Magistrate of the Province, and to ask to be allowed to receive at your hands his remains, so that they may give to them a Christian burial, which surely at least is due to him who died for his Queen and country.
A Committee appointed by the meeting will be at the Fort at 9:00 tomorrow morning to receive the remains.
(Signed) JAMES LYNCH, M.D. On behalf of comrades from Town of Winnipeg
MICHAEL POWER On behalf of comrades from Headingley
WM. A. FARMER On behalf of comrades from Portage la Prairie
At John Schultz’s Sunday evening meeting, Cunningham met Reverend George Young, the Methodist minister who had ministered to Thomas Scott while he was imprisoned at Fort Garry. Cunningham said that Young — “a more kindly, warm-hearted, generous, truthful man does not live” — had promised Scott he would “give a true statement of the case to the people of Canada,” and “preferring me and the paper I represent,” gave the Telegraph reporter an exclusive. Cunningham promised “a simple story” free from “anything of rhetoric flourish, or grandiloquent misstatement.”
Young began by setting the record straight. Contrary to public opinion, he told Cunningham, Scott wasn’t “taken in arms” by Louis Riel and his men on December 7, 1869. He had been at Schultz’s house that night when Riel’s men surrounded it and marshalled the 50 or so men and women inside up to Fort Garry. Young maintained that Scott, “with that chivalrous spirit which probably cost him his life,” went to the fort of his own accord to ask Riel to allow the women and children to leave, and it was at that point Scott was taken prisoner.
On January 23, Scott said that he escaped with Schultz and a few others and made it to Kildonan where they made plans to rescue the remaining prisoners and overthrow Riel. The group returned to Fort Garry on February 15 but were overtaken by Riel’s forces and Scott was thrown back in jail. According to Scott, Schultz escaped capture and made his way on snowshoes to Lake Superior and eventually to Ontario.
The Sunday after Scott was re-imprisoned, Young was called to Fort Garry to pray with the prisoners “as was his usual custom.” It was at this point that Young learned Scott was “in irons” and in solitary confinement. Young asked the guards to see Scott and was led to a “bare, cold room” where Scott had only “one blanket to keep him warm.”
Once inside, Young asked Scott, “Why have you been placed in solitary confinement?”
“I don’t know,” Scott replied. “Yesterday it was very cold and I was trying to get near the stove to warm myself when one of the guards with insulting language ordered me off. I reasoned with him, and while we were talking, O’Donoghue came up and asked why I was making so much noise, I replied that I was not making much noise and said that though I was a prisoner I ought to be treated with common civility.”
O’Donoghue told him, “Prisoners don’t deserve to be treated with civility.” Then Scott was put in solitary.
The following Thursday, Young was at home when a messenger came from the fort and told him that “a prisoner who was to be shot tomorrow at noon” wanted to see him. The minister hurried to the fort and found Scott still in solitary confinement, although moved to a room with a bed, a candle, and writing supplies.
Scott told Young that he had complained to Riel about his trial — “it had not been a fair one.” He said it had been conducted exclusively in French and he didn’t understand what charges had been brought against him. Scott said that Riel told him, “Five of the six counsellors concurred in condemning me.”
“If I have done anything worthy of death,” Scott replied, “I am willing to die, but it is hard that I should have to die for the blunders of the Canadian government.”
Young then asked Scott, “Do you fully realize the perilous position you are now in?”
“I do,” Scott replied. “But will they dare to do it? They have the power to do it, and they hate me enough to do it, but will they dare to do it?”
Young stayed for the evening and Scott told him how he wanted his personal belongings dispersed after his death. After that, Scott asked to be alone for the night, so Young went home to spend a sleepless night.
Early the next morning, Young returned to the fort resolved to find clemency for Scott. The minister talked to Donald Smith, Père Lestang, and even Riel himself. In the last conversation, Young asked Monsieur le Président if he would spare Scott’s life.
“No,” Riel replied, “he is a bad man and has insulted the guards. He has had a fair trial. Five out of six of the Council of War have found him guilty, only one objecting, and with tears in their eyes condemned him to die.” Riel then asked Young, “Does Scott not really think he will be shot?”
Young told him, “It is hard for him to believe it.”
“What, does he not believe me?”
Young said he pleaded with Riel that even if Scott’s sentence couldn’t be commuted, he should receive at least another day of life.
According to Young, Riel thundered in response, “What, is he not penitent? Is he not prepared? Go and tell him from me that he has got to die in an hour. Have you got a cross, Mr. Young? You should get a cross, and hold it up before his eyes. That would impress his mind.”
Young went back to Scott’s room and waited for the dreaded hour. At a few minutes past noon, and then a few more, the pair had “some faint hope” that Riel had agreed to Young’s request. But to no avail — Riel’s men entered the room shortly after twelve, tied Scott’s arms behind his back, and put a white veil over his head. Young said that Scott called out, “O, this is awful.”
The minister asked the guards to give them a couple of minutes to say a final prayer, and the guards agreed. The two then knelt on the floor and Young “prayed fervently.” When the guards returned a few minutes later, Scott asked if he could say goodbye “to the boys.” The guards consented and showed Scott downstairs to where the rest of the prisoners were held. As Scott descended, he said to Young, “This is a cold-blooded murder. Be sure and make a true statement.”
After Scott said his goodbyes, the guards led him out the main south gate of the fort and a few paces along the sleigh track. Shortly, one of the guards told Scott to halt. Young asked the guards for another few moments to pray, which was granted.
When Scott and Young finished their prayers, they rose and the minister told the prisoner that he had to leave. Scott asked Young to draw the veil tighter over his eyes. The reverend did so, then said goodbye, turned back toward the gate, and asked the guards once more for clemency.
“Please, give the prisoner one more day,” Young pleaded with the officer commanding the firing party.
“No,” replied the officer. “His time is come. He must die.” O’Donoghue was at the gate when Young got there. The minister tried one last time. “This is a terrible thing. Try to get it put off for a day. I know your influence is sufficient if you will use it.”
O’Donoghue was unmoved. All he admitted to was: “It’s gone very far.”
Young then heard a volley of shots. He turned and saw Scott “fallen forward on his face in the snow.” Young rushed back and found the man’s right shoulder “twitching violently.”
One of the executioners pronounced, “He is dead.”
A second said, “Put him out of his misery.”
A third said the same, while a fourth took out his revolver, “pointed it close to Scott’s head, and fired.”
Young asked Riel to provide Scott’s body for burial later in the day. At first, Riel agreed but then changed his mind and “distinctly refused.” Young then asked two members of the Provisional Government (Bob O’Lone and Alfred Scott) to intervene, which they did. Riel agreed that if Young were to guarantee that “everything be done quietly,” he would transfer the body. But the remains were never transferred. Young said he learned later that Ambroise-Didyme Lépine, the adjutant general, claimed the body and had his men conduct the burial in secrecy.
The next day, Young ran into Riel and asked if Scott would be the last execution. Riel told him, “I don’t know. I don’t know. Some of them are almost as bad as Scott. Some of them are very bad men. One of them is now before the council. He may go, too. His name is Parker.”
Young thought if Bishop Taché hadn’t arrived back in Red River shortly after the Scott incident, “there would have been a series of murders.”
At 9:00 a.m. on Monday, September 5, John Schultz’s deputies — James Lynch, Michael Power, and William Farmer — arrived at Fort Garry to formally request that Donald Smith provide the body of Thomas Scott. R-SJ said that the acting governor told the delegation he was deeply sympathetic with “the spirit which may be presumed to have prompted the request,” but regretted not being in a “position to comply with their desire.”
Smith then tried to bury the request in red tape. He told the delegates they first needed to “establish their claim” to Scott’s body and possessions “by deposition before a magistrate.” After that, they could make an application to “the authorities of the Province of Manitoba” for permission to search and, if found, recover the body. Smith told the three men he himself was “entirely ignorant of the spot in which the remains were deposited.”