, 1867-07-12
A Horrible story-An Extraordinary Crime
by q Child.

UI u OMuus
A private letter, written by a resident Of Fort
Pitt, small settlement in the valley Of the Sas-
katehawan, Prince Rupert's Land, contains the
following account of most terrible occurrence
when took place there on the 10th Of March:
dreadful affair happened here the other day;
such q singular and out-of- the-way crime, il il
can 30 be called, that it is almost without the
bounds Of credibility. You know what quiet
little village ours is here, hedged in by the
forest Primeval, and subject only to the wants
that attend nan in his primitive state we RELY
mainly on our traps aud guns as means of gain,
ing livelihood we are as happy, even IN our
Isolation from the busy haunts of men, as were
the fabled dwellers in the Utopian Arcadia The
name of the last new conner is Martin Buthierey
He vase hsbitant from Lower Canada. He
came here last Fall, accompanied by his wife
and FIVE children. 1t is in this family that the
dreadful tragedy which am about to relate took
place. On Saturday, 9th instant Buthiere kill
ed three pigs, slaughtering them in the usual
manner-tbat is, after stabbiug the animals and
allowing them to bleed to death whilst walking
around, he disemboweled them and plunged their
carcasses into a vat of boiling water, and then
scraped the bristles clean from the skin. The
three pigs were then hoisted by the hind legs to
an overhauging beam. The butchering opera.
tions of Martin were witnessed by his two youn.
ger children, boys, of the respective ages of six
and eight years. The eldest, Gustave, it was
observed at the time, seemed delighted, not only
by the stupid actions of the pigs after receiving
their death wounds, but also excited and inter.
ested ia the after processes of the butchering,
clapping his little hands and mutterng, in the
pdtOis OF these people, childlike observations of
joy. The butchering, as | have before observed,
took place on Saturday. In the morning of the
next day the various members of the different
households assembled in the little chapel at the
east corner of the fort, and heard mass celebra-
ted by our good Father Guoreau. He invited US
to attend in the evening, when he intended to
lecture upon some subject suitable to this season
of the church year. In compliance with his in,
vitation the chapel in the evening was filled with
the usual number of worshippers with the ex-
ception of some of the younger members of the
community who had been left at home Among
these latter were the two boys of Martin Buthi-
ere. 1t was pretty late when the meeting broke
up. accompanied Buthiere and his wife to-
ward their house, which was but a short distance
from the chapel When within few yards Of
the doorsteps, we were all startled by observing
the little GIstaye running toward us, holding
up his hands all red and bloody his eyes glis.
teuing with a wild, but childke sort of glee,
and crying out in broken French to the effect
that be had "killed little piggy, come and see."
The mother, startled at the appearance of the
boy, interrogated him quickly as to the cause of
the blood but be only clapped his hands as be-
fore, muttered about "piggy," and said "come
and see.' My first thought was that the child
bad been playing with the carcass of the pigs,
and that this accounted for the blood. The
father and mother also seemed Of the same opn-
iou, and chided the boy for what they considered
his mischieyoueness. Little did we imagins the
fearful spectacle that awaited us within the
house. Soon the door was reached, little Gus
tave rInniug on before and opening it for u.s.
Oh h,rror of horrorsl The door is opened
and right before our eyes, hanging from one of
the low beams that ran across the room, was the
dead, naked, mutlated body of the precious
little boy, Buthieres youngest child. The floor
was coTered with clots and pools Of blood, still
warm snd steaming and, horrible to relate, di.
rectly underneath the hanging corpse were the
bowelsof the little fellow in heap, just as they
had been torn from the still warm body. The
mother with frantic shrek, swooned on the
threshold the father stood trsns6xed with hor-
ror, whilst ], with sickening feeling, leaned
againstthe door post, and with my hands tried
TO shade my eyes from the horrid sight Some
of the villagers who were passing at the time,
attracted by the shrieks of Mrs, Buthiere, came
to the house. Their exclamations aroused all
but the poor mother to consciousness, and we
soon became sensible to the frightful nature of
the deed that had taken place. The boy, Gus
taye. in the meantime, stood near the centre of
of the room, with a wondering look on his
youthful connteuance, and gazing up in the ap
palled ACE of his agonized father, Let me draw
a veil over the scene which followed