, 1880-02-12
. Seven Bad Brothers,

Il ol.rayDs in tho upper country. 10y
,Le "srn.r country - meant all that
,cr-.5r, forming part OF British Co
I,,,b.. situated above Yale, tac head OF
nay.rron g., tao Hll.r river The
Ele. Of these b.,s. an oil S.o.,'man,
no, British Jolluag ia his youth
- tbe employ cf the Hudson Fay Com
nary lie was singuIarIy brave man,
Ind soon after his arrival he was trans
iarrsj from Victoria 10 kaml0op' a
nlocc some 500 miles from Yale, where
he took charge Of ''post' and traded
9th the Indians. Like all servants Of
tbo Hudson Bay Company, lac lived in
copcubinage with the Indians, and in
time had large family about him.
The seven boys already spoken of are by
two wiycs-one full-booded Indian
and the other half breed, Some OF
the bows are therefore, halfbreeds, the
others ouarter.breeds. They say in this
country that 70 good comes from man
wbo has Indian blood in him. McLane,
the father, was, as has already been
said, a remarkably courageous man, and
from the very first was feared ana held
in veneration by the Indians. On one
occasion a Hudson Bay man was mur-
dered by the Chilcotans, and they re-
fused to say who committed the murder.
Old McLane seized his musket and
s.al.od into the Indian camp. lie
called the chief and asked that the
murderer be given up. This was re-
fused, The sun was high in the heavens,
and McLane stopped and picked from the
FIRE burning in the chiefs tent piece
Of charcoal. He coolly drew line be-
tween himself and the chief, saying that
% the sun cast bis shadow on the line
he would kill the chief unless the muir
derer had already been given up. In
those days the Indians had seen very
little of fire arms, and were in no wav
put out by old McLanes threat.
HE BIDED HIS TIME.
As soon as the shade covered the mark
McIAne took aim, fired and killed the
chief. The rest of the tribe were so
dumbfounded that they gave up the
murderer and ever after regarded him
as superior being. From that day he
could do as he liked with them, and IN
course of time, as ho married and
children grew up around him, they in
their turn came to be looked upon as in
heriting their fathers supernatural
powers. The boys were sent down
country to the Mission schools,
and received fair education Even
here their Indian blood began to
show itself, for one lad named Hare,
who later figures in this narrative,
drew q inife and stabbed school fel
low in a quarrel. On returning home
the boys were good for nothing. They
were all expert horsemen and good
shots, but had no taste for work. They
obtained engagements with the ranchers
in the upper country but never stayed
long They could always earn enough
money at breaking horses to live upon,
and this, in conjunction with their
national aversion to labor, soon reduced
them to the position Of vagabonds One
Of tho boys who has since committed
murder, used to ride races in Cariboo in
its palmv days. lie would then make
enough to live on during the season.
AS they grew up they ~ere always get
ting in different kinds Of trouble and as
often managed to evade detection.
After while, however, they, began TO
be regarded as outlaws. Their
HAND WAS AGAINST EVERY MAN,
And every mans hand was against them.
They stole cattle and sheep, outraged
women, broke JAIL carried off horses and
committed the most serious crimes
known 10 the criminal code of a new
country. One of their latest exploits
was robbing and beating a Chinaman
whom they overlook from collection of
gold along the river bank. Having re-
heved him OF his treasure they beat him
numerically and left him for dead. An
attempt was made by Usscr, govern
ment agent, to arrest them, and four of
them were overtaken in camp after
not chase, No sooner did Users party
appear on the scene than one of the Nc
Lanes raised his rifle and shot both
user and Mcleod. User did not fall
nom his horse, but was armed with
revolver onl ly and unable to return the
nre. The McLanes had Henry rifles
ana revolvers. Both Mcleod and
Falmer returned the fire. and as has