Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1885-11-14
Is He. OR Is HE NOTl
One Doctor Says Riel is Mad, Another
That He isn't-Excitement Increasing.

WINNIPEG, Nov l3.
Df. Lavelle, one of the medical commits
sioners, was interviewed here, Friday night.
He said he believed Riel was insane, but DR..
Iukes of Regina, claimed he was sane. DR..
Lavelle believed the third member of the
commission was inclined to favor the
opinion OF the prisoners insanity.
Each physician has made a
separate report to the government SO that DR..
Lavelle does not know which way the third
doctor has reported. He said he did not see
how anyone could report Rie sane at present.
He says, 'If the Dominion COVE vernment hangs
him, 1t deserves the condemnation of all Just
men, for the act could not te interpreted as
being more or less than hanging lunatic :"
1t Is stated that threats have been made of the
withdrawal of their support by the French
section of the party, if the prisoner hangs.
As the day fixed for the execution approaches
the excitement here grows intense.
MONTREAL, Nov. l3.
Lapresse comes out boldly in demanding
the reprieve of the death penalty of Riel 1t
suggests that the whole of the French con.
servative members 20 in a body to Ottawa
and notify Sir John that if Riel is killed he
must not look for their support again. 1t
claims that this is the trump card to save
Riel and defeat the Orangemen's revenge aud
vindictiveness.
A caucus of all the French Canadian men,
bers OF Parliament of this province, who are
supporters of the present administration, is
being held today. the meeting is for the
purpose of arriving at united policy in re-
gard to Riel. j. A. Chapleaux, secretary of
state, has just arrived to attend the caucus,
and its stated that deputies intend calling
upon him and the other two French minis
tiers to resign A resolution has also been
prepared which will doubtless be unanimously
carried. viz: THAT telegram be dispatch
ed to Sir John Macdonald informing him
that in the event of Riel being executed, all
his French supporters will go into the oppo-
stion." Sir Hector Langw in, minister of
public works, informed friends here yester-
day that Riel WAS doomed and nothing could
save him.
TORONTO. Nov. l3.
The Sentinel, the leading Orange paper,
commenting on the Riel case says: "Shall
the atrOciOus injustice be committed of per-
mitting this artful rebel to go free. while his
dupes and tools, the unfortunate untutOred
and misled Indians, are hanged for the par
ticpation in the acts which they regard as
praiswOrthy and heroic instead of criminal
The people of Canada will require unequivo-
cal answers to these straightforward ques-
tions if Riel be reprieved, and the only an
swer We judge that can be truthfully given
is that the Frenchmen of Quebec rule in the
Dominion Parliament and have vowed that
not a hair of RieI's head shall be
harmed. Was it to this end then
that our gallant volunteers sprang
to arms and laid down their lives at
their country's calling? Shall the Frenchmen
who sympsthze with the rebels be permitted
to undo their work? If so let it be proclaim
ed that the rights and liberties of Britons in
an English colony hang only upon the breath
of an alien race. But English Canadians
will not longer suffer the CALLING bondage,
and the day may not be far distant when the
call to arms will again resound through the
Dominion. Then our soldiers, profiting by
the lesson of the past, must complete work
throughout the whole land begun in the north
west.
OTTAWA, Nov. 13.
There was great excitement in this city to.
day when report that Riel had escaped from
prison was circulated and there were numer-
GUS inquiries at the telegraph and newspaper
offices concerning the authenticity of the re-
port Reports as to what the government
have done or going to do in the matter of
the hanging are mere suppositious, absolutely
nothing reliable Is known except by the min
listers themselves, who refuse to say anything
about the matter.
The case of Riel has provoked such a
fierce controversy throughout the Dominion
that the sheriff declares that he will not as
sumo the responsibility of acting upon what
might prove to be a forged telegram. Riel's
fate and the action of the Dominion authori-
ties has taken complete possession of all
classes of the people in Manitoba and North
west Territory.
REGINA, N. w. T., Nov. 13.
Preparations for the hanging of the leader
of the half breeds in the recent rebellions are
complete, but in the absence of an official
order from the governments to carry out the
sentence of death on Reil, it seems probable
tonight that he will be again respited. The
order directing that the execution take place
next Monday has not yet arrived, and a state
ment is made tonight that unless a specific
order arrives by tomorrowiforenoon the judge
will issue an order for further respite.