The Daily bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Hawaii]) 1882-1895, 1885-04-27
che 9ailg 8nltstin,
MONDAY, APRIL ~, 1885.
REL, THE MANITOBA REBEL.

REL, THE MANITOBA REBEL.
Mr.. Robert Lockhart, resident
of San Francisco, some years since,
in letter to Belfast paper, dated
Toronto, April IL, 1874, gave some
interesting information concerning
the Manitoba rebel, Louis Riel,
which is here reproduced in full:
] would regard this brief sum-
mary of the opening proceedings
(of the Dominion Parliament) as
altogether incomplete without some
reference to the now notorious Louis
Riel, who has been elected to repre-
sent the Provencher District of
Manitoba in the Dominion Parlia-
ment, and against whom bill has
been found for the murder of
Thomas Scott, the loyalist, in Mar,
1870. The details of this butchery
are as horrible as any recorded in
the annals of crime. Some of your
readers may have heard of the Red
River rebellion, which broke out in
the year 1869. The rebels formed
provisional government (something
after the style of the Paris Com
munists), and elected Louis Riel as
President. AS part of their pro-
ceedings, they made prisoners of q
large number of loyalists, among
them their leader, Thomas Scott.
The prisoners were very harshly
treated, Scott more so than any of
the rest, as Riel notlrished par
ticular hatred against him. The
following is an abridged account of
the end of this horrible tragedy:
Scott received a sham trial before a
tribunal of war, he not being pre-
sent, but being simply brought for
ward to hear the sentence of death
delivered against him, and the exc
cution took place March 4 1870.
A HORRIBLE EXECUTION.
Six soldiers were chosen to shoot
him. One of the six declared openly
that he would not shoot at Scott,
and in fact took off the cap before
the word of command, "Present!'
was given. OF the five balls remain
ing only two hit the victim, one on
the right shoulder, the other on the
upper part of the chest above the
heart. These two wounds were not
sufficient, it appears, to cause death
at least instant death-and one
Guillmette stepped forward and dis
charged the contents of a pistol close
to Scott's head, while he was lying
on the ground. The ball, however
took wrong direction, going into
the upper part of the right cheel
and coming out somewhere abou
the cartilage Of the nose. Scot
was not yet dead, but that did no
prevent his butchers from placing
him, alive and still speaking, in ;
kind of coffin made of four rougl
boards, which was nailed up ant
placed in the southeast bastion
This occurred at - 80, and between
the hours of 5 and 6 in the evenin!
the unfortunate Scott was heart
speaking from underneath the lid o
the coffin. He was understood t.
say "My God! My God!" ant
"For Gods sake take me out o
here or kill me-" What long an
horrible agony, and what a ferociou
cruelty on the part of his butchers
Toward II o'clock-that is, afte
ten and half hours cruel torture,
person, whose name is at present witt
held, went into the bastion and gay
him the finishing stroke with a butche
knife, after which the assassin e,
claimed, "The shall n,
speak any more. He is dead tn
time For three nights u watc
was kept over the remains, and {
the fourth the corpse was taken
the Red River and thrown in, a lars
stone having been previously tied
it. And so the body of Thos. SEQ
sank to rise no more. Such is Il
story of SCOTS death, which mo
resembles some of the horrid fanci
of Edgar Allan Poe than anythil
one would expect to be enacted in
civilized country.
REL IN PARLIAMENT.
These particulars were only pu
llshed a day or two ago, and ha
served to increase the exciteme
already existed. The rebellion h
since been crushed, but Riel h
been elected as member for til
district; and although, as alrea'