The Bastard of Fort Stikine Read online

  “A rollicking read and a fresh contribution to the literature of the fur trade — scholarship and skulduggery in the same fine package.”

  —James Raffan, author of Circling the Midnight Sun and Emperor of the North

  “History buffs and armchair detectives are sure to enjoy this absorbing time-machine tale of murder, mayhem, intrigue, and justice denied.”

  —David A. Gibb, author of Camouflaged Killer: The Shocking Double Life of Colonel Russell Williams

  “A fascinating biohistorical investigation by forensic anthropologist Debra Komar into one of Canada’s coldest cases, the mysterious killing of a Hudson’s Bay Company chief trader in 1842.”

  —Peter Vronsky, author of Ridgeway: The American Fenian Invasion and the 1866 Battle That Made Canada

  Is it possible to reach back in time and solve an unsolved murder, more than 170 years after it was committed?

  Just after midnight on April 21, 1842, John McLoughlin Jr., the chief trader at Fort Stikine, was shot dead by his own men. The Hudson’s Bay Company had high expectations for this remote post on the Pacific Northwest coast, but within two years it had devolved into a cesspool of paranoia, violence, misrule, and revolt. The fort’s complement claimed the shooting was their only means of stopping McLoughlin’s drunken and abusive rampages, and HBC Governor George Simpson took them at their word. The case never saw the inside of a courtroom. McLoughlin was buried without ceremony, and the Company closed the book on his death.

  Now Debra Komar uses archival research and modern forensic science, including ballistics, virtual autopsy, and crime scene reconstruction, to unlock the mystery of what really happened the night John McLoughlin died. The story of his murder provides a glimpse into the sometimes brutal reality of life in the Hudson’s Bay Company and the role it played in shaping the Canadian north.

  Also by Debra Komar

  The Lynching of Peter Wheeler

  The Ballad of Jacob Peck

  Copyright © 2015 by Debra Komar

  All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher or a licence from the Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency (Access Copyright). To contact Access Copyright, visit www.accesscopyright.ca or call 1-800-893-5777.

  Edited by Sarah Brohman.

  Cover photo of beaver dam by Jason Drury (500px.com/jasondrury).

  Firearm photo courtesy of Fredericton Region Museum.

  Cover and page design by Chris Tompkins.

  Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

  Komar, Debra, 1965-, author

  The bastard of Fort Stikine : the Hudson’s Bay Company

  and the murder of John McLoughlin Jr. / Debra Komar.

  Includes bibliographical references and index.

  Issued in print and electronic formats.

  ISBN 978-0-86492-871-9 (pbk.). — ISBN 978-0-86492-781-1 (epub). —

  ISBN 978-0-86492-721-7 (mobi)

  1. McLoughlin, John, Jr., died 1842. 2. McLoughlin, John, 1784-1857. 3. Simpson, George, Sir, 1792?-1860. 4. Murder — Alaska — Fort Stikine. 5. Hudson’s Bay Company — Employees — Crimes against. 6. Hudson’s Bay Company — Employees — Biography. 7. Fort Stikine (Alaska) — Biography. 8. Hudson’s Bay Company — History. I. Title.

  HV6533.A53K64 2015 364.152’3097982 C2014-906844-1

  C2014-906845-X

  Goose Lane Editions acknowledges the generous support of the Canada Council for the Arts, the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund (CBF), and the Government of New Brunswick through the Department of Tourism, Heritage and Culture.

  Goose Lane Editions

  500 Beaverbrook Court, Suite 330

  Fredericton, New Brunswick

  CANADA E3B 5X4

  www.gooselane.com

  To my parents,

  for never asking how three degrees in anthropology

  would help support them in their old age.

  CONTENTS

  Preface

  Wednesday, April 20, 1842 — Midday

  “Lamentable Deficiency”

  one L’Enfant Terrible

  Wednesday, April 20, 1842 — Dusk

  two Reckless Deeds on Distant Shores

  Monday, April 25, 1842 — Nightfall

  three The Honourable Company

  Thursday, April 21, 1842 — Midnight

  four Dickson’s Folly

  Monday, April 25, 1842 — Full Dark

  five “A Sink of Pollution”

  Tuesday, June 28, 1842 — Dusk

  six An Underhanded Complement

  Thursday, April 21, 1842 — Midnight

  seven Tight Reins and Loose Women

  Thursday, April 21, 1842 — Dawn

  “A Skin for a Skin”

  eight Casus Belli

  nine Prior Bad Acts

  ten An Irresistible Force, an Immovable Object

  eleven Putting Flesh to Bone

  twelve The Judas Goat

  Thursday, April 21, 1842 — Midday

  thirteen Endgames

  Acknowledgements

  Illustration credits

  Notes

  Additional Sources

  Index

  Preface

  This book began with one question but ended with another. Initially, I had planned to use modern forensic science to solve an unsolved murder from deep in our nation’s past. The impetus for doing so was pure frustration and a dead king.

  In 2012, a team of archaeologists found human remains in a car park in Leicester, England. The decedent was a man in his late twenties or early thirties. The grave was centuries old, and although the skeleton was in remarkably good condition, the same could not be said for the individual it represented. The body was stunted in stature, the spine showed marked scoliosis, and there were eight wounds to the skull, clear indications of a bloody and traumatic death. There was no clothing, coffin, or shroud, but the researchers felt certain they knew the man’s identity. Five months later, DNA tests confirmed the bones were those of Richard III, the medieval hunchbacked king immortalized in the works of William Shakespeare. The discovery made headlines around the world.

  King Richard was just the latest entry in a growing roster of high-profile biohistorical investigations. Biohistory is modern science applied to antiquity, including any form of analysis (such as DNA, radiography, or chemical assays) used on human remains or other biological materials to answer questions regarding historical personages. Although science is all-encompassing, biohistory is not, and the positive identification of putative remains through DNA testing has been the discipline’s almost single-minded focus. Such identifications span the globe and the ideological spectrum, and include such diverse personalities as Auschwitz’s “Angel of Death,” Dr. Josef Mengele, and the apostle Luke.

  Forensic scientists have toiled on the fringes of biohistory, and at first glance it seems a logical synthesis of discipline and subject. But the marriage has yet to produce viable offspring, and that is the source of my frustration. Although DNA has opened new lines of inquiry, it is not the panacea many believe it to be. Such testing is invaluable in resolving issues of identity, but DNA contributes nothing to our understanding of how, when, and why death occurred. Furthermore, subjecting every organic scrap of history to genetic testing only muddies the water, as researchers try to force the technology to answer questions it is incapable of resolving. Most biohistorical studies seem content with simply putting a name to a set of remains, but identifying John or Jane Does is only the first step in the investigative process. DNA testing has its place, but there is mo
re to history than just names. If biohistory is to be a true test of the power of forensic science to illuminate the past, we must move beyond the process of identification and ask more complex questions.

  This led me to the first question in this investigation: is it possible to reach back in time and resolve an unsolved murder without relying solely on DNA? Finding an answer required a special test case, and after months of searching I found one in the records of the Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC).

  The killing of chief trader John McLoughlin Jr. remains one of Canada’s most enduring mysteries. The case never saw the inside of a courtroom, and the legal system records no verdict. Understanding what happened at Fort Stikine in the early morning hours of April 21, 1842, became all the more daunting because the crime was never formally investigated: there was no police report, no autopsy was conducted, and no suspect was ever charged or convicted. Still, the truth will out, and history finds myriad ways to freeze a lethal moment in time. Think what you will about the Hudson’s Bay Company’s tumultuous place in our nation’s history, but give them this: they were consummate record keepers.

  Solving a murder more than 170 years after it was committed is a challenge, but there is more to this story than a historical whodunit. At its core, the story of John McLoughlin Jr.’s murder is a meditation on the nature of grief and guilt, and how these emotions drove the victim’s father, John McLoughlin Sr., to search for justice in all the wrong places. Grief seldom travels alone. It is inevitably accompanied by feelings of guilt or shame and is laden with the baggage of unresolved issues and troubled relationships.

  I saw this grief-generated hunt for justice countless times during the more than twenty years I worked as a medicolegal investigator. Unable to process their pain, survivors shift the focus to an external goal. They believe peace and resolution can only be found in a specific outcome: if only I could find my missing loved one; if only I could bring the perpetrator to account. They begin to fixate on the death and not the life that preceded it. The notion of acceptance or forgiveness becomes incomprehensible to them, and every drop of energy is spent pursuing their objective. The problem, of course, is that solving a murder demands more than just naming the culprit, and prolonged quests for justice do not end suffering. They merely delay it.

  I once worked on a case in New Mexico involving the murder of a teenaged girl. For seventeen years, the girl’s mother believed the boy next door had killed her daughter, and she dedicated every waking hour to proving his guilt. On the day the boy was finally convicted, the victim’s mother looked empty. The conviction did not end her torment but only enhanced it by stripping her of the identity she had created: the mother of a murdered child, fighting for justice. All that remained was for her to mourn her daughter, something she had avoided doing for seventeen years.

  Which brings me to my second question: what is justice? How do we define it and, more importantly, how do we achieve it? What are we seeking in the wake of a violent, unnatural death? Advances in forensic science allow us to solve crimes centuries after they occurred, but to what end? Our current system of justice is designed to punish the perpetrator, but how do we right the wrong when there is no one left to penalize?

  There has to be more to justice than simple retribution. Years of working on large-scale international investigations of human rights violations and genocide have taught me that our traditional notions of justice are too small to address crimes of real magnitude. Whether it is one murder or thousands, we are defining “success” in our pursuit of criminal justice too narrowly and are therefore condemning ourselves to failure.

  Justice is not an end in itself, and what ails us in loss cannot be cured in a courthouse. We need to move beyond the “vengeance equals justice” model that is the essence of our current system of jurisprudence. The goal has to be acceptance and understanding, however and whenever it comes. That message has particular resonance in the case of John McLoughlin Jr., for there can be no legal remedy to a crime so long passed. The objective in solving McLoughlin’s murder is not to hold the guilty party accountable or to hang a long-dead criminal in absentia. My intention with this investigation is to understand what happened and glean lessons from the past, for therein lies justice and peace.

  §

  What follows is a true story. All text in quotes was drawn from historical documents, including depositions, correspondence, and other primary sources. Wherever possible, I have used the words of eyewitnesses to the events. Presenting an exhaustive history of the Hudson’s Bay Company is beyond the scope of this book, and those seeking a broad historical accounting can easily find it in the works of Peter C. Newman, W. Kaye Lamb, and Glyndwr Williams, among others. My intention is to reconstruct a specific moment and colour it with sufficient background to anchor it firmly in time and place. What was true of life at Fort Stikine in the early 1840s may not hold true at other junctures in the rich four-hundred-year history of the Honourable Company.

  This tale involves two men, a father and son, bearing the same name and similar job titles. To avoid confusion, the murder victim — John McLoughlin Jr., chief trader — will be referred to as McLoughlin, McLoughlin Jr., or Mr. John, the nickname used by his employees. His father — John McLoughlin Sr., chief factor — will be identified as Dr. McLoughlin, McLoughlin Sr., or Dr. John, his Company nickname.

  British North America, circa 1840

  It is part of the fascination of the study of history

  that we often know more about what went on a hundred years ago

  than the men of those times knew themselves.

  William Stewart Wallace, 1932

  I will be glad, if you are writing a history,

  if justice could be done to that man.

  J. Quinn Thornton, 1878

  Wednesday, April 20, 1842 — Midday

  fort stikine

  On the last day of his life, John McLoughlin Jr. awoke at noon to a world that was already going on without him. Beside him lay his “Indian Wife”; they were coupled à la façon du pays, making her something more than a mistress but less than a lawfully wedded spouse. Not every man in Fort Stikine was permitted to keep a woman within its walls, but McLoughlin was the outpost’s chief trader, and rank had its privileges.

  History does not record the woman’s name. In official company documents she was simply “Quatkie’s daughter” or “McLoughlin’s wife,” as though she ceased to exist outside of her relationships with men. Although nameless, she was still the daughter of a chief, and McLoughlin was the son of a chief factor of the Hudson’s Bay Company, but what kept them in bed at so late an hour had nothing to do with their inherited lustre or even post-coital bliss: it was insomnia, born of paranoia, marbled with fear.

  McLoughlin’s restlessness had dogged him for months. It began with his promotion to chief trader, the fort’s highest office, and was exacerbated by the recent loss of his trusted right-hand, Roderick Finlayson. The departure of Finlayson left the highly inexperienced McLoughlin in sole and uneasy command. As he told his colleagues, “I have had all the troubles that a man could have since I have been alone,” adding ominously, “I have had scarcely any rest, night and day I am up — it is to [sic] much for one and my constitution cannot stand it in such a troublesome place as this post is.”

  These laments were no idle boasts or exaggeration. Since Finlayson’s transfer, Fort Stikine had become McLoughlin’s perdition. The outpost — built near what is now the town of Wrangell in the Alaskan panhandle — was “situated…among a horde of savages.” The local people resented the Company’s encroachment on their lands and repeatedly “attempted to scale the stockade with a view of taking the place.” Tensions escalated when the First Nation warriors destroyed the bridge linking the fort to the mainland, which in turn threatened the outpost’s water supply. The traders retaliated by taking a local chief hostage and holding him captive until his people repaired the damage.

  The threat from outside the fort’s stockades, however, paled
in comparison to the menace lurking within. Hostile as they were, the aboriginals were no match for the worthless band of miscreants, malcontents, and lost boys that made up the fort’s complement. Even the neighbouring tribes knew “Mr. John has bad white men at Stikine.”

  Some of those men made no secret of their intention to kill their new chief trader; indeed, the assassination plot was an open topic of conversation among Stikine’s ranks. In the weeks prior, Company trader Pierre Kannaquassé had gone so far as to shoot at McLoughlin on three separate occasions. Each time the bullet flew shy of its mark, but guns were not the only means at Kannaquassé’s disposal. Earlier in March, Kannaquassé approached Nahua, the fort’s cook, and urged him “to poison McLoughlin by putting the scrapings of copper in his soup.” Horrified, Nahua insisted he “would do no such thing.” Nahua later informed McLoughlin of the treachery, and Mr. John gave Kannaquassé a sound thrashing. Still, McLoughlin held off firing his would-be assassin until he received word from his father, the region’s chief factor, on how best to deal with the man. It is telling that repeated attempts on the life of one’s superior were not automatic grounds for dismissal in the Hudson’s Bay Company.

  Although the plots were thwarted, McLoughlin knew the threat remained, and he wrote to his supervisor, John Work: “I am still amongst the living of this troublesome post though reports say that I am going to be dispatched to the Sandy Hills,” a poetic euphemism for the cemetery. McLoughlin put on a brave face, telling Work, “all that does not trouble me much —but it keeps me on my guard.”

  The demons plaguing John McLoughlin were not all so tangible. He had a history of self-destructive behavior and often suffered from bouts of depression, what he called getting “the Blue devils.” His mental darkness always descended at night, when the normal timpani of the fort fell silent, and he often complained, “I do not know what to do in the evening when I cannot sleep.”