Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 15.djvu/136



A TRAGEDY ON THE STICKEEN IN '42

BY C. O. ERMATINGER.*

In looking over a bundle of letters left among his papers by my late father, who was in the Hudson's Bay Company's service in the early part of the present century, I came upon one from which the following account of a tragedy, which took place on the Stickeen in April, 1842, is taken. The letter bears date 1st February, 1843, and was written by John McLoughlin, then in charge of the Company's post at Fort Vancouver (on the Columbia) to my father, then living at St. Thomas, Upper Canada.

As public attentioh has lately been directed to the Stickeen (Prince Rupert), this tragic tale, though fifty-six years old, may be of interest, not only on account of the locus in quo, but as illustrative of the difficulties, dangers, mode of life and occasional mode of death of those in the company's service in those days. Were I a Gilbert Parker I might clothe the story in new and more thrilling language than that employed by the writer, who was almost a year after the event, writing not for effect, yet under whose cool reasoning and at times involved sentences, a depth of sorrowful, sometimes passion- ate, feeling is apparent. As it is, I have concluded to present it to the public, word for word, as the father of the murdered man has narrated the facts, omitting the full names of the chief culprits, out of consideration for possible descendants, and a few words either undecipherable or unfit for publication.

After a page and a half on other matters, Mr. McLoughlin says:

"But, my dear sir, I have had a severe loss since I last wrote you. My son John, whom I think you saw at La Chine, has been murdered by the company's servants at the post of Stikine,

Ermatinger, who was a clerk at Fort Vancouver under Dr. John McLoughlin during the years 1826-27; also the nephew of Francis Ermatinger, who was an officer in the H. B. Co. employ in the Columbia District for about twenty years, and well known by early Oregon pioneers, and who after retiring from the service purchased a tract of land near St. Thomas, Ontario, which he named "Multnomah," and there spent his remaining years. This paper contains source material not before printed explaining differences that lead to the retirement of Dr. McLoughlin from the Hudson's Bay Company's service. T. C. Elliott.
 * Judge Ermatinger, who kindly furnishes this paper, is the son of Edward