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34 The Fraser River Mines.
pile ee ese ere ee hare eS MON et Ee re ROO ae TiN Lary

extraordinary nature had certainly taken place, but that no further
breach of the peace was immediately threatened. The Lieut. Govr
then determined to take the sappers no further than Hopetown* and
to go up alone to Yale, especially as it appeared that it wod be necessary
to go the remainder of the distance in small boats.
6. On our arrival at Yale, it appeared that on the 24th Decr.
a man named Bernard Rice had been shot in a szloon there by a man
named Foster. Capt. Whannell, in his anxiety to prevent the ends
of justice from being defeated, had imprisoned Foster’s partner
(Adams) and a servant named Allmeyer, whom he intended to call as
witnesses, requiring enormous bail for their appearance. For Foster’s
partner he required 10,000 dollars, one-fourth to be deposited in cash:
but ultimately released him on giving security with two sureties for
6,500 dollars. These sureties now wish to be discharged, and I have to
report that the ends of justice will not probably be affected by their
discharge, and in my opinion they ought not to have been required for
the liberation of Adams. For Allmeyer, a person (of)
tobe dischasaa mean circumstances, $1,500 ( £300) were required,
with security ; wch he was wholly unable to procure,
and was consequently lying detained in custody when I arrived at Yale.
Although when the man Allmeyer was before me I did not place much
confidence in his looks or his statements, I felt that it was impossible
to condemn too seriously the course pursued: wch amounted, the
killer, Foster, having by this time absconded, to a sentence of perpetual
imprisonment upon a witness of (as yet untried) murder: and which
might turn out to be a case of even justifiable homicide. I therefore
caused him to be brought up before Capt. Whannell and myself and
we discharged him on his own recognizances in the sum of £50.
A similar course was pursued in the case of another man, Compter,
who was also imprisoned through inability to procure bail ‘for what I
conceived an excessive amount, for his appearance as a witness in
another case. Him I also caused to be brought before Captn Whan-
nell and myself, by whom he was dismissed from custody on entering
into his own recognizances for a like amount of £50. This man when
dismissed was in actual want of the commonest necessaries of food and
clothing, and I only fixed the amount of his recognizances so high lest
too great a contrast might be drawn between my proceedings and
Capt. Whannell’s.*2
(41) Another name for Hope, or Fort Hope.

(42) These details show that the charges of tyrannous conduct on the part of Captain
Whannell made by the miners in the preceding resolutions had some foundation.