BENEFACTOR 97

ally shot his companion was of the same faith. That
seemed to settle the question for him, and whether,
even with the help of an interpreter, he could not
properly understand the depositions of those he in-
terrogated or wilfully falsified them, he found Edward
guilty of having shot Me’kep because of a girl about
whom there had been some jest or jealousy, and
decided to have him sent down to Vancouver, there to
be tried for murder. So it came to pass that the
innocent Catholic boy, who probably had never as
much as given a serious thought to a girl yet, had to
appear before the assizes which, under the circum-
stances, could scarcely have any other issue possible
than a death sentence!

As soon as he learnt of this, our missionary
beckoned to himself the interpreter in the Quesnel
examination, who was astounded at being told of the
Jew’s fanciful version of the tragedy. This he swore
to have been given a totally different complexion even
at Quesnel. Whereupon the priest immediately wrote
a detailed account of the affair as he had it from the
dead boy’s own mouth and from what he had heard of
others, the Quesnel interpreter included.

As a result, not only was poor Edward released,
but the missionary received from no less a party than
the Hon. Joseph Martin,* who was then Attorney-
General of British Columbia, a letter in which he stated
how grateful the Government felt for all he had done to
further the aims of justice in the North—a circum-
stance which betrays the fact that this was not the
first instance of the priest helping to prevent judicial
errors. At the same time, any reader will readily see

8 Who was responsible for the abolition of the Catholic Schools in
Manitoba.