“We will surrender if not ironed and
supplied with horses to go to Kam-
loops.”

A message was sent back:

“Surrender by coming outside and
laying down your arms. We will pro-
tect you.”

Both Clapperton and Edwards signed the
note. There was a long pause while the
grim-faced ranchers with cocked rifles ex-
pectantly viewed the little log structure.
Then the cabin door slowly opened and one
by one the youthful outlaws appeared. They
discharged their firearms in the air, then
threw them on the ground. In this they
betrayed their Indian ancestry—for it was
common practice when Indians surrendered
to fire off their unexpended ammunition—
thus they had surrendered “when the last
shot was gone.”

SURRENDER OF THE MURDERERS

With tired and drawn faces, their tongues
swollen from thirst, the quartette staggered
forward, hands aloft. Their six revolvers,
five rifles and two shotguns were quickly
gathered up, and they were handcuffed and
placed in a waiting wagon. In the cabin,
searchers found the watch and chain taken
from the body of John Kelly.

The cavalcade then slowly headed north
for Kamloops.

Thanks to the cool and cautious conduct
of the two posse leaders, Clapperton and
Edwards, the McLean-Hare gang had been
captured with but one casualty. This was
a man named Johnston Stevenson, whose
horse strayed too near the cabin. He ran
to catch it and was shot in the chest. For-
tunately, it was only a flesh wound.

At Kamloops the McLean brothers, Allan,
Charles and Archie, with Alex Hare, were
committed for trial on charges of murder.
Hare made a partial confession, and inti
mated that the gang had expected aid from
the Nicola Indians.

The prisoners were taken to New West-
minster by way of Yale, and Constables
Shuler, Crotty and Burr acted as escort.
The first thirty miles of the journey from

When in Victoria with your BUICK

Yale was by two canoes, the prisoners lying
in the bottom of the canoes, shackled. Then
ice in the Fraser River obstructed any fur-
ther progress. At Cheam the escort pro-
cured a wagon and made the rest of the
journey by road. It required four days—
with an overnight stop—to reach Chilliwack.
Three more days’ travel saw the party ar-
rive in New Westminster. The Fraser River
was frozen over to a point above Harrison
River, and the constables with their heavily
shackled prisoners crossed the ice on foot
at the Royal City. The prisoners were
locked up in the New Westminster gaol at

os

Alex. Hare
—Photo, Archives of B. C.

11:00 o’clock on the morning of Christmas
Day, 1879.

At a special Assize at New Westminster,
which opened on the 13th March, 1880, the
McLeans and Hare faced the bar of justice.
Mr. Justice Crease presided and there was
intense interest in the trial.

Hector McLean, the oldest brother,

or OLDSMOBILE make your head-

quarters for SERVICE with

DAVIS-DRAKE MOTORS Ltd.

900 Fort St. at Quadra

VICTORIA

Page Ten

Furniture Moving

721 Johnson Street

charged with aiding and abetting, was held
in gaol to be dealt with later.

Mr. McCreight appeared as counsel for
the Crown: Mr. Bole for Allan, Charles and
Archibald McLean; and Mr. Theodore
Davie and Mr. Leggatt for Alexander Hare.

Witnesses for the Crown were examined
and cross-examined and at the end of five
days Mr. Justice Crease charged the jury in
unmistakeable terms. His speech took two
hours and was remarkable for its clearness
and force. He took the opportunity of com-
plimenting the settlers of the Kamloops area
for their adherence to the principles of Brit-
ish justice, for on other soil the McLeans
would probably have been lynched.

In his address to the jury, Judge Crease
graphically depicted the life and environ:
ment of the prisoners when he said:

rr

. there are certain reflections which
are necessarily suggested by the occasion.
We are brought face to face with the con-
dition of our numerous and growing half-
breed population throughout the country.
What is their future? Sons of the hardy
pioneer, who pierced the Rocky Mountains
and freely flung themselves into the heart
of the wilds and forests of the interior and
up to the Arctic Ocean in search of furs,
often to save their lives, allied themselves
to the native tribes who surrounded them.
So long as civilization kept away from them,
or they from civilization, all was well.
They fell into many of the habits of the
natives among whom they lived and many
a trapper and trader owes his life to the
fidelity and sagacity and courage of his In
dian wife. The offspring of these marriages,
a tall, strong, handsome race combined in
one the hardihood and quick perceptions of
the man of the woods, with the intelligence
and some of the training and endurance of
the white man, which raised them into a
grade above their mother’s but not yet up
to the father’s grade. Quick shots, unrivalled
horsemen, hardy boatmen and hunters, they
knew no other life than that of the forest.
They never went to school or had the sem-
blance of an education and when the wave
of civilization, without hurry, without de-
lay, but without rest, approached, it met a
restless, roving, half-breed population, who,
far from imitating, did not even understand

Storage General Delivery

PHONE G 7823

BRAY’S TRANSFER

LIMITED

Hauling Contractors

Light and Heavy Trucks for Hire on Short Notice

Licensed Limited Freight Carriers to All Vancouver Island Points

Victoria, B.C.

THE SHOULDER STRAP