AN INCIDENT OF RIEL'S FIRST RISING.

Evening Post, Volume XXIX, Issue 108, 30 May 1885, Page 1 (Supplement)

AN INCIDENT OF RIEL'S FIRST RISING.

Among the men captured by the rebels during the Canadian insurrection of fifteen years ago was one tfamed Scott. He had been active and energetic on the loyalist side, and had, it is said, made a personal enemy of Riel by ignominiously ejecting him from a tavern on one occasion in which the latter had spoken slightingly of the Queen. Scott was court-martialled by the rebels, and his execution was thus reported in the " Globe " at the time :—": — " The truth concerning this horrid butchery is almost too revolting for publication ; but I have the most unquestionable authority for the following details : — The unfortunate young man was shot by three executioners about 12 o'clock in the day, and whilst he was writhing on the ground a drunken half-breed ran up to him to finish him with his revolver. This fellow was so drunk, however, that he put Mb pistol to poor Scott's head obliquely, and the ball, which struck below the temple and forward of the ear, simply grazed the skull and came out near the eye. The shot stunned the victim, and he was thrust into the coffin and placed in the bastion in charge of a half-breed sentinel. The night was bitterly cold, and while the sentinel was pacing his rounds at 11 o'clock he heard Scott calling out strongly in English. He did not understand what he said, but Riel and others were summoned, and to those Scott said : " For God's sake either finish me or take me out of this, for I am freezing." This was fully eleven hours after the poor fellow had been thrust into his coffin. Here the story breaks off as far as anything is certainly known. Eiel and one other whose name is not known were left alone with their victim, and the reports of three pistol shots were heard, but on the following day, at noon, the murdered man was distinctly heard muttering incoherently in his coffin. Still later, when he was buried, his brains protruded through a ghastly breach in his forehead, and he bore the limp and life-like appearance of one but recently dead. This is a horrid story to tell, but it is firmly believed by the best-informed men in the settlement. It is no wonder that Eiel refused to give up the body to be a ghastly witness against himself aud his fellowbutchers. I neglected to state that the first three shots took effect in the unfortunate man's body, aad that neither they nor the pistol shot by the drunken half-breed were known to be necessarily fatal. Many think they were not. The murder is not talked of in the settlement, as it enrages Biel to have it referred to. Many half-breeds profess to disbelieve the statement that Scott was executed at all."