Deadly neighbours : a tale of colonialism, cattle feuds, murder and vigilantes in the far west

On a cold night in February, 1884, just metres north of the border on Sumas Prairie, BC, an Indigenous boy named Louie Sam was lynched by a mob of mounted vigilantes. The vigilantes had ridden up from Nooksack Valley in Washington Territory, hell-bent on avenging the murder of one of their neighbours, which they had pinned on Sam. The American origin of the mob, and the fact that Sam’s murder was one of only two recorded lynchings in Canadian history, have led historians and writers to represent it as an isolated and foreign incident—disconnected from people and events north of the border and an aberration from the norm of Canadian history. When placed within the historical context of that time and place, the vigilante murder of Sam no longer appears to be an isolated and foreign incident. Rather, it emerges as the result of a series of events and causes on both sides of the border, with the active participation of locals in both BC and Washington Territory. Deadly Neighbours takes a closer look at the lynching, and in so doing reveals a more complex and disturbing chronicle of the deadly grip the leading White settlers in Nooksack and Sumas held over the area—and most notably, over their Indigenous neighbours. "On a cold night in February, 1884, just metres north of the border on Sumas Prairie, British Columbia, an Indigenous boy named Louie Sam was lynched by a mob of mounted vigilantes. The vigilantes had ridden up from Nooksack Valley in Washington Territory, hell-bent on avenging the murder of one of their neighbours, which they had pinned on Sam. The American origin of the mob, and the fact Sam's murder was one of only two recorded lynchings in Canadian history, have led historians and writers to represent it as an isolated and foreign incident--disconnected from people and events north of the border and an aberration from the norm of Canadian history. Deadly Neighbours takes a closer look at the lynching, and in so doing reveals a more complex and disturbing picture. When placed within the historical context of that time and place, the vigilante murder of Sam no longer appears to be an isolated and foreign incident. Rather, it emerges as the result of a series of events and causes on both sides of the border, with the active participation of locals in both BC and Washington Territory. This series unfolded in a half-dozen episodes. First, on Sumas Prairie, the emergence of a cattle economy and cattle barons such as Thomas York led to conflict over grazing land and a string of cattle thefts and trials through the 1870s. Second, in spring 1882, Sumas stockman Henry Melville disappeared in mysterious circumstances, and Melville's White neighbours became convinced that he had been killed by Squosaleny Sam, Louie Sam's father. Third, in November 1882, Squosaleny Sam and two other Sema:th men were convicted on charges of killing a steer belonging to Thomas York, and Sam died in prison while serving a draconian sentence. Fourth, south of the border in Nooksack Valley, storekeeper James Bell was murdered in February 1884, and locals immediately fingered Louie Sam--son of the notorious mesachie Sam--as the killer. Fifth, after his arrest a few days later on Sumas Prairie, Louie Sam was abducted and lynched by a vigilante mob riding up from Nooksack Valley, a coordinated raid in which Sam's Canadian jailors were complicit. And sixth, emboldened by their impunity in the Sam lynching, in October 1885 a Nooksack Valley vigilante mob abducted and tortured a Sema:th man named Jimmy Poole, trying to force him to confess to a horse theft. Taken together, this series of events chronicles the deadly grip the leading White settlers in Nooksack and Sumas held over the area--and most notably, over their Indigenous neighbours."-- Provided by publisher A revealing and thoughtful examination of one of Canadas most shocking and misunderstood moments of violencethe lynching of Louie Sam. On a cold night in February, 1884, just north of the border on Sumas Prairie, BC, an Indigenous boy named Louie Sam was lynched by a mob of mounted vigilantes. The vigilantes had ridden up from Nooksack Valley in Washington Territory, hell-bent on avenging the murder of one of their neighbors, which they had pinned on Sam. The American origin of the mob, and the fact that Sam's murder was one of only two recorded lynchings in Canadian history, have led historians and writers to represent it as an isolated and foreign incidentdisconnected from people and events north of the border and an aberration from the norm of Canadian history. When placed within the context of that time and place, the murder of Sam no longer appears to be an isolated and foreign incident. Rather, it emerges as the result of a series of events and causes on both sides of the border, with the active participation of locals in both BC and Washington Territory. Deadly Neighbours takes a closer look at the lynching, and in so doing reveals a more complex and disturbing chronicle of the deadly grip the leading White settlers in Nooksack and Sumas held over the areaand most notably, over their Indigenous neighbors. On a cold night in February, 1884, just metres north of the border on Sumas Prairie, BC, an Indigenous boy named Louie Sam was lynched by a mob of mounted vigilantes. The vigilantes had ridden up from Nooksack Valley in Washington Territory, hell-bent on avenging the murder of one of their neighbours, which they had pinned on Sam. The American origin of the mob, and the fact that Sam's murder was one of only two recorded lynchings in Canadian history, have led historians and writers to represent it as an isolated and foreign incident—disconnected from people and events north of the border and an aberration from the norm of Canadian history. When placed within the historical context of that time and place, the vigilante murder of Sam no longer appears to be an isolated and foreign incident. Rather, it emerges as the result of a series of events and causes on both sides of the border, with the active participation of locals in both BC and Washington Territory. Deadly... Louie Sam, Lynching, British Columbia, History, 19th centur, Sumas Prairie, Social conditions, Race relations, Ethnic relations, First Nations, Crime, Violence