Slumach

Slumach [Slumach is now the most common spelling. An “Indian Census” of 1879 shows his name as Slum.ook. Some court records show his name as Slumah or Sumah. Newspapers spelled his name in a variety of different ways. Slumach, not having been baptized until moments before his death, had no given (Christian) name.] an elderly man who once lived in a Katzie settlement at the south end of Pitt Lake is said to have discovered one of the richest bonanzas in British Columbia history.

Slumach entered written history in September 1890, when he killed a “half-breed” known as Louis Bee [ Also Louie Bee. It is possible that he and his wife Kitty are mentioned in the 1881 census as “Lewey, indigenous, 27 years and Kitty, indigenous 40 years at Cowichan.” No other references to identify this man have been found yet.] at the south arm of [http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/bcparks/heritage_rivers_program/bc_rivers/alouette_river.html Alouette River] , then called Lillooet Slough. Bee was shot from the shore as he was sitting in a canoe with “Seymour,” [ of Harrison as the records show ] a fellow fisherman. There were no other witnesses to the murder, and the motive of the murder remains unknown. Slumach eluded capture for several months but, with winter approaching, surrendered to authorities. Efforts to show that Slumach acted in self-defense failed, and so did efforts to postpone the trial until the spring, speculating that the elderly man would die in captivity of natural causes and would be spared capital punishment. Slumach was sentenced to death and he was hanged in January 1891.

At that time, the Vancouver "Daily World" commented: “There was much sympathy for Slumach among those who witnessed his execution. It was thought that the Government might, with just clemency, have extended a reprieve to him, for he certainly would not have lived very long in confinement, and the fact that he never ran across law and order in any shape until the latter years of his long life made many hope that he would be allowed to finish his career in the confinement of the penitentiary.” There may have been feelings of sympathy at the hanging, but there is only one request for clemency on file and in the time preceding his execution the newspapers and their readers seemed indifferent about Slumach's fate.

Contemporary newspapers reported the hanging in detail. He went quietly and silently to his death and if he knew of a rich gold mine in the Pitt Lake area, he took the secret to his grave.
Pitt Lake's "lost" mine and Slumach are the topic of numerous newspaper and magazine articles, as well as books and three television documentaries.

References

* BC Archives Call No. GR-1327, BC Attorney General Inquisitions and Inquests 50/90 Sep 9, 1890, Louie Bee Shot by Slumach, Microfilm Reel B2373
* BC Archives Call No. GR-1727, Vol 597, page 19 page 21-28, Bench Books 1864-1964, M.W.T. Drake, Supreme Court, New Westminster - Nov, 1890, etc
* BC Archives Call No. GR-1327, BC Attorney General, Inquisitions and Inquest 6/91 Jan 16, 1891, Slumach, an Indian Hung by the court, Reel B2373: Inquisitions 1889-1891
* Archives Canada, RG 13-B-1, Vol. 1427 File 245A
* Vancouver "Daily World", 16 January 1891, "Hanged ar Royal City."

External links

* [http://www.slumach.ca/ A reference Web site for Slumach and Pitt Lake Gold] .

See also

* Pitt Lake Gold