New was received here on
Wednesday evening, by special courier from Carlton, of the terrible
death of the Rev. Mr. Skinner, a young minister of the Methodist Church
of Canada, while on his way to the station at Victoria. The story as
told by his servant, and given below, is all that we have yet learned;
and it is extremely unsatisfactory. If, as the servant says, the
deceased was so far on his journey that it took from Thursday morning
till Friday night to return to Carlton, the party should have been very
near Battleford. But if the servant satisfactorily explains this, there
still remains for him to justify his inhumane conduct in leaving his
master, whom he thought to be dead, to die alone on the prairie,
or to be devoured by wild beasts, while he had, according to his own
admission, the two horses that Mr. Skinner drove in his lifetime with
which to take the body along.
The following is the
letter sent to the Stipendiary Magistrate here:
"CARLTON, 20th October, 1878.
"The Rev. Mr. Skinner, Methodist clergyman, passed here on Friday,
the 18th Inst., on his way to Victoria, accompanied by a servant.
"The servant
returned yesterday about dark, and made the following statement:
"About 8 o'clock on
Thursday morning [24th], Mr. Skinner told me to get the horses; when
going towards them I heard the report of fire-arms - one shot; when I
came near the camp I called three times to Mr. Skinner to come for his
horses, meaning the two he drove himself, and got no answer; when I got
to the camp I saw Mr. Skinner lying on the ground and blood flowing from
his chest; there was something flowing from his nose and mouth also. I
was so much frightened that I was afraid I would fall and not be able to
leave the place; his eyes were turned up like a dead man's, and I came
away as fast as I could. I think he is dead."
"In reply to a
question he said he did not remain more than fifteen minutes after he
saw Mr. Skinner."
The corpse was sent for,
to be taken back to Carlton. It would have been sent on to Battleford
had there been any certainty of the men being able to cross the river.
The case being more
particularly one for the police to investigate, and knowing that
Inspector Walker would be at Carlton about the same time the courier
arrived here, the magistrate left the matter to be dealt with by him.
The servant was a man
named Jullen, who was in partnership last spring with Macdonald at the
furry near Fort Ellice, and formerly a member of the volunteer force in
Manitoba.
MONDAY, Nov. 4.
Up to the time of going
to press no further news has been received from Carlton. We know,
however, that Chief Factor Clarke, who is a magistrate, must have
reached home in the early part of last week, and no doubt that he has
done all that it was possible to do in the premises.
The feeling of sorrow for
the unfortunate occurrence is very keenly felt here, and the desire for
a searching investigation universally expressed.
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