Apologies for century-old lynching final given

By Tom Banse
Northwest News Network

122 years after the fact, Washington State and British Columbia are making amends for the lynching of a Canadian Indian boy. The event nearly started a cross border race war.

Washington politicians, a B.C. provincial minister, and numerous tribal elders formed a "healing circle" - chanting and drumming together in the ornate Washington State Capitol Rotunda.

The ceremony followed legislative passage of a resolution expressing "the deepest sympathy" to the descendents of 14-year-old Louie Sam.

In 1884, a vigilante mob of Americans rode across the border near Sumas, Washington. They grabbed the native teenager from Canadian custody and hanged him from a tree. Louie Sam had been accused, wrongly it turns out, of the murder of a shopkeeper on the U.S. side of the frontier.

State Senator Cheryl Pflug became emotional as she took the Senate floor to declare regret and sorrow for what happened long ago.

She said, "One of things I've learned as I have grown older is the importance of being able to let the words 'I'm sorry' roll off your tongue when you are."

A Grand Chief of the Sto:Lo Tribal Council listened from a seat of honor in the state Senate. Fellow tribal leaders from the Canadian border region including a family descendant of Louie Sam looked on from the Senate Gallery.

Grand Chief Clarence Pennier wore a cedar bark headpiece and a distinctive woolen cloak. He thanked the body, first in his native tongue. "It makes us feel good," he continued in English.

In an interview later, the Grand Chief said some Fraser Valley natives never fully let go of the injustice, despite the passage of time. By recognizing that "a wrong was done," he said politicians are "making it right."

"It closes the door... and it opens others by making sure that we can establish relationships with each other," said Pennier.

An historian from the University of Saskatchewan brought the gruesome lynching back to light. Professor Keith Carlson was commissioned to unearth the true story while he worked as a consultant for the Sto:Lo a few years ago. Carlson recalled the tribal passions ignited on this day in 1884.

"The majority of the people wanted to charge across the border and kill the first 120 Americans they found to balance off the people who had been involved in the lynch mob,” Carlson said. “Some of the older men thought it was appropriate to go across the border, find one American, bring him back to the same tree and lynch him on that tree."

Carlson said when the Canadian government got wind of the reprisal plans, it assured tribal leaders that it would seek justice if they held back.

The professor unearthed the notes of two provincial detectives who went undercover in Nooksack, Washington to investigate.

"They gathered all this evidence that clearly showed that Louie Sam was innocent of the original crime and the names of the American men who killed the shopkeeper and to cover up their crime organized the lynch mob to cover their tracks," said Carlson.

No one was ever prosecuted for either the murder or the lynching.

Technically, the resolution passed Wednesday is not a formal apology. But the effect is the same. That was evident as Washington's Lieutenant Governor Brad Owen handed over the parchment to the visiting native chief, saying, "It is meant to further ensure that such a tragedy will never be forgotten nor repeated."