Memorial Page

Next place to look: National Archives. But it also got me thinking about another avenue of research. There is an online database for Indian Affairs records, accessed through the National Archives' ArchiviaNet search engine.^[viii] I simply entered “sook” in the “Keywords” part of the search engine, and specified the engine to search all government files. 8 hits were made, and the first one was this:

Reference: RG10 , Indian Affairs , Volume 7476 , Reel C-14773 , File : 19167-3 , Access code: 20
Parts: 1
File Title: VANCOUVER AGENCY - CHARGE OF MURDER AGAINST JOHNNY SOOK SIAS ALIAS JOHNNY HILL
Keywords: VANCOUVER-CASE CASE-VANCOUVER SIAS JOHNNY SOOK HILL JOHNNY
Outside Dates: 1927-1933     Finding Aid number: 10-19

This appeared to be my man, and as this is not really a “family history or military inquiry” I went ahead and contacted the National Archives by electronic reference inquiry form.^[ix]

Now I had to wait for their reply as to charges for the file as outlined above, so I went and looked around at the websites the BC Archives noted. I couldn't find anything specifically on Sook Sias, but armed with the information I had, and the references the BC Archives wrote me, I asked for assistance, again through the National Archives' “electronic reference inquiry form.”^[x] Here's what I sent as my request:

“I'm looking for information on a fellow by the name of Sook Sias, or Johnny Sook Sias Hill, a Native from BC, who was imprisoned (twice) at the BC Penitentiary. The BC Archives found a list in their court records guide of BC capital cases and Sook Sias is listed in 1892 as file number 252A (commuted).

This sounds like it's “my” fellow, as a newspaper account in 1933 (when he died) said he had been found guilty of murder (in 1889) was to be executed, but reprieved, and remained in the penitentiary until 1905 when he was released. He then went and shot the star witness of the first murder trial, and was AGAIN convicted of murder and sentenced to hang, but AGAIN cheated the hangman...

I can't find him in your online index, but I'm sure the case number as listed above would be correct.

Will you please search your records and see if there is a file that can be copied? If you have an index to inmates the dates he would (probably) have been incarcerated was from 1892 - 1933, with possibly a short stint away in 1905.”

It wasn't too long before I received a reply:

“Thank you for your 2 e-mails of 15 August 2002 inquiring about Sook Sias.”

The file pertaining to Sook Sias within the Vancouver Agency series of the Department of Indian Affairs record group is very interesting. However, before we copy it on your behalf, we need to receive payment. I have looked at the file that details the efforts made by the band to have Sook Sias paroled around 1931 and it is about 30 pages. Information on how to obtain copies of textual records is available from Infopage # 5 (attached). As the file is on microfilm, you might want to borrow the microfilm instead as explained in Infopage # 10 (also attached). The archival reference for the file is: RG10, Indian Affairs, volume 7476, reel C-14773, file: 19167-3, part 1, Access code: 20, Title: Vancouver Agency, charge of Murder against Johnny Sook Sias alias Johnny Hill, dates: 1927-33.

A search through our other finding aids and databases failed to locate a file on Sook Sias. There is a mention, in a capital cases finding aid (13-39), of Sook Sias, male Indian, Crime: Murder, see also Omis Kouis, Trial: 1892, New Westminster BC, judge: Walkem, Recommendation for mercy: yes, Result: Order in Council of 1892/06/13 PC 1887, Commutation: life imprisonment; reference RG13, file 252A, (missing). As you can see, the file is referred to but is missing from our holdings. The file on Omis Kouis is also missing.

Thank you for your interest in the National Archives of Canada. Please do not hesitate to contact us if we can be of further assistance to you.”

Those of you who know me to some extent will not be surprised when I say I IMMEDIATELY “didn't hesitate”, and picked up the phone to talk to this lady! She didn't have the material in front of her during our conversation, but remembered that the 30 or so pages in the Indian Affairs files consisted of a petition to have Sook Sias released from prison on the second charge about 1931. His wife was not well and needed someone to look after her. Apparently several people had signed this petition stating that he had spent a lot of time (the second time around) in prison for something not entirely his fault. The archivist believed the second stretch was not because he had killed the star witness of the first trial. Some man had been “bugging” Sook Sias after he had been paroled the first time, and there was an inference that this other man may have been having an affair with his wife. It sounded to her like he may have seriously hurt (or maybe killed) this man and that Sook Sias had gone back to prison for parole violation (possibly NOT via a second trial). Since he died in 1933 it appears that the petition had failed.

She mentioned Sook Sias had been from a “large Native confederacy” (her words), which still leads me to believe he was from the Laichkwiltach community. However, since the file is listed as being in the “Vancouver Agency” rather than the “Kwawkwelth Agency” that does give some credence to the newspaper article saying he was from Cortes Island, as the Klahoose Band was not part of the “Kwawkewlth Agency.” However, there could be several reasons why he may have been living there – marriage is one that comes to mind.

The archivist advised me to ask for a copy of the Order-in-Council referred to in the capital case file index, relating to the commutation of his death sentence to life imprisonment. She said that sometimes there are attachments to these Orders, and to mention in my request that I wanted copies of them too. She gave me further information as to the correct record group and series to quote as reference to the Order.

I have since ordered the Order-in-Council and the file from Indian Affairs she had been reading, by faxing a letter to the National Archives Photoduplication Unit^[xi] and giving my MasterCard number, and authorizing them to copy the entire file.

This very knowledgeable archivist also told me that since this particular case file was missing from the holdings of the Department of Justice, it may possibly be with Department of Indian Affairs records, as that department was ultimately responsible for “Indians” and may be extremely hard to locate. However, because I now know WHERE the trial took place, I searched at the BC Archives website for court cases held in New Westminster, and I might have a further lead. GR-1564 is a set of microfilm of BC Supreme Court (New Westminster) Cause books. For the year 1892, the file numbers are 1 to 286 – could 252 POSSIBLY be the one I’m looking for? A request to the reference service there has now been sent.

I asked the National Archives archivist for a PHOTOCOPY of the page of the capital case file index^[xii] that she had quoted the information from, and she faxed it right away. I have reproduced the part about Sook Sias here (image is blury):

Now what REALLY got me about this new piece of information was that another name is mentioned – Omis Kouis. During our conversation she couldn’t tell if there were two men charged, or if Omis Kouis was ANOTHER alias for Sook Sias. I now wonder if somehow the name was mis-printed in the index, or poorly interpreted in the actual case files, and if it really isn’t supposed to be Omis Kanis (pronounced HO-meese-CAN-eese). That is also a name from (guess where)… Salmon River!

The Introduction to the finding aid states, in part: “This reference tool relating to persons sentenced to death in Canada covers the period from Confederation to the abolition of the death penalty in 1976.

The Files in the main body of the volume (the alphabetical inventory) concern all the persons who were condemned to a death sentence after they underwent trial for murder (for the earlier period, there are also some cases of rape, high treason or burglary). In all of these cases, the condemned person’s file had to be transferred to the Department of Justice so that the Governor General could decide whether to allow the execution to take place, or to commute the sentence. Therefore these files, which contain transcripts of evidence, petitions, letters from the public, reports and recommendations from different authorities, are kept in the fonds of the Department of Justice at the National Archives of Canada.”

It also says, “The indexes that follow the alphabetical inventory can be very useful in answering specific questions: how many cases arose by year or by province, how many persons sentenced were executed, how many saw their sentence commuted, how many women were sentenced to death and how many were in fact hanged? An index of the names of the victims can also help to retrace a particular case when this is the only information available.”

I took the time while waiting for the National Archives files to start looking for photographs of the BC Penitentiary, and located some through the New Westminster Public Library, and the BC Archives. I just wanted to know what the surroundings were like while Sook Sias was in prison. It was at this point that I began to feel like this whole exercise was going to produce something fruitful. You know that feeling you get when you KNOW you’re on the right track?

I ordered 4 different photos: one of the BC Penitentiary taken in 1930 (when Sook Sias was in prison). There was one of the “Calling In Bell” taken C 1968, and cast for the BC Pen in 1895 – “Brethren Live Together in Unity” inscribed on bell. Used mainly to call inmates to work, and advise staff of escapes and confirm head-counts. In December 1912 the bell rang continuously at the funeral of an officer killed while attempting to thwart an inmate’s escape. The inmate was hung for the murder, the only hanging ever to occur at the Pen. In later years the staff of Matsqui Institution kidnapped the bell, a few days later the Pen staff recaptured it, and placed it in its present cradle on the grounds. Further photographs were of the “Guards” taken in 1914, and one of the “Outside Wall” – March 29, 1930.

It took a LONG time, but the day the file from the National Archives came was the day of our November 2002 meeting. I grabbed the mail about 11:30 and we went directly to a restaurant for lunch. My husband George was interested in hearing what the file contained, as he was also convinced of the Laichkwiltach or Kwakiutl association rather than the Coast Salish one. I read him page after page… The first one written on July 15, 1927 was from the Indian Agent's Office in Vancouver to the Department of Indian Affairs in Ottawa, outlining an interview he had with Sook Sias and the Warden at the Penitentiary:

Word came back from Ottawa that: “…in view of this man’s record we cannot favour his application. While it may be true that liquor was in some measure responsible for these murders, there is no guarantee that liquor might not again be responsible for a further crime.”

In March 1930 a letter was written by a new Indian Agent in Vancouver to Ottawa: “...I beg to refer to your letter of 25^th July 1927 regarding a request of Johnny Sook Sias to be paroled from the British Columbia Penitentiary where he is incarcerated for murder. His application for release was refused and he has now requested that his wife be allowed to visit him.

They have no funds to pay expenses, which should amount to $40.00. On account of the length of time this man has been in the Penitentiary it would be a merciful action to permit his wife to visit him, and I would respectfully recommend that the request be granted, the expenses not to exceed $40.00. Signed F.J.C. Ball, Indian Agent.”

The request was denied.

On January 3rd, 1931, a petition of members of the Klahoose and Homalco Bands was sent to Duncan Campbell Scott, Deputy Superintendent General of the Department of Indian Affairs in Ottawa. It was a plea for the release of Sook Sias, stating that his wife was sickly and needed him to provide for her. It contained 2 pages of signatures of members of these bands.

My mind wandered back to the conversation I had with the archivist at the National Archives, and wondered how she could have been misconstrued these two bands to mean a “Large Native Confederacy.” Yet a further rejection of my non-Salish affiliation.

Next in the package was a 2-page letter written by the Indian Agent Ball, who had done some interviewing of Sook Sias himself. his letter was all about Sook Sias’ brush with the law, and centered on the circumstances of the second killing he was convinced of. It stated that there was one man who had continually caused Sook Sias harm, and finally between having “enough” and “enough liquor” he probably shot the fellow in question. It eluded to the fact that the person in question may have been instrumental in having Sook Sias put away in prison in 1892. It was determined by the Warden that Sook Sias didn’t have ONE mark against his record, and that in January 16, 1931, he was the longest serving person in the BC Penitentiary. The Indian Agent was all for releasing him from prison.

It appeared as though the petition and the Indian Agent's letter may have been an eye-opener in Ottawa, as on January 23, 1931 there was a letter from Duncan Campbell Scott to the Chief of the Remissions Branch, at the Department of Justice, asking for the matter to be considered.

The reply from the Remissions branch came back: on June 17, 1931, saying that there was no intervening to be done. As liquor had been the major factor in two deaths already, there were no assurances it wouldn’t lead to a third one.

THEN, several pages came to light!   It was more petitions on May 29, 1933, but this time from the following people (spelled phonetically): Tlaw-weet-sis – Tourner Island; Nimpkish or Nim-gees – Alert Bay; Ma-Ma-Lili-Kula – Village Island; Matilpi or Mah-deekl-pay Tribe – Call Inlet area; Quatsino Tribe – North West coast of Vancouver Island; Nak-wah-dakw – Between Wakeman Sound and Seymour Inlet; Gwa-Sah-Lah – Smith Inlet area; Za-wah-daay –neuk Tribe – which includes some Kweek-wah-seu-tay-neuk from Guilford Island and some people from Kingcome Inlet.

THEN came the document that changed this whole story for me.

A letter from the Indian Agent at Alert Bay, who was responsible for the people who had signed the petition, that stated that Sook Sias was “..formerly of Green Point, BC,” and that “…he is the Uncle of John Quocksistala, the Chief of the Campbell River Tribe.”

Now, not only was my original hypothesis correct, it seems as though he was my husband’s relative, and according to the Indian Agent, his Great Uncle!

The last letter in the package was from Indian Affairs in Ottawa on June 6, 1933 to the Indian Agent in Alert Bay stating that the matter had been brought up in 1931 and that the Department of Justice was unable to interfere with the sentence, and that it would appear useless to take the matter up again.

Sook Sias died approximately 4 months later.

Now it was personal… This file officially sent me on a mission. I declared myself as Sook Sias' champion, determined to set things right for him - nearly 70 years later…

I don't know why, but a thought brought me wide-awake in the middle of the night. I had looked in the coroner's inquest and inquisitions for the name of Barnes, the apparent first victim. Why not try the name of the accused, in case it had been recorded! Quite often key facts concerning the verdict of the inquest are listed as well, I think solely to tantalize genealogists who are looking for one story, and end up on another tangent entirely, due to the nature of the explanations! I prepared myself not to expect to find anything because the name of Sook Sias could be spelled and interpreted so many ways…

When I searched for the words “sook sias” at the BC Archives search engine, there were no result, but when I simply typed in “sook” there was a hit in coroner’s records in precisely the right time frame!

I scrolled down the page, and there, in plain view was the inquest into the death of Long Jack, shot by Sook Schis. The date was December 30, 1891! This pretty well confirmed that the date, and probably the name of the victim, was wrong in the original obituary that Margaret found.

It also gave credence to the information from the Capital Case Finding Aid, so I then searched for court records and found GR – 1818, British Columbia Supreme Court (New Westminster) covering 1892-1913. There was a Supreme Court Assizes minute book dated June to October 1892 (criminal and civil) listed!

I fired off another request to the BC Archives Reference Service, through their “electronic form for access and research inquiries,” asking for a copy of the file of the inquest and search of the court records for Sook Sias or Johnny or Charlie in June of 1892.

As if fate had a hand in my research, I was faced with a trip to Vancouver for some training for a job I had been unexpectedly offered by the Campbell River Band. I went eagerly, knowing that I could fit an evening of research at the Vancouver Public Library. I was NOT able to view newspapers for New Westminster for June 1892, however I hit the jackpot in the Victoria Daily Colonist!

The June 3 and June 4, 1892 issues both contained a couple of sentences about the “Fall Assizes” (court hearings) held in New Westminster, and the last one stated: “Johnny and Charley were sentenced to hang.” This led me to believe there were 2 people involved, and if Johnny was Sook Sias, then Charley was Omis Kanis – and I knew of a Charlie Homiskanis from the Salmon River area! So, the Capital Case Finding Aid really DID list 2 different people!

The BC Archives were extremely fast with their copying of the coroner’s inquest into the death of Long Jack, and it was full of information – but some of it certainly conflicted with the original Comox-Argus newspaper article. It said that Omis Kanis, Sook Sias and Long Jack were at Greene Point when the shooting occurred. Sook Sias was sleeping, Omis Kanis came in and roused him and asked him to shoot Long Jack, whom he'd had an argument with. Sook Sias apparently picked up a rifle and shot him in the breast, killing him instantly. Long Jack's father was one who gave evidence.

The court record also proved fruitful, and gave a bit more information about how the trial was conducted, who the witnesses and interpreters were. This was a big find, as it appeared that there were 2 interpreters. From past experience I’ll go out on a limb to say that 2 were needed, as the first interpreter probably translated their Native dialect to Chinook, and the second one translated Chinook to English. I can also see a HUGE HOLE this language barrier may have opened… The papers included the sentence that Judge Walkem pronounced:“That you both be hanged on the 16^th of July at the gaol whence you have come from.”

Christmas was fast approaching, and genealogy research generally winds down for three weeks, but there was time for reflection. I began to wonder what prison life was like for Sook Sias. The original Comox-Argus article said he’d been in prison for 31 years. I wondered how he would have felt about being buried at the Prison cemetery, and why there, rather than in his homeland… Surely the Department of Indian Affairs could have returned him home, even if they wouldn’t pay to have his wife visit him one last time.

Brainstorm!! The prison, or somebody, would have kept some burial records!

I had to do one last thing before Christmas… I decided to contact Corrections Canada to see if there was anyone who knew about the cemetery at the BC Penitentiary. Luckily, on the first phone call, and several transfers later, I found Dennis Finley, the Communications Officer for the Pacific Region. He warned me not to expect too much, but that he knew of a retired gentleman who would be THE one to call in a matter like this.

Dennis called me back shortly saying that if I found a gravestone marked “991” that would be Sook Sias I was stunned! He also said that his informant was worried that the grave may no longer be there, as the land surrounding the cemetery was prone to erosion… Whoa! That one got me, as my overactive imagination could now envision a casket floating down the Fraser River!

In the first week of January I finally received the copy of the remission order from the National Archives, after having been told once (by the photoduplication department) that they could not find the file! I e-mailed Isabelle Ringuet back and she told me to re-submit the request (by itself), as she strongly suspected that the file could be located, as it wasn’t really all that old – just over a hundred years…

The remission order contained notes taken at the trial in 1892, and shed a lot of light on how the killing may have taken place, and was the instrument that in June of 1892 reversed the sentence of Sook Sias and Omis Kanis from hanging on July 16, 1892 to life in prison (which ended up only being about 5 to 8 years or so). There was a recap of the original trial that the committee used to make up their minds in staying with the original sentence, or lowering it, which thankfully they did!

The cemetery beckoned me yet again, and now that I had a marker/number to go by I figured there must be a plot plan somewhere, so I started looking around on the internet at the BC Archives and Vancouver City Archives websites. There were relatively few hits with the word “BC Penitentiary and cemetery.” here were two files that mentioned plans and renovations, so I sent another inquiry off asking if the files held a sketch of the grounds, and that I was really only interested in finding out where the cemetery was located. The reply was that the cemetery was not on the prison grounds, and it just so happened that the two words were in the file, were indexed, but were not in conjunction with each other.

Because the Penitentiary is in New Westminster, I wrote to the New Westminster Archives for information on the cemetery, and although they had no documentation in their archives, the archivist thought that someone at the city planners ought to know something about it. Later that day, she e-mailed me an extract from an October 28, 1986 article by Kevin Griffin from the New Westminster Now (Royal City Record these days) she located:

“… the former BC Penitentiary cemetery remains the final home for some 40 convicts who died while imprisoned. But there are no names on the simple gravestones. Almost obscured by the untended grass and weeds are four-digit numbers: 5920, 8869, 9391…..

Now that the cemetery comes under provincial jurisdiction, New Westminster city officials are unsure what to do with the plots. A former BC Pen guard recalls how heavy winter rainstorms would often erode the nearby ravine causing caskets to stick halfway out the embankment. ….. City Engineer Pat Connolly, though, isn’t worried about skeletons floating down the ravine. The bank was stabilized since the last burial took place 40 years ago.”

The article concludes that the city may prepare a grid to indicate locations of the plots – IN ORDER TO ALLOW ANY DESCENDANTS OF THE DECEASED TO LOCATE GRAVESITES IN THE FUTURE.”

I contacted the BC Cemeteries Branch thinking that they may have records or plot plans for the cemetery at the penitentiary, and Pam Aranoundse answered my inquiry. However, she thought that the cemetery I was inquiring about was actually on the “Woodlands Mental Institution” property (as the two institutions are pretty well beside each other), and if that was the case, I was definitely in for an uphill climb. Not only was the cemetery not there, she believed the headstones had all been packed away and lined up as a memorial park. We finally ascertained that these were two difference cemeteries, and although they have records of many, including the one at the William Head prison, she had no record of the BC Penitentiary cemetery.

I made a posting to the BC List (a genealogical mail list on the internet) asking my fellow “listers” if anyone had any knowledge of the BC Penitentiary’s cemetery. I couldn't believe it when I received 7 replies - not with the information that I wanted, but with requests to send these people information ABOUT the cemetery if I RECEIVED anything! What a hot topic this was, and it really heated up when one kind soul scanned 3 pages from a book, that gave some insight as to Sook Sias' final resting place. The pages were from “The Not So Gentle Art of Burying the Dead – by Hellen C. Pullem.   The first 2 pages confirmed what the newspaper article had said, but it was the last page that got me going.

It was a photograph of a gravestone at the cemetery. It was labeled “9391.” Was this the headstone for Sook Sias? Had there been a mistake either at the source of the information, or with the man I spoke to at Corrections Canada, or was it me? In my moment of awe did I write it down wrong?

I couldn't remember the name of the man I had talked to in December, or where I'd found him, and after several calls was about to give up when I was passed to one man, Randie Scott, who listened to my story and said he knew just who to call. He knew of a retired fellow who was the unofficial historian of the BC Pen. This was sounding familiar. He asked for my phone number and said he'd pass it on, and also took my e-mail address so he could send me something about the William Head Prison cemetery as well. I checked my e-mail 2 hours later and, sure enough, there was the document he promised, and a note telling me to expect a call tomorrow morning.

The next morning a fellow by the name of Tony called me and we had a wonderful chat. First off, he said he'd checked his records and he was right, the number for Sook Sias was 991. Before I had the chance to be disappointed that I didn't have a photograph of the headstone, he told me all about his rescue of boxes of papers and files from the BC Pen when it had closed. The workers had been throwing out old files into a bonfire, presumably under instruction due to the intensity of the work in cataloguing and the cost of shipping and storage elsewhere.

One of his friends called him, knowing that some of the material was valuable, and Tony came down to see what he could do. One of the first things he noticed was a filing cabinet being packed out towards the fire. He stopped them and asked what they were doing. Well, because the cabinet was locked and made rattling noises inside from broken glass, they were just going to heave it out. Tony reasoned that no filing cabinet should have broken glass saved, so he asked them to leave it with him and he'd open it. Within a couple of seconds he had it open and was shocked to find not broken glass. Instead there were literally hundreds of glass plate negatives of mug shots taken of the prisoners, dating back to the opening of the prison in 1878, right up to film negatives, he believes to the 1950’s.

However, the trick was how to identify who the photos were of – as they were not captioned by name, but only had a prison number on their sleeve and collar. Well, he miraculously managed to find a large ledger book that contained the name and prison number of each inmate, sometimes accompanied by other information such as their date of arrival and departure in the prison system.

He said he’d send me a copy of the paper he had about Sook Sias, and he promised he’d look for his photograph. He was confident he’s find it as he knew that the prison number for Bill Miner was in the 900’s and he knew he had that one, as he’d given it to a fellow doing a documentary on Miner’s life, and seemed to recollect he went to prison about the second time Sook Sias did in 1906!

Within a couple of days, I was holding in my hands a copy of an information sheet used to document some of Sook Sias’ activities. This gave me the date of sentencing and admission, which led me back to the BC Archives database again! Sure enough, after searching for “Vancouver Supreme Court” there was an entry that looked promising regarding a trial in 1906, so I requested it through that handy-dandy online form, which has no problem accepting requests at 2am!

Because of changes to the budget of the BC Archives, I was informed that before the search for this court record could take place, I would have to send in $50 for one hour of research.

Tony phoned and left me a message one evening saying to call him up till midnight – he had some news! We’d been at the movies and I just KNEW he had something good to report. He was laughing before he even said “hello” and said, “check your e-mail and call me back!” and he hung up on me. I raced into the office, went online and nearly fainted. He had located the negative for Sook Sias, found someone to print it, and scanned me the images…

When we compared the mug shot to a photo in the Quocksister family, that we knew was labeled incorrectly when we found it at the Nanaimo Museum nearly 15 years ago, it appeared to be the SAME PERSON!

A couple of days later he called and asked if I was sitting down. As he sounded quite excited himself, I knew something big was coming! He told me he’d been to his monthly meeting of retired prison officers and that he brought up the subject of the cemetery at the BC Pen. He asked if anyone remembered a fellow by the name of Sook Sias.

Considering that Sook Sias had been buried in 1933, he was pretty sure nobody would, as Tony was BORN on the day Sook Sias was BURIED, and he was one of the older members of the group.

He was astounded when one of his buddies asked, “You mean Johnny Sook Sias?”

Tony couldn’t believe it – “Yes, that’s the one,” he replied. “Oh yeah, I remember him. One day I was on the detail that had to rebury some of the characters whose coffins were about to head over the ravine, probably in the 50’s. His was one that we had to open, and we found that his hair had grown down to his ass.” Tony then explained that his friend had scraped together what was left, put him in a potato sack, and reburied him, complete with headstone! He said he’d need some time, but he’d look for some material on the cemetery for me.

The reply from the BC Archives came with the Court Records – and it was a great surprise. Archivist Katy Hughes knows her stuff, because she looked in some Attorney General correspondence and found a brief by the Crown, which ended up being the basis for the case to be brought to the 1906 Vancouver Fall Assize court session.

It was the information and complaint signed by the police officer charging that Sook Sias murdered Charles Newell at White Rock Bay, Little Valdes Island (Read Island). Sook Sias said in his defense: “Some of what has been said is true, some is not. I will speak in the higher court.

Apparently Sook Sias, Annie Hill (his wife), Charlie (Annie’s son), Lucy (Annie’s daughter) Lucy’s husband Charles Newell, and Lucy’s 2 children were at a cabin there, and Sook Sias and Annie were drinking. An argument between Sook Sias and Newell took place, and the day ended when Sook Sias was on the beach and Newell, his wife, her brother and the two children were all in a canoe about to leave, when Sook Sias came, fired one shot from forty feet away, and killed Newell. Annie said she was asleep and didn’t KNOW if Sook Sias killed Newell (in essence, Sook Sias’ son-in-law). Annie’s children both gave evidence that he did, as they were present!

I suppose we will never know the whole circumstances… However, I can’t help but wonder how someone (apparently drinking heavily) could be such a good shot? Charlie and Lucy said only one bullet was fired; the doctor performing the autopsy said the death was instant. The 1891 killing in Greene Point also only had one bullet fired as well, and again there was drinking involved. It sounds like Sook Sias was of Olympic champion caliber! ’m pretty sure that accuracy of old rifles is nothing like those of today...

Anyway, Sook Sias was hauled off to jail, and, “...after the hearing of the murder charge against (Sook Sias) we laid charges against Annie Hill, accused’s wife, for having liquor in possession and for being drunk. We were unable to prove the charge of having liquor in possession but she was found guilty on charge of being drunk and sentenced to one month imprisonment. …we think that it would be a good think if Annie were kept locked up until the trial so that she could not have an opportunity of tampering with the witnesses if she felt so disposed to do.” While I’m not sure if she stayed in jail any longer than the month, we know that by October 1906 Sook Sias was found guilty of the killing of Newell, and from then on he remained in the custody of the BC Penitentiary.

Tony managed to locate the cemetery plot plan, and some pictures taken of the cemetery in 1948 and 1955. The pictures now gave me solace in knowing what area he was buried in, and the plot plan was made in 1980, so I’m only about 23 years away from his last known place of interment.

To further entrench my story, a former Cape Mudge elder, Louisa Hovell, was interviewed many years ago, and the interview was transcribed. In it I found reference to her stepfather Charlie Homiskanis (Omis Kanis) going to jail, with someone named Johnny whom she said was a repeat offender when he killed his daughter’s husband. Her words seem to corroborate what I had found in “official records.”

On May 30^th I received an e-mail from a lady in New Westminster who “out of the blue” got the feeling that she had to do something about the overgrown cemetery at the former BC Penitentiary site. She has no ties to anyone there that she knows of, Deborah simply got a bee in her bonnet about the people buried there. She found me through one of my postings to the “BC List, when I requested someone to copy the newspaper article about the cemetery printed in 1986.

In comparing stories, she has talked to, or knows about, many of the same people who assisted me, and since we have corresponded, she has been twice to the very neglected cemetery (saying that people that live close by didn’t even know that it IS a cemetery), and has sent several pictures by e-mail. Through the plot plan and her notes and pictures, we figure she was about 8 feet from Sook Sias’ grave on her last visit, but due to the overgrowth, she needs more gardening tools, and possibly another left breast to replace the one nearly torn off climbing over rusty old fences to get there!

As you might imagine, she is totally consumed with finding out why this has landed at her doorstep (sound familiar?) and I could not be any luckier, because she’s one in a million. I have no idea what will come of it all, but simply knowing that she was up from 1:45 am to 4 in the morning last night just thinking about different avenues of research gives me an incredible sense of relief, knowing I'm not the only one any more...

So now, what does all this mean to you, as genealogists?

1. Don't always believe what you read. If I had just been satisfied with that original newspaper article, this whole story would never have unfolded. If any of you here attended our seminar in March and heard Dave Obee’s talk on Charles Marble, the man killed in the Fraser River after descending by parachute from the hot air balloon, you'll have a deeper appreciation of this lesson.
2. When we counsel you to get as many pieces of evidence or documentation as possible, sometimes it means going beyond the norm. The first 3 key pieces of my documentation ALL pointed to Sook Sias as being from Cortes Island or the Klahoose Band, and he really wasn't.
3. This narrative didn't come about as I sat on my ass, waiting for the details to come to me. In the early stages, everything was pretty well “text-book” research. What I needed to do was re-ponder the meager evidence I had, and get creative! It took some work, some forethought and deduction, more than a few dollars and some dedication to seeing it through. Your stories will come to you in much the same fashion as mine.
4. I want to impress upon you the power of “gut instinct” that we genealogists are very often credited with. I can clearly remember the evening when Gladys Smith and Pat Goddard sat me down at the Family History Centre and told me that when you “just get this gut feeling you're on the right track. It’s our ancestors reaching out to us…” That very night, I KNEW my Great Grandfather was from Lincolnshire, even though I had nothing to prove it, nothing to even LEAD me in that direction, just gut instinct while looking. A week or so later I had proof that he was.

Looking back to that day when Margaret handed me the little article from the newspaper, I just KNEW Sook Sias was not from Cortes Island so was he reaching out to me?

And finally, once I show the Cemeteries Branch in Victoria the plot plan, and give them evidence that Sook Sias is still in the cemetery (with Deborah’s help, I truly believe it’s going to happen), I was told they will generally give permission to permit re-internment. That’s where you all come in. You’ve been involved in his story from the beginning, so it’s only right that you be there at the end.

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Last revised: Date June 23, 2003

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Last revised: August 25, 2005