The Bastard of Fort Stikine by Debra Komar

Author:Debra Komar
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Canadian Non-Fiction, Hudson's Bay Company, John McLoughlin Jr., Unsolved Murder, True Crime, Forensic Anthropology, Crime Scene, The Ballad of Jacob Peck, The Lynching of Peter Wheeler
Publisher: Goose Lane Editions
Published: 2015-08-24T04:00:00+00:00

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An Irresistible Force, an Immovable Object

As 1842 drew to a close, the travesty of Fort Stikine no longer referred solely to the killing of its chief trader. The Company’s investigation had little to do with John McLoughlin Jr. and everything to do with the escalating war of words between Simpson and the victim’s increasingly irrational father. As the two men locked horns, many believed their mutual destruction was assured.

Both men refused to yield, and their relationship deteriorated. For George Simpson, such conflict was of no concern, but “McLoughlin’s loyalty to the Company, which would normally guarantee discretion, was also becoming suspect.” The Governor had expected Dr. McLoughlin to simply swallow “the pill without daring to complain of its bitterness,” something the doctor could not bring himself to do. Consequently, Sir George no longer trusted McLoughlin to act in the Company’s best interests, and so Simpson began to work in ways that were decidedly not in the doctor’s best interest.

McLoughlin, in turn, accused Simpson of being deluded and heartless. The Governor’s self-image was “ludicrously unrealistic,” and his callousness was the stuff of legend. One oft-humiliated underling confronted Simpson, saying, “You are pleased to jest with the hardships I experienced…you ought to have considered it sufficient to have made me your dupe, and not add[ed] insult to oppression.” Dr. McLoughlin believed the Governor combined “the prepossessing manners of a gentleman [with] all the craft and subtlety of an intriguing courtier,” and that “his cold and callous heart was incapable of sympathising with the woes and pains of his fellow-men.” Neither combatant came off well in the exchange, as the clash revealed the intractable demands of each man’s ego: “Simpson expected to rule; McLoughlin was accustomed to independence.”

HBC Governor Pelly took the matter seriously but refused to get serious about it. He grew weary as the squabble dragged into its second year, lost track of who said what, and did not have the patience to find his way back. As the barrage of insults rained down from both sides, the Company’s stewards insulated themselves from the fray.

Their cloak of plausible deniability was torn asunder, however, when Simpson and McLoughlin stopped talking to each other and began sending their toxic missives directly to Company headquarters. The first bombshell landed early in 1843, when a thick envelope arrived in London containing Simpson’s bellicose response to McLoughlin’s latest letter. Like a petulant child, Simpson refused to deal with his uncompromising sibling, preferring to make his case directly to the father figure that loved him best, confident he would receive vindication.

In all things, Simpson cultivated the appearance of a man more sinned against than sinning, and his letter fashioned him the innocent victim of Dr. McLoughlin’s unwarranted attacks. He did not mince words, claiming, “It is evident Mr. McLoughlin is ignorant” of how “difficult and troublesome [it is] to obtain the ends of justice.” The doctor’s ignorance was so egregious that Simpson had no recourse but to address all of McLoughlin’s accusations. With each point the Governor masterfully blended whinging with an abdication of responsibility.

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