Deadly Neighbours by Chad Reimer

Author:Chad Reimer
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Louie Sam, Lynching, British Columbia, History, 19th centur, Sumas Prairie, Social conditions, Race relations, Ethnic relations, First Nations, Crime, Violence
ISBN: 9781773860855
Publisher: Caitlin Press
Published: 2022-03-15T00:00:00+00:00

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James Bell died without a will so it was necessary for the probate court to dispose of his estate. In a perverse twist, the Harkness clan was put in charge of the task. James Harkness Sr. was appointed administrator, sons John and Thomas stood as sureties, and David was the notary public who certified all statements and documents. William Osterman, Peter Gillies and Robert Breckenridge were appointed to appraise the value of Bell’s household and business assets, most of which had been destroyed in the fire. Some household goods, store items and farm tools survived, along with a dairy cow, a calf and an old bull. These were sold at auction, but nobody stepped forward to take over the unproven claim to Bell’s property, which stayed in the hands of the probate court. James Harkness Sr. and the others were paid for their administrative efforts, some four hundred dollars split half a dozen ways, after which there was just enough left for Bell’s funeral expenses. Whatever motive the killer might have had for murdering James Bell, it was not to get hold of his meagre assets.121

Even if there had been money or property left behind, neither Annette nor James Jr. could have claimed them at that time. In May 1884, as administrator of Bell’s estate, James Harkness Sr. declared in a sworn statement, “The said deceased left surviving him no lawful issue or wife.” Harkness was well aware this statement was false and that swearing to it amounted to perjury; the aging patriarch made it to prevent any questions being raised about the legality or propriety of his son’s marriage to Annette.

The situation changed when David Harkness died four months later. James Bell’s death had meant Annette and David no longer needed to worry that the Englishman might cause them legal problems or social embarrassment. But whatever relief the couple may have felt did not last long. Harkness had contracted a “lung disease” during the Civil War, likely a form of chronic pneumonia or tuberculosis. The illness had bothered Harkness off and on in the years since the war. It worsened markedly around the time of his marriage to Annette, and two weeks after their wedding he applied for an “invalid pension” through the US government’s wounded veterans’ program. He fell seriously ill the following spring and was bedridden for a number of weeks. He rallied over the summer but was struck down again the first days of fall. He died in the early hours of September 25, 1884, three months shy of his forty-second birthday.122

Unlike Bell, Harkness saw his end coming and prepared a will, bequeathing all his property “to my dear wife Annette Harkness.” Annette waited a full year after Harkness’s death, then filed a claim to any assets that might be left over from the estate of James Bell, not for herself but for her eleven-year-old son. In September 1885, she swore out an affidavit in probate court, stating: “That said [James Jr.] was born

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