| Summary: |
Just after midnight on April 21, 1842, John McLoughlin, Jr., the chief trader at Fort Stikine, was shot dead by his own men. The Hudson's Bay Company had high expecations for this remote post on the Pacific Northwest coast, but within two years it had devolved into a cesspool of paranoia, violence, misrule, and revolt. The fort's complememnt claimed the shooting was their only means of stopping McLoughlin's drunken and abusive rampages, and HBC Governor George Simpson took them at their word. The case never saw the inside of a courtroom. McLoughlin was buried without ceremony, and the Company closed the book on his death. Now Debra Komar uses archival research and modern forensic science, including ballistics, virtual autopsy, and crime scene reconstruction, to unlock what really happened the night McLoughlin died. The story of his murder provides a glimpse into the sometimes brutal reality of life in the Hudson's Bay Company and the role it played in shaping the Canadian north. -- |
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