The British Columbia Overland Transit Company was organized in
London in
1862
by
Arthur Sleigh, a man described by the Toronto
Globe as a
swindler
and
complete scoundrel.
Because of his reputation,
Sleigh was studiously kept in the background,
while
James Henson, the
company's secretary, acted as its public representative.
The company offered transportation from England to
British Columbia, which was in the throes of the
Cariboo Gold Rush. Passengers were to arrive in Canada by ship, continue to St. Paul, Minnesota
by rail,
then cross the Prairies and the
Rocky Mountains in wagons via the
Red River Settlement.
The first group of thirty-three travellers arrived at St. Paul in
June 1862 to find that no arrangements had been made for the
completion of their journey.
The company's agents,
H. L. Hime and
James Hayward, had both been told by
Sleigh
that the other had been given the money necessary to cover the expedition's expenses.
Eight travellers were able to return to England but twenty-five who could not afford
the trip became stranded in St. Paul.
The
Manchester Weekly Times reported that
some, it is said, are toiling away in the mines there for their daily bread, and,
unless
friends release them from their slavery, it may last a life time.
The
Colonial Office was asked to help the stranded but declined, saying that it was
quite impossible
for the government to assist
those
who had embarked in impracticable enterprises, and had allowed themselves to be imposed
upon by designing persons from the consequence of their
imprudence.
Sleigh closed the firm's office, sold his house and furniture, and
disappeared into space.
Henson was charged with fraud, but successfully argued that he had no knowledge of
Sleigh's criminal
intent.
Henry Fenton Jadis, who held a senior position with the government's Board of Trade
and was brother of
Colonial Office clerk
Vane Jadis, was not so fortunate.
He had become entangled in the scheme by agreeing to act as one of the company's directors.
He and several other directors, including British member of Parliament
F. H. Berkeley, were found liable in civil court and ordered to pay damages to
Sleigh's victims.
Some, including Jadis, were forced into bankruptcy as a result.
The
London Morning Post offered the following summary of the whole sorry affair:
the object of the company itself was not the legitimate one of expediting inexperienced
travellers to their destination by taking upon itself the
responsibility of the intermediate arrangements, but the replenishment of the empty
pockets of Colonel Sleigh and of one or two of his
chosen confrères who were in on the secret.