Colonial Despatches

William Armitage and an accomplice murdered Thomas Clegg near Williams Lake in 1863.1 The details are somewhat murky, but it is supposed that Clegg worked for E. T. Dodge & CO., and was sent to Barkersville to collect money that was owed to the company in the form of gold dust. Clegg and the man he was riding with, Joe Taylor, were held up by William Armitage and his accomplice. Armitage had heard that Clegg was riding with a large sum of money but unbeknownst to him, the gold dust had been switched to Taylor's saddlebag. Taylor escaped but Armitage shot and killed Clegg. Clegg is buried near the 141 Mile Post.2

• 1. Douglas to Newcastle, 14 September 1863, 10454, CO 60/16, 152.
• 2. Irene Stangoe, Cariboo-Chilcotin: Pioneer, People, and Places (Toronto: Heritage House Publishing Company Ltd., 1994) 88-89.