b. 1843
d. 1869-07-24
Also known as Tshuanahusset, as “Tom” in court records, and as “Dick” in the
Daily British Colonist, Ich-yst-a-tis was a member of the Hul'qumi'num-speaking Penelakut people and lived
in a village located on the
Chemainus River. Ich-yst-a-tis was born c.
1843, and was noted to have a brother and a wife. He was known to sell
salmon and deer to the settlers
living on xənen'əč (
Salt Spring Island).
On
April 7, 1869, Ich-yst-a-tis was arrested for the
1868 murder of
William Robinson, an African-American settler on Salt Spring Island, and held in the
Victoria Gaol until his execution on
July 24, 1869. During his trial, from
June 2–3, Ich-yst-a-tis was found guilty of murdering
Robinson before an
all-White jury;
however, Ich-yst-a-tis's guilt has been challenged by historians who have re-examined
the evidence presented and withheld during the trial.
Although three African-American men were murder on
Salt Spring Island, from
1868-9, only
Robinson's murder was “solved;” but,
all of the murders were blamed on [Indigenous] people,
fuelling indiscriminate suspicions toward, and contempt for, Indigenous peoples. For instance, the
Daily British Colonist asserted that
it is well known that the perpetrators of all the robberies and murders, except Dick,
are at large on the Island,
and that (threats of) violence ought to be used against the
Indian camps
as to make examples
of these uncivilized wretches [who threaten] a general massacre of the settlers.
- 1. Ruth Sandwell and John Lutz, Tom (Tshuanahusset): Convicted of Robinson's Murder, Great Unsolved Mysteries in Canadian History: Who Killed William Robinson? Race,
Justice and Settling the Land.
- 2. Sandwell and Lutz, Tom (Tshuanahusset): Convicted of Robinson's Murder, Great Unsolved Mysteries in Canadian History.
- 3. Ibid.
- 4. Sandwell and Lutz, Welcome, Great Unsolved Mysteries in Canadian History.
- 5. Sandwell and Lutz, The Murder, Great Unsolved Mysteries in Canadian History.
- 6. Ibid.
- 7. The Daily British Colonist, April 13, 1869. 2.