Colonial Despatches

Sha-na-sa-luk was a Lamalcha (now known as the Hwlitsum First Nation; their village was located on Kuper Island) man and the brother of Ot-cha-wun. He was charged with manslaughter for killing a British serviceman, Charles Gliddon, during the Lamalcha war, when the HMS Forward exchanged fire with Lamalcha villagers while searching for several suspected murderers.1

Sha-na-sa-luk attempted to escape capture with Qual-a-tutlm and Ot-cha-wun. Members of the British Navy under Commander Pike, allegedly beat and detained Ot-cha-wun's father-in-law Sha-tu-wish, uncle Klle-sa-luk and wife Salley who then divulged the location of the fugitives. E. Hardinge, Commander of the HMS Chameleon, led the mission to find the three men and captured them on Galiano Island.2

Sha-nal-sa-luk, Qual-a-tutlm and Ot-cha-wun were tried at the Assizes held on 24 June 1863. Their trial became a large controversy, as the men were provided with no legal council, and the trials were translated using the basic chinook jargon, a language too simple to translate complex British legal terms. Sha-nal-sa-luk claimed he never fired at the Forward; this claim was supported by eyewitnesses who testified in court. Nevertheless, the jury presented a guilty verdict, recommending mercy. The three men were sentenced to death, as a warning to other First Nations people to not rebel.3 One hundred and fifty citizens of Victoria signed a petition to commute the death sentence, due to the unjust way their trial had been conducted.4 The men were hanged for the murder of Gliddon on 4 July in front of the Victoria police barracks.5

• 1. Arnett, Chris. 1999. The Terror of the Coast: Land Alienation and Colonial War on Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands, 1849-1863. Burnaby, B.C.: Talonbooks, 133-136.
• 2. Ibid., 244-247.
• 3. Ibid., 281-287.
• 4. Ibid., 239-240.
• 5. Ibid., 303-304.