The colonial despatches of Vancouver Island and British Columbia 1846-1871
Shil-o-weet (Skiloweet)
Shil-o-weet was an elderly Nanaimo (now Snuneymuxw First Nation) man living at Penelakut
who was charged with killing an unnamed white man on Pender Island five years earlier. He confessed his crime out of fear when the HMS Forward visited Penelakut in search of several other murderers.1
He claimed that he did not incite the murder, but assisted Pallrick when he shot a man in the arm; Shil-o-weet stabbed the man in the back, afraid he
would shoot back at them. Pallrick's wife Semmallee gave evidence against him, as she was present at the murder.2 Shil-o-weet was charged with manslaughter on 19 June and was sentenced to a four
year jail term with hard labour. He was not given the death sentence out of mercy
for his advanced age.3
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, 228.