Percé Rock

Percé Rock (French Rocher Percé, “pierced rock”) is a huge sheer rock formation in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence on the tip of the Gaspé Peninsula in Quebec, Canada, off Percé Bay. Percé Rock appears from a distance like a ship under sail. It is one of the world’s largest natural arches located in water and is considered a geologically and historically rich natural icon of Quebec. It is a major attraction in the Gaspesie region.

Etymology

The massive rocky cliff is called by several names, such as le Rocher Percé, Pierced Rock, Pierced Island, Split Rock or Percé Rock. The name is attributed to the pierced rock that formed an arch of 15 metres (49 ft) height on its seaward southern end, as though a needle had cut through the rock. It was named Percé (“pierced rock”) by Samuel de Champlain in 1607, in reference to the holes he had seen in the massive block of limestone, which over the years has become a major attraction in the region of Quebec.

Legend

The Percé Rock, described as “the monstrous giant; pierced through by an immense eye, now green, now gray, now blue or violet, according to the moods of the sea”, is linked in legend to a young man of a noble French family.^[8] The legend associated with the young man, named Chevalier Raymond de Nerac, is that after his engagement to a lovely girl named Blanche de Beaumont, as an officer of the French army he was posted to a regiment in New France, despite wishing to stay in his familiar old world France. He was thus separated from his betrothed under expressed sentiments of loving each other for ever. He suffered pangs of separation as he traveled in Quebec. He was posted to the Fortress of St Louis and all his thoughts were of his betrothed. However, his fiancée also could not stand the separation and she decided to travel to Quebec with her uncle, to get married to her beloved. Unfortunately, as they approached Newfoundland they engaged in fierce battle on the seas with a Spanish pirate ship. Even though the French crew offered stiff resistance, they were all killed by the pirates and their ship was gutted. However, the girl in question who was hiding in the ship in one of the cabins was dragged out and brought before the pirate captain. As soon as he saw the beautiful girl, he fell in love with her and proposed marriage. He told her that she had no way of escape and that he would sail his ship even to the fort of St. Lawrence where she could probably have a glimpse of her fiancé. The girl, nonplussed, agreed, although her intentions were otherwise. At the time of marriage celebrations she suddenly jumped out into the deep sea and drowned. This created chaos on the deck of the pirate ship and the ship was covered with thick fog making sailing difficult, and any rescue operations difficult. The following morning, as the ship was anchored, the crew were facing a huge mass of rock, the Percé Rock, which appeared to be floating near the shore. The Spanish pirates were frightened by the massive rock which appeared in a “veiled appearance in which they thought they recognized Blanche de Beaumont”. They saw the girl raise her hand in “malediction”. When they tried to turn the ship to avoid it hitting the rock, the apparition disappeared and the ship crashed. Next day morning people who watched from the shores saw a rock had emerged in the place of the ship, off the Cape Rosier. The rock appeared like a “large vessel under sail”. The local fishermen still say that the gentle spirit of the Blanche De Beaumont haunts the great Perce Rock, two hundred years after the girl drowned there. After this incident, the young man also died out of shock.

Another version of the legend, which is also narrated by the local people of Percé town, is that they see the rock in the shape of a “phantom” during storms and hence call it “Le Génie deľisle Percé”. This, however, could be interpreted to mean that the vapoury clouds that engulf the “vast flocks of water fowl” could give such an impression when viewed from a distance.

Geography

Percé Rock is part of the range of cliffs, bays and hills on the SW side of Mal Bay, which are formed of reddish-gold limestone and shale. It is linked to mainland (at Rue du Mont Joli) by a sandbar at low tide. The Bay of Perce is situated between this rock and the High Head. There is a reef to the SW of Percé Rock, about 0.5 miles (800 m) away from the shore. The town of Percé is located on the shores of the bay. Its main industry is fishing. Percé reef is about 0.5 miles (800 m) from the centre of the town where small vessels can be moored. Midway across the rock is a shoal that stretches over a length of 0.25 miles (400 m).

The rock formation has about 150 fossil species. In Bonaventure Island where the park is situated, conglomerates from the Carboniferous period of more than 310 million years are recorded.

Next to the rock is Bonaventure Island, and together they form Parc national de l’Île-Bonaventure-et-du-Rocher-Percé (Bonaventure Island and Percé Rock National Park), founded in 1985, which covers an area of about 5.8 square kilometres (2.2 sq mi). The tip of the Gaspé Peninsula has five geological formations, and Percé Rock is the only one located within the park. The park extends over a 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) stretch of the coastline, and exhibits a wide variety of flora and fauna. It is a migratory bird sanctuary for the northern gannet, and has over 110,000 nesting birds, the second largest in the world. (The Municipal website of Percé mentions that the population of northern gannets is 121,000, which exceeds the figures mentioned for the archipelago of St Kilda in Scotland)- Other birds found on the island include puffins, razorbills, Black guillemot and kittiwakes, as well as over 200 other species. From May to December, some species of blue whale, humpback whale, minke whale or fin whale can be seen along the coast near Percé, Bonaventure Island and Forillon National Park.

At low tide, the rock is approachable on foot. The rock and the bird colony in Bonaventure Island is about a 75-minute trip from Percé by boat. Visits to the rock are restricted to the period from May 28 to October 12. During such visits, park guides provide information on beach creatures, the geology of Percé Rock, also called the “cathedral of limestone that rose from the Equator”, and the fossils found there. The rock mass is a monolith estimated at 5 million tonnes. It has been inferred that at the current erosion rate (about 300 tonnes of mass per year lost to the action of water and wind), it will disappear in about 16,000 years. In view of its tendency to collapse, it is dangerous to venture close to the rock on foot during low tide. The top of the rock is not accessible. Snowy gannets, silvery gulls, black cormorants and other species of birds perch there.

An interpretation centre in Percé, housed in Le Chafaud, an elegant restored building, has a thematic exhibition titled “Un rocher, une île, un parc national”, meaning “one rock, one island, one national park”, which recounts the bird life, marine life, geology, history and ecosystem of the park and the rock.

History

Originally, the Percé Rock was inferred as connected to the main land. In early 1900s, enchanted by the beauty of the Percé Rock, travellers started visiting the area of Gaspe, Percé and Bonaventure Island. However, when Jacques Cartier, the first colonist arrived here in 1534, he reported three arches in the massive rock formation. In time, two of the arches disappeared, with the last one collapsing on June 17, 1845, leaving a separated pillar. Percé Rock’s huge limestone formation is geologically dated to the Devonian period of more than 400 million years ago (375 million years is also mentioned). However, Percé Rock is only a small component of the large areas of Devonian rocks that occupy the interior that were first mapped in 1844 by Sir William Edmond Logan, known as the father of Canadian geology. Fossils in such rocks show a variety of animal and plant communities from both terrestrial and marine habitats from the Devonian period.

Description

Percé Rock is a massive siliceous limestone stack formation, with sandstone and siltstone veins, with steep rock faces on all sides. It is 433 metres (1,421 ft) long, 90 metres (300 ft) wide, and 88 metres (289 ft) high at its highest point. It is described as a narrow bluff emerging out of the sea, “resembling a bleached supertanker from some angles”.

When it was seen in 1603 by the French geographer and founder of Quebec City, Samuel de Champlain, it had only one arch. However, in 1760, a picture of Percé Rock drawn by an English officer, Captain Hervey Smyth, showed two arches, one of which collapsed in June 1845. Percé rock’s two large holes were cut through by the sea waves. One of the holes seen now is an arch described as “gothic arch of rock”, which is about 15 metres (49 ft) high. A small boat can pass through the arch during high tide. Of the two arches, the outer arch, which had collapsed with great force in 1845, is now seen as remnants in the form of an “obelisk”.

For four hours at a time during low tide, the water recedes from a wide spit that allows the rock itself to be visited. It contains 150 species of different fossils such as brachiopod, trilobites, dalmanites, corals and marine worms from the Devonian period.

In popular culture

Percé Rock is a major tourist attraction in Quebec, with picturesque views of the rock from both Percé and nearby Bonaventure Island.

French surrealist poet André Breton (1896–1966) visited Gaspé in October 1944 and recorded his impressions of the visit in Arcanum 17, “a hymn of hope, renewal, and resurrection”. The name of the poem stands for the 17th tarot card in the Major Arcana, called the Star, which symbolizes a woman pouring lunar forces into a mundane world and represents negative connotations of loss or abandonment of hope or bright prospects. During the visit, Breton was attracted to the Percé Rock and drew inspiration from it. In contrast to his unhappy personal life in war-torn Europe, the Rock provided him with the inspiration and reminder that “nature renews herself and that death is only transitory.” He called Percé Rock a “razor blade rising out of the water, an image very imperious and commanding, a marvelous iceberg of moon stone … to a distracted observer though to a common man it is just but a resting place of birds”.

 

Roch “Moïse” Thériault

Roch “Moïse” Thériault (May 16, 1947 – February 26, 2011) was the leader of a small religious group based near Burnt River, Ontario, Canada. Between 1977 and 1989 had as many as 12 adults and 22 children followers. He had 26 children when he died, fathering the other 4 during visits in prison from some of his “wives”. He used all of the nine women as concubines, and may have fathered most of the children in the group.

He was arrested for assault in 1989, and convicted of murder in 1993. At the time of his death in 2011 he was continuing to serve out a life sentence, having been denied parole in 2002. Along with Clifford Olson and Paul Bernardo, Thériault was considered one of Canada’s most notorious criminals.

History

Roch “Moïse” Thériault was a self-proclaimed prophet, born in Saguenay Valley in 1947. As a boy, although very intelligent, he dropped out of school in the 7th grade and began to teach himself the Old Testament. He believed that the end of the world was near and would be brought on by the war between good and evil. Thériault converted from Catholicism to the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Thériault indulged in the religion’s regular holistic clinics, which encouraged a healthy lifestyle free of tobacco, and unhealthy foods. It was through this religion that Thériault realized his power of persuasion over others, and he managed to convince a group of people to leave their jobs and homes and move in with him. He formed the Ant Hill Kids in 1977. The goal was to form a community where people could freely listen to his motivational speeches and live in unity, equality and free of sin.

Thériault prohibited the group from remaining in contact with their families and with the Seventh-day Adventist Church, as this was against his sect’s values. He moved away from being a motivational leader and, as his drinking problem increased, so did his controlling style of direction. The norms of the group became more and more controlled. Members were not allowed to speak to each other without Thériault present nor were they allowed to have sex with each other without his permission.

He feared for the end of the world and used the commune to prepare for it. Thériault claimed that God had warned him that the end of the world would come in February 1979. In 1978, in preparation, Thériault moved his commune. They hiked to a mountainside, which Thériault called ‘Eternal Mountain’ in Saint-Jogues, Quebec,^[5][6] where he claimed they could all be saved. There, he made the commune build their town while he relaxed. As he watched the group work, he compared them to ants working in an ant hill, naming the group the Ant Hill Kids. Following February 1979, when people started questioning his wisdom, he defended himself saying that time on earth and in God’s world were not parallel therefore it was a miscalculation. To expand the community as well as keep the members devoted, Thériault married and impregnated all of the women. He fathered over 20 children with 9 female members of the group. During the 1980s, nearly 40 people followed Roch Thériault. The group wore identical tunics to represent their devotion to the commune. In 1984 the group was relocated to Burnt River, Ontario.

Abuse of Power

Thériault was a charismatic leader and none of the other members questioned his judgment or blamed him for any physical, mental or emotional damage. The Ant Hill Kids raised money for living by selling baked goods and members who didn’t bring in enough money were severely punished. Thériault spied on his members, making sure everybody was completely devoted and punishing those who strayed, claiming that God told him what they did.

His punishments were extreme. If a person wanted to leave the commune, Thériault would punish them with either belts, hits from a hammer, suspending them from the ceiling, plucking each of their body hairs individually, or even by defecating on them.

Despite his devastating punishments, the members of the Ant Hill Kids never questioned his authority. His punishments included making members break their own legs with sledgehammers, sitting on lit stoves, shooting each other in the shoulders, and eating dead mice and feces. A follower would sometimes be asked to cut off another follower’s toes with wire cutters to prove loyalty. The children were not spared, and not only were they sexually abused, but they were also at times held over fires or would be nailed to trees while other children threw stones at them. Thériault was also responsible for the death of his own infant, as he left the child outside during a blizzard.

Going back to the original mission of the commune, Thériault strongly believed in purifying his subordinates. He would rid them of their sins through purification sessions where the members would be completely nude as he whipped and beat them. Claiming to be a holy being, Thériault demonstrated his healing powers through surgeries performed on sick members. He would sometimes inject 94% ethanol solution into followers’ stomachs, or perform circumcisions on the children and adults of the group.

When follower Solange Boilard complained of an upset stomach, Thériault laid her naked on a table, punched her in the stomach, jammed a plastic tube up her rectum to perform a crude enema with molasses and olive oil, then cut open her abdomen, and ripped off part of her intestines with his bare hands. Thériault made another member, Gabrielle Lavallée, stitch her up using needle and thread, and had the other women shove a tube down her throat and blow. Boilard died the next day. Claiming to have power of resurrection, Thériault bore a hole into Boilard’s skull with a drill, and then made other male members—along with himself—ejaculate into the cavity.

Gabrielle Lavallée underwent harsh treatment herself during the years leading up to 1989. She had suffered through welding torches on her genitals, a hypodermic needle breaking off in her back and even eight of her teeth being forcibly removed. Upon her return, after having escaped from the commune, Thériault removed one of her fingers with wire cutters, pinned her hand to a wooden table with a hunting knife and then amputated her entire arm. The abuse that caused Gabrielle Lavallée to leave, however, is when Thériault cut off parts of her breast and smashed her head in with the blunt side of an ax. She fled and contacted authorities. The cult shut down in 1989, when Thériault was arrested and given a life sentence.

Related works

The 2002 film Savage Messiah depicts Thériault’s crimes against his followers and the ensuing legal recourse. The film stars Luc Picard as Thériault, and Polly Walker as Paula Jackson, the social worker whose investigation revealed the crimes.^[10][11] Gabrielle Lavallée wrote a memoir of her life in the sect entitled L’alliance de la brebis (“Alliance of the Sheep”),

Death

Thériault was found dead near his cell, February 26, 2011, at Dorchester Penitentiary, in New Brunswick. He was 63 years old. His death is believed to be the result of an altercation with his cell mate, Matthew Gerrard MacDonald, 60, of Port au Port, N.L, who killed Thériault and has been charged with the killing. MacDonald pled guilty to second degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison (having already been serving a life sentence for a previous murder charge). MacDonald stabbed Thériault in the neck with a homemade knife. Afterwards, he walked to the guards’ station, handed them the knife and proclaimed, “That piece of shit is down on the range. Here’s the knife, I’ve sliced him up.”

 

Sir Samuel Leonard Tilley

Sir Samuel Leonard Tilley, (May 8, 1818 – June 25, 1896) was a Canadian politician and one of the Fathers of Confederation. Tilley was descended from United Empire Loyalists on both sides of his family. As a pharmacist, he went into business as a druggist.

Personal life

Born in Gagetown, New Brunswick, Tilley was the son of storekeeper Thomas Morgan Tilley and Susan Ann Peters. On May 16, 1843 he married Julia Ann Hanford in Saint John, New Brunswick; they had eight children. Hanford died in 1862, leaving Tilley a widower. On October 22, 1867, he married Alice Starr Chipman in St. Stephen, New Brunswick; they had two children, including future New Brunswick premier Leonard Percy de Wolfe Tilley. Samuel Leonard Tilley died in 1896 on June 25.

Political career

Tilley entered politics as an activist in the temperance movement. As a result of the 1848 recession, caused in part by Britain’s economic policies, he became an advocate for responsible government. Tilley later joined the New Brunswick Colonial Association, which advocated for the colony’s own control over its public expenses, the establishment of a public school system, government control of public works, and “honest government” in general.

First elected to the New Brunswick Assembly as a Liberal in 1850, he sat in opposition until the 1854 election swept the reformers to power. Tilley became Provincial Secretary in the government of Charles Fisher.

He attended both the Charlottetown, London, and Quebec City Conferences as a supporter of Canadian Confederation. He served as premier of the colony of New Brunswick from 1861 until his government was defeated in the election of 1865. As premier, he supported the New Brunswick’s entry into Confederation and the construction of an intercolonial railway.

A common tale states that Tilley was the originator of the word “Dominion” in Canada’s name. The Fathers of Confederation had been discussing what to prefix Canada with, Kingdom of Canada being Macdonald’s preference. During morning devotions, Tilley read Psalm 72:8, which states “He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth”, and presented his inspiration to the others, being as their ambition was to stretch the new nation to the Pacific Ocean and from the St Lawrence River to the North Pole. The legitimacy of this story has been questioned, however, as “dominion” had already been used in a colonial context to describe other British territories, for example the Dominion of New England, and was thus hardly an innovative idea.

The term led to the naming of the July 1 national holiday; however, this reference to a unique Canadian historical development was discarded in 1982 when “Canada Day”, which had already been in use by most Canadians, was made official by an act of Parliament. In French, the date had long been known as la fête nationale (national feast or national birthday), a date which is often now applied to June 24 in Quebec, a date officially known as Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day.

Tilley entered federal politics with Confederation in 1867 and served in the federal Macdonald Cabinet as Minister of Customs. He became Minister of Finance in 1873 and served until the defeat of the government later that year. He was appointed the fourth Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick in 1873 and served until 1878. When Macdonald’s Tories returned to power in 1878, Tilley again became minister of finance and served until his retirement from politics in 1885 when he was appointed the seventh Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick.

The Sir Leonard Tilley Building was named in his honour. He is interred in the Fernhill Cemetery in Saint John, New Brunswick.

Family

Hon. Samuel Leonard Tilley, C.B., then Minister of Customs, married his second wife on October 20, 1867. Alice Starr Chipman was the daughter of ship owner (The Cedars) Zachariah Chipman and his wife Mary Eliza. The couple had two sons Herbert Chipman Tilley, born September 6, 1868, and Leonard Percy DeWolfe Tilley, born May 21, 1870. On July, 1884, he and his wife were presented to Her Majesty Queen Victoria, at Osborne, by the Princess Louise. The couple were activists in the temperance movement. During the 13 years the couple lived at Government House, Fredericton no intoxicants were in use at their entertainments. Alice was instrumental in the founding of the Victoria College Hospital at Fredericton, New Brunswick. She helped found the Industrial School for Boys, the Nurses`Home, the Seamen`s Mission and the Home for Consumptives at St John, New Brunswick. The Chipman homestead in St. Stephen, New Brunswick was donated by the heirs of the estate in 1902 to found the Chipman Memorial Hospital. Alice was a founding member of the National Council of Women and served as President of the St John Local Council of Women.

 

Abraham Pineo Gesner

Abraham Pineo Gesner ( May 2, 1797 – April 29, 1864) was a Canadian physician and geologist who invented kerosene. Although Ignacy Łukasiewicz developed the modern kerosene lamp, starting the world’s oil industry, Gesner is considered a primary founder. Gesner was born in Cornwallis, Nova Scotia. He died in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Education

Born to a well-established farming family in the Annapolis Valley, Pineo Gesner pursued a career at sea from a young age. Twice shipwrecked by his early twenties, Gesner returned to the family farm near Chipman Corner, northeast of Kentville. He married Harriet Webster, the daughter of Kentville’s Dr. Isaac Webster in 1824, then went to London to study medicine at St Bartholomew’s Hospital under Sir Astley Paston Cooper, then surgery at Guy’s Hospital under John Abernethy. While in London, he became interested in geology, making the acquaintance of Charles Lyell.

Early career

Returning to Parrsboro as a practising physician, Gesner also pursued his passion for geology. In 1836, he published a study on the mineralogy of Nova Scotia, which included a detailed geological map providing information on the key deposits of iron ore and coal in Nova Scotia. In 1838, he was appointed Provincial Geologist for New Brunswick, charged with the mission to undertake a similar geological survey. In the course of this survey, in 1839 Gesner discovered the bituminous asphalt substance albertite, which he named after Albert County, New Brunswick where it was found.

In 1842, looking for coal, Gesner travelled to Quebec, where he discovered the first of the great fossil deposits of the future Miguasha National Park. However, little notice was taken of his report until the fossils were rediscovered in 1879.

In 1842, Gesner started “Gesner’s Museum of Natural History”, in Saint John, New Brunswick, the first public museum in Canada. This later became the prestigious New Brunswick Museum.

Kerosene

Gesner’s research in minerals resulted in his 1846 development of a process to refine a liquid fuel from coal, bitumen and oil shale. His new discovery, which he named kerosene, burned more cleanly and was less expensive than competing products, such as whale oil. In 1850, Gesner created the Kerosene Gaslight Company and began installing lighting in the streets in Halifax and other cities. By 1854, he had expanded to the United States where he created the North American Kerosene Gas Light Company at Long Island, New York. Demand grew to where his company’s capacity to produce became a problem, but the discovery of petroleum, from which kerosene could be more easily produced, solved the supply problem.

Abraham Gesner continued his research on fuels and wrote a number of scientific studies concerning the industry including an 1861 publication titled, “A Practical Treatise on Coal, Petroleum and Other Distilled Oils,” which became a standard reference in the field. Eventually, Gesner’s company was absorbed into the petroleum monopoly, Standard Oil and he returned to Halifax, where he was appointed a Professor of Natural History at Dalhousie University.

Gesner himself was humble about his contribution to the development of the petroleum industry. In his 1861 work, he said that “the progress of discovery in this case, as in others, has been slow and gradual. It has been carried on by the labours, not of one mind, but of many, so as to render it difficult to discover to whom the greatest credit is due.”

Memorials

In 1933, Imperial Oil Ltd., a Standard Oil subsidiary, erected a memorial in Camp Hill Cemetery in Halifax to pay tribute to Gesner’s contribution to the petroleum industry.

The City of Halifax renamed a street at the west end of Fairview between Melrose and Adelaide in honor of Gesner. Formerly a part of Dunbrack Street, the construction of the Dunbrack Street/North West Arm Drive connector during the 1980s prompted the renaming of this segment.

There is a street named for Gesner in the west part of Ottawa’s Katimavik-Hazeldean neighbourhood, where the residential streets are named for Canadian inventors. Whether by plan or by coincidence, it dead-ends at an Esso (Imperial Oil) gas station.

In 2000, he was honored by the placement of his image on a postage stamp by Canada Post.

 

David Thompson

David Thompson (April 30, 1770 – February 10, 1857) was a British-Canadian fur trader, surveyor, and map-maker, known to some native peoples as “Koo-Koo-Sint” or “the Stargazer”. Over his career he mapped over 3.9 million square kilometers of North America and for this has been described as the “greatest land geographer who ever lived.”

Biography

Early life

Thompson was born in Westminster to recent Welsh migrants, David and Ann Thompson. When Thompson was two, his father died and the financial hardship of this occurrence resulted in his and his brother’s placement in the Grey Coat Hospital, a school for the disadvantaged of Westminster. He eventually graduated to the Grey Coat mathematical school and was introduced to basic navigation skills which would form the basis of his future career. In 1784, at the age of 14, he entered a seven-year apprenticeship with the Hudson’s Bay Company. He set sail on May 28 of that year, and left England .

The Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC)

He arrived in Churchill (now in Manitoba) and was put to work copying the personal papers of the governor of Fort Churchill, Samuel Hearne. The next year he was transferred to nearby York Factory, and over the next few years spent time as a clerk at Cumberland House and South Branch House before arriving at Manchester House in 1787. On December 23, 1788, Thompson seriously fractured his leg, forcing him to spend the next two winters at Cumberland House convalescing. It was during this time he greatly refined and expanded his mathematical, astronomical and surveying skills under the tutelage of Hudson’s Bay Company surveyor Philip Turnor. It was also during this time that he lost sight in his right eye

In 1790 with his apprenticeship nearing its end, Thompson made the unusual request of a set of surveying tools in place of the typical parting gift of fine clothes offered by the company to those completing their indenture. He received both. He then entered the employ of the Hudson’s Bay Company as a fur trader and in 1792 completed his first significant survey, mapping a route to Lake Athabasca (presently straddling the Alberta/Saskatchewan border). In recognition of his map-making skills, the company promoted him to surveyor in 1794. Thompson continued working for the Hudson’s Bay Company until May 23, 1797 when, frustrated with the Hudson’s Bay Company’s policies, he left and walked 80 miles in the snow to enter the employ of the competition, the North West Company where he continued to work as a fur trader and surveyor.

North West Company

Thompson’s decision to defect to the North West Company in 1797 without providing the customary one-year notice was not well received by his former employers. However, joining the North West Company allowed Thompson to pursue his interest in surveying and work on mapping the interior of what was to become Canada. In 1797, Thompson was sent south by his employers to survey part of the Canada-U.S. boundary along the water routes from Lake Superior to Lake of the Woods to satisfy unresolved questions of territory arising from the Jay Treaty between Great Britain and the United States. By 1798 Thompson had completed a survey of 6,750 km (4,190 mi) from Grand Portage, through Lake Winnipeg, to the headwaters of the Assiniboine and Mississippi Rivers, as well as two sides of Lake Superior. In 1798, the company sent him to Red Deer Lake (in present-day Alberta) to establish a trading post. The English translation of Lac La Biche-Red Deer Lake-first appeared on the Mackenzie map of 1793. Thompson spent the next few seasons trading based in Fort George (now in Alberta), and during this time led several expeditions into the Rocky Mountains.

In 1804, at the annual meeting of the North West Company in Kaministiquia, Thompson was made a full partner of the company and spent the next few seasons based there managing the fur trading operations but still finding time to expand his surveys of the waterways around Lake Superior. However, a decision was made at the 1806 company meeting to send Thompson back out into the interior. Concern over the American-backed expedition of Lewis and Clark prompted the North West Company to charge Thompson with the task of finding a route to the Pacific in order to open up the lucrative trading territories of the Pacific Northwest.

Columbia travels

After the general meeting in 1806, Thompson travelled to Rocky Mountain House and prepared for an expedition to follow the Columbia River to the Pacific. In June 1807 Thompson crossed the Rocky Mountains and spent the summer surveying the Columbia basin and continuing to survey the area over the next few seasons. Thompson mapped and established trading posts in Northwestern Montana, Idaho, Washington, and Western Canada. Trading posts he founded included Kootenae House, Kullyspell House and Saleesh House; the latter two of which were the first trading posts west of the Rockies in Idaho and Montana, respectively. These posts established by Thompson extended North West Company fur trading territory into the Columbia Basin drainage area. The maps he made of the Columbia River basin east of the Cascade Mountains were of such high quality and detail that they continued to be regarded as authoritative well into the mid-20th century.

In early 1810, Thompson was returning eastward towards Montreal but while on route at Rainy Lake, received orders to return to the Rocky Mountains and establish a route to the mouth of the Columbia. This was a response by the North West Company to the plans of John Jacob Astor to send a ship around the Americas to establish a fur trading post. During his return, Thompson was delayed by an angry group of Peigan natives which ultimately forced him to seek a new route across the Rocky Mountains through the Athabasca Pass.

David Thompson was the first European to navigate the full length of the Columbia River. During Thompson’s 1811 voyage down the Columbia River he camped at the junction with the Snake River on July 9, 1811, and erected a pole and a notice claiming the country for Great Britain and stating the intention of the North West Company to build a trading post at the site. This notice was found later that year by Astorians looking to establish an inland fur post, contributing to their selection of a more northerly site at Fort Okanogan. The North West Company’s Fort Nez Percés was established near the Snake River junction several years later. Continuing down the Columbia, Thompson passed the barrier of The Dalles with much less difficulty than experienced by Lewis and Clark, as high water obscured Celilo Falls and many of the rapids. On July 14, 1811, Thompson reached the partially constructed Fort Astoria at the mouth of the Columbia, arriving two months after the Pacific Fur Company’s ship, the Tonquin.

Before returning upriver and across the mountains, Thompson hired Naukane, a Native Hawaiian laborer brought to Fort Astoria by the Pacific Fur Company’s ship Tonquin. Naukane, known as Coxe to Thompson, accompanied Thompson across the continent to Lake Superior before journeying on to England.

Thompson wintered at Saleesh House before beginning his final journey back to Montreal in 1812.

In his published journals, Thompson recorded seeing large footprints near what is now Jasper, Alberta, in 1811. It has been suggested that these prints were similar to what has since been called the sasquatch. However, Thompson noted that these tracks showed “a small Nail at the end of each [toe]”, and stated that these tracks “very much resembles a large Bear’s Track”.

Appearance and personality

In 1820, the English geologist, John Jeremiah Bigsby, attended a dinner party given by The Hon. William McGillivray at his home, Chateau St. Antoine, one of the early estates in Montreal’s Golden Square Mile. He describes the party and some of the guests in his entertaining book The Shoe and Canoe, giving an excellent description of David Thompson:

I was well placed at table between one of the Miss McGillivray’s and a singular-looking person of about fifty. He was plainly dressed, quiet, and observant. His figure was short and compact, and his black hair was worn long all round, and cut square, as if by one stroke of the shears, just above the eyebrows. His complexion was of the gardener’s ruddy brown, while the expression of his deeply-furrowed features was friendly and intelligent, but his cut-short nose gave him an odd look. His speech betrayed the Welshman, although he left his native hills when very young. I might have been spared this description of Mr David Thompson by saying he greatly resembled Curran the Irish Orator…

I afterwards travelled much with him, and have now only to speak of him with great respect, or, I ought to say, with admiration… No living person possesses a tithe of his information respecting the Hudson’s Bay countries… Never mind his Bunyan-like face and cropped hair; he has a very powerful mind, and a singular faculty of picture-making. He can create a wilderness and people it with warring savages, or climb the Rocky Mountains with you in a snow-storm, so clearly and palpably, that only shut your eyes and you hear the crack of the rifle, or feel the snow-flakes melt on your cheeks as he talks.

Marriage and children

On June 10, 1799 at Île-à-la-Crosse, he married Charlotte Small, a mixed-blood child of a Scottish fur trader Patrick Small and a Cree mother. Their marriage was formalized at the Scotch Presbyterian Church in Montreal on October 30, 1812. He and Charlotte had 13 children together; five of them were born before he left the fur trade. The family did not adjust easily to life in Eastern Canada and two of the children, John (aged 5) and Emma (aged 7) died of round worms, a common parasite. Their marriage lasted 58 years, the longest Canadian pre-Confederation marriage known.

Later years

Upon his arrival back in Montreal, Thompson retired with a generous pension from the North West Company. He settled in nearby Terrebonne and worked on completing his great map, a summary of his lifetime of exploring and surveying the interior of North America. The map covered the wide area stretching from Lake Superior to the Pacific, and was given by Thompson to the North West Company. Thompson’s 1814 map, his greatest achievement, was so accurate that 100 years later it was still the basis for many of the maps issued by the Canadian government. It now resides in the Archives of Ontario.

In 1815, Thompson moved his family to Williamstown, Upper Canada and a few years later was employed to survey the newly established borders with the United States from Lake of the Woods to the Eastern Townships of Quebec, established by Treaty of Ghent after the War of 1812. In 1843 Thompson completed his atlas of the region from Hudson Bay to the Pacific Ocean.

Afterwards, Thompson returned to a life as a land owner, but soon financial misfortune would ruin him. By 1831 he was so deeply in debt he was forced to take up a position as a surveyor for the British American Land Company to provide for his family. His luck continued to worsen and he was forced to move in with his daughter and son-in-law in 1845. He began work on a manuscript chronicling his life exploring the continent, but this project was left unfinished when his sight failed him completely in 1851.

Death and afterward

The land mass mapped by Thompson amounted to 3.9 million square kilometres of wilderness (one-fifth of the continent). His contemporary, the great explorer Alexander Mackenzie, remarked that Thompson did more in ten months than he would have thought possible in two years.

Despite these significant achievements, Thompson died in Montreal in near obscurity on February 10, 1857, his accomplishments almost unrecognized. He never finished the book of his 28 years in the fur trade, based on his 77 field notebooks, before he died. In the 1890s geologist J.B. Tyrrell resurrected Thompson’s notes and in 1916 published them as David Thompson’s Narrative.

Thompson’s body was interred in Montreal’s Mount Royal Cemetery in an unmarked grave. It was not until 1926 that efforts by J.B. Tyrell and the Canadian Historical Society resulted in the placing of a tombstone to mark his grave.

In 1957, one hundred years after his death, the Canadian government honoured him with his image on a Canadian postage stamp. The David Thompson Highway in Alberta was named in his honour, along with David Thompson High School situated on the side of the highway near Leslieville, Alberta. His prowess as a geographer is now well-recognized. He has been called “the greatest land geographer who ever lived.”

There is a monument dedicated to David Thompson (maintained by the state of North Dakota) near the former town site of the ghost town, Verendrye, North Dakota, located approximately two miles north and one mile west of Karlsruhe, North Dakota. Thompson Falls, Montana and British Columbia’s Thompson River are also named after the explorer.

The year 2007 marked the 150th year of Thompson’s death and the 200th anniversary of his first crossing of the Rocky Mountains. Commemorative events and exhibits were planned across Canada and the United States from 2007 to 2011 as a celebration of his accomplishments.

Thompson was the subject of a 1964 National Film Board of Canada short film David Thompson: The Great Mapmaker , as well as the BBC2 programme Ray Mears’ Northern Wilderness (Episode 5), broadcast in November 2009.

 

Admiral of the Fleet Sir Provo William Parry Wallis

Admiral of the Fleet Sir Provo William Parry Wallis, (12 April 1791 – 13 February 1892) was a Royal Navy officer and naval war hero. He was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and was 100 years old when he died.

Early Years

His father, Provo Featherstone Wallis, was a clerk at the Royal Navy’s Halifax Naval Yard. The older Wallis wanted a naval career for his son and, knowing the rules for officers’ entry into the navy, managed to get his son officially registered in 1795 as an able seaman on the 36-gun frigate HMS Oiseau at the age of four, by convincing her captain, Robert Murray to list him on the ship’s books as an able seaman. In 1796 young Provo became a volunteer in the 40-gun frigate Prévoyante where he remained (on paper at least) for two years before returning in the 64-gun Asia where he served until 1800, then was promoted as a midshipman into the 32-gun frigate Cleopatra. The Cleopatra was the first ship he physically served aboard, but by now he has amassed nearly a decade of seniority.

He was a lieutenant aboard the sloop-of-war HMS Curieux when on 22 September 1809, while under the temporary command of Lt. Henry George Moysey, she ran aground and was wrecked on the coast of Guadaloupe. Fortunately all the crew were saved. A court martial board found Lt. John Felton, the Officer of the Watch, guilty of negligence and dismissed him from the service.

War of 1812

Wallis was then commissioned as a lieutenant on the 38-gun frigate Shannon in 1811. It was here that Wallis gained most of his notability. The Shannon captured the USS Chesapeake near Boston on 1 June 1813, during the War of 1812. The Shannon’s Captain, Philip Bowes Vere Broke, was badly wounded during the action and the Shannon’s first lieutenant was killed. Wallis served as the temporary captain of the British frigate for a period of exactly six days as she made her way back to Halifax, Nova Scotia, with the Chesapeake flying the Blue Ensign above the Stars and Stripes. For this action, he was promoted commander on 9 July 1813.

In 1819 he was promoted to captain but was without a ship until he commanded Niemen on the Halifax station from 1824–1826, and Madagascar in the West Indies from 1838–1839. Later, he commanded Warspite in the Mediterranean from 1843–1846.

Later Life

He was promoted Rear-admiral on 27 August 1851 and appointed Commander-in-Chief on the southeast coast of South America in 1857, but was promoted to Vice-admiral and recalled after a few months. He was made a KCB on 18 May 1860 and promoted Admiral on 2 March 1863. To prevent two admirals from dying as paupers, a special clause in the retirement scheme of 1870 provided that those officers who had commanded a ship during the French war should be retained on the active list. The few days Wallis was in command of the Shannon qualified him to remain on the active list until he died. He was made GCB on 24 May 1873 and Admiral of the Fleet on 11 December 1877. The Admiralty suggested he retire when he reached his late nineties, as being on the active list meant he was liable for calling up for a seagoing command. Wallis instead replied he was ready to accept one.

Admiral Wallis died in 1892 at his country home in Funtington, England, not far from Portsmouth and was buried in the village church yard. He was only a few months shy of his 101st birthday with a combined service from the time his name first appeared on the books of a Royal Navy Ship of 96 years. He was both the last surviving commanding officer from the Napoleonic Wars and the last veteran of the conflict to serve as Admiral of the Fleet.

Legacy

Wallis House in Ottawa is named after him.

CCGS Provo Wallis was named for him, having served in the Canadian Coast Guard from 1969–2011.

Provo Wallis Street, CFB Halifax is named after him

Namesake of Wallace Heights, Nova Scotia

Major-General Georges-Philéas Vanier

Major-General Georges-Philéas Vanier (April 23, 1888 – March 5, 1967) was a Canadian soldier and diplomat who served as Governor General of Canada, the 19th since Canadian Confederation.

Vanier was born and educated in Quebec and, after earning a university degree in law, served in the Canadian army during the First World War; on the European battlefields he lost a limb, but was commended for his actions with a number of decorations from the King. Subsequently, Vanier returned to Canada and remained in the military until the early 1930s, when he was posted to diplomatic missions in Europe. With the outbreak of the Second World War, Vanier once again became active in the military, commanding troops on the home front, until the cessation of hostilities in 1945, whereupon he returned to diplomatic circles. He was in 1959 appointed as governor general by Queen Elizabeth II, on the recommendation of Prime Minister of Canada John Diefenbaker, to replace Vincent Massey as viceroy, and he occupied the post until his death in 1967. Vanier proved to be a popular governor general, with his war record earning respect from the majority of Canadians; though, as a Quebecer, he was met with hostility by Quebec separatists.

Early life and youth

Vanier was born in the Little Burgundy neighbourhood of Montreal to an Irish mother and a French-Norman father, who raised Vanier to be bilingual. After graduating from high school, he attended Loyola College, receiving in 1906 a Bachelor of Arts degree in church devotional fellowship, and then went on to earn in 1911 his Bachelor of Laws degree from the Montreal campus of the Université Laval. Vanier was called to the Quebec bar that year and, though he took up the practice of law, he considered entering the Catholic priesthood. But, with the outbreak of the First World War, he decided that offering his service to king and country should take priority and thereafter enlisted in the Canadian army. Vanier took on a prominent role in recruiting others, eventually helping to organise in 1915 the French Canadian 22nd Battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force, of which he was commissioned as an officer, and which later, in 1920, became the Royal 22^e Régiment.

After Vanier, for his efforts, received the Military Cross in 1916, he continued fighting in the trenches. In late 1918, he led an attack at Chérisy and was shot in the chest and both legs, resulting in the loss of his right leg. His recovery was lengthy, though he spent it in France, refusing to be evacuated while his fellow soldiers remained fighting. With the cessations of hostilities, however, Vanier, for his bravery, was again awarded the Military Cross and given the 1914-15 Star, along with being appointed to the Distinguished Service Order. He thereafter returned to Montreal and once more found employment practicing law. On September 29, 1921, he married Pauline Archer and the couple had five children, one of whom was Jean Vanier.

Diplomatic career

For four years beginning in 1921, Vanier acted as aide-de-camp to Governor General the Viscount Byng of Vimy, leaving this post when he was promoted to the rank of lieutant colonel and took command of the Royal 22^e Régiment at La Citadelle. Vanier occupied that position for only one year before again becoming aide-de-camp for Byng’s viceregal successor, the Marquess of Willingdon.

In 1928, Vanier was appointed to Canada’s military delegation for disarmament to the League of Nations and, in 1930, was named secretary to the High Commission of Canada in London, remaining at that post for nearly a decade—approximately half of which he spent serving the man who would eventually immediately precede him as governor general of Canada, Vincent Massey. It was also during that period, in the tumultuous year of 1936, that King George V died and his son, Prince Edward, Prince of Wales, acceded and then abdicated in favour of his younger brother, Prince Albert, Duke of York. On May 12, 1937, Vanier, along with his son, Jean, watched from the roof of Canada House the coronation parade of their new king, George VI. In the procession below, Vanier would have seen one of the future governors general of Canada, Harold Alexander, who was then the personal aide-de-camp to the King.

In 1939, Vanier was elevated to the position of the King’s Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to France. However, with the outbreak of Second World War and the Nazi occupation of France in 1940, Vanier and his wife fled to the United Kingdom and then back to Canada in 1941, where he was commissioned as commander of the military district of Quebec and began an early policy of bilingualism in the army. The next year Vanier was promoted to the rank of major general and then made the Canadian Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the governments of Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Greece, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, and Yugoslavia, as well as the representative of the Canadian government to the Free French and later the Conseil National de la Résistance, all of which were governments in exile. Throughout this time, Vanier attempted to convey to officials in Canada the seriousness of the situation in Europe, especially regarding refugees from the Nazi regime. To the frustration of the Vaniers, these efforts were met predominantly with indifference and even anger, and Vanier’s letters to the prime minister at the time, William Lyon Mackenzie King, failed to induce a change in Canada’s immigration policies.

Following the fall of Vichy France in 1944 to the Allied Forces, Vanier was posted as Canada’s first ambassador to France. While serving in that role, as well as acting as Canada’s representative to the United Nations, he toured in 1945 the just liberated Buchenwald concentration camp and, on a return trip to Canada, delivered via the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation a speech expressing his shame over Canada’s inaction, saying: “How deaf we were then, to cruelty and the cries of pain which came to our ears, grim forerunners of the mass torture and murders which were to follow.” Back in Paris, he and his wife continued to help the refugees who arrived at the embassy, arranging for them food and temporary shelter. The couple, with the assistance of numerous others, eventually pushed the government of Canada to revise the regulations of immigration and more than 186,000 European refugees settled in Canada between 1947 and 1953.

It was in 1953 that Vanier retired from diplomatic service and returned to Montreal, though he and his wife continued social work there. Vanier simultaneously sat as a director of the Bank of Montreal, the Credit Foncier Franco-Canadien, and the Standard Life Assurance Company, and served on the Canada Council for the Arts.

Governor General of Canada

Vanier was the first French Canadian governor general of Canada, his bilingualism proving to be an asset to his mandate of fostering Canadian unity. Following on that of Vincent Massey, an Anglophone, the appointment of Vanier established the tradition of rotating between French and English speaking persons. Vanier’s tenure was marked by economic problems plaguing the country and a succession of minority governments, but the greatest threats to Confederation came from the rise of the Quiet Revolution, Quebec nationalism, and the Quebec sovereignty movement, including the terrorist actions of the Front de libération du Québec; indeed, as a Québécois representing the Canadian monarch and someone who promoted federalism, he was perceived by many Quebec separatists to be a traitor to his people. Amongst most other circles in the country, however, he was lauded as a distinguished viceroy.

As governor general-designate

The appointment of Vanier as governor general was announced on August 1, 1959, at Halifax, Nova Scotia, during a meeting of the Queen’s Privy Council for Canada at which Queen Elizabeth II was present and, by commission under the royal sign-manual and Great Seal of Canada, approved of Vanier as her representative. In spite of the challenges of poor health and political unrest in Canada, the Major-General said of his commission to represent the Queen: “If God wants me to do this job, He will give me the strength to do it.”

As Vanier was a staunch Liberal Party supporter and the ministers of the Crown were at that time Progressive Conservatives, the announcement of the Major-General’s appointment received surprised reaction from Ottawa insiders and the media. The Prime Minister, John Diefenbaker, however, felt that more Francophone representation was needed in Canada’s government; in his memoirs, Diefenbaker said he had considered a non-Canadian for the post and attributed his decision to put forward Vanier for appointment to a chance meeting with the Major-General.

In office

Upon taking up residence at Rideau Hall, Vanier asked that a bilingual sign be placed at the main gates to the royal and viceroyal residence and that a chapel for offering Mass be constructed somewhere on the property, two requests that reflected two dominant forces in Vanier’s life: religion and Canadian unity. When he was in residence, Vanier would pray twice daily in the chapel that was eventually fit into the palace’s second floor and, at a time when the Canadian federation was under threat from separatists factions in Quebec, Vanier delivered numerous speeches, in both French and English, and infused with words praising the co-habitation of Anglophone and Francophone Canadians; in one of the last orations he gave, he said: “The road of unity is the road of love: love of one’s country and faith in its future will give new direction and purpose to our lives, lift us above our domestic quarrels, and unite us in dedication to the common good… I pray God that we may all go forward hand in hand. We can’t run the risk of this great country falling into pieces.” Words like these, though, earned Vanier the ire of Quebec nationalists, as demonstrated when, on Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day in 1964, he found himself the target of such people in Montreal, who held placards reading “Vanier vendu” (“Vanier traitor”) and “Vanier fou de la Reine” (“Vanier Queen’s jester”).

Despite his poor health, and his doctor’s warnings about strain, Vanier travelled across Canada, gaining the affection of Canadians. As part of his official duties, Vanier, along with the Queen, attended the inauguration of the Saint Lawrence Seaway on June 26, 1959, and in June 1965 was made Chief Big Eagle of the Blackfoot tribe in Calgary. He was also active in encouraging children to achieve, using his role as Chief Scout of Canada to this end. His and his wife’s concern for family life drew them to founding in 1964 the Canadian Conference of the Family, which eventually became the Vanier Institute of the Family. As the representative of the head of state, Vanier hosted a list of official guests, including United States president John Kennedy and Jacqueline Kennedy; the Emperor of Ethiopia, Haile Selassie; David Ben-Gurion, Prime Minister of Israel; the Shah of Iran; and General Charles de Gaulle, President of France.

Death

By 1966, though his itinerary remained unreduced, Vanier’s strength was failing. On March 4, 1967, before watching a Montreal Canadiens game on television at Rideau Hall, Vanier had conversed with his prime minister at the time, Lester B. Pearson, and had expressed to him that he was willing to continue on as governor general until the end of the centennial year. Given Vanier’s physical state, Pearson was hesitant to advise the Queen to act along those lines, but his worry was short lived, as the following day, after hearing the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and receiving Holy Communion in the chapel, the Governor General died. With Robert Taschereau, Chief Justice of Canada, acting as Administrator of the Government, more than 15,000 messages of sympathy were received at Rideau Hall.

Following a state funeral at the Notre-Dame Cathedral Basilica on March 8, 1967, the Major-General was buried at La Citadelle’s commemorative chapel on May 5 of the same year. Though Vanier had earlier hosted the French president at Government House, neither de Gaulle nor any representative was sent to attend the funeral, which was read by Canadian diplomatic officials as a hint that there had been a change in Canada–France relations and instigated the chain of events that would culminate in de Gaulle’s “Vive le Québec libre” speech in Montreal later that year.

Legacy

When, in 1999, Maclean’s compiled a list of the 100 most influential Canadians of all time, Vanier was placed by the editors at position number one. His time in the Office of the Governor General saw the creation of a number of awards that reflected the Major-General’s interests. He was an avid fan of sport and, though his favourite was hockey and specifically the Montreal Canadiens, Vanier instigated in 1965 the Governor General’s Fencing Award and the Vanier Cup for the university football championship in the Canadian Intercollegiate Athletic Union. To recognise excellence in more bureaucratic endeavours, Vanier initiated in 1962 the Vanier Medal of the Institute of Public Administration of Canada and, in 1967, the Vanier Awards for Outstanding Young Canadians, awarded to deserving individuals in the Canadian Junior Chamber of Commerce. Vanier and his wife, Pauline were both nominated to be beatified in the Catholic Church because of their piety and love for humanity.

 

Marie-Josephte Corriveau

Marie-Josephte Corriveau (1733 at Saint-Vallier, Quebec – April 18, 1763 at Quebec City), better known as “la Corriveau”, is one of the most popular figures in Québécois folklore. She lived in New France, and was sentenced to death by a British court martial for the murder of her second husband, was hanged for it and her body hanged in chains. Her story has become legendary in Quebec, and she is the subject of numerous books and plays.

In history

La Corriveau was born in 1733, most probably in January or February, and baptised on May 14, 1733, in the rural parish of Saint-Vallier in New France as “Marie-Josephte Corriveau”. She was the only surviving offspring of Joseph Corriveau, a farmer, and Françoise Bolduc. Her ten brothers and sisters all died in childhood.

Corriveau married at the age of 16, on November 17, 1749, to Charles Bouchard, aged 23, also a farmer. Three children were born in this marriage: two daughters, Marie-Françoise (1752) and Marie-Angélique (1754), followed by a son, Charles (1757). Rumors (that only started after the death of her second husband) say that she murdered him, as there is no concrete record of his death. Charles Bouchard was buried on April 27, 1760, and she remarried fifteen months later, on July 20, 1761, to another farmer from Saint-Vallier, Louis Étienne Dodier. On the morning of January 27, 1763, he was found dead in his barn, with multiple head wounds. Despite an official recording of the cause of death being from kicks of horses’ hooves, and a speedy burial, rumours and gossip of murder spread rapidly through the neighbourhood. Dodier was on bad terms with his father-in-law and with his wife.

New France had been conquered by the British in 1760 as part of the Seven Years’ War and was under the administration of the British Army at this time. On hearing the rumours the local British military authorities charged with keeping order set up an inquiry into Dodier’s death. The inquiry opened in Quebec City on March 29, 1763, at the Ursulines of Quebec, charging Joseph Corriveau and his daughter Marie-Josephte, before a military tribunal made up of 12 English officers and presided over by Lieutenant Colonel Roger Morris. The case ended, on 9 April, with Joseph Corriveau being sentenced to death, for culpable homicide of his son-in-law. Marie-Josephte was found to be an accomplice to murder, and sentenced to sixty lashes and branded with the letter M on her hand. One of Joseph Corriveau’s nieces, Isabelle Sylvain (who he employed as a servant), had testified but changed her story several times during the hearing; she was found guilty of perjury and given thirty lashes and branded with the letter P.

Condemned to hang, Joseph Corriveau then told his confessor, that he was no more than an accomplice to his daughter, after she had killed Dodier. At a second trial, on 15 April, Marie-Josephte testified to having killed her husband with two blows of a hatchet during his sleep, because of his ill-treatment of her. The tribunal found her guilty and sentenced her to hang, her body after to be “hanged in chains” (that is, put up for public display on a gibbet).

The place of execution was Quebec, on the Buttes-à-Nepveu, near the Plains of Abraham, probably on 18 April. Her body was then taken, as directed by the sentence, to be put in chains at Pointe-Lévy, at the crossroads of Lauzon and Bienville (today the Rue St-Joseph and the Boulevard de l’Entente). The body, on its iron gibbet, was exposed to the public view until May 25 at the earliest. Following the requests of those living nearby, an order from the military commander of the district of Quebec, James Murray, addressed to the captain of the militia of Pointe-Lévy, permitted its being taken down and buried.

In 1849, the “cage” was dug up from the cemetery of the church of St-Joseph-de-la-Pointe-Lévy when a pit was dug. Soon after, the cage was stolen from the church cellar, and acquired by the American impresario P. T. Barnum and put on display as a “macabre object”. After that, it was put on display at The Boston Museum. The museum slip indicated its provenance with two words: “From Quebec”.

In legend

The post-mortem exhibition of Corriveau’s remains at a busy crossroads (an unusual punishment and unknown in the time of the French regime, and reserved in England for those found guilty of the most serious crimes); the repercussions in the trial; the rumour that her father would be convicted of murdering Dodier at his daughter’s instigation; and the gossip which grew up around the circumstances of the death of her first husband all stirred up the popular imagination and became legends still told today in the oral tradition — increasing the number of murdered husbands to as many as seven and likening la Corriveau to a witch.

The 1849 discovery of the iron cage buried in the cemetery of St-Joseph parish (now the Lauzon district) served to reawaken the legends and the fantastic stories, which were amplified and used by 19th century writers. The first, in 1863, Philippe Aubert de Gaspé in Les Anciens Canadiens, has a supernatural Corriveau hanging in the Pointe-Levy cage, terrorising one night a passer-by conducting a witches’ Sabbath and Will-o’-the-wisp at the Île d’Orléans. James MacPherson Le Moine (Maple Leaves, 1863) and William Kirby, following in his footsteps (The Golden Dog, 1877), made her a professional poisoner, a direct descendant of La Voisin, famous for her purported role in The Affair of the Poisons. Writers and historians such as Louis Fréchette and Pierre-Georges Roy (fr) have tried to give Corriveau’s history, but without completely separating the facts from the anachronistic fantasies added in legend and novels.

The figure of Corriveau still inspires novels, songs and plays and is the subject of argument (was she guilty or not?). Oral tradition also perpetuated and has not stopped, and remains alive, as is evidenced by the numerous stories collected in the lands of many regions of Quebec.

 

 

“Rowdy” Roddy Piper

Roderick “Roddy” George Toombs (born April 17, 1954), better known by his ring name “Rowdy” Roddy Piper, is a retired Canadian professional wrestler, film actor, and podcast host signed to WWE. In professional wrestling, he is best known for his work with the WWF. Although he is Canadian, due to his Scottish heritage he was billed as coming from Glasgow in Scotland and was known for his signature kilt and bagpipe entrance music. He earned the nickname “Rowdy” by displaying his trademark “Scottish” rage, spontaneity and quick wit. Despite being a crowd favorite for his rockstar-like persona, he often played the villain. He was also nicknamed “Hot Rod”. Toombs headlined several major pay-per-view events and accumulated 34 championships in various promotions during his career; he participated in the main events of WrestleMania I and WrestleMania X – as a special guest referee in the latter. Piper was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2005. Piper briefly hosted a podcast titled “The Rod Pod”.

Early life

Toombs was born in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and raised in Winnipeg, Manitoba. He is of majority Scottish descent, with some Irish on his mother’s side. He attended Windsor Park Collegiate. His father was an officer with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police while they lived in The Pas, Manitoba. After being expelled from junior high and having a falling out with his father, Piper hit the road and stayed in youth hostels wherever he could find them and picked up odd jobs at local gyms running errands for several pro wrestlers. As a young man Roddy became proficient in playing the bagpipes, though he has repeatedly stated that he’s unsure exactly where he picked them up. His childhood (and now lifelong) best friend is ex NHL player and Stanley Cup winner Cam Connor.

Professional wrestling career

By the age of 14, he made his pro debut in Winnipeg, against Larry Hennig. When Roddy made his way to the ring playing the bagpipes (his gimmick) the ring-announcer introduced him as “Roddy the Piper”, the fans in attendance heard it as “Roddy Piper” and the name stuck. Piper lost the match in ten seconds. He was a boxer and an amateur wrestler before he started to become a pro wrestler. He won the Golden Gloves boxing championship. He was awarded a Black Belt in Judo from Gene LeBell, American Judo champion, instructor, stuntman, and professional wrestler.

American Wrestling Association (1973–1975)

From 1973 to 1975, Piper was a jobber in the AWA, Kansas City, the Maritimes, and Texas working for Paul Boesch’s NWA Houston Wrestling promotion and in Dallas working for Fritz Von Erich’s Big Time Rasslin. What was supposed to be a brief run in California, however, turned out to be a long term stint as booker Leo Garibaldi and publicist Jeff Walton were impressed with Piper and saw the money making possibilities he had as a villain.

National Wrestling Alliance (1975–1980)

By late 1975 and early 1976, Piper was a top villain for Mike and Gene LeBell’s NWA Hollywood Wrestling. In 1977–78, he also started to work for Roy Shire’s NWA San Francisco Wrestling in addition to remaining with the L.A. office. Los Angeles was where Piper developed his Rowdy character and became one of the most hated villains in Los Angeles since the days of Classy Freddy Blassie. During this time, he made continuous insults directed at the area’s Mexican community; he later promised to amend by playing the Mexican national anthem on his bagpipes only to anger the fans further by playing “La Cucaracha” instead. Piper also served as manager for several villains in Los Angeles and worked as a referee from time to time. Piper feuded with all the fan favorites in the area and had a long feud with Chavo Guerrero, Sr..

As part of the L.A. storyline, Roddy Piper feuded with Chavo and the whole Guerrero family for about three years in the L.A. territory going so far as to routinely wear a T-Shirt to the ring reading “Conqueror of the Guerreros”. The feud started during a TV bout in early 1976 where Chavo was defending the Jules Strongbow Memorial Scientific Trophy against Piper. Late in this match, Gory Guerrero (who had been in Chavo’s corner giving him advice throughout the match) was slapped by Piper. Chavo “lost his cool” and starting punching Piper, getting DQ’ed and losing the Scientific Trophy for “breaking the rules”. A short time later, Piper then defeated Chavo for the Americas Heavyweight Title; the two competed in the top feud in Los Angeles for the better part of three years. They main evented against each other often during this era (1976 through 1978). The hair match gimmick was one of the top stipulations between these two, resulting in Piper getting his head shaved. Another top stipulation was when Chavo beat Piper in a loser leave town match and Piper immediately reappeared as The Masked Canadian. In his first televised match as The Masked Canadian, Piper actually teamed with Chavo to battle the Americas Tag Team Champions (Gordman and Goliath) and Piper turned on Chavo late in the match, causing Chavo to get pinned. Piper wrestled as The Masked Canadian for several months until he was unmasked by Hector Guerrero.

By late 1978-early 1979, Buddy Rose talked Piper into leaving the California promotions for even more fame in Don Owen’s Pacific Northwest Territory where he teamed with Killer Tim Brooks, Rick Martel, and Mike Popovich to win the NWA Pacific Northwest Tag Team Championship. Piper also won the NWA Pacific Northwest Heavyweight Championship with victories over both Lord Jonathan Boyd and “Playboy” Buddy Rose.

Georgia Championship Wrestling and Mid-Atlantic (1980–1983)

In late 1970s, Piper ventured to the Mid-Atlantic territory. He beat Jack Brisco for the Mid-Atlantic title and Ric Flair for the US belt which turned into a huge feud. From 1981-82, Piper served as an arrogant commentator on Georgia Championship Wrestling (which would be renamed World Championship Wrestling in July) and feuded with the likes of Bob Armstrong, Dick Slater, and Tommy Rich. On TV, Piper often spoke highly of evil manager Gary Hart, calling him the one man who may have a higher IQ than him. During the summer of 1982, Piper became a fan favorite after knocking out Don Muraco and Ole Anderson, and famously saving broadcast partner Gordon Solie from Muraco, who grew angry at Solie questioning his tactics. Piper would battle Abdullah the Butcher after Ole brought him in to take down Piper, who heard the cheers of the fans but admitted he was no “goody two-shoes” and still did things his way. Piper would then leave Georgia for the Mid-Atlantic territory. Piper returned to the Georgia area in the summer of 1983 to aid Tommy Rich against Buzz Sawyer.

In 1982, due to showing up late for a match, he was fired and reportedly blackballed from the Georgia territory. Piper maintains this in his book, but others dispute this. He did receive an offer from Gary Hart to go to World Class Championship Wrestling but the money was not good enough. Instead, he went to Puerto Rico for a month or so and was able to get booked by Jim Barnett shortly thereafter. In Wrestling to Rasslin’, Gerald W. Morton and George M. O’Brien described the transformation: “the drama finally played itself out on television when one of his [Piper’s] hired assassins, Don Muraco, suddenly attacked the commentator Gordon Solie. Seeing Solie hurt, Piper unleashed his Scottish fury on Muraco. In the week that followed, like Achilles avenging Patroklas, he slaughtered villain after villain…. In the arenas fans chanted his name throughout his matches.” Eventually, Piper moved back to Jim Crockett Promotions. As a fan favorite, Piper feuded with Sgt. Slaughter, Ric Flair, and Greg Valentine. Piper’s feud with Valentine culminated in a dog collar match at the first Starrcade. Valentine broke Piper’s left eardrum during the match with the collar’s chain, causing Piper to permanently lose fifty percent of his hearing.

World Wrestling Federation

Piper told Arda Ocal of The Score Television Network in an interview that before entering the World Wrestling Federation full-time in 1984, Piper had a match with the WWWF under Vince McMahon Sr in the mid 70s at Madison Square Garden. As a rib to Piper, Freddie Blassie stuffed his bagpipes with toilet paper, so they wouldn’t play in front of the Garden crowd. Piper was not invited back for several years.

Bob Backlund defeated Piper and retained the WWF title at the Olympic Auditorium on July 28, 1978.

1984–1987

Heel run

Around this time World Wrestling Federation (WWF) owner Vince McMahon contacted Piper, who insisted on serving out his contract with Jim Crockett. Piper started in the WWF in late 1983 and at the same time fulfilled dates with Crockett. On his way out of Crockett’s promotion he became a heel, which set the stage for his WWF run in 1984. He started as a manager at first, due to the injuries he sustained during his dog collar match with Greg Valentine, but soon started wrestling full-time. Piper came in as the manager for “Dr. D” David Schultz and “Mr. Wonderful” Paul Orndorff, and soon began to wrestle with Orndorff as well.

Later that year, he was given his own interview segment called Piper’s Pit, in which he talked to other superstars and which frequently ended in a fight between Piper and his guest. The Piper’s Pit segments helped create the feuds Piper had with other wrestlers. According to Piper’s autobiography, Piper’s Pit was completely unscripted and was in fact so popular that it was taken on the road. In addition to pleasing many of his fans who wanted to see the Pit in person, it accomplished other things: it gave Piper the opportunity to heal some nagging injuries while still retaining his heat with the fans. An early guest on Piper’s Pit was his Mid-Atlantic nemesis Valentine, who also arrived to the WWF. In a rare occurrence for WWF programming at the time, the two made reference to their history in the rival organization and hinted at rekindling it, but as the two were now top villains, they both agreed that they had mutual respect for each other, and it was left at that. In one Piper’s Pit, Piper had an interview with Jimmy Snuka. Piper started insulting Snuka’s Polynesian heritage by bringing out pineapples, bananas, and dropping coconuts onto the table; this was to make Snuka “feel at home” in an act of “remorse” after Snuka was not given much time to speak the previous times he was on Piper’s Pit. Snuka took offense to this and Piper then attacked Snuka by smashing him over the head with a coconut and shoving a banana in his face. He followed this up by whipping Snuka with his belt. Snuka was legitimately knocked woozy allowing Piper to leave before Snuka, now seriously enraged, could fight back. This incident led to a long feud between the two. Piper also insulted Bruno Sammartino during a Piper’s Pit which led to a feud between the two, ending in a steel cage match which Piper lost.

Another feud, this time between Piper and Hulk Hogan erupted soon after and became what was at the time the highest-profile feud in wrestling history, thanks to the involvement of pop singer Cyndi Lauper, where Piper kicked Lauper in the head—and even attacked Captain Lou Albano—with Hogan seeking revenge as a result. In 1985, MTV broadcast The War to Settle the Score, featuring a main-event matchup between Piper and Hogan, who was accompanied to the ring by Albano, Lauper, and Mr. T. This event set up the very first WrestleMania, which pitted Piper and Paul Orndorff against Hogan and Mr. T. Orndorff was pinned by Hogan when Piper’s bodyguard “Cowboy” Bob Orton interfered and mistakenly struck Orndorff instead of Hogan with his trademark “injured” arm covered in a plaster cast. In Born to Controversy, Piper recalled how he had to keep Mr. T busy with tie-ups and other shoot wrestling moves to keep Mr. T’s lack of wrestling ability from being seen by the fans, thus ruining the match. From this situation, Piper and Mr. T’s real-life relationship became hostile, leading to the inevitable conclusion that they be put into a feud with one another. It was on Right After Wrestling in March 2011, hosted by Arda Ocal and Jimmy Korderas, that Piper explained why WrestleMania didn’t feature a 1-on-1 main event. He said it was because that match happened at the War to Settle the Score, before the WrestleMania event actually happened. Piper once again faced Mr. T, this time alone, in a boxing match at WrestleMania 2 in 1986. Piper lost the match by disqualification after bodyslamming Mr. T.

Face run

Following a leave of absence from the WWF, Piper returned during a TV taping on WWF Superstars in 1986 against jobber A.J. Petrucci and received a thunderous ovation from the audience. After being slapped in the face by Petrucci twice, Piper placed one hand behind his back and beat his opponent to a pulp.

During Piper’s 1986 face run, Piper’s Pit played key roles in two storylines memorable to fans: Piper’s feud with Adrian Adonis, and the set-up of the Hulk Hogan-André the Giant match at WrestleMania III.

In the Piper-Adonis feud, the returning Piper was distressed to find his Piper’s Pit segment replaced by The Flower Shop, a segment hosted by Adonis, who was using an effeminate-wrestler gimmick. Piper spent weeks crashing Adonis’ show and trading insults, leading to a “showdown” between the two segments that ended with Piper being assaulted and humiliated by Adonis, Piper’s former bodyguard Orton (now in Adonis’ employ), and Don Muraco. The trio left Piper with his face covered in red lipstick lying in the middle of the remnants of the Piper’s Pit set, which had been destroyed. In response, Piper stormed the set of Adonis’ show and destroyed it with a baseball bat. This led to their Hair vs Hair match at WrestleMania III, which was billed as Piper’s retirement match from wrestling before he left to become an actor full-time. Piper won the match with the assistance of Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake, who had been sheared by Adonis shortly before the match.

The first Piper’s Pit used to build up the Hogan-André feud came when Hogan was invited on the show to receive a trophy for being the WWF Champion for three years. Shortly after presenting Hogan with the trophy, André – Hogan’s “long-time friend” – came out to congratulate Hogan, but closed the segment by simply stating: “Three years to be world champion….it’s a long time.” After saying this, Andre went to shake Hogan’s hand, apparently placing a little too much pressure causing Hogan to wince in pain. The following week, Hogan attempted to return the favor by presenting Andre with a trophy for being undefeated for 15 years, and unwittingly took over the interview. Although the attempt was sincere, Andre couldn’t help but notice that the trophy was noticeably smaller than the one Hogan received the week before, and grew irritated when Hogan became the focal point of the spotlight once again. As Hogan was attempting to congratulate Andre, the Frenchman abruptly stormed off the Pit set. The following week, Piper attempted to get some answers and Jesse “The Body” Ventura interrupted the segment, agreeing with Piper that something was amiss in the Hogan/Andre situation; both Ventura and Piper held true to promises to bring Andre and Hogan, respectively, onto the show the following week. On that subsequent program, Hogan was stunned when André appeared with his long-time nemesis, Bobby “The Brain” Heenan, at his side; Hogan pleaded with André to explain why Heenan was at his side, and André replied simply, “I’m here for one reason, to challenge you to a world championship match at Wrestlemania.” Hogan attempted to keep the peace, only to have Heenan order André to attack Hogan to show how serious he was in his challenge; André responded by ripping off Hogan’s shirt and gold crucifix necklace, leaving Hogan in hurt and shock and with Piper of all people trying to console his former enemy. In the process of tearing off Hogan’s shirt, André’s fingernail accidentally scratched Hogan’s skin, causing Hogan to bleed, leading Piper to tell Hogan, “You’re bleeding.” Piper then brought Hogan back the following week to get Hogan to respond to André’s challenge. When Hogan sidestepped the issue for several minutes, Piper put it to him bluntly: “Yes or no? Are you or are you not going to face André the Giant for the WWF championship at Wrestlemania? YES OR NO?!!” Hogan paused for a brief second only to respond with a thunderous “YES!”

1989–1996

Piper returned from a hiatus with a live Piper’s Pit at WrestleMania V, where he hosed down a smoking Morton Downey, Jr. with a fire extinguisher. After this, Piper began co-hosting Prime Time Wrestling with Gorilla Monsoon, providing a change of pace from the constant bickering that was caused between Monsoon and Bobby Heenan during Heenan’s tenure. Heenan insisted on having his own show opposite Prime Time called “The Bobby Heenan Show”. Which was basically used as a catalyst to insult Piper and Monsoon after leaving “Prime Time” on bad terms. Eventually, Heenan’s comments began to irritate Piper and Piper finally told Heenan to either “put up or shut up.” Shortly after this, Heenan brought “Ravishing” Rick Rude into the mix by inviting him to his show to further insult Piper. The feud reached the physical level when Piper made an appearance on “The Brother Love Show” to address his position on the matter. Brother Love provoked Piper for several minutes by questioning his courage and ring ability. Piper finally had enough and told Love he had bad hygiene. When Love questioned Piper for bringing this up, Piper pulled out a small bag of toiletries and began dousing Love with toothpaste and mouthwash. Rude made his move during this moment and attacked Piper from behind, eventually spewing mouthwash into his eyes rendering him temporarily blind. This eventually brought Piper’s return to the ring full-circle as Piper interfered in Rude’s Intercontinental Title defense against The Ultimate Warrior at SummerSlam ’89, costing Rude the belt. Rude vowed revenge and the two engaged in a very physical and violent feud that lasted the rest of the year. The feud finally came to an end when Piper defeated Rude in a match where the stipulation stated that if Piper won, Heenan would have to dress as Santa Claus for an episode of “Prime Time”. Piper was victorious, and Heenan was forced to dress as Claus the following week. Initially, Heenan seemed pleased with portraying Santa and even went so far as to imitate Claus and wish everyone a Merry Christmas. However, as the show progressed, Heenan’s true motives were revealed as he began to call Christmas “a sham”, and that the children of the world had been “scammed” by their parents. Piper snapped and attacked Heenan, ignoring pleas from Monsoon to stop the attack due to Piper’s agreement to abstain from physicality on the “Prime Time” set. Piper refused, and in turn, was fired from “Prime Time.” Piper also wrestled Bad News Brown at WrestleMania VI in 1990. The match ended with both men being counted out of the ring, but the real highlight of the match was Piper’s choice of ring attire. In true ‘Rowdy’ fashion, Piper cut a promo and came to the ring with half his body painted black in a strange attempt to play head games with Bad News.

In 1991, he supported Virgil in his feud against “The Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase and was present at their matches at WrestleMania VII and SummerSlam. He also renewed his feud with Ric Flair and at the 1992 Royal Rumble defeated The Mountie for his first, and only, Intercontinental Championship. He lost it soon after to Bret Hart at WrestleMania VIII. Following his title loss to Hart, Piper disappeared from the WWF. He made his return playing the bagpipes at SummerSlam. The return proved to be a cameo, as he disappeared from the WWF again, this time for nearly two years.

He reemerged in 1994 at WrestleMania X as guest referee for the WWF Championship match between Bret Hart and Yokozuna. During the match, commentator Jerry “The King” Lawler remarked that he hated Piper and continued to taunt Piper on his King’s Court segment on Monday Night Raw, eventually culminating with Lawler bringing out a skinny teenager in a Piper T-shirt and kilt and forcing him to kiss his feet. Enraged, Piper agreed to wrestle Lawler at the King of the Ring, where Piper emerged victorious. Piper wrestled as a fan favorite, saying he had “made a mess of most of his career as a heel”, and adding to the face attitude by donating part of his purse from the fight with Lawler to a children’s hospital in Ontario.

Leaving the WWF again, he soon returned in 1995 at WrestleMania XI, once again in a referee capacity, for the submission-only match between Hart and Bob Backlund. In 1996, Piper was named as interim WWF President, following Vader’s malicious assault on Gorilla Monsoon, following the Royal Rumble. As president, Piper had become the object of affection for Goldust. Enraged, Piper claimed he would “make a man” out of Goldust at WrestleMania XII, in a “Hollywood Backlot Brawl.” While the contest began in an alleyway behind the Arrowhead Pond, Goldust jumped into his gold Cadillac and ran Piper over, ultimately escaping (allegedly) onto the highways of Anaheim. Piper pursued in his white Ford Bronco, which when viewed from aerial footage looked similar to the O. J. Simpson “low-speed” chase from two years prior (the WWF had attempted to be humorous and recycle the footage with Vince McMahon quipping on commentary, “This footage looks awfully familiar”). The two eventually returned to the arena, where Piper disrobed Goldust in the ring, effectively ending the confrontation. With Gorilla Monsoon back in control of the WWF by the end of the night, Piper once again left the Federation.

World Championship Wrestling (1996–2000)

Later in 1996, Piper joined World Championship Wrestling (WCW). He appeared at Halloween Havoc to “break Hogan’s monotony.” In his first appearance, Piper asked Hogan, “Do you think [the fans] would’ve loved you so much, if they hadn’t hated me?” Piper and Hogan wrestled in a non-title match in the main event of Starrcade, WCW’s biggest pay-per-view event of the year. Piper defeated Hogan with a sleeper hold. Piper faced Hogan in a title match at SuperBrawl VII. This time, Hogan beat Piper when Randy Savage interfered and joined the New World Order (nWo). Promos showed Piper locking himself in the Alcatraz prison and vigorously exercising in order to prepare for the highly anticipated match. During the spring of 1997, Piper joined forces with Ric Flair and The Four Horsemen in their battle with the nWo. Shortly thereafter, Piper and Flair feuded before Piper disappeared from the scene. Piper briefly returned in October 1997 to face Hogan once again in a steel cage match, which Piper did win.

In early 1998, Piper once again returned to feud with Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, and Bret Hart. In early 1999, Piper had a short run as United States Champion, became WCW Commissioner, and resumed his feud with Flair over control of WCW. Piper also had a short feud with Buff Bagwell in the summer of 1999, where he was defeated by Bagwell, whose mother got involved. In late 1999, Piper was featured on WCW Television, in an angle with Vince Russo, who was now portraying himself as the “Powers That Be” (an unseen power that was controlling WCW). At Starrcade, Piper was the special referee in the WCW title match featuring Goldberg and Bret Hart. This match was otherwise notorious for Goldberg legitimately injuring Bret Hart, giving him the concussion that would eventually lead to his retirement. Forced by Russo, Piper called for the bell when Hart locked in the Sharpshooter on Goldberg, when it was apparent that Goldberg had not submitted. Piper apologized for this incident the next night on Nitro and attempted to make the save for Goldberg when Bret Hart and the nWo beat him down, but the nWo also attacked Piper. The feud between Piper and the Powers That Be ended shortly after and Piper disappeared. Piper’s last appearance in WCW was at SuperBrawl in February 2000 where he was a surprise referee in the title match between Sid Vicious, Jeff Jarrett and Scott Hall. In the fall of 2000, WCW terminated Piper’s contract, and the organization ceased to exist after being sold to WWF in March 2001.

Before going to the WWE in 2003 Piper was the figurehead and commissioner of the now defunct XWF promotion featured in its earliest live events. (Indiana, Milwaukee, Green Bay)

World Wrestling Entertainment (2003)

In November 2002, Piper’s autobiography, In the Pit with Piper: Roddy Gets Rowdy, was released. At WrestleMania XIX in Seattle, Washington, Piper ran in during the Hulk Hogan-Vince McMahon match and made his second WWE run as a villain by attacking Hogan with a steel pipe. He brought back Piper’s Pit on the April 10 episode of SmackDown!, and after aligning with Sean O’Haire, Piper smashed a coconut over the head of Rikishi, a relative of Snuka. At Backlash that month, Rikishi returned the favor to Piper. Piper was then put in a program against “Mr. America”. The storyline was Hulk Hogan had been bought off WWF television forever by McMahon. Hulk Hogan returned “incognito” although the joke was that everybody knew who he really was, which infuriated McMahon. At this point, Piper and O’Haire were portrayed as McMahon’s lackeys attempting to unmask Mr. America. Despite Piper being a heel he still got cheered due to being a legend.

Around the same time on Raw, Chris Jericho started The Highlight Reel—a show similar to ‘Piper’s Pit’. The two even verbally sparred on TV, with Jericho calling Piper fat and telling him to call him “when he lost some weight”; Piper’s retorted, “I have seen Chris Jericho wrestle. I have heard Chris Jericho talk. I have even heard Chris Jericho sing. So I’ll make you a deal: I promise you that when I lose some weight, I’ll call you. And when you get some talent, you call me.” At Judgment Day, the two met again, with Jericho telling Piper he made a wrong turn and missed the senior’s home and alluding to the incident where Piper ripped off a fan’s (later revealed to be Zach Gowen) leg and used it as a weapon, mentioning there were some midgets and lepers he could thrash, and while patting Piper’s stomach, asked if he ate the leg. Piper responded by blasting him for ripping off the Piper’s Pit idea and drilling it into the ground and called Jericho’s birth an “accident”. In June 2003, WWE decided to stop using Piper (who was working without a contract at the time) after a controversial interview with HBO’s Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel in which Piper discussed the darker side of the wrestling business. On his 2006 DVD, Piper claimed that HBO took parts of his interviews out of context to make wrestling look worse.

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (2003–2005)

In 2003, Piper appeared for the Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) promotion, hosting several In the Pit with Piper interview segments. He interviewed former rival Jimmy Snuka at the company’s first three-hour pay-per-view, Victory Road, where he dared Snuka to get revenge by hitting him with a coconut. Instead, TNA wrestler Kid Kash eventually used the coconut on Sonjay Dutt. Piper also served as a member of the National Wrestling Alliance Championship Committee, culminating in refereeing a match at Final Resolution between Scott Hall and Jeff Hardy.

The Vince Russo/TNA Controversy

One of Piper’s more controversial TNA moments came during one of its weekly pay-per-view shows. Vince Russo at the time was at the center of a massive power struggle (kayfabe) between the TNA roster and Russo’s stable of young wrestlers called Sports Entertainment Xtreme. Piper had requested a segment to plug his new book, but instead, used the time to basically shoot on Russo and his effect on the world of professional wrestling. Piper touched on subjects from the death of Owen Hart, for which Piper held Russo to blame, to the downfall of WCW amongst other touchy subjects. Russo came to the ring basically “in character” to confront Piper. But, when Piper got in Russo’s face, Russo made the comment that Piper was “a moron”. Piper not only took offense to the remark, but delivered a “potato shot” to the side of Russo’s head. Russo immediately realized that Piper’s heat with him was legitimate, and quickly backed off unsure of what Piper might do next. When The Harris Brothers hit the ring to try and cool the situation down, Russo became visibly upset as Piper continued to vehemently shoot on him. Russo got so upset that at one point in time it took both the Harrises to restrain him. Piper later said in a shoot interview that everything he had to say to Russo was real and that he was willing to get physical if Russo had taken it that far.Russo retaliated later by saying that he and Owen were very close and that Piper wasn’t even with the company the night Owen died so he had no way of knowing how upset he was with Owen’s death.

Return to World Wrestling Entertainment (2005–present)

Hall of Fame (2005)

On February 21, 2005, it was announced that Piper was to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame. Piper held an episode of Piper’s Pit at WrestleMania 21 where he interviewed Stone Cold Steve Austin. The interview was interrupted by Carlito, who was promptly beaten up by both Piper and Austin.

In February 2005 at an event called WrestleReunion, Piper teamed with Jimmy Valiant and Snuka against Colonel DeBeers, “Cowboy” Bob Orton, and “Playboy” Buddy Rose.

On the July 11, 2005 episode of Raw, Piper returned as a face to host Piper’s Pit with guest Shawn Michaels, who superkicked Piper at the end of the show. This was during Michaels’ feud with Hulk Hogan. Piper once again appeared on Raw on October 3, 2005 for Raw Homecoming. He hosted Piper’s Pit with guest Mick Foley; later in the segment, Randy Orton and “Cowboy” Bob Orton appeared and attacked both Foley and Piper.

SmackDown!; Feud with The Ortons (2005)

This event sparked a mini-feud between Piper and The Ortons. On the next SmackDown! after Homecoming, Piper took on the Ortons in a handicap match. Piper won with a roll-up on Bob Orton after a distraction by The Undertaker. On October 28, Piper teamed with Batista and Eddie Guerrero to take on Randy Orton, Bob Orton, and Mr. Kennedy. Piper won after applying the sleeper hold to Bob Orton. Piper’s feud with The Ortons came to an end on the November 4, 2005 episode of SmackDown! with a DQ victory over Bob Orton.

World Tag Team Champion (2006)

Piper returned to Raw on September 11, 2006 for a six-man tag team match win with The Highlanders against the Spirit Squad. He also appeared on the Raw Family Reunion, along with Money Inc. and Arn Anderson to accompany Ric Flair ringside for a match against Mitch of the Spirit Squad. On November 5, Piper won the World Tag Team Championship with Ric Flair from The Spirit Squad at Cyber Sunday, after being chosen to be Flair’s partner by voters at WWE.com over Sgt. Slaughter and Dusty Rhodes. On the November 13, 2006 episode of Raw, Piper and Flair lost the title to Rated-RKO. Piper never made it to the ring, as he was attacked by Edge with a con-chair-to before the match. On November 17, 2006, WWE announced on their website that Piper was flown from the UK to his home state of Oregon and had surgery for what was originally believed to be kidney stones, but was speculated to be a disc problem in his back. It was later determined to be cancer. As a result of the procedure, it was announced that he was withdrawing from the Survivor Series match which would have pitted himself (as a co-captain), along with Flair, Anderson, Sgt. Slaughter, and Dusty Rhodes against the Spirit Squad. He was replaced with Ron Simmons.

Various storylines (2007–present)

He made a return to Raw on an episode taped February 12, 2007, during which he announced that his friend Dusty Rhodes was to be the first person inducted into the 2007 class of the WWE Hall of Fame. During appearance Umaga, with manager Armando Alejandro Estrada, entered the ring and laid out both men. He then returned on the June 11, 2007 episode of Raw as part of “Mr. McMahon Appreciation Night”, where he introduced a video of some of McMahon’s most embarrassing moments.

In 2008, after finishing his therapy for Hodgkin’s lymphoma, he made a brief appearance in the Royal Rumble, primarily focusing on “Superfly” Jimmy Snuka. Both men were eliminated by Kane shortly after they entered the ring. Piper returned to Raw on April 28, 2008. He was a backstage visitor, and was confronted by Santino Marella. Marella poked fun at Piper’s weight, which resulted in Santino getting slapped by Piper. The next week, Piper was a guest on Carlito’s Cabana and Carlito and Santino were about to double team Piper when they were chased off by Cody Rhodes and Cryme Tyme. On May 12, Piper’s interference stopped Santino and Carlito from beating Rhodes and Hardcore Holly for the World Tag Team Championship. Santino then threatened Piper with retaliation, culminating in a confrontation with Piper during the May 16 episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live!. He wrestled his presumed last match on April 18, 2008 one day after his 54th birthday at Newburgh Free Academy’s Spring Slam. On October 26, 2008, however, Piper appeared on WWE’s Cyber Sunday as one of the three choices fans could choose to face Marella for the WWE Intercontinental Championship. The other choices were Goldust and The Honky Tonk Man. Honky Tonk Man was chosen and won via a disqualification due to interference by Beth Phoenix and therefore did not win the title. Goldust then entered the ring, followed by Piper. The three candidates then fought Santino, afterwards celebrating together in the ring. Piper appeared on the October 27 episode of Raw as a special guest commentator, along with both Goldust and Honky Tonk Man, for Marella’s match against Charlie Haas.

On February 16, 2009 Piper returned to Raw to confront Chris Jericho after Jericho continued to act disrespectfully towards the Hall of Famers. After the segment, Jericho attacked Piper. One month later, on the March 16 episode of Raw, Piper would get his revenge when he, along with Ric Flair, Jimmy Snuka, and Ricky Steamboat, attacked Jericho. For the first time since Wrestlemania XII in 1996, Piper wrestled at WrestleMania XXV along with Snuka and Steamboat with Flair in their corner to go against Jericho in a three on one handicap match. Jericho won the match; Piper was the second of the three to be eliminated. Piper later guest hosted WWE Raw on November 16, 2009 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Piper challenged Vince McMahon to a street fight later in the evening only to have Randy Orton come out to fight against, then shortly after Kofi Kingston came out to stop Randy’s assault on Piper.

He inducted Wendy Richter to the 2010 WWE Hall of Fame on March 27, 2010. He also appeared the next night on Raw as one of the Legend Lumberjacks in a match that involved Christian and Ted Dibiase. Two months later, Piper turned heel for one night only by hiring DiBiase to capture guest host Quinton Jackson so he could “gain revenge on BA”, but was unsuccessful. On the July 12, 2010 episode of Raw, it was hinted that Piper could possibly be the Anonymous General Manager as on an e-mail sent to Michael Cole, the GM said “Just when you think you have all the answers, I change the questions.” The idea was abandoned on the July 24 episode of Raw when Cole said ” And if you’re not down with that I got two words for you” which was Triple H and Shawn Michaels trademark line as D-Generation X, but again this idea was dropped. On the November 15, 2010 episode of Raw, Piper quickly turned face during a return of Piper’s Pit telling John Cena to do the right thing by calling the WWE Championship match at Survivor Series between Wade Barrett and Randy Orton down the middle. He went on to point out that legends such as Ricky Steamboat, “Mr. Perfect” Curt Hennig, Jimmy Snuka, and himself had never won a World Championship in WWE.

On January 29, 2011, Piper made his debut for Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG) during the WrestleReunion 5 weekend, defeating nineteen other men, last eliminating Terry Funk, to win the Legends Battle Royal. He appeared in a backstage segment at WrestleMania XXVII where he hit Zack Ryder in the back of the head with a coconut, reminiscing of what he did to Jimmy Snuka. Piper made an appearance on the June 13, 2011 episode of Monday Night Raw, hosting Piper’s Pit once again. His guests were The Miz and Alex Riley, which led to a match with The Miz with Riley as the special guest referee. He went on to win the match, and won $5,000 out of The Miz’s money per the pre-match stipulation. Roddy Piper noted that he was paid $5,000 for his appearance on the June 13th RAW for Piper’s Pit with The Miz and Alex Riley. Piper currently co-host the WWE Vintage show with Gene Okerlund. He recently made a television appearance in WWE and hosted a Piper’s Pit segment featuring John Cena on the November 28, 2011 episode of Monday Night Raw. He also appeared on November 29, 2011 special holiday edition of SmackDown.

Piper returned on the April 10, 2012 special edition of Smackdown: Blast from the Past, in which he hosted Piper’s Pit featuring Daniel Bryan and AJ Lee. Piper made an appearance on June 18, 2012 he made a segment with Cyndi Lauper and Heath Slater. He then reappeared on the 1,000 episode of Raw on July 23, 2012, where he and various other WWE Legends helped Lita take down Heath Slater. On the August 13 episode of Raw, Piper hosted another edition of Piper’s Pit with Chris Jericho, which was interrupted by Dolph Ziggler.

On the January 6, 2014 Old School Raw Piper hosted Piper’s Pit with The Shield as his guests and was about to get beat down when he was saved by CM Punk and the New Age Outlaws. Piper and Paul Orndorff appeared in a backstage segment, and shook hands with Hulk Hogan and Mr. T during WrestleMania XXX, making amends around 30 years after competing at the very first WrestleMania.

Portland Wrestling Uncut (2012–present)

In 2012, Piper, along with Don Coss, created Portland Wrestling Uncut, a revival of the original Portland Wrestling, with new and old wrestlers combined. The show, which airs on KPDX Television Channel 49 and online at KPTV FOX 12 Oregon’s website, was originally slated for 13 episodes. On January 26, 2013, Piper announced that Portland Wrestling Uncut had been picked up for another 52 weeks. Playing prominently in the show is Piper and Coss as announcers, The Grappler (Len Denton) as a manager, guest appearances by the like of Matt Borne (among others), rewind segments that show partial matches from the original Portland Wrestling (owned by Don and Barry Owen), and Piper’s son, Colt Toombs.

Other media

Piper featured in the wrestling documentary Bloodstained Memoirs. Piper was a guest on a 1985 Saturday Night Live episode, tormenting hosts Hulk Hogan and Mr. T, and has appeared as a special guest on MADtv along with Bret Hart. In 1991, the pilot episode for “Tag Team”, a television program about two ex-professional wrestlers turned police officers, starred Piper and Jesse “The Body” Ventura. Piper appeared as a wrestler loosely based on himself in an episode called “Crusader” from Walker, Texas Ranger where his name was Cody “The Crusader” Conway. Piper appeared as a prison antagonist in an episode of The Outer Limits TV series. Piper was the host of ITV’s Celebrity Wrestling in the UK. Piper appeared as a character named Commander Cash on RoboCop: The Series. Piper appeared as a choice in the “Wheel of Destiny” segment of The Man Show. Piper also starred in the 1988 John Carpenter film, They Live. Piper played a drifter turned saviour of the human race after discovering a pair of sunglasses that allow him to see the world’s elite for what they truly are, money hungry aliens with a new-world-order-like agenda. That same year, he starred in the film Hell Comes to Frogtown. He also guest-starred in an episode in the second season of the Highlander TV series.

In the 1980s, Piper also appeared in singer Cyndi Lauper’s music video for the song “The Goonies ‘R’ Good Enough.” He also appeared as a guest VJ on MTV in 1988.

In the early 1990s, Roddy Piper made guest-star appearances on two episodes of “The New Zorro” on the Family Channel. In 1992, he also released a UK only single and music video for his song, “I’m Your Man”. The single came with the B-side, “Judy Come Back”.

In April 2005, Piper co-presented Celebrity Wrestling in the United Kingdom on ITV1. This Saturday evening reality show saw celebrities learn wrestling and compete in challenge matches. After a few weeks the program was to be canceled, due to a huge drop in TV ratings but instead was moved to Sunday mornings to finish its final episodes.

In 2007, Piper became the second pro-wrestler, the other being Sgt. Slaughter, to have their likeness crafted in a G.I. Joe figure. According to his filecard, he is a trainer for Destro’s Iron Grenadiers.

He appeared as Mr. Thurgood in the low-budget film The Mystical Adventures of Billy Owens in 2008 and its sequel Billy Owens and the Secret of the Runes in 2010.

Wizard’s list of the 100 Greatest Villains of All Time ranked Roddy Piper as #35.

On October 29, 2009, Piper appeared as pro-wrestler named “Da’ Maniac” on season 5 episode 7 (“The Gang Wrestles for the Troops”) of the sitcom It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia, parodying Mickey Rourke’s role in The Wrestler. He reprised this role in Season 9 Episode 4.

In UGK’S “International Players Anthem” DJ Paul pokes fun at Andre 3000 asking him why is he dressed as Roddy Piper.

On March 14, 2010, Piper appeared in “One Fall”, an episode in CBS’s Cold Case, playing a wrestler named Sweet Sil.

In September 2010, Piper appeared in a FunnyorDie.com video, fighting against childhood obesity in a PSA parody. The clip included him using wrestling moves on children eating junk food and the parents who feed junk food to their kids.

In 2010 Piper was expected to appear in a reality series from Red Line Films, the producers of Dhani Tackles the Globe and Ochocinco: The Ultimate Catch.

In December 2011, Piper appeared in several segments of the Air Farce’s “Not the New Year’s Eve Special”, which aired on January 1, 2012, on the CBC Television Network in Canada.

It has been confirmed that Piper will appear on WWE Network’s WWE Legends’ House which is currently in production.

In 2012, Piper joined the ToadhopNetwork hosting a weekly Thursday night podcast, “Rod Pod”. The show later moved to the GoCastNetwork.

In 2012, Piper appeared on a Season 4 episode of Celebrity Ghost Stories, in which he conveyed a story of being visited by the ghost of Adrian Adonis.

In October 2012, Piper announced on his Twitter page that he was working as part of an upcoming wrestling game on Facebook called Warlordz of Wrestling.

In May 2013, Piper appeared in “Barry’s Angels”, episode 12 of the fourth season of the A&E reality show, Storage Wars, in which he valuated a set of Scottish kilts purchased by Barry Weiss.

In June 2013, Piper appeared on Celebrity Wife Swap, where he swapped wives with Ric Flair.

In July 2013, Piper appeared in a segment of The Haunting Of with medium Kim Russo.

In August 2013, Piper appeared in as himself in the video game Saints Row IV and there is an unlockable Roddy Piper outfit the Protagonist can wear called “Rowdy Roddy Piper Suit“.

Piper plays himself as the protagonist in the 2013 film Pro Wrestlers vs. Zombies.

Legacy

Piper is considered one of the greatest talkers and heels in wrestling history. Piper’s Pit interview segments were considered innovative, especially in an atmosphere where only the people like the World champion got to talk, and the wrestlers were the interviewees – never the interviewers. Many of the people on Piper’s Pit never got to be World champion, but were main eventers. According to Bobby “the Brain” Heenan, he could just leave Piper in a room and return twenty minutes later with Piper having done a class-A promo.

Personal life

Piper and his wife Kitty live on a mountain in Portland, Oregon, and have four children: daughters Anastacia Shea, Ariel Teal, and Falon Danika and son Colton Baird. Anastacia has a child, making Piper a grandfather. His son Colt Toombs is also an aspiring professional mixed martial arts fighter and also wrestles in Portland, Oregon, for Portland Wrestling Uncut. His daughter Ariel Teal Toombs is following her dad’s lead in Hollywood as an actress. Piper and his daughter Ariel acted together in the movie “Legion: The Final Exorcism (aka Costa Chica: Confession of an Exorcist). Piper was notable for wearing his wedding band during his matches, a rarity among professional wrestlers. On April 4, 2006 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Piper was issued an award by the Mayor, Sam Katz. On July 27, 2006, he had the honor of throwing out the first pitch of a St. Louis Cardinals/Chicago Cubs baseball game at Wrigley Field in Chicago.

On November 27, 2006, it was announced on WWE.com that Piper has Hodgkin’s lymphoma, and he finished radiation therapy on January 15, 2007. This was also confirmed on Piper’s official web site where he posted messages of thanks to all his fans and stated that had the fans not chosen him as Ric Flair’s partner at Cyber Sunday he would not have been taken to the hospital and diagnosed as having his disease in time.

In November 2008 a video spread around the internet showing Piper smoking pot and taking a hit from a bong in front of a crowd cheering him on, although he later acknowledged his use of medicinal marijuana “to alleviate the symptoms associated with cancer.” This was reiterated on a blog from Jim Ross.

On July 2, 2009 Piper was arrested on suspicion of DUI in the early morning hours in Hollywood, California. Piper was stopped by police at around 1:00 a.m. and given field sobriety tests. He was then arrested. His bond was set at $5,000.

 

William Barclay “Bat” Masterson

William Barclay “Bat” Masterson (November 26, 1853 – October 25, 1921) was a figure of the American Old West known as a buffalo hunter, U.S. Marshal and Army scout, avid fisherman, gambler, frontier lawman, and sports editor and columnist for the New York Morning Telegraph. He was the brother of lawmen James Masterson and Ed Masterson.

Name and birth

Born on November 26, 1853, at Henryville, Canada East, in the Eastern Townships of what is Quebec today, and baptized as Bartholomew Masterson, he later used the name “William Barclay Masterson”.

His father, Thomas Masterson (or Mastersan), was born in Canada, of an Irish family; and his mother, Catherine McGurk (or McGureth), was born in Ireland. He was the second child in a family of five brothers and two sisters. They were raised on farms in Quebec, New York, and Illinois, until they finally settled near Wichita, Kansas.

In his late teens, he and two of his brothers, Ed Masterson and James Masterson, left their family’s farm to become buffalo hunters. While traveling without his brothers, Bat took part in the Battle of Adobe Walls in Texas, and killed Comanche Indians. He then spent time as a U.S. Army scout in a campaign against the Kiowa and Comanche Indians.

Gunfighter and lawman

His first gunfight took place in 1876 in Sweetwater, Texas (later Mobeetie in Wheeler County, not to be confused with the current Sweetwater, the seat of Nolan County west of Abilene, Texas). He was attacked by a soldier, Corporal Melvin A. King, in a fight, allegedly because of a girl. The girl, Mollie Brennan, stopped one of King’s bullets and was killed. King, whose real name was Anthony Cook, died of his wounds. Masterson was shot in the pelvis but recovered. The story that he needed to carry a cane for the rest of his life is a legend perpetuated by the TV series starring Gene Barry.

In 1877, he joined his brothers in Dodge City, Kansas. Jim was the partner of Ed, who was an assistant marshal. Soon after his arrival, Masterson came into conflict with the local marshal over the treatment of a man being arrested. He was jailed and fined, although his fine was later returned by the city council. He served as a sheriff’s deputy alongside Wyatt Earp, and within a few months he was elected county sheriff of Ford County, Kansas. As sheriff, Bat won plaudits for capturing four members of the Mike Roark gang, who had unsuccessfully held up a train at nearby Kinsley, Kansas. He also led the posse that captured Jim “Spike” Kenedy, a 23-year-old cattleman who had inadvertently killed an entertainer named Dora Hand in Dodge City; with a shot through the shoulder Masterson eventually brought Kenedy down.

Fighting in Colorado on the Santa Fe side of its war against the Rio Grande railroad (see Royal Gorge Route Railroad), Masterson continued as Ford County sheriff until he was voted out of office in 1879. During this same period his brother Ed was Marshal of Dodge City and died in the line of duty on April 9, 1878. Ed was shot by a cowboy named Jack Wagner who was unaware that Bat was in the vicinity. As Ed stumbled away from the scene, Masterson responded from across the street with deadly force, firing on both Wagner and Wagner’s boss, Alf Walker. Wagner died the next day but Walker was taken back to Texas and recovered. The local newspapers were ambiguous about who shot Wagner and Walker, and this led some later historians to question whether Bat was involved. However, the recent locating of two court cases in which Bat testified under oath that he had shot both means that it must be accepted that Bat avenged his brother.

Battle of the Plaza

For the next several years, he made a living as a gambler moving through several of the legendary towns of the Old West.

Wyatt Earp invited Masterson to Tombstone, Arizona Territory, in February 1881, where Earp owned a one-quarter interest in the gambling concession at the Oriental Saloon in exchange for his services as a manager and enforcer. Earp wanted Masterson’s help running the faro tables in the Oriental Saloon. Masterson remained until April 1881, when he received an unsigned telegram that caused him to immediately return to Dodge City.

COME AT ONCE. UPDEGRAFF AND PEACOCK ARE GOING TO KILL JIM.

Jim Masterson was in partnership with A. J. Peacock in Dodge City’s Lady Gay Saloon and Dance Hall. Al Updegraff was Peacock’s brother-in-law and bartender. Jim thought Updegraff was dishonest and a drunk, and demanded that Peacock fire Updegraff. Peacock refused. Their disagreement grew until threats were made, prompting the telegram. Bat boarded the next stagecoach and arrived in Dodge City on April 16. Getting off the train before it stopped, Masterson saw Updegraff and Peacock. He accosted them, “Hold up there a minute, you two. I want to talk to you.” Recognizing Masterson, Updegraff and Peacock retreated behind the jail and exchanged gunfire with Masterson. Citizens ran for cover as bullets ripped through the Long Branch Saloon. Other individuals began firing in support of both sides until Updegraff was wounded. Mayor Ab Webster arrested Masterson. Afterward Bat learned that his brother Jim was not in danger. Updegraff recovered. Because the shooter who hit Updegraff could not be identified, Masterson was fined $8.00 and released.

It was unclear who fired first. The citizens were outraged and warrants were issued, but Bat and Jim were permitted to leave Dodge.

Dodge City War

Main article: Dodge City War.

Masterson spent a year as marshal of Trinidad, Colorado, as well as serving as Sheriff of South Pueblo, Colorado. In 1883, he participated in a bloodless conflict and gunfighter gathering later called the Dodge City War.

Denver, Colorado

In 1888, Masterson was living in Denver, Colorado, where he dealt faro for “Big Ed” Chase at the Arcade gambling house. In 1888 he managed and then purchased the Palace Variety Theater. It was probably there that Bat first met an Indian club swinger and singer called Emma Moulton, born as Emma Walter near Philadelphia in 1857. The pair subsequently lived together and it has been widely reported that they married in Denver on 21 November 1891. Although no record of the marriage has come to light thus far and Emma was not divorced from her first husband until 9 November 1893, the partnership was to survive until Bat’s death. While in Denver, he met and maintained a long term friendship with the infamous confidence man, Soapy Smith and members of the Soap Gang. In 1889 the two friends were involved together in the famous Denver registration and election fraud scandal. In 1892 he moved to the silver boom town of Creede, Colorado, where he managed the Denver Exchange Club until the town was destroyed by fire. On the 1900 Federal Census record for Arapahoe County in Denver he lists his name as William Masterson with his birthplace as Missouri in 1854. His wife is listed as Emma Masterson married for 10 years and he lists his occupation as Athletic Club Keeper. Bat continued to travel around the boom towns of the West, gambling and promoting prize fights. He began writing a weekly sports column for George’s Weekly, a Denver newspaper, and opened the Olympic Athletic Club to promote the sport of boxing.

Fame and notoriety

Bat Masterson lived in the American West during a violent and frequently lawless period. His most recent biographer concludesthat, Indian-fighting aside, he used a firearm against a fellow man on just six occasions, far less than some of his contemporaries such as Dallas Stoudenmire, “Wild Bill” Hickok, and Clay Allison. However, the fact that he was so widely known can be ascribed to a practical joke played on a gullible newspaper reporter in August 1881. Seeking copy in Gunnison, Colorado, the reporter asked Dr W.S. Cockrell about mankillers. Dr. Cockrell pointed to a young man nearby and said it was Bat and that he had killed 26 men. Cockrell then regaled the reporter with several lurid tales about Bat’s exploits and the reporter wrote them up for the New York Sun. The story was then widely reprinted in papers all over the country and became the basis for many more exaggerated stories told about Bat over the years. Masterson left the West and went to New York City by 1902, where he was arrested for illegal gambling.

President Theodore Roosevelt, on the recommendation of mutual friend Alfred Henry Lewis, appointed Masterson to the position of deputy to U.S. Marshal for the southern district of New York, under William Henkel. Roosevelt had met Masterson on several occasions and had become friendly with him. Masterson split his time between his writing and keeping the peace in the grand jury room whenever the U. S. Attorney in New York held session. He performed this service for about $2,000 per year from early 1908 until 1912 when President William Howard Taft removed Masterson from the position during Taft’s purge of Roosevelt supporters from government positions.

Newspaper man

Bat Masterson worked as a sports writer and editor, and a columnist. His career as a writer started around 1883 and ended upon his death in New York City in 1921.

He wrote a letter published in the Daily Kansas State Journal, on June 9, 1883, that mentioned his arrival in Dodge City, the famous Long Branch saloon, and his famous cohorts who made the Long Branch their headquarters during the so-called “Dodge City Saloon War.” It was during this time that Bat met newspapermen Alfred Henry and William Eugene Lewis. Both journalists were destined to play a role in Masterson’s future as a scribe. Masterson published Vox Populi, a single edition newspaper focusing on local Dodge City politics in November 1884. Masterson penned a weekly sports column for George’s Weekly sometime after his arrival in Denver, Colorado, in the late 1890s.

Masterson continued his writing career in New York at the New York Morning Telegraph, (a sporting newspaper featuring race form and results whose reputation was part of what was known as “a whore’s breakfast,” which consisted of a cigarette and the Morning Telegraph) c. 1904. Hired by the younger Lewis brother, William Eugene Lewis, he reprised his role as sports writer, later becoming the paper’s sports editor. The politics, sporting events, theaters, fine dining establishments, and varied night life of his adopted city became fodder for his thrice weekly column “Masterson’s Views on Timely Topics” for more than 18 years. W. E. Lewis eventually became the general manager and president of the company and promoted his friend Masterson to vice president and company secretary.

In 1906, an old friend named Ben Daniels was appointed Marshal of Arizona Territory by President Theodore Roosevelt over “ferocious local opposition.” After a delay of five months, Daniels finally won confirmation on April 25, 1906, with the help of Speaker of the House Joseph Gurney Cannon and testimony by Masterson and Senator Frederick Dodge.

While in New York City, Masterson met up again with the Lewis brothers. Alfred Henry Lewis eventually wrote several short stories and a novel The Sunset Trail, about Masterson. Alfred Lewis encouraged Bat to write a series of sketches about his adventures which were published by Lewis in the magazine he edited, Human Life (c. 1907–1908). Masterson regaled his readers with stories about his days on the frontier and his gunfighter friends. He also explained to his audience what he felt were the best properties of a gunfighter.

It was during this time that Masterson sold his famous sixgun—”the gun that tamed the West”—because he “needed the money.” It has been reported that Masterson bought old guns at pawnshops, carved notches into the handles and sold them at inflated prices. Each time he claimed the gun was the one he used during his career as a lawman.

Death and legacy

Bat Masterson died at age 67 on October 25, 1921, while living and working in New York City. He collapsed at his desk from a heart attack after penning what became his final column for the New York Morning Telegraph. His body was taken to Campbell’s Funeral Parlor and later buried after a simple service in Woodlawn Cemetery in Bronx, New York. His full name, William Barclay Masterson, appears above his epitaph on the large granite grave marker in Woodlawn. His epitaph states that he was “Loved by Everyone.”