Introduction

The Gold Rush

Aboriginal Culture

Chief Isidore

Things Get Worse

I did not think it was possible but things got even worse. Two white miners had been killed near Golden two years earlier, and a Constable named Anderson from Galbraith’s Ferry believed that two men from my band were responsible. One day he came to my camp with six other men from town and arrested the two young men named "Kapla" and "Young Isidore." Constable Anderson took them back to Galbraith’s Ferry and put them in jail.

Little Isidore (FS-5.456)

They had no evidence to prove that the two Ktunaxa men were guilty. No one had even seen the murders of the two miners. I believed that Kapla and Young Isidore had been jailed unfairly, most likely because they were Ktunaxa and not Europeans.

A few days later I gathered thirty of my men from the band. We armed ourselves and rode into Galbraith’s Ferry. We stormed the jail and I ordered Constable Anderson to let my men go: "If you can not tell me what white man saw these two Ktunaxa do it then I will take them out of jail."

Constable Anderson made us angry. He would not answer my question, and so we broke down the jail house door. This shocked Constable Anderson, and he finally unlocked the cell door and the two prisoners were freed.

Before leaving I let the Constable know how I felt:

"If any of my men do wrong, I am willing to have them punished, but it is not right that Indians should be put in prison because white men are found dead. How many Indians have been found dead yet no white man has ever been put in jail?"

Trouble Starts		The Police Come