Alarmed at
the movement, Riel released all the prisoners in the fort. Their object
being gained, the men of the Kildonan Church camp, who had grown to be
six hundred strong, dissolved, and were proceeding to their homes, when
Riel, by an unheard of act of treachery, arrested some fifty of the
Assiniboine party. Among them was Major Boulton, a former officer of the
100th Regiment. Riel again sought out a victim for revenge, and intended
to execute this prominent man. It was only on the persistent request of
Commissioner Smith and the urgency of Mrs. John Sutherland, whose son
had been killed by an escaping French prisoner at the Kildonan Church
camp, that Boulton's life was spared.
Riel, however, seemed to feel that power was slipping from his hands. He
was criticised on all hands for his treachery and for his arrogance. It
is said his followers were dropping off from him, notwithstanding the
luxurious lives they had been living on the Company's supplies in Fort
Garry.
He determined, though with a divided Council, to make an example, and
despite the solicitations of Commissioner Smith, the Rev. George Young,
and others, publicly executed, on the 4th of March, outside of Fort
Garry, a young Irish-Canadian named Thomas Scott.
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