| Show I J S I HE WAS FORCED TO FIGHT I Louis Kiel Tells How the lcbcllion I Started ami Btttticaict His i Line of Defense i I A letter has just been received by Dr Fiest from Louis RioT After speaking of his ready surrender his chance to escape I ii he wished to do so and the pacific effect ef-fect his surrender had in bringing the re j hellion to a close Rid says it should I have some weight in securing him a J hearing before the Supreme Court of I Lower Canada for there alone he can procure all his witnesses He says lie was in the United States laboring to create a future for himself when he was invited among the halfbreeds to assist them in petitioning the government and he worked peacefully antil the time when arms were taken He says also that lie never dreamed of war but that by intrigue and forged letters a complication of affairs was brought about by interested inter-ested parties He desired to return to the United States but the people would not listen to him On March ISth they were proceeding to St Laurenta to celebrate the feast of St Joseph and had to pass St Antoine en route when they learned that 500 policemen were coming by forced marches to disperse them and imprison their leader When the half breeds learned this they stopped their wagons and made a prisoner of nn Indian agent They also made one or two other arrests Rid says he was not present when these arrests were made but he was notified and when he went to the place he found that the people had decided de-cided to take up aims in their defense In twentyfour hours the whole population popula-tion were up in arms He concluded by asking not to be treated like a murderer and not to be chained before the jury have pronounced upon his case and he feels confident they will not find him guilty lie says his incarceration is telling upon his health notwithstanding the kind attention of his jailersChicago Herald |
