[COYNE] DAVID RAMSAY AND LONG POINT 115 



strange, and what the like never was known before is, that he now 

 lives in intimacy and friendship with that very tribe, and the sons 

 and daughters of the very people he had killed. They gave him a 

 grant, regularly extended upon stamped paper, of four miles square of 

 as good land as any in Upper Canada." 



Campbell says the Indians used violent language about Ramsay 

 only when intoxicated. They charged that he had been "drunk and 

 mad all winter." If this was true it would account for their failing 

 to make good their charges, as it was customary to consider drunken- 

 ness on the part of an offender as a mitigation, if not a complete 

 defence, to any accusation, even murder. It will be seen in the 

 sequel that they availed themselves of this defence, when charged with 

 the murder of a trading party. 



In his story to Campbell, Ramsay speaks of the Indians in a 

 violent and contemptuous fashion. One of his assertions is worth 

 quoting: "After killing the first Indian, I cut lead and chewed above 

 thirty balls, and above three pounds of Goose Shot, for I thought it 

 a pity to shoot an Indian with a smooth ball." 



The Case for the Crown. 



So much for Ramsay's own story. The Indian version is given by 

 Sir William Johnson, Superintendent General of Indians, in a report 

 to the Colonial Secretary, the Earl of Hillsborough. 



In a letter dated Johnson Hall, June 29th, 1772, addressed to the 

 Earl of Hillsborough, Sir William Johnson refers with some anxiety 

 to "a late unlucky transaction, the particulars of which," he says, 

 "(as it may be productive of very ill consequences) it is my duty to 

 lay before your Lordship." The details that follow are in Johnson's 

 words : 



"A certain man of the name of Ramsay who formerly lived 

 among the Indians, and was by Capt. Brown, late commanding officer 

 at Niagara sent away to Quebec to prevent his doing further mischief 

 amongst them, has since found means to get a small cargo of goods 

 upon credit, with which he went to Lake Erie, where he traded some 

 time with the Chippawaes and Mississages at a considerable distance 

 from any Fort or place of inspection, or control, but being of a dis- 

 agreeable temper, and probably endeavouring to over-reach them, 

 they warned him to remove otherwise they would maltreat him, of 

 which however he took no notice, but seemed to set them at defiance, 

 which shortly after occasioned a quarrel between him and some of 

 them which were in liquor, of whom he killed three, upon this he 

 withdrew to another place on Lake Erie, apprehensive of their Re- 



