Kitchi-Manito-Waya
| Kitchi-Manito-Waya | |
|---|---|
| Almighty Voice; Jean Baptiste; Kakee-manitou-wata; Kamantowiwew | |
| Born | c. 1874 near Duck Lake, Saskatchewan |
| Died | 1897-05-30 Minichinas Hills, Saskatchewan |
| Occupation | Hunter; freighter |
| Father | |
| Mother | |
Kitchi-Manito-Waya (also known as Almighty Voice and Jean Baptiste; c. 1874 – 30 May 1897) was a Willow Cree hunter and member of the One Arrow band in what is now Saskatchewan, who became the subject of one of the most prolonged police pursuits in the history of the North-West Mounted Police following his escape from custody in 1895.
Early life
Kitchi-Manito-Waya was born around 1874, probably near Duck Lake, Saskatchewan, the eldest of seven siblings, four of whom died young. His father, Sinnookeesick (also known as John Sounding Sky or The Sounding Sky), was Saulteaux from the Nut Lake (Yellow Quill) band. His mother, Natchookoneck (also known as Spotted Calf or Appears in Various Ways), was the daughter of Willow Cree headman Kā-namhcīt (Left Hand) and the adopted daughter of his brother, chief Kāpeyakwāskonam (One Arrow).[1]
His maternal great-uncle, Chief One Arrow (Kāpeyakwāskonam), had entered Treaty 6 in August 1876, at which time the One Arrow Indian Reserve was established on the east side of the South Saskatchewan River near Batoche. Kitchi-Manito-Waya grew up during the years of bison extinction (1878–79) and the enforced transition away from traditional hunting ways. He was described as a tall, handsome youth bearing a scar running from his left ear to the corner of his mouth.[1]
The North-West Resistance of 1885 directly affected his community. Métis forces led by Gabriel Dumont compelled the One Arrow band to move to Batoche during the fighting. Afterward, the Canadian government declared the band disloyal; Chief One Arrow was convicted of treason-felony, imprisoned, and died in 1886. Indian Commissioner Hayter Reed subsequently worked to amalgamate the three Willow Cree bands and press them onto reserves near Duck Lake, using ration reductions as a coercive tool. Kitchi-Manito-Waya was registered in government records as "One Arrow band member no. 57."[1]
Roman Catholic priests at Duck Lake apparently gave him the Christian name Jean Baptiste. He married a daughter of Nâpêsis (Little Man) around 1890; the couple separated after roughly two years. He married again around 1892, a daughter of Rock Child. A son born in May 1893 died approximately fourteen months later from tuberculosis; a second son survived infancy. As the government cut reserve rations in the early 1890s, his ability as a skilled hunter became increasingly important to his family's survival. He also worked as a freighter, hauling hay from the One Arrow reserve to nearby settlers.[1]
The escape and the death of Sergeant Colebrook
In May 1895, facing severe hardship, Kitchi-Manito-Waya and his brother-in-law Flying Sound killed a settler's stray cow to feed their families. He later offered the settler a horse in compensation, and the matter attracted no immediate attention. On 22 October 1895, NWMP sergeant Colin Campbell Colebrook arrested him during the annual annuity payments at the One Arrow reserve, along with his sister Good Young Woman on a separate charge. Sergeant Harry Keenan transported the prisoners to Duck Lake barracks. Because the charges appeared minor, the prisoners were not shackled. During the early hours of 23 October, Kitchi-Manito-Waya escaped through a door whose key had been left accessible by Constable Robert Casimir Dickson. Subsequent disciplinary hearings found no evidence that he had been threatened with hanging, a claim later popularized by journalist Chief Buffalo Child Long Lance. He likely fled because he feared trial before an Indian agent he had previously threatened, and because he remembered that his grandfather had died following wrongful imprisonment.[1][2]
Crossing the South Saskatchewan River near Saint-Laurent-de-Grandin, Kitchi-Manito-Waya fled on foot accompanied by thirteen-year-old Small Face from the James Smith Indian Reserve. Sergeant Colebrook led the search with the assistance of François (Frank) Dumont, a relative of Gabriel Dumont who had joined the One Arrow band. On the morning of 29 October 1895, some sixty miles from the One Arrow reserve east of Waterhen Lake, the search party located the fugitives. Despite Dumont's warning and Kitchi-Manito-Waya's repeated shouts in Cree to go away, Colebrook continued to advance. Kitchi-Manito-Waya dropped to one knee and shot the sergeant through the upper chest with a shotgun, killing him. He then left Small Face to seek safety and rode north toward the James Smith and Big Head (Cumberland) reserves near Fort-à-la-Corne.[1][3]
The pursuit
Despite intensive NWMP searches over the following nineteen months, police never sighted Kitchi-Manito-Waya. Bands around Duck Lake were suspected of sheltering him but declined to surrender one of their own. NWMP Commissioner Lawrence William Herchmer expressed public frustration while assuring that capture was inevitable. Newspapers across the region gave the affair prominent coverage. In April 1896, following representations to Prime Minister Mackenzie Bowell by superintendent of Indian Affairs Thomas Mayne Daly, a $500 reward was authorized.[1][4]
In mid-November 1895 Kitchi-Manito-Waya moved southeast toward the hunting territories of the Kinistin and Yellow Quill Saulteaux bands, seeking his paternal relatives. He likely returned to the One Arrow reserve in late December 1895 or early January 1896 to see his newborn son. As a capable hunter he was welcomed by nomadic bands and traveled with relative anonymity through the country.[1]
Death
On the morning of 28 May 1897, a police patrol near Bellevue (St-Isidore-de-Bellevue) came upon three men moving through brush toward a sunken poplar bluff: Kitchi-Manito-Waya, his cousin Anihšināpēns (Little Saulteaux), and his brother-in-law Topean (Dublin). When police attempted to drive them from the grove two Mounties were seriously wounded. The three men dug a pit in the densest part of the bluff and fortified their position. Word spread by telephone and telegraph, and volunteers from Duck Lake and Prince Albert joined the encirclement. Members of the One Arrow community, including his mother, watched from a nearby hill. A second assault that evening resulted in the deaths of two policemen and a civilian volunteer.[1][5]
That evening Kitchi-Manito-Waya shouted in Cree: "Brothers, we've had a good fight to-day. I've worked hard and am hungry. You've plenty of grub; send me in some. To-morrow we'll finish the fight." Police brought two cannons to the site — one from Prince Albert, another transported by train from Regina by Mounties who arrived on 29 May. Early on 30 May 1897, Assistant Commissioner John Henry McIllree ordered a bombardment lasting approximately two hours. About one hundred police and civilians then charged the bluff. All three fugitives were killed; Kitchi-Manito-Waya and Little Saulteaux were found together in the pit, apparently killed by the same artillery shell. Their bodies were turned over to the band's farm instructor for burial on the One Arrow reserve. No coroner's inquest was held into the deaths of the two Mounties.[1]
A fragment of Kitchi-Manito-Waya's skull was treated as a trophy and kept on display in the NWMP museum in Regina for several decades without the knowledge of the One Arrow band.[1]
Legacy
Neither the NWMP nor the Department of Indian Affairs investigated why Kitchi-Manito-Waya had killed the cow, escaped custody, or shot a police officer, or how he had eluded capture for nearly twenty months with the support of his community. Official commentary attributed his actions to racial characteristics. A contrary perspective appeared in the Toronto Evening Telegram: "Almighty Voice was the champion of a race that is 'up against it' in civilization. The wonder, is not that an occasional brave cuts loose, but that all braves do not prefer the sudden death to the slow extinction of their people."[1]
His story has been retold in drama, autobiography, and film. Journalist Chief Buffalo Child Long Lance published an account in Maclean's in January 1924 and later incorporated it into his 1928 autobiography.[6] The affair was depicted in the 1974 film Alien Thunder, directed by Claude Fournier, and has been the subject of plays by L. Peterson and D. D. Moses.[7][8] W. A. Waiser, the DCB article's author, published a full-length study in 2020.[9]
References
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 W. A. Waiser."W. A. Waiser, "Kitchi-Manito-Waya," Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 12."[website].Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 12 (University of Toronto/Université Laval).1990.University of Toronto/Université Laval.Link.(Rights: copyrighted | Access: open)
- ↑ "RG18-A-1, vol.121, file 269-96: Dickson, ex constable R. C. – punishment for allowing Indian prisoner to escape."[record].1895.R. C. Dickson, 24 Oct. 1895, disciplinary hearing transcript.Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa.(Rights: unknown | Access: open)
- ↑ "RG18, vol.10039: NWMP Personnel records, Colin Campbell Colebrook file."[record].G. B. Moffatt to L. W. Herchmer, 26 Oct. 1895; Frank Dumont and Small Face testimony, coroner's inquest.Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa.(Rights: unknown | Access: open)
- ↑ "RG18-B-1, vol.1347, file 226-1895: Pursuit of Indian murderer, "Almighty Voice"."[record].G. B. Moffatt to NWMP commissioner, 13 March 1896.Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa.(Rights: unknown | Access: open)
- ↑ "RG18-B-5, vol.2480: Court documents – "Almighty Voice," murder, pt.1."[record].J. H. McIllree to L. W. Herchmer, 4 June 1897.Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa.(Rights: unknown | Access: open)
- ↑ Buffalo Child Long Lance [S. C. Long]."Buffalo Child Long Lance, "How Canada's last frontier outlaw died"."[newspaper].Maclean's.1924-01-01.pp. 19–20, 42, 44.(Rights: unknown | Access: open)
- ↑ L. [B.] Peterson."Almighty Voice."[book].1974.Agincourt, Ontario.(Rights: unknown | Access: open)
- ↑ D. D. Moses."Almighty Voice and his wife."[book].1991.Stratford, Ontario.(Rights: unknown | Access: open)
- ↑ W. A. Waiser."In search of Almighty Voice: resistance and reconciliation."[book].2020.Markham, Ontario.(Rights: unknown | Access: open)