Community Mourns the Drowning of 'Old Jack'
Indigenous community members gather in the rain to recover the body of a tribal elder near Westminster.
When the news reached Keatsey yesterday that old Jack, the father of the tribe, was drowned, there was weeping and wailing and great lamentations among the Indians generally. About a dozen of the strongest men of the village and a few women left at once for Sapperton, and on their arrival assisted in the efforts to recover Jack's body. No success met them yesterday, and at daylight the dragging was resumed. While the men worked in the canoes, pulling the drags back and forth, several of the oldest women of the tribe sat on the wet bank, regardless of the pouring rain, and 'mourned' the dead in that melancholy, plaintive cry which is peculiar to the coast Indians. Had old Jack been the highest and most beloved personage in the realm, no more interest could have been displayed in the recovery of the body.
“Several of the oldest women of the tribe sat on the wet bank, regardless of the pouring rain, and 'mourned' the dead.”
This account documents the deep communal bonds and mourning practices of Indigenous people in the Pacific Northwest. It serves as a reminder of the historical presence and resilience of local tribes in the face of colonial encroachment and the loss of their elders.
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