The story we are about to tell you is a story of violence and abuse of power. His protagonists, people to whom history has assigned an honorable role and whose family names are an integral part of the region's landscape, actually have bloodstained hands. The content of the documents we recently viewed could go a long way toward correcting perceptions that have been embedded in regional collective memory for generations.
Having become aware of the existence of these documents, several historians and archivists consulted by Le Droit are committed to a renewed, more critical look at these notorious figures, at the real ties that united them and, in particular, at their role in a period Gruesome story of an attempted murder that occurred on the streets of Wright's Town in 1839 [qui deviendra Hull en 1875]. Thanks to the research of historian Albert LeBeau, who made these discoveries, we can reveal to you all the details of this sordid affair in a series of texts that we will publish throughout the week.
These court documents were mysteriously donated to the Bibliothèque et archives nationaux du Québec in Gatineau in 2019. These are affidavits, witness statements and statements collected by Coroner Thomas Brigham in Wright's Town. They are all originals that were signed under oath by the victims and witnesses of this attempted murder in February 1839. They refer to at least two of the most powerful people in the region at the time.
First, Andrew Leamy, whose name is now borne by a lake, a park and a casino in Gatineau. His connections to the Wright family and Oblate Father Louis Reboul long gave him a relatively honorable role in the region's history. However, Leamy was for a time the right-hand man of Peter Aylen, the “King of the Shiners,” the Irish crime gang that terrorized Bytown in the 1830s. Several historians bluntly claim that Leamy even became their leader after Aylen fled to Aylmer in 1837.
However, Leamy's reputation was tarnished by charges of attempted murder in February 1839 and later murder in 1845. All that was known to date was that Leamy emerged from prison both times white as snow. The unpublished documents brought to light by Mr. LeBeau reassure him, nearly two centuries later, that Leamy's innocence must be questioned.
The testimonies contained therein make it possible to reconstruct the events of February 1839 down to the smallest detail. According to the historian, the various allegations also make it possible to identify the one who clearly appears to be the instigator of the attack: none other than Ruggles Wright, son of the man whom history identifies as the founder of Hull, Philemon Wright.
The discovery of these court archives is the origin of a movement among historians in the region that has gained momentum in recent months. Kathleen Durocher, Raymond Ouimet, Jean-Guy Ouimet, Michelle Guitard, Roger Blanchette, Pierre Louis Lapointe and Louise Dumoulin, among others, call for further research efforts so that the truth becomes known to all. “Mr. LeBeau's work is very careful and rigorous,” says Ms. Dumoulin. The idea is not to rewrite history and engage in revisionism, but to be clear and honest. The true story may sometimes displease some, but it is important to get it out there.”
Le Droit will refer to this throughout the week, without claiming to have the last word in the story. We will first place these events in their context. The 1830s were marked by the Shiner War. This is probably the most violent period in the region's history. We have also enlisted the talent of a professional local artist, Alexandre Deschênes, whose illustrations, created exclusively for this series, will accompany each text.
Rescued archives
The journey through time that these incriminating archives undertake is astonishing to say the least, agrees Albert LeBeau. The legal documents related to this 1839 murder attempt were initially stored in one of the six safes in the old Montreal courthouse on Notre-Dame Street, where the case was tried. They remained there until 1844, when the building was destroyed by arson, and were then moved to the Montreal Prison. They would then have made their way to the new courthouse in Montreal in 1857, collecting dust there until 1909, the year in which they would have been moved, somewhat haphazardly, to the vaults of the new courthouse in Hull along with all other legal documents from Outaouais.
Fortune would have again favored these archives, which had become invaluable in 1978, when fire again devastated the old courthouse in Hull. The documents were then moved from one location to another in the region until the current courthouse opened in the Jos Montferrand Building on Laurier Street. Albert LeBeau believes that it is probably thanks to the intervention in extremis of the archivist and historian Pierre Louis Lapointe, who specializes in the Outaouais, that they were preserved and bequeathed to the National Archives in 2019. This is included elsewhere in the holdings of these archives.
Pierre Louis Lapointe, contacted by Le Droit, claims to have no recollection of dealing with these archives on Andrew Leamy, but nevertheless emphasizes that he has been in contact with an innumerable number of historical documents over the course of his career I made several donations to the state archive. “I remember when we moved into the new courthouse after the fire, a lot of documents were completely thrown away, and being the curious person I am, I looked for them,” Mr. Lapointe says. There I found all of Sydney surveyor Edward Farley's records going back a century. All his notebooks were there. I intervened to save these documents, which are now in the archives. Perhaps the documents Mr. LeBeau is talking about today were among those finds. I don't know. What’s important is that we have access to it today.”