The Lynching of Louie Sam

In 1884, a mob of settlers in the Washington Territory cross into Canada, take a fourteen-year-old Native boy named Louie Sam from the Canadian police, and lynch him the day before he was due to testify about a murder. 15 year old Georgie disobeyed his father's orders to stay home. He and his best friend follow the mob. He found the body of the man Louie supposedly killed, he wants to be there to see justice done. Almost immediately George begins wondering if this was justice. What the mob finds is a scared Native boy, younger than George. A boy who accuses the leaders of the mob before he dies. George begins asking question, poking around, discovering things no one wants revealed. Even people who know the truth refuse to act on their knowledge. He gradually realizes the prejudice and fear in the people surrounding him, realizes that nothing is simple. George finds the real killer, and that puts his life and the lives of his family, at risk. And nothing will bring Louie back, not even the truth. It's an amazing coming-of-age story about a real incident involving real people form America's past. As sad as the ending is, I am glad the author did not trivialize this incident by pasting on a phony happy ending. This leaves George, and Louie Sam, feeling real.

"According to the Tuskegee Institute of Alabama, between 1882 and 1968, there were 4,742 lynchings in the United States. In Canada during the same period, there was one - the lynching of Louie Sam." The Lynching of Louis Sam, although fiction, is based on a true story. Most of the facts in this book are taken from the records and from the documentary of the same name. They are as follows: In 1884, near Nooksack, in the Washington Territory, a storekeeper named James Bell was murdered and his homestead set on fire. A witness claimed to have seen Louis Sam, a young Sto:lo boy of approximately 14 years near the scene and 'there was murder in his eyes'. Sam lived in British Columbia which was only a few kilometers away. The Canadian authorities were notified and Sam was taken into custody. However, they insisted that, before they would extradite Sam, he would be tried in Canada. Instead, a group of men from Nooksack disguised themselves, some in women's clothes, crossed the border and took Sam from where he was being held. Just a few metres from the border but on the Canadian side, Sam was lynched. The Sto:lo tribe threatened revenge and the Canadian government, fearing a border war, demanded the arrest of the mob leaders and even sent agents undercover to try to find the guilty parties. Eventually, though, the investigation was dropped by both governments and no one was ever charged with the lynching. Although the truth of Bell's murder has never been fully discovered, there is a great deal of evidence that Louie Sam was innocent but, due to the racism of the time and the fact that his father was in prison for killing cattle and was suspected of the murder of a settler, he made an easy scapegoat. Author, Elizabeth Stewart stays very close to the facts. Although she makes it clear she believes Sam was innocent, she deliberately avoids trying to recreate Sam's thoughts or those of the Sto:lo tribe. Instead, the narrator of the story is George Gillies, the 14-year-old son of Scottish immigrants, and one of the children who first spotted the fire at the Bell house. When the lynch mob is being formed, George wants to go but his father, a member of the 'vigilance committee' tells him to stay home. Instead, George and a friend follow the mob and he is present at the lynching. He is surprised by the fact that Sam is just a boy. He also notices other things which make him think Sam is innocent. He tries to convince others of this and, although his father agrees with him, it becomes very clear that no one else does or, at least, is willing to do anything. Many, in fact, have their own suspicions of who murdered Bell and why but see no purpose served by saying anything. After all, Sam was just an Indian and, anyway, the citizens of Nooksack are seeking statehood and revealing their role in the lynching could jeopardize this. Although a work of fiction, by staying close to the facts, Stewart has a written a compelling tale of the dark side of both Canadian and American history. Too often, fictional accounts of the 'old west' show it as a period of unbridled freedom, a sort of surreal Star Warsesque time where men were men and the white hats always won. The Lynching of Louie Sam is aimed at a YA audience but, for anyone interested in the truth about frontier life, especially the idea of 'frontier justice', this novel gives an unflinching account of Lynch's Law.

The book is based upon a true story, which makes it more intriguing, and sad too. While I found Louie Sam an interesting character, and I enjoyed getting to know his world and customs, I wasn’t to impressed with the writing. Could’ve been better. The ending was dissapointing and provided little closure. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

What a dynamic book this was. The story was engrossing and fascinating on many fronts. First, the author sucked me in with the historical perspective of the story. I had never heard of this incredibly sad story of the murder of a 13 year old boy due to mob action and that is where the sadness simply begins. Ms. Stewart slowly, methodically and masterfully unwrapped the storyline to show something much more sinister that was going on in this small town being careful to keep the gut wrenching and spine tingling emotion present. To boot, Ms. Stewart follows the story with the historical facts behind her book which were as fascinating as her story. Normally, I would skip sections like this but found myself as enthralled with that part of the book as I was the main story. At 180 some odd pages, this JUVENILE piece of literature showed its' intelligence that quality books targeted towards our youth do not need to have vampires, wolves or popular "mean girls" to be engrossing! On a side note, there is the instance of the usage of one expletive that, personally, I found offensive, particularly in a book targeted towards young adults. I took the time to check this out with a middle school librarian, a children's librarian and a library director. All assured me that due to the context in which the word was used that it was appropriate.

I thought I knew this story from history books, but the novel version gives it a whole new perspective and a depth that I really appreciated. Ugly, racist incidents are impossible to gloss-over and never easy to explain. There's always more going on than you think. I think this is a fascinating story, well-told.