A settler mob lynches an indigenous teenage boy.
***
On 24 February 1884, James Bell, a settler shopkeeper from the Nooksack settlement in what is now Whatcom County, was killed and his home lit on fire.
A Stó:lō / Nooksack teenager named Louie Sam, who was only 14 or 15 years old, was accused of the murder, with no evidence, in a racially motivated act of scapegoating.
Louie lived north of the Canadian border. He was arrested by Canadian authorities at the request of the local U.S. Sheriff. Louie was detained in Canada pending investigation of the charge.
Before the investigation could start, a large mob crossed from south of the border, took Louie by force from the Canadian authorities, and hanged him from a tree just yards from the border. No one was ever charged with the lynching.
In 2006, 122 years later, the Washington State House of Representatives approved a resolution expressing “deepest sympathy” for the descendants of Louis Sam.
For more information, see:
The Walrus – The Lynching of Louie Sam
CBC – Washington state expresses regret over 1884 Lynching of Canadian teen
The Lynching of Louis Sam (2005 film)