JUROR’S DAUGHTER BARES 70-YEAR OLD SECRET

Louis Riel

was innocent

A Mvear-o14 secret kept by the : aughter of one of the jurors Rei a at the trial of Louis ay ather of Manitoba,” has

€en unsealed,

Mrs, Rhoda Sivell, 81, daughter a Cosgrove, the only one © jurors to vote against , H8ing of Riel for “trea- Daily Eoerted in the Toronto ateueq a as saying her father eens Strongly that Riel was in- and should not be hanged. oo of one of Canada’s Novembe Patriots took place on the r 16, 1885, because of

Wet he Played in the North- Rebellion.

4

the

Cos i Srove’s daughter, who lives

ee Hat, said, “Father hanony @! Should not have been 2hoeg and I also knew Riel was The information won't

Canadie §00d now. but, I want haq “7S to know that my father Rig), ® part in hanging Louis lather fs Unhappy because my Was 3, °¢ helped hang a man. I

Ring st eleven then and begin- © Tealize things.

“Father did not say anything clse about the trial. It wasn’t until: years later when he con- fided his secret that we under- stood why he was broken-hearted sick for a month after the trial, suifered nightmares and couldn’t sieep nights.

“He maintained then and up until -his death at 82 that Louis Rie] should have been released end allowed to go, somewhere in the Northwest territories.

“What would you do if some- one came to Canada and told you that you had to live on a little plot of land for the rest of your lives?” sne asked. “The Metis feared the surveying of land by the federal government and the gov- ernment sales of land’ to incom- ing settlers would dispossess them of their homesteads.

‘The disgruntled half-breeds called back Riel from Montana and put: him at the head of a movement to obtain more land. At a gathering at Saint Laurent on the Saskatchewan in 1884 a ‘sill of rights’ was adopted ask-

ing that the half-breeds receive

the same grant of 240 acres per

capita that had already been given (1870) to their kinsmen in Manitoba.

“This request and others went to the federal government.’

Mrs. Sivell continued: “A com- mittee had been appointed to study them but when the Metis heard nothing at all they sur- mised the government had for-

gotten about them and the revolt started.

“They were simply fighting for their rights. Wouldn’t you do the same?”

x

Mrs. Sivell said two great- nephews of Louis Riel — Riel Demery and Walter Demery — bad visited her recently.

“Do you know what I told them? I told them I was proud to release this 70-year-old secret that my father was the only juror Wiio did not approve of their great uncle hanging.

“They thanked me over and over again and said they were going to tell all their cousins and friends in the west.”

latin America resents domination by U.S.

mice’ States government, igh Res, alking against colonial- latin © Old World, treats the Oy Ss Merican countries more Sugy ;. *S Colonies of its own. Ish = € conclusion of a Brit- Witin Pert, N. Pp. Macdonald, Nightly recently in The Fort- Onsen Ue Of the most solid and

ative of British magazines.

Wacdgn tin America,” writes ‘temp ald, “Washington | is also {tong rs to create a defensive Whi) *8ainst Communism, but ‘Ing ‘imuitaneously maintain- Sa, eg to the Latin Americans, trie, . “°Y Of treating their coun-

*S United States colonies.

§ Latin ag Self-determination, the Vain i Publics have sought it in Whi re the economic sphere Cent events in Guatemala Vishingtee the extent to which liticg} cn permit it in the

hi Mica ¢ the United States pro- On jy, 7PrOSram of industrializa- tt) yt America and prom- ‘Lipme 3 Tovide the necessary “ep ty a8 soon as possible

As wy *CHonala Points out, “from net ear to December 31, gg er os Nited States aided its ‘809. mines to the extent of

10n, its former allies

urope .received $5,- » and the Soviet Union €llites were given $750

‘ ion ay ning’ Sat

aq tt

4

ea, Mast, the 20 Latin Am-

erican republics received only $210 million, of which the larg- est item was for aid to Mexico in stamping out foot-and-mouth disease to avoid it spreading across the United ‘States border. The whole of Latin America thus received less dollar aid in this period than Greece or Turkey.”

The pattern was. continued in 1953-54, when Latin America re- ceived only $47 million as against $2,716 million for the Far East and Europe.

Of U.S. private capital invest- ed in Latin America, Macdonald points out, only one-sixth is in- vested in manufacturing indus- ries, although Latin Americans cee industrialization as the way out of their present low income status. ‘Five-sixths of U.S. capi- tal goes into mining, petroleum and other productive industries.

“As a result,” Macdonald says, ‘the United States controls the principal means of production in several of the republics, apart from dominating the foreign trade of all of them.”

This, the Latin Americans think, *ardly represents economic in- dependence.

Meanwhile, the United States does almost nothing to improve the conditions in Latin America that encourage social unrest and lead to Communist’ movements. In fact, Latin Americans see Am- erican policy as indirectly encour- aging unrest.

Dictators, attempting to hold back , needed reforms, are en-

zouraged so long as they protect U.S. investments.

“It is against the background or such feelings,’ concludes Mac- donald, “that the present efforts ci the United States to create a defensive front against Commun- ism in Latin America must be considered. So far, it must be

. said, these efforts have had little

success, for the Latin Americans not only resent United States economic policies towards them but believe that’ fear of Commun- ism is being used by Washington os a pretext for direct interven- tion in their internal affairs.”

This intervention, Latin Ameri- cans saw the U.S. put into effect

in Guatemala. Washington state- .

ments about Communist infiltra- tion in Guatemala were not taken seriously south of the Rio Grande, Macdonald observes. recalled words uttered by Secre- tary of State John Foster Dulles enly a few weeks before:

F < “The slogan of non-interven- tion can plausibly be invoked and twisted to give immunity to what is in reality flagrant inter- vention.”

“That,” to Latin America,” Mac- donald says, “is exactly what the United States did over Guate- mala.”

The U:S., in his view, has little -

chance of creating an anti-Com- siunist front in Latin America from. those who feel themselves threatened more immediately from Washington than from Mos- cow.

They wryly -

The house near Winnipeg (top) in which Louis Riel (bottom

right) lived is now a district post office.

A tribute to Riel, Gabriel

Dumont, the Metis and Indians who fought for independence in the uprising and saved the West for Canada, is erected in the

vestibule of the rectory at Batoche (centre). left) is at St. Boniface Cathedral, near Winnipeg.

Riel’s tomb (bottom

Soviet atomic train

MOSCOW _

PETus of Soviet plans for

building atomic submarines, ships, aircraft and locomotives capable of travelling tens . of thousands of miles without re- fuelling have been given here.

In a broadeast talk over Mos- cow Radio, Professor Vladimir Leshkovstev said an atomic liner using heavy water instead. of graphite blocks used in station- ary atomic stations could sail round the world on less than 1% Yb. of uranium 235 or plutonium.

Atomic submarines based on this principle would be capable of travelling long distances with-

out surfacing. This would ‘be particularly useful for sailing under the Arctic Ocean.

An atomic submarine’ could do the trip between Murmansk and

‘Viadivostok in less than a_ fort-

night, sailing under the ice, he said.

Describing a working project of an atomic locomotive, Profes- sor Leshkovstev said the engine Was nearly 165 feet long and weighed 189 tons. It would run for 50 million miles without re- fuelling.

It was premature to speak of atomic automobiles, he said, al- though two experimental projects existed. 3

PACIFIC TRIBUNE — AUGUST 5, 1955 — PAGE 9