The Giles Curtis Murder
Returning home from church on Sunday the 13th of December 1868, just eight months after William Robinson was murdered, Howard Estes found his partner shot in the head and nearly decapitated with a knife "which lay bloody on the table", according to the newspaper report. Curtis was a Black settler, a hired hand of the Starks. Several theories arose about the murderer(s). Was it the same killer(s) who shot William Robinson?
The Navy was called upon to assist in the investigation. A gunboat was sent up the coast and rounded up some Aboriginal people for questioning, to no avail. Not until a decade had passed was someone charged with the murder and that person was acquitted.
Colonial Correspondence
- John Morley, The Curtis Murder, Magistrate's Report on the Investigation, January 11, 1869
- Henry W. Mist, Report of Investigation by H.W. Mist, Commander of the H.M.S. Sparrowhawk , January 5, 1869
Court Documents
Diaries, Journals or Reminiscences
- Marie Albertina (Stark) Wallace, Sylvia Stark's Description of the Death of Giles Curtis
- Marie Albertina (Stark) Wallace, Sylvia Stark’s Description of an Attempt on Her Husband's Life
Inquests
Newspaper or Magazine Articles
- Victoria Daily Standard, Police Court, Victoria Daily Standard, November 22, 1877
- Daily British Colonist, Particulars of a Horrible Murder, Daily British Colonist, December 21, 1868
- The British Colonist, Salt Spring Island Settlers Sign Memorial, The British Colonist, December 25, 1868
- British Colonist, The Last Murder on Salt Spring Island, British Colonist, January 4, 1869
- British Colonist, Curtis Murder Brought to the Attention of the Legislature, British Colonist, January 11, 1869
- British Colonist, Court of Assize before Sir M.B. Begbie, British Colonist, November 12, 1877
- British Colonist, Municipal Police Court, British Colonist, November 23, 1877
- British Colonist, Municipal Police Court, British Colonist, November 24, 1877