Murder in Cayoosh - Finding the brother of the first Jew buried in Victoria
By David Scriven

This is a Google Slides presentation accessible here

During the night of February 1st 1861, a Jewish storekeeper named Morris Price was brutally murdered in Cayoosh (now Lillooet) in the Colony of British Columbia. The shocked citizens raised a large reward and within a short time the perpetrators were apprehended. The local Masons buried the unfortunate man but three months later his body was disinterred and transported to Vancouver Island where he was buried with pomp by the Masons and Jews of Victoria becoming the first Jew buried in that cemetery. In Oct 1861 one Jacob St Losky of Vancouver Island, the brother and next of kin of Morris, was appointed Administrator of his estate.

The question was put to us by a law professor in Toronto who studied this case: “Who were Morris Price and Jacob St. Losky?”

Murder in Cayoosh - part 2 - The full story of Morris Price and his brothers, the St Loskys
By David Scriven

This is a Google Slides presentation accessible here

In our February meeting I told the story of Jacob St Losky who stated that he was Morris Price’s brother and was appointed administrator of Morris’s estate. I also discussed Samuel St Losky, a presumed relative of Jacob, but said and knew very little about the life of Morris Price and was unable to confirm that Jacob and Morris were brothers. The day after my talk a member of our group contacted me with information about Morris that enabled me to track him from his arrival in the United States until his death in Cayoosh. It also allowed me to connect Morris to the St Losky brothers and learn something about their life in America before they adopted their pseudonym.

Morris Price was a pedlar, merchant and frontiersman. He lived in at least four Western gold rush towns and met his untimely end in the last one, Cayoosh. The talk will begin with a recap of what was presented in February before describing our new findings.