Jim and Dawson Nantuck were buried in the Dawson City cemetery over the weekend.
The brothers were the only First Nation men known to be hanged by the Mounties during the Klondike Gold Rush. Their remains were accidently dug up in November, during construction of Dawson City’s new sewage treatment plant.
Both brothers were hanged on August 4, 1899, for shooting two prospectors at the mouth of the M’Clintock River.
Their motive remains murky, but it’s believed they committed the crime to avenge the deaths of an old man and a young boy who died from arsenic poisoning.
The men hailed from Tagish. Elders with the Carcross/Tagish First Nation opted for a simple burial in Dawson City. They opposed DNA testing on the grounds that it’s invasive and not a traditional practice.
Their remains were uncovered along with those of Edward Henderson and an unidentified fourth individual. Henderson was an American who hanged the same day as the Nantucks, for shooting a companion in Marsh Lake.