At a site not far from the area where this statue was erected near Fredericton Junction, a late 19^th century businessman was robbed and murdered.  According to Mr Robin Hansen, a local artist, businessman, and historian, a southwestern New Brunswick cattle buyer had just sold his livestock in nearby Fredericton Junction and had decided to treat himself to a meal at a local hotel. This led him to a night of drinking and cards with strangers who were very much interested in the buyer’s cattle profits (which he kept in his knapsack).  They ambushed him the next day, just outside of the Junction on Diamond Square Road.  After discovery of the body, he was laid to rest by locals just down the road, but the murder remained unsolved for years. It wasn’t until a death sentence confession to a priest in Montreal brought out the grisly details of the courageous struggle with the assailants and the fatal stabbing that finally loosed the knapsack from the cattle buyer’s grasp.

For more information on the sculptor and the local history he keeps alive through his work please click here!