William Wilderspin

 Born:  c. 1811
Master: 1866
Died: July 1, 1866, Detroit

 Article from Detroit paper July 1, 1866.   Name reported in error in the article as Willispen.

 ACCIDENTS

About 11 o'clock, when the celebration was at its height, and the discharge of firearms was heard in all directions, a shot was fired from the roof of a building on Jefferson Avenue, supposed to be above the Pegram & Gray's Store, which took fatal effect in the body of a Mr. Wm. Wilderspin, who was standing in front of T.F. Abbott's store.  Mr. Wilderspin, accompanied by his wife and a part of his family had, a few moments previous to the catastrophe, landed from the steamer Pearl, and was enjoying the bright scene before him, when death marked him for its own.

 Immediately after the shot was fired a young man named Robert Oliphant, about 17 years of age, was seen to leave the roof, and suspicion immediately fastened upon him as the guilty party.  He was subsequently arrested by detective Stadler and taken to jail, where he now is.  The fatal shot entered the left breast of the doomed man, piercing his heart, and causing almost instant death.  The scene was a most affecting one.  His distracted wife and children could hardly realize that they had been so suddenly bereft of a protector, and were for a short time in a maze of bewilderment.  When the awful reality came upon them, their grief knew no bounds.

 The deceased was an Englishman, who immigrated to this country thirty-two years ago.  He lived for some time in the state of New York, and then went to Canada.  He was in the employ of Mr. McLeod, of Amherstburg, over seventeen years.   He was a maltster and brewer by trade, was 57 years old, and had a wife and family of seven children.  He was Master of the Thistle Lodge of Free Masons at Amherstburg, a steady, respectable man, and stood very high in the estimation of his fellow men as an honest, upright citizen.  When he was shot, he exclaimed "I believe I am shot," fell backwards, and never spoke again.   The ball entered his left breast diagonally.   He will be buried with Masonic honors.

 Expenses 

The Lodge borrowed money from W.B. McLeod to bury W.B. Wilderspin.   Three years latter W.B. McLeod billed the lodge.  The matter was laid over for several years.  Eventually the lodge asked Detroit lodges to pay since the W.B. was shot in Detroit.  They did send some money.

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