Alexander W. Wallace

Alexander Wallace was a store-owner in Bella Coola who became involved in political matters in the 1860s. Following the deaths of several Whites in the area, he organized a petition and sent passionate letters to the colonial government demanding law and order be brought to Bella Coola. After traveling to Victoria to emphasize his point, he was made a special correspondent of the British Colonist and Collector of Customs for the region.

Following a letter written by Alfred Waddington suggesting that Angus McLeod and Jim Taylor had deliberately reintroduced smallpox to the interior aboriginal groups, a British Columbian correspondent using the alias Verax (meaning “truth teller” in Latin) stated that it was McLeod and Wallace, not Taylor, who were responsible for the outbreak.