WILDERNESS STATION

In "A Wilderness Station" the character of Annie Herron is presented through a series of letters and memoirs. These documents tell us some of the events surrounding the death of her husband, Simon. These letters and memoirs are written by different people in Annie's life, such as George Herron (Simon's brother), Reverend McBain, James Mullen, Christena Mullen and by Annie herself. In a memoir published in the Carstairs Argus newspaper Fiftieth Anniversary Edition, George Herron wrote his version of the circumstances of his arrival to Carstairs and he also gives his version surrounding the accidental death of his brother. Annie, on the other hand, gives conflicting stories of the day her husband died. She tells two different versions of what occurred on the day her husband died. She tells Mr. Mullen that she killed her husband when she first arrives at the Gaol and then tells her friend Sadie Johnstone in a letter that her brother-in-law killed Simon. Given these conflicting stories we are unable to determine what really happened to Simon Herron.

In George's memoir we get the impression that George didn't really want to go to Carstairs with Simon. After the death of their parents, George went to live with a schoolteacher and his wife where he had a very happy home. Simon, was not so lucky, he lived with his mother's cousin Archie Frame and was never sent to school. Simons upbringing was not as comfortable as George's, so when he was nineteen, he and George left Halton and went towards Huron and Bruce to find their fortune. Soon after the leave Halton, Simon marries Annie and a few months later he is killed in what seems like an accident. According to George, in April of 1852, he and his brother were chopping down trees on the far corner of their property when a branch mysteriously falls and his Simon on the back of the head, killing him instantly. George then drags his brother's body towards the house. Since there was a really bad storm passing, he and Annie are