Although Chapleau was a small man of only five feet three inches and 125 pounds, while Tabor stood six feet and weighed 200 pounds, Chapleau beat him about the head with a four-foot sled stake, leaving him lying on the road in a pool of blood.
Chapleau, arrested within minutes of the crime, admitted he had hit Tabor but argued that it was in self-defense, with no intent to kill.
It was soon clear that Chapleau did not intend to join the ranks of propertyless unskilled laborers in Plattsburgh; he took out a mortgage on an acre of land and a small house in the village.
Chapleau thought strong pressure had to be brought to bear on Sir John regarding the Letellier affair, for left to himself, he will get cold counsel from the English side and things will drag on. He was convinced that the fate of the Conservative party at Quebec was linked to the resolution of the matter.
Chapleau could therefore feel confident, especially since during the parliamentary recess he wisely had prepared measures designed to put the provincial economy to rights, and they were now on the governments agenda.
Chapleau thought he was not equal to the situation; however, when Rosss government, which represented all shades of opinion in the provincial Conservative party, was formed in January 1884, he rallied to it.
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