In a 2013 article, Historian claimed that according to Japanese reports at the time, he disrespectfully rode in the middle of the road and even tried to get between the regent's litter and his bodyguards. Per Reichert, just before the incident, after Mrs Borradaile, concerned by signs of hostility from the retinue, begged him not to provoke them, Richardson allegedly said, "I have lived for fourteen years in China. I know how to manage these people." (per Denney, this must have been "four years", as fourteen was not possible) Richardson's uncle was reportedly not surprised about his nephew's demise and blamed him for being reckless and stubborn. Frederick Wright-Bruce, the British envoy to China, remembered Richardson as an "arrogant adventurer".