Hallowe'en is coming, part 2,

 Let's continue with our stories of gruesome Toronto as we approach Hallowe'en. Yesterday I went over the story of John Sullivan, the first person to be executed in Toronto, on the site where the King Edward Hotel now stands. Our next story is just a few blocks east of there, at the site of the St Lawrence North Market.

The first Mayor of Toronto was, of course, William Lyon MacKenzie.

William Lyon MacKenzie, photo taken later in life,

MacKenzie was a journalist who devoutly espoused the reformer cause. He was a member of the legislative assembly, where he was known for his fiery and passionate oratory. He was also said to have worn a red wig (apparently, he was bald) and when he was carried away in a fit of passion he was known to occasionally tear the wig from his head and throw it high into the air.

One of the first tasks of the new city was to set up a new city hall. The place they chose was an already existing building, the Saint Lawrence North Market. People call the structure on the northeast corner of Bay and Queen ‘Old City Hall’. It’s really the second newest city hall. There were at least two before it. The original was in the original St Lawrence Market, on the north side of front street- where they are currently rebuilding the North Market again. Room for the council was made by clearing out some grain storage rooms on the upper floor, directly over the butcher stalls in the market below, and a few benches and a Mayor’s chair were installed and- voila- instant council chambers. From this chamber MacKenzie would spend part of his time every day except Sunday serving as chief magistrate of the city in charge of the police court, and he would hear cases daily on charges ranging from public drunkenness to violating the sabbath to assault to bootlegging. (one citizen of Toronto, an Ellen Halfpenny, was sentenced to the stocks in St Lawrence Market for interrupting the Mayor’s court during her third appearance in the court in as many weeks) MacKenzie would hand out judgement for each case and would be roundly condemned in the Tory press for literally every decision he made, and copiously praised in the reform press, also for literally ever decision he made. This is unlike today, where the press is independent, and would never fall for merely supporting or opposing a politician based on mere party lines.

On July 29th, 1834 MacKenzie called a town meeting on the subject of assessments and levying taxes in order to provide for the relief of destitute immigrants who were then arriving in the city. The city was also in the grip of its second Cholera outbreak, hence increasing the need for said relief. MacKenzie had also published in his newspaper at that time an article which stated that Canada would be better off as a Republic, which inflamed Tory opposition to him immensely.

The meeting was held in the open market square, so more people could attend. Tempers at the meeting ran hot, and violence broke out. One woman- noted citizen Ellen Halfpenny- pushed her way through the crowd to assault the mayor. MacKenzie managed to pull away from the crowd and was escorted by his supporters back to his home.

The next night the meeting was reconvened, though MacKenzie was absent. In order to better control the crowd, the meeting was held upstairs in the former granary now council chambers, which could only hold fewer people. Many people, however, forced their way up the stairs, where the heated meeting took place in the over crowded council chambers. It was recorded that much stamping of feet took place as people sought to make their displeasure known, and it was believed in the aftermath that it was this stamping that caused the floor of the chamber to collapse.

The butcher stalls in the market below were empty for the day, as the business had been concluded. So, in preparation for the next day, the butchers had sharpened and hung their knives in their racks or laid them out upon their tables and blocks, and had hung their empty meat hooks from the rafters. It was into this environment that the crowd above fell. Three or four people- it depends on which source you read- were killed, including the 16 year old son of Captain James Fitzgibbon, hero of the war of 1812. (Among other actions, it was he that Laura Secord was trying to reach when she took her famous walk.) Many people were ‘most horribly and pitifully lacerated in the fall’ as the newspapers of the day recorded, as they fell down to be caught upon the hooks, or landed amongst the knives.

Thus concluded what simply had to be the worst Toronto Council meeting ever.

MacKenzie’s first (and only) term as mayor was tumultuous from beginning to end. The election in January 1835 (Mayors served for one year terms at that time) was, typically, a riot. Votes were declared in public, leading to all sorts of acts of intimidation. Many of the new Irish immigrants were not permitted to vote for one reason or another, so they set about trying to have their say by cracking skulls. The Orange Lodge was also out in force that day, and, even though most of them could vote, they decided to double their vote by also cracking the skulls of their opponents. Inevitably, the two sides came into conflict and when the dust settled one of the Irish, a Patrick Burns, was dead. MacKenzie lost the election, which helped convince him the only path forward lay in rebellion.

Toronto Politics. go figure.