Toronto of Old: Collections and recollections illustrative of the early settlement and social life of the capital of OntarioScadding, Henry
History
Toronto of Old: Collections and recollections illustrative of the early settlement and social life of the capital of Ontario
Scadding, Henry
Toronto (Ont.) -- Description and travel; Toronto (Ont.) -- History
It is with the Court Room in the Government Buildings that the Judge,
Sheriff and Crown Counsel were familiar, who were engulfed in Lake
Ontario in 1805. The story of the total loss of the government schooner
Speedy, Captain Thomas Paxton, is widely known. In that ill-fated vessel
suddenly went down in a gale in the dead of night, along with its
commander and crew, Judge Cochrane, Solicitor-General Gray, Mr. Angus
McDonell, Sheriff of York, Mr. Fishe, the High Bailiff, an Indian
prisoner about to be tried at Presqu'Isle for murder, two interpreters,
Cowan and Ruggles, several witnesses, and Mr. Herchmer, a merchant of
York; in all thirty-nine persons, of whom no trace was ever afterwards
discovered.
The weather was threatening, the season of the year stormy (7th
October), and the schooner was suspected not to be sea-worthy. But the
orders of the Governor, General Peter Hunter, were peremptory. Mr.
Weekes, of whom we have heard before, escaped the fate that befel so
many connected with his profession, by deciding to make the journey to
Presqu'Isle on horseback. (For the seat in the House rendered vacant by
the sudden removal of Mr. McDonell, Mr. Weekes was the successful
candidate.)
The name of the Indian who was on his way to be tried was Ogetonicut.
His brother, Whistling Duck, had been killed by a white man, and he took
his revenge on John Sharp, another white man. The deed was done at Ball
Point on Lake Scugog, where John Sharp was in charge of a trading-post
for furs belonging to the Messrs. Farewell. The Governor had promised,
so it was alleged, that the slayer of Whistling Duck should be punished.
But a twelvemonth had elapsed and nothing had been done. The whole
tribe, the Muskrat branch of the Chippewas, with their Chief
Wabbekisheco at their head, came up in canoes to York on this occasion,
starting from the mouth of Annis's creek, near Port Oshawa, and
encamping at Gibraltar Point on the peninsula in front of York. A guard
of soldiers went over to assist in the arrest of Ogetonicut, who, it
appears, had arrived with the rest. The Chief Wabbekisheco, took the
culprit by the shoulder and delivered him up. He was lodged in the jail
at York.
During the summer it was proved by means of a survey that the spot where
Sharp had been killed was within the District of Newcastle. It was held
necessary, therefore, that the trial should take place in that District.
Sellick's, at the Carrying Place, was to have been the scene of the
investigation, and thither the _Speedy_ was bound when she foundered.
Mr. Justice Cochrane was a most estimable character personally, and a
man of distinguished ability. He was only in his 28th year, and had been
Chief Justice of Prince Edward Island before his arrival in Upper
Canada. He was a native of Halifax, in Nova Scotia, but had studied law
in Lincoln's Inn, and was called to the Bar in England.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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