History of Halifax City

by Thomas Beamish Akins

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262 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 31, 2012

Reviews

[Adam McPhee · Rating 2 out of 5]

Decent chronology of Halifax if you can get past the racial attitudes prevalent in the writing. There's a fascinating account of a shipwreck and a story about a prison escape where an actor impersonated a dog.

French bodies found on initial settlement of Halifax: Tradition says that on clearing the ground for settlement a number of dead bodies were discovered among the trees, partly covered by the underwood, supposed to have been soldiers of the Duke D'Anville's expedition which put into Chebucto Harbor in 1746,[12] but the Governor in his letter does not mention the facts.

A Sicilian nobleman was one of the first settlers of the town, but he committed a horrible crime: In the spring of 1752, a number of settlers arrived in the Nancy, under the charge of Lt. Young. About the same time the Marquis DeConte, a Sicilian nobleman, and a number of other foreign settlers, came to Halifax from the island of Tercera, one of the Azores, and settled in the town.... December 9th, 1758. Peter Marquis de Conte and Gravina, convicted for intent to commit rape on a child under the age of ten years, was sentenced by the Court to walk between the hours of 11 and 12 this day from the north to the south side of the Parade, and from thence to the jail with a paper placed on his breast with his crime inscribed thereon, and to be confined for three months and fined thirty pounds; to remain in jail till the same be paid. Governor Lawrence remitted the first part of this sentence. The Marquis de Conte was a Sicilian nobleman; he had been an officer in Goreham's Rangers. ... June 16th, 1759. Peter Marquis de Conte and Gravini, was released from his imprisonment, he having paid his fine. This gentleman died at Halifax. His will is recorded in the probate office.

In May of this year the Governor and Council offered a bounty for sowing land with grass on the peninsula of Halifax, also for the erection of stone fences around the lots, and for raising grain and potatoes.

How the American Revolution was dealt with: The period between 1770 and 1776 was one of great public excitement, emissaries from the revolted colonies were numerous, and the Governor and Council deemed it expedient as early as 1770, to prohibit all public meetings of a political nature.[43] The same spring the general election took place, after which the House sat for fourteen years without being dissolved. ....

Among the events of this year (1776) was the appearance in one of the Halifax newspapers of copies of treasonable articles from the Rhode Island and Boston papers. The printer was brought before the Council and reprimanded and cautioned against permitting any such publications again to appear in his paper. Among the various exhibitions of public feeling at this period was the erection of a gallows, on the Common, with a boot suspended from it as a token of disapprobation of Lord Bute's Government.

Impressment: The impressment of men for the Navy had been a great grievance; the trade of the country was not only injured, but the town was becoming deprived of fish and fuel in consequence of the scarcity of fishermen and labourers. The merchants petitioned the Governor and Council on the subject. The memorial was sent to the naval commander of the station; it does not appear, however, that any further attention was paid to the remonstrance.

1779. General McLean left Halifax in June with a force for the reduction of Penobscot. In August, a squadron, consisting of several men-of-war and some merchant vessels, among which were the Adamant and St. Lawrence, sailed from Halifax for his relief. The town continued to be infested with Press Gangs for the ships of war. The inhabitants complained to the Governor and Council. Several riots on the wharves having occurred in consequence of the press, proclamation was issued demolishing all impressments except under the sanction of the Governor and Council.

1805. Press warrants were granted by the Council on the 6th May to Vice Admiral Sir Andrew Mitchell, then in command of the station, for fourteen days. He afterwards demanded an extension of his warrant for six months, which was refused by the Council at their meeting on the 18th. In their reply to the Admiral they mention that the number of seamen engaged in the West India trade, etc., had been so reduced by captures, imprisonment and other causes that there were not sufficient in the port to man the vessels, and that all the seamen to be found in the town would not now be enough to meet half the demand for one sloop-of-war in the fleet. Moreover, that there were many at the time in French prisons whose families were supported by charity in the town. This, together with the high rate of wages in the United States, had reduced the commerce of the port to the greatest necessity. Finally, that the execution of impress warrants on shore were attended with much disturbance and annoyance to the laboring poor and others not fit for service, and the Council were of opinion that it should only be resorted to on the most urgent occasions and when advantage from it was to be reasonably looked for.

Mitchell, finding he could not prevail on the Council, undertook, in the following October, to send press gangs through the town without warrant. An armed party of sailors and marines from the Cleopatra, frigate, under the command of one or more officers, were sent out. The citizens resisted and a riot ensued, which resulted in the death of one person and the wounding of several others. One of these encounters occurred in the store of Messrs. Forsyth & Co., where a number of merchant sailors had secreted themselves. General Wentworth called a meeting of the Council on 23rd November, and it was ordered that the Solicitor-General should proceed to prosecute all persons belonging to the ships war who had been engaged in impressments. The Attorney General, R. J. Uniacke, Mitchell's father-in-law, was in England at the time, on leave of absence. The Admiral's gang had broken open the store of Forsyth & Co. under the pretense of looking for deserters, and Sir Andrew defended his conduct under the authority of a warrant from the Admiralty, but he was condemned in heavy damages for his illegal proceedings.

1814. A press warrant was granted to Rear Admiral Griffiths on 28th February, when many of the idle and worthless vagabonds of the town were happily secured for His Majesty's service, where they would be brought under wholesome restraint.

lol: Mr. Legge, the Governor, proposed to raise a regiment in Halifax, to be commanded by himself, but was unsuccessful owing to his unpopularity.

Jails: 1777. The jail at Halifax was at this time in a very insecure condition. Criminals were continually escaping from it, several of whom had been found guilty of being in arms against the King. The jailor was infirm and his wife took charge. There were no regulations enforced for visiting the prisoners at night, and the shackles on the prisoners were found not to be sufficient. The Provost Marshall was suspended and Mr. Bridge appointed to act in his place.

1789. On 15th August, the jail was broken open, and a prisoner for debt, one Livesay, who had been imprisoned at the suit of William Stairs, escaped, for which Sheriff Green was prosecuted; Green stated that he had repeatedly represented to the Council the insecure state of the jail. Mr. James Clarke succeeded Mr. Green as Sheriff of Halifax, this year.

1816. There had been no theatrical performances worthy of mention in the town since the Duke of Kent's old theatre in Argyle Street had been appropriated to the school under Mr. Bromley. In the autumn of this year a company of players, Messrs. Price, Chamock, Placide, etc., fitted up an old store on Fairbank's wharf as a theatre. Placide, Price and Mrs. Young were considered good performers and attracted large audiences. At the close of their career the manager got into jail for debt, when Placide, the best comic actor of the company, distinguished himself by escaping from prison and passing the sentry at the jail gate in the night, who supposed it was a Newfoundland dog, Mr. Placide being famous for imitating the bark and whine of the canine species.

Election time: 1788. An Election for Members for the Town took place this winter, which was attended with extraordinary excitement. On the 20th February the poll opened, at the Court House, in Halifax; the candidates were Mr. Charles Morris and Jonathan Sterns. It closed on the Friday following, when it stood: Morris, 415; Sterns, 274. Majority for Morris, 141. Mr. Morris was carried through the Town and then taken home to his father's house. Hand-bills had been posted up reflecting on the government. Serious riots at the election occurred and many persons were hurt, some of whom received fractures of the skull and other severe injuries. Armed persons paraded the Town assaulting individuals. As this was a very remarkable election, and resulted in more turbulence and riot than had ever before occurred in the town on such occasions, we here copy the following extract from Anthony Henry's Gazette of 25th February:—"The unwearied and spirited exertions of a number of respectable gentlemen in a great measure calmed the minds of the people, and prevented their violence being carried to any very great length; nevertheless it was utterly impossible, in such confusion, to prevent many persons from being wounded and hurt, two of whom, we are sorry to inform the public, remain in a dangerous state; one having his skull fractured by some persons who rushed out of Laycock's house on the beach, and the other having been dangerously wounded by a shot from a window in the same house. We are likewise sorry to inform the public, that Mr. Benjamin Mulberry Holmes and his son, have been much beaten and abused by the populace on Friday night, and were it not for the very fortunate and timely interposition of Mr. Tobin's man and some others, it is probable they would have fallen a sacrifice to an enraged multitude."

The excitement had been caused partly by certain proceedings on the part of the judges of the Supreme Court against Mr. Sterns and Mr. Taylor, two practising lawyers in the town, whose names had been struck off the roll by Chief Justice Deschamps. One of the gentlemen, Mr. Sterns, was the defeated candidate at the election.

The regular packet between Halifax and Boston, the Schooner Nancy, usually occupied three days in her trips. She was commanded by Capt. J. Huxford. He was afterwards known in Halifax as Crazy Huxford. He was on board the Shannon, frigate, in the engagement with the American ship Chesapeake, and had been wounded in the head, from which he never fully recovered. He was one of the best pilots on the coast and was, until his death, a naval branch pilot attached to the Dockyard. When under the influence of liquor he became frantic and was continually shouting through the streets of the town without hat or coat. This poor old man died about twenty-five or thirty years ago at a very advanced age.

Louis Philippe visited Halifax: On the 30th October, H. M. Ship Porcupine, Capt. Evans, arrived from New Providence, having on board the Duke of Orleans and his two brothers, the Duke of Montpensier and Count Beaujolie, attended by Count Montjoye. They had been waiting for a passage to England and had proceeded here in the Porcupine in hope of meeting with an opportunity of going to Europe. Finding no immediate opportunity to England, they both took their passage in a merchant ship for New York. Though considered as prisoners on parole, they dined with the Governor, and paid a visit to the Duke of Kent at the Lodge. They also attended a public ball at Government House on the 17th November. The Duke of Orleans was afterwards elected to the French throne as Louis Philippe, King of the French, and eventually died in exile in England. After he became king, on meeting with several persons from Nova Scotia, he very kindly enquired after several gentlemen of Halifax by name and spoke with much feeling of the kindness he experienced while in Halifax. On arrival he was found to be in very straitened circumstances and the Duke of Kent was believed to have given him pecuniary assistance to enable the party to proceed on their voyage.
And Aaron Burr: Among the visitors to Halifax this year was the notorious Aaron Burr, late Vice President of the United States. He passed under an assumed name.

Vice: 1813. The upper streets were full of brothels; grog shops and dancing houses were to be seen in almost every part of the town. A portion of Grafton Street was known under the appellation of Hogg Street from a house of ill-fame kept by a person of that name. The upper street along the base of Citadel Hill between the north and south barracks was known as "Knock him Down" Street in consequence of the number of affrays and even murders committed there. No person of any character ventured to reside there, nearly all the buildings being occupied as brothels for the soldiers and sailors. The streets of this part of the town presented continually the disgusting sight of abandoned females of the lowest class in a state of drunkenness, bare headed, without shoes, and in the most filthy and abominable condition.

Corpulence: David Shaw Clarke had been for some years Clerk of the Peace. He was a member of the Bar and particularly well qualified for the office he held, the duties of which he performed with much satisfaction to the public. He was very remarkable as being the most corpulent man in town. The late Samuel Muirhead, who kept a liquor shop at the head of the Market Wharf, was next in size to Mr. Clarke. Muirhead died in 1820, and Clarke, from that time to the day of his death, had no competitor. No man was better known or more popular for about thirty years in Halifax than David Shaw Clarke. He was succeeded in his office by his son James Stewart Clarke.

Drunken people were frequently to be seen in the streets in those days, yet the peace of the town was tolerably well preserved by the three or four police constables. Old Jock Henderson was very corpulent, but his great knowledge of his profession rendered him an exceedingly useful officer. Jack Mahar was celebrated as a detective, but king alcohol at last put an end to his usefulness. The practice of publicly whipping thieves had almost altogether gone out of fashion by this time, though occasionally resorted to at the work house.