The Assassination of George Brown
Plus the Rolling Stones' scandalous week and more.
This week in 1880, George Brown was shot. He was one of the most powerful figures in Toronto at the time, the owner of The Globe newspaper and a Father of Confederation. But he didn’t always have the best relationship with the people who worked for him — like the time he cracked down on a printers’ strike and got labour leaders thrown in jail — and in the end, it was a disgruntled former employee that brought him down.
George Bennett worked at the Globe, an engineer running the boilers that drove the paper’s stream-powered printing presses. But while at first Bennett was a model employee, his alcoholism eventually got the better of him. He was fired for being drunk at work, and when he later showed up at the Globe’s offices on King Street — now angry and drunk — things got out of hand.
Bennett demanded that Brown sign a piece of paper as proof that he’d been employed there, but when Brown told him to get someone else to do it, the former engineer pulled out a gun. As Brown tried to wrestle it out of his hand, the pistol went off. The bullet hit the publisher in the thigh. And while at first it seemed like the wound wasn’t too serious, it soon became infected. It festered away for weeks, with Brown refusing to ease up on his busy workload, until it finally killed him.
Bennett was quickly tried and convicted of murder, hanged at the Don Jail. His remains were buried in an unmarked grave, rediscovered more a century later when the old prison was being turned into the Bridgepoint hospital.
The story of the accidental assassination is one of the grisly tales we’ll be covering in the new online course I’m offering next month. Toronto’s Most Notorious Murders kicks off in just a couple of weeks. You can find more info and register here.
This week in 2022, we’ll being talking about the Rolling Stones’ Torontonian scandal and more.
But before we begin, a quick and friendly reminder that The Toronto History Weekly will only survive if enough of you switch over to a paid subscription. In return, you’ll get exclusive bonus extras, like invitations to free online talks and the ability to comment on posts.
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A SCANDALOUS WEEK FOR THE ROLLING STONES
COCKROACHES NEWS — There was exciting news about our city’s musical history this week. The Rolling Stones announced they’ll be releasing a new live album that was recorded in Toronto nearly 50 years ago, during a scandalous pair of shows at the El Mocambo.
It was March of 1977. And the Rolling Stones were in serious trouble. Just a few days earlier, their guitarist Keith Richards had been arrested by the RCMP. The police raided his hotel room at the Harbour Castle on the waterfront and found about $4,000-worth of heroin in the bathroom, as well as some cocaine. Richards got out on bail, but was facing the possibility of life in prison. The future of one of the biggest rock groups on the planet was hanging in the balance.
Still, the Stones went ahead with their shows at the El Mo that week. The gigs were the first they’d played in a small club in fourteen years (to be recorded as part of their Love You Live album, which would feature four of the songs from those Toronto sets). And to make sure the small venue didn’t get overwhelmed by crowds, the Stones kept the shows a secret. They played under a false name, calling themselves The Cockroaches, so that only a few hundred people were in the audience as the band took the stage.
One of them was Maggie Trudeau, the prime minister’s wife. And her presence sparked a second scandal.
She and Pierre had been married for exactly six years — to the day. Instead of spending their wedding anniversary together, he was in Ottawa while she stepped out of Mick Jagger’s limo outside the El Mo, took in the show, and then spent the whole night with the band, up until nearly dawn smoking drugs and playing cards.
I wrote about the public outrage those nights sparked in The Toronto Book of Love:
The headlines from her nights with the Rolling Stones were especially brutal, made all the more shocking by Keith Richards' arrest. "SEX ORGY IN PRIME MINISTER'S WIFE'S SUITE" one newspaper cried. Rumours she'd slept with Mick Jagger were everywhere. (In fact, she spent the night with guitarist Ron Wood.) And there would be more headlines to come when she turned up a few days later, living with a princess in New York City, attending the ballet with Baryshnikov. And then again when she was photographed dancing at the notorious Studio 54 on the night her husband lost the next election. Some even worried her behaviour was going to cost him his career, and — in an era of rising Quebecois separatism — that it would lead not just to the break-up of her marriage, but of Canada.
But the media and the public didn’t realize what was really happening. The Trudeaus’ marriage had been on the rocks for years. They’d fallen out of love way back in 1974. And now their time together had come to an end. They’d agreed to separate that very morning.
And so, that night with the Rolling Stones wasn't a shocking betrayal of her marriage vows, it was Margaret Trudeau's first step into a new life. She was on her way to New York, where she would begin to build an existence apart from her famous husband, and to pursue a new profession: photography. That night in Chinatown, when the Rolling Stones took the stage in front of the El Mo's palm tree-covered backdrop, she had her camera in her hand. As the legendary rock group belted out some of their most beloved tunes — songs that had helped fuel the social revolution of the sixties, songs that helped usher in new attitudes toward love, songs that were the soundtrack of Margaret Sinclair's youth — she took photographs, hesitant at first, but more and more confident as the night wore on. "It was," she wrote, "an exhilarating start to my new career." She'd met her husband under the palm trees of Tahiti. She'd promised to marry him under the palm trees of the Bahamas. And now, under the palm trees of the El Mocambo, she was promising herself a new, better, happier life.
"It was a good night, and it was my new world."
Keith Richards would eventually get off with a very light sentence, helping to cement Toronto’s place in the hearts of The Rolling Stones. The band has had a special relationship with our city ever since, headlining the SARS benefit concert in the summer of 2003 and returning to Toronto many times over the years to play more secret shows.
And now, for the first time, we’ll be able to listen to the notorious gigs that sparked it all. Live From El Mocambo 1977 is set to be released on May 13.
THE TALLEST FACADE ON THE CONTINENT
DEMOLISHING MOST OF IT NEWS — There’s a huge new development being built at the corner of University and Dundas at the moment. Urban Toronto wrote about it this week. It’s going to be a 52-storey residential building, with offices and retail below. It will tower above the spot where the Macleans publishing empire once stood, demolishing a couple of the old buildings while retaining the facades of two more. It’s being called “North America’s tallest heritage retention.”
While reading Urban Toronto’s piece, I realized I’d actually written about one of those buildings myself years ago. There’s an amazing old panorama of the city’s skyline that was taken in 1930 from the roof of the Maclean Building. And I wrote up a little tour of the landmarks you can spot in that photo, a glimpse of what Toronto was like nearly a century ago:
You can check out the full piece on Spacing here. But I thought I’d share the little blurb I wrote about the building that gave the photographer that very — and which is now being turned into the historic facade of that new development on University:
By 1930, the Maclean family’s publishing empire was already more than four decades old. It had all started back in the 1880s with a trade journal called The Canadian Grocer. Before long, they’d added Maclean’s, Chatelaine and The Financial Post among other titles. They were the biggest publishing empire in the British Empire. And that meant they could afford to buy an entire block of land in downtown Toronto. On the north-east corner of University & Dundas, they built a whole complex to house their offices and printing presses. In 1930, the latest addition had just opened: the new Maclean Building soared a whole nine storeys into the air, making it the tallest building in the neighbourhood. That’s when a photographer climbed up onto the roof and snapped this photo of Toronto’s skyline.
Today, the building is still there. It’s on the north side of Dundas, just to the east of the intersection. On the corner itself, you’ll find a TD on the ground floor of the newer Maclean-Hunter Building; it was built in the early 1960s.
QUICK LINKS
The best of everything else that’s new in Toronto’s past…
TORONTO USED TO REGULATE HOW PEOPLE WALKED DOWN THE SIDEWALK NEWS — Quite the tweet from @heychristofur this week, digging up a bylaw from 1904 that placed restrictions on how pedestrians passed each other on the street — to the right only, please!
FREDERICK BANTING STOLE ALCOHOL FROM HIS LAB NEWS — Jamie Bradburn shared the fascinating true story behind Banting’s discovery of insulin this week — a tale that includes booze, paranoia and black eyes. Read more.
100 YEARS OF COMMUTING NEWS — A new exhibition has opened at the Toronto Archives, exploring the century-long history of the TTC. It’s free to go see. Read more.
TOP TEN VILLAINS NEWS — Veronica Appia has put together a list of “10 Canadian Leaders Who Contributed to Indigenous Oppression,” including Sir John A. Macdonald, Egerton Ryerson and Pierre Trudeau. Read more.
PIONEERING POLITICIAN NEWS — The Agenda shone a light on Leonard Braithwaite this week. The Torontonian lawyer was the first Black politician elected to any legislature in Canada. He took his seat at Queen’s Park representing an Etobicoke riding in the 1960s. Watch.
SAD MUSIC WRITERS NEWS — The Star’s long-time music critic, Peter Goddard, passed away this week. He started out as a musician himself, studying at the Royal Conservatory and playing in a series of Sixties rock groups during the glory days of Yorkville and the Yonge Street Strip. By the end of that decade, he’d became a pop critic at the Globe before finding a new home at the Telegram and eventually the Star. Read more.
ABOLITIONIST NEWS — A new short graphic novel has just been published by Heritage Mississauga. It tells the story of a family who escaped slavery in the United States and made a new home for themselves in the GTA. And it includes a visit to a meeting of the Anti-Slavery Society held at Toronto’s St. Lawrence Hall. It’s free to read. Read more.
TORONTO HISTORY EVENTS
TORONTO CITY OF COMMERCE
March 29 — 6:30pm — Online — The Riverdale Historical Society
“Author Katherine Taylor will share the stories of early Toronto businesses and products – some famous, some forgotten – and the ways in which they helped shape the city we know today. Katherine Taylor will share the stories of some early Toronto businesses and products – some famous, some forgotten – and the ways in which they helped shape the city we know today.”
Free if you join the Riverdale Historical Society mailing list, I believe.
“SALE OF SAID NEGRO WOMAN”: CHLOE COOLEY AND THE ENSLAVED BLACK PEOPLE IN NIAGARA
March 30 — 7pm — Online — Niagara Parks
“On March 14, 1793, Chloe Cooley, an enslaved Black woman in Niagara was bound and taken across the Niagara River by her enslaver to be sold in New York. Cooley was one of many Black women, men and children held as chattel in the Niagara region. This intriguing session alongside Natasha Henry will explore their lives and experiences and the role of slavery in Upper Canada.”
$15
DINING IN BABYLON: TORONTO’S LOST RESTAURANTS
March 30 — 7:30pm — Online — The North Toronto Historical Society
“North Toronto resident James Thompson will be sharing information from his research into great restaurants from Toronto’s past. Making a case that restaurants measure the level of sophistication of a city, James will acquaint you with some Toronto restaurants you may never have heard of. Our city has often been described as bland for eating out before the 1970s. James will reveal some elegant Toronto restaurants that were in step with the taste of the times. He will describe their uniqueness and their contribution to Toronto's cultural landscape, as well as reasons for their demise. James Thompson grew up in North Toronto and is a fifth generation member of the Austin family who built Spadina House.”
Free with registration, I believe.
UNDERSTANDING THE WEST: HOWLAND & CANADA’S DREAM OF EMPIRE
April 6 — 8pm — Free — The Swansea Historical Society
“Sir William Pearce Howland owned the Lambton House that still stands on Old Dundas Street, and various other local businesses that have not survived. He also had the distinction of being the only US-born Father of Confederation and the first full-time Lieutenant-Governor of Ontario. As part of Canada’s westward expansion following Confederation, the Province of Manitoba was founded in 1870. This was not an easy process for the new Dominion of Canada or for the settlers, Metis, and First Nations people in Manitoba. David [Raymont] will talk about Howland and the role that W.P. and the people of Toronto played in Canada’s growth after 1867.”
Free.
THE INDIGENOUS AND TREATY HISTORY OF TORONTO
April 7 — TBD — Online — West Toronto Junction Historical Society
“This talk will explore who the Indigenous peoples are who have lived in the Toronto area for the past several centuries, their village sites and use of the land. It will discuss the treaties between the British and the Mississaugas of the Credit for the lands in the area and will suggest opportunities for further learning. Alison Norman is Senior Historian – Indigenous History at Know History. She is a member of the Mohawk Institute Research Group, and is co-editing a book on the history of the residential school with scholars and Six Nations community members.”
Free, I believe.
STREET NAMES AND SCURRILITY
April 21 — 7:30pm — Online — Etobicoke Historical Society
“Richard Fiennes-Clinton takes a light-hearted look at King George III, and some of the connections that existed between the Royal Family the old Town of York, between the 1790s and the 1830s. George III is remembered as the King who lost the American Revolution, and who suffered from bouts of “madness”. But George III was also a family man, who tried to instill domestic virtues in each of his 15 children. But when the King died in 1820, his eldest sons embarked on a "Royal Baby Race" to provide an heir to the Kingdom. The Royal Family were the inspiration for street names in early Toronto, many of which remain today.”
Free for members; an annual membership is $25.
REFASHIONING & SUSTAINABILITY WEEKEND: MACKENZIE HOUSE & SPADINA HOUSE
April 23–24 — Various Times — Mackenzie House Museum (82 Bond Street)
“How did 19th century printers in Toronto recycle materials to avoid waste? In a 45 minute program, participants learn about 19th century recycling and how it both parallels and differs from the sustainability ethos of today. Visitors will see demonstrations of printshop equipment and take home personalized souvenirs from the 1845 printing press.”
Free.
FIDDLEHEAD FERNS & LOYALIST LAGER: HOW FOOD BUILT TORONTO
April 27 — 7:30pm — Online — The North Toronto Historical Society
“What was the food scene of early Toronto, long before its celebrity chefs and foodie festivals? In this presentation by Dr. Laura Carlson, we’ll take a long look at Toronto’s foodways: from ancient Indigenous cuisines to the city’s earliest public markets. We’ll explore how food and drink shaped the very streets of early Toronto, playing a role in everything from politics to economics to culture. Finally, we’ll hear about some famous Torontonians who built their reputations on keeping the city well fed.”
Free with registration, I believe.
MY UPCOMING EVENTS
REGISTRATION IS OPEN FOR MY NEW ONLINE COURSE — BEGINS APRIL 7!
Toronto has a bloody past. It's filled with stories of chilling crimes stretching back to the days when the city was founded. And while these tales may send shivers up our spines, they also have a lot to teach us about the place we call home. In this online course, we'll explore the history of the city through the stories of its most infamous homicides. From gangsters and serial killers to housemaids and schoolchildren, we'll meet the murderers who've been terrorizing Toronto for more than 200 years.