June 5, 1876

“Yesterday morning, the Countess of Dufferin sailed out on Burlington Bay on her way to Toronto.”

                                      Hamilton Spectator      June 5, 1876

She was only in Hamilton overnight, but large numbers did head down to the bayfront to see the Countess of Dufferin:

“The yacht house flag was dipped three times in her honor, and the crowds on the docks and headlands cheered lustily as she passed down. She reached Toronto at half-past twelve o’clock and after staying there about an hour, left with a spanking breeze for Cobourg. On her arrival at Quebec, new masts and spars will be put in her, as the ones at present in use were never intended to carry her through salt water.”

First it was a countess, then it was an emperor. The countess was a yacht, but the emperor was a human being, and a real emperor.

His name was Dom Pedro and he was the Emperor of Brazil:

“This afternoon at three o’clock, Dom Pedro and suite arrived at the G.W.R. station in this city, the party being in two handsome Wagner cars – the Plymouth and the Metropolitan. Pedro travelled incognito, and the authorities made no fuss about him. However, it got noised about that he was to arrive, and in a short time over two hundred people had gathered round his car, peeping at him from the top of trucks and flattening their noses against his window panes. Dom and his suite appeared considerably amused and a chronic grin added to the beauty of their swarthy countenances while they remained. Pedro wears spectacles, has a white beard and very much resembles a prominent citizen of Hamilton engaged in the iron trade. Some of the suite left their seats. The mob passed their little jokes on the appearance of the party, which was anything but striking. After a delay of ten minutes, the train moved out for Toronto.”

Another item connected with the Great Western Railway station was carried in the June 5, 1876 issue of the Hamilton Spectator :

 “On Saturday evening while Mr. Thomas Killen, a well known tobacco dealer of Montreal, was waiting for the five o’clock train for Toronto, his pocket was picked of $3,417.  The money was in the breast pocket of his coat and must have been taken by experts. Very little effort was made by the proper authorities to detect the robbers, who have doubtless by this time got out of the reach of Canadian law.

This morning, Mr. Killen had an interview with Mr. Broughton in regard to the robbery, the result of which has not reached us.”

On the previous Saturday, an incident involving a house of prostitution, a client of that place and that client’s wife was reported in the Monday paper:

“On the north east corner of Robert and Catharine streets is situated a house of ill fame. On Saturday evening, a married man well known and respected in this city, was seen going in. The news was conveyed to his wife, who came down with a revolver and stood quietly awaiting his coming out. He not being in a hurry, she commenced pelting the door with stones, and finally threatened to fire through the window. In the meantime, the man had been let out by a back door and succeeded in escaping, and the lady being informed of this, returned home, there to “raise cain” with her lord and master on his return.”

Another Saturday incident reported in the Monday edition involved two boys at the Desjardins Canal:

       “On Saturday afternoon, a boy named Barr, one of the SPECTATOR carriers, while standing on a raft in the canal, lost his footing and tumbled into the water. After a few minutes’ soaking, he was fished out by a companion.”

          Those boys, and children of all ages across the city would have read the following item with some pleasure:

       “Mr. Charles, the active advance agent of W. W. Cole’s grand hippodrome circus and menagerie, arrived in this city on Saturday evening to make arrangements for the coming of the concorporatim , which will be on the 27^th. Mr. W.W. Cole has no connection whatever with Sam Cole, and is running his show on entirely new principles. Mr. Charles brings with him some splendid specimens of colored posters which will soon be scattered over the town.”

       The baseball game involving the Standards of Hamilton and the Tecumsehs of London which had been halted because of rain, resumed play, for awhile, at the Crystal Palace grounds:

“On Saturday afternoon, the Standards and Tecumsehs repaired to the Crystal Palace grounds for the purpose of playing the adjourned match game of base ball. Hardly had they reached the grounds before the rain fell in torrents, and the umpire, Mr. Smith, of Guelph, ruled that no game could be played. The match was therefore postponed till some day this week, when, it is hoped, the weather will be more favourable for a game.”

It was a very moving service at the Wesley Methodist Church on Sunday June 4, 1876 as the church’s long-time leader made his last sermon to the congregation:

“A very large audience assembled in Wesley Church last evening – entirely filling it – to listen to the Rev. Mr. Stephenson’s last sermon as pastor of the congregation worshipping there. The rev. gentleman selected as his text John VI, verse 40, “This is the will of him that sent me, that everyone that seeth the Son and beliveth on him should have everlasting life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” He dwelt touchingly on the last days of States, dispensations, dynasties, home life and of individuals. He spoke also of last days of ministerial association, and the tenderness of the ties, which hold a true-hearted minister’s love to a true and loving people. The text, however, referred to The Last Day, the day for which every other day is tending, in which every other day will terminate, the day with whose tremendous transactions and irrevocable decrees, every other day is involved. He alluded to the promised resurrection to everlasting life, the elements of heaven’s blessedness, and the blissful reunions where separations will be known no more. He would meet them at the final tribunal. He had not shunned to declare the whole counsel of God. He urged his hearers to prepare to meet him in heaven. Many in the congregation were deeply moved, and a very large number remained to partake of the Lord’s Supper once more with their beloved pastor and friend.”

It was a relatively short session at the Police Court on Monday June 5, 1876. There was just one drunk but several cases involving animals:

                             “DRUNK

Thomas Berry was found drunk by Constable Nixon. Fined $4

                            

                             LARCENY

Thomas Jenkins and William Murphy were charged by John Hay with stealing a dog. The case was dismissed.

                             KEEPING A FEROCIOUS DOG

E. Gorman was fined $1 for keeping a ferocious dog.

                             COWS AT LARGE

Mrs. Carroll, Mrs. Lynn, Dennis McCarthy, Anthony Murray and Mrs. Flanders were fined $1 each for having cows at large.”

Very summery temperatures usually were the case in early June in Hamilton, and so the owner of the pleasure steamer, the Transit decided to organize a special outing on his vessel:

“On Wednesday evening, the steamer Florence will convey a party on a moonlight excursion around the bay. There will be two brass bands aboard. Tickets 25 cents.”

Finally, a local storekeeper unveiled a new product which would be most welcome throughout the heat of summer in the Ambitious City”

“During the hot summer, weather, nothing can be so delicious as Stevens ‘  Temperance Cream Nectar Powders, which form a beautiful as well as refreshing beverage, very superior to ordinary temperance drinks, and for a rich, refined temperance beverage, it cannot be too highly recommended. They are put up in packages in a very convenient and portable form for family use. The cream nectar will also prove a very valuable addition to the comforts of sick rooms, to allay the frequent thirst of feverish patients and convalescents. The powder of a package is dropped in an empty tumbler, and add to it two thirds of a tumbler full of cold water, stirred immediately with a teaspoon. Parties then can take their time drinking it. On the surface rises a beautiful cream, which remains, retaining the strength of the nectar till it is all used. It is certain that it contains nothing injurious to health, even if freely imbibed, and its use will assist those who have been accustomed to alcoholic beverages to form a simpler and more unexceptionable taste. Mr. Stevens’ headquarters are No. 8 McNab street south.”