[Notes from Editor: As page numbers in electronic editions do not correspond to those in original printed versions, they are omitted from any Tables of Contents or Illustration Lists in works that we transcribe. Spellings are left as they were in the original work. Sentence & punctuation anomalies are also (mostly) left intact. Footnotes follow the paragraph in which they are referenced, enclosed by square brackets. Richard MacNeil]

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for preparing this transcription, October 2005.

HISTORY

OF

THE COUNTY OF PICTOU
______

CHAPTER XI.

County and Court Business.

As we have mentioned in a previous chapter, Pictou was, in the year 1792, set apart from Colchester as a separate district. One of the first steps taken in consequence, was the erection of a jail. It stood on the lot now occupied by the establishment of James D.B. Fraser & Sons. The lower part of the building, forming the cellar storey, was built of stone, with grated windows. The upper was of logs, and clap-boarded on the outside. This contained at the one end rooms for the jailor; at the other, a lock-up for prisoners. Below were cells, in which criminals were confined, the more desperate in irons. It was built by John Patterson, and the following account at this time, including this and other items, may be given as a curiosity;

The Magistrates of Pictou Dr. to John Patterson , Sr

The stocks stood in front of the jail, and for many years were used for the punishment of the offenders. In our younger days a pair stood on the east side of George street, but were not then used.

Dr. McGregor says that on his arrival, “As for lawyers, there was such good neighborhood, that we never expected to need a lawyer or a court house.” But the above account shows that these days had passed; that they had use for a jail, and that on one occasion its occupant had been so dissatisfied with the accommodation, that he had taken forcible measures to be relieved from it.

By the act erecting Pictou into a separate district, a Court of General Sessions of the Peace and Inferior Court of Common Pleas, was appointed to be held at Walmsley, on the 3rd Tuesday of January and 3rd Tuesday of July.

The Records of the Sessions for the first few years have been lost. The first book commences with January term 1797, held before, Hugh Dunoon, Robert Pagan, John Dawson, Nicholas P. Olding and Edward Mortimer, Esquires. These, we may observe , were the leading justices of the county for many years. An account of the business done, will afford some interesting information regarding the state of the county.

First comes a large number of regulations, regarding animals of the male kind going at large, which we need not particularly specify. But we may remark, that the establishment of pounds in various parts of the district, and regulations for impounding cattle, occupy a large space in their proceedings in subsequent years.*

* [Thus we find , in 1802, the various pounds located as follows;

“ That no person shall nett a salmon net, seine or wear more than two-thirds across the channel at low water, in any of the rivers within this district, nor nearer to that of his neighbour’s than the distance of fifty yards, to be measured in the direction of the tide or stream.

“ And that no person or persons shall fish salmon in any manner of way whatever within this district after the 19th day of October, on transgression the net to be forfeited, and a fine of twenty shillings to be levied of the same, or from the goods and chattels of the offender, the same to be disposed of as in the case of boars (i.e. one-half to the informer, and one-half to the overseers of the poor,) no prosecution to be without the complaint is made within ten days after the offence is committed, the seine or net to be seized while in the water, and carried immediately to a Justice of the Peace, who is to judge of the offence, and if the seine or net is returned by the owner or any persons, the fine is to be doubled, any proprietor or household may prosecute said offence.

“Also , that no person or persons within the district shall fish salmon with a spear or by sweeping with a net or seine, under the penalty of £5 for every offence, said fine to be disposed of as in the regulations respecting boars.

“Also presented and ordered that no person or persons shall fish salmon with net, spear or otherwise in that part of the Middle River between Archibald and Taylor’s Mill-dam and Alexander Fraser, Sr.’s under the penalty of £10 for each and every offence, one moiety to the prosecutor, and the other moiety to the overseers of the poor, for the use of the poor. And that no person or persons shall catch any salmon fish, in either of the two pools at the foot of the falls, on the West Branch East River, and also in the pool at the foot of the falls on the West River of Pictou, about two miles above William McKenzie’s, under a penalty of 40s., to be disposed of as in the last case.”

For the killing of a bear a premium of twenty shillings is allowed on presentation of the muzzle. This was afterward reduced to ten shillings.

Then comes an order to “ tax every poll from 16 upward three shillings, every horse one year old and oxen and cows four years old three pence, every sheep one year old one half-penny each, every 100 acres of land, three pence per hundred, for the making and repairing highways within this District, the respective overseers and committees to lay out the work as formerly, in the most needfull places on the publick highways in the different settlements within this District.”

The roads then existing, for which overseers were appointed are named as follows, viz., “Fishers Grant, West River, Middle River, West Side East River, East side East River, East Branch from Colin MacKenzie to Peter Finners, Upper Settlement, West Branch, Little Harbour, Above the Town Gutt, Merigomish, Gulph.” But at this meeting steps were taken for the opening of the roads from “John Blaikies on the hill (at what is now the Cross Roads Green Hill) unto Charles Blaikies on the West River,” and "from Charles Blaikies to the mouth of the West River," and "from Alex. McLean’s upper line on the East River to the head of the tide,” and a Special Sessions was appointed to “lay out a road from Robert Marshalls to Hugh Frasers.”

In regard to the collecting of taxes, we find the following:

“Presented and ordered that John Patterson, senr., be allowed ten per cent for being Treasurer, and collecting the tax assessed in the year one thousand seven hundred and ninety-five, and likewise charge no leakage or weastage on any of the produce that he receives, but to be accountable to the District for the whole as he receives it.”

The taxes were generally paid in grain or maple sugar, and were received by local collectors, who brought it to him, but we find in July the same year, that it was

“Presented and ordered that John Brownfield be allowed the sum of twelve shillings and six pence for bringing wheat and oats from Merigomish to Pictou to satisfy the jail tax.”

The following are all the other items of expenditure:

“Also ordered that Mr. Patrick McKay be allowed the sum of five shillings for the use of his house for a Grand Jury room this present term, by an order upon the Town Treasurer.

“Also presented and ordered that the sum of twenty shillings be allowed to Edward Mortimer, Esquire, for the use of his house as a Court House, cuttin and Hauling fire-wood, putting on fires, &c., &c., by an order on the Treasurer.”

Similar bills were allowed in subsequent years, the places of meeting being John Patterson’s store, William Lyndsay’s tavern or other places.

The business was concluded by a criminal trial, the full record of which we must present to our readers.

“ The prisoners having been brought forward and arrainged at the bar, witnesses sworn and interrogated, The Court having considered the evidence, and the parties being found guilty, do adjudge the whole of them be stripped naked from the middle upwards and receive as follows, viz; Peter Tarbett thirty-nine lashes, Sophia Tarbett, thirty-nine lashes, and Hannah alias Rose , thirty lashes on the naked Body by the hands of the proper officers, and be thence committed to Prison, until the Court think it practicable to banish them out of this District, it being now an intense season.
“Pictou, January 18th, 1797.
“Jan’y 18th 1797. Issued a warrant unto James Crocket, William Robertson and William Fraser, constables, to take the three Negroes and strip them from the middle upwards, and whip them as specified in the sentence, &c. which warrant was returned Executed to-day.
“ William Fraser, one of the constables, who being appointed to assist in whipping the Negroes, refused to assist, was fined by the Court in the sum of forty Shillings.
“His Majesty’s General Quarter Sessions of the Peace for the District of Pictou stands adjourned until next term.

We may mention that the punishment of flogging continued to be inflicted for years after. The last case took place in the year 1822. A person, residing near the Town Gut, having lost his wife, bought a full mourning suit. A darky stole the same, and having arrayed himself in the whole, even to hat and crape, started for Truro, but was arrested in this genteel rig, and was flogged, tied to a cannon, which still stood in our younger days at Yorston’s corner, though on other occasions parties were tied to a cart.

At the July term we find the name Robert Lowden as an additional Justice, and the following added to the regulations regarding salmon fishing;

No settler to buy or barter salmon fish , salt or fresh, from any Indian or Indians within said District, from nineteenth day of October, 1797, to the nineteenth day of May, under a penalty of ten pounds, one-half to the prosecutor, the other half to the overseers of the poor.”

The jail seems to have engaged attention, for we find the following order:

“That the Lower story of the jail (order to be floored with two inch plank in the year 1794 be done away)] be now floored with four inch pitch pine plank, with pitch pine sleepers laid upon stone, the sleepers to be four inches thick and six inches deep, five in number, the plank to be spiked to the sleepers, with spikes eight inches long—likewise that the jail be clapboarded with sawed clapboards, the first stroke to be 1 ½ inch plank round the foundations; corners, doors and windows to be cased with weather boards on each end, the whole to be finished by the 30th October in a workmanlike manner—that John Patterson, senr., and Wm. Lowden, senr., be inspectors to see the work carried on - also that Daniel McKay, Wm Monsieur and Thomas Fraser, carpenter, be a committee to see that it be finished in a workmanlike manner and that the same be vandued to the lowest bidder at Mr. John Patterson’s store, on Tuesday the 8th day of August next at 12 o’clock, meridian, and that David Lowden, John Patterson, junr., and Duncan Cameron be a committee to vandue the same - also ordered, that the Clerk of the Peace advertise the above in the most public places on the Harbour of Pictou, West, Middle and East Rivers, Merigomish and Gulph.”

The following additional items of expenditures passed:

As to the assessment for the year, it was now ordered.

“ That £140 currency be raised in the District, the same to be appropriated to the making and repairing a certain road leading from Mr. George McConnell’s unto Truro, as far as the line of the District of Pictou, and £60 for defraying District charges.”

Considering the state of the country at this time, we regard the above vote for the Truro road as exceedingly creditable. The raising of the amount, however, was afterwards deferred till the year 1799, at the January term in which year it was resolved, that

“all the licencse money now on hand, due or that may become due before the 1st day of July next, and not already appropriated, be added to the £140, the overseers to straighten the crooks as they may see most beneficial for the benefit of the public. Also that the £9 9s 6d in the Treasury, being the sum allowed the District for the express purpose of making roads, out of the sum raised here as Provincial taxes, be also laid out on such road. And further provided that in the case any part of the £140 to be levied be not paid before July the amount be borrowed, so that the work may be done before haying.”

David Archibald was selected as commissioner, to have, with John Archibald, of Truro, the whole management . He was to be paid 7s. 6d. per day, and to give his obligation to the Court to see the money laid out for repairing said road in the most advantageous manner. It was at the same ordered that it “ be made 12 feet wide, clear of every incumbrance whatever and to be thrown up from each side where it may be necessary.”

The collecting this tax however was a work of time. For years we find in John Patterson’s ledger , charges to the settlers of “Cobyquid Road Tax.”

In the year following, the business was so similar that we need not repeat, but a few items of a different nature may be given. Thus in regard to salmon fishing we have the following in the year 1798:

“That no person or persons within the district shall set or leave a net or seine in any of the rivers within this district, from Saturday at 12 o’clock noon, until Monday following at 12 o’clock noon, and for each and every offence, upon the oath of one credible witness, shall pay a fine of 40s. And also that no person or persons shall chase, follow or drive fish into nets, or seines in any manner of way whatever in any of the rivers within this District during the fishing season, and for every offence on conviction by the oath of one credible witness, shall pay a fine of £2 currnecy.”

We also find in the year 1805, orders for a fish-gate at Archibald’s mill-dam, Middle River, to be only one foot high from the bottom of the river in front of the dam and three and a–half feet on the back, four feet wide in passage-according to the frame given by David Archibald so as to allow passage at all seasons.

In the same year we find the following:

Criminals still required attention for the same year we find:

“ Ordered that Mr. William Lowden , Senr., be empowered to get a good and sufficient pair of stocks made for this District in the cheapest manner possible, on or before the fifteenth day of January, 1799, and to be delivered to the sheriff or jailor, to be by him deposited in the jail, unless otherwise directed by the magistrates, the expense to be defrayed by an order on the Treasurer.”

These did not seem to last long, for at the July term, 1804, we find an order, that two pairs of stocks be made, one for Merigomish, and one for the Harbour of Pictou.

Again in 1805, we find it ordered:

“That a board fence be built at the front of the District Jail, sufficient to prevent any communication from persons on the outside to them within said jail, the fence to be about eight feet high and twelve feet from the front of the jail.”

Then as to expenditure we find the following

The tendency of municipal expense is to increase. And hence we find, that the salary of the Clerk of the Peace, which was £3 in 1797 was in 1800 raised to £4, and his successor received £5. But there was a great delay in collecting taxes, and salaries were long in arrears. Thus we find in 1803, the Court ordering “ the £70 which was voted by the grand jury in 1801, for defraying public charges be raised immediately, the late emigrants, who have been only two years in this settlement to be exempted.” And in the same year in July, £20 10s. was voted to Thomas Harris, for his services as clerk since 1799.

Of regulations of a general nature we may insert the following.

1799 “Presented and ordered that cognizance be taken of all persons within the District, guilty of not clearing away all putrid fish, meat or other nuisance from about their houses, stores or wharfs, which may be the means of causing an offensive air, and be prejudicial to the health of the inhabitants of the District.”

1804. “ That the law of this Province respecting shipping throwing their ballast overboard below high water mark, be put in force.”

The following however we do not regard as so commendable. In the year 1801, it was resolved to “memorialize Government and the Legislature for authority that there might be three public fairs established within this District, viz., on the Harbour of Pictou, the week following the Court (Wednesday); the second on the East River, handy to the public road of the Lower Settlement on the West Side, the last week of September; the third on the large beach at the east end of Merigomish, on Wednesday preceding that of East River.” These fairs continued to a late period, the principal being held at David Marshalls, now Horns, place, Middle river. But they were little more than scenes of drinking.

The first notice of a ferry is in 1807, when we find “John Foster licensed to keep ferry at Fishers Grant, that he shall not charge more than 15d. for a single person, 9d. apiece for four, 6d. apiece over four, and for swimming across oxen or horses 1s. 6d. per head."

Again we have various orders against parties violating sound morality, such as the following:

Sometimes a jury was empanelled and criminals tried under a regular indictment. Thus in 1805, we find an indictment against S.L.N. for assault on Mr. Mortimer, on which the jury found him not guilty.

The annual action on the laying out of roads show something of the progress of the country. Thus at the July term 1797, we find an order for “inspecting the road from West to East Branch passing James Grants Mill;" at the January term 1798, we find a committee appointed to lay out a road from the harbour to Scotch Hill, Angus Campbell, Wm. Fraser, Hector McQuarrie and Duncan Cameron being then mentioned as residents at the latter place, one to lay out road up McLellans Brook to Peter Frasers, and another to lay out a road from Fishers Grant to Little Harbour; and the road along the West River was confirmed with the following luminous description. “Beginning at a gate on the publick highway, at the foot of Anthony McLellans intervale, from thence crossing the river and leading up the river, on the road now occupied, and continuing its course as far as a pair of bars at Robert Stewarts, from thence to go to the Southward of the road now occupied, until it strikes the old road on the bank of the river, at a small piece of Intervale, and from thence to continue along the old road, until it joins the road already established." At the same meeting, a return was made of “ the road on the East River from Donald Frasers to the Governors Road.” In the following January term, we find the road from the West to the East River confirmed, but it is not till 1805, that we find a committee “to lay out a road from Hugh Frasers East River to Fishers Grant.”

For the better protection of the roads we find the following orders:

The granting of licenses for the sale of intoxicating liquors occupied the attention of the Court from the first. All the merchants received license to sell liquor by retail. At the very first meeting, we find license granted to “Ed. Mortimer to retail spirituous liquors for the term of six months, he yielding obedience unto the laws of the Province.” And there were always one or more “taverns or places of public entertainment” in town and several in the country. Thus in 1799 the list is ---

* [He was from Scotland and built the house long known as Mrs. O’Neill’s tavern, where he followed the same employment . His house was frequently the place of meeting of the Sessions.]

It is evident that all the traveling of those days would not require so many places of entertainment, and that they must have drawn largely for their support on the inhabitants. Still we find them increasing, for in the year 1801, it was resolved, “That not exceeding two tavern licenses be granted to innkeepers on the Harbour of Pictou, and only two within Merigomish, also that one be granted to some person residing on each of the three rivers in Pictou, and also one on the Gulph.” The year previous there had been four licences granted at the Harbour.

Troubles however would arise from breaches of the law. Thus in 1798 we find parties summoned to a special sessions in John Patterson’s store, for retailing spirituous liquors, and in the year previous, the following presentment of the Grand Jury: -

“On the presentment of Ye Grand Jury , it is ordered, that J.D. be summoned, to attend the General Sessions of the Peace, to give an account of his conduct, for the retailing spirituous liquors, contrary to the intent and meaning of the laws of the Province, as appears by the evidence, on the trial of three Negroes on the 18th January, 1797, for petty larceny, one of said negroes having carried a pawn or pawns to the house of said J.D. on the Lord’s Day, and in exchange thereof, received spirituous liquors to a small amount in proportion to the article lodged."

In the year 1800, the first bridge was built across the Town Gut, by John Patterson. Our readers may have an idea of the inconvenience of traveling, if they just reflect on the fact, that there was not previously a bridge of any size in the whole county. Arrangements were made for crossing small streams by felling trees across them. Sometimes a single tree was used , on which a traveler might cross on foot, but sometimes two or three might be placed together, which formed a rude bridge, not only more convenient for the foot traveler, but over which a horse might pass. But commonly the streams were crossed by fording where shallow, and often this involved a considerable circuit, while the deeper required canoes.

The bridge now constructed was built on wooden pillars, with stringers from one to another the whole distance from shore to shore, the present embankment not having been made till the next bridge was built, about the years 1818-20, and the channel in the center having since that time been cut out by the waters thus confined. It was a creditable structure for the time. We give the Deacon’s account, from which it appears that it was built partly by subscription on the part of those in town, and partly by the Sessions, without any Government aid.

It will thus be seen that at the time of the Deacon’s death in 1808, eight years after the work was done, there was still a considerable part of the amount remaining unpaid.

About the same time other bridges were engaging attention. At the July term, 1801, the License money, amounting to £17 4s., was ordered “ to be expended, £10 on the bridge over James McKay’s Gut, East River, £3 to assist building a bridge over the East River of Merigomish, and £4 4 for a bridge over French River.”

In the year 1803 the first bridge at New Glasgow was built, about a hundred yards above the site of the present one, but it was all carried away the following winter. The next bridge there was built by Robert Grant, miller, on piers, the portions of which below water have formed the foundations of all the bridges that have since been built there.

In the same year we find it ordered that “all the statute labour for this present year, from Anthony Cultons on the East River of Pictou on both sides, downwards, including Fishers Grant, be laid out in erecting a bridge across McKays Gut, and also the deficient labour on Fishers Grant for the last year be laid out on the same, and to be begun on the first of July next.”

In July term of that year, £20 of license money was voted “to assist in erecting a bridge over the Middle River, but in case the above bridge will be built by Government money, the above to be expended otherwise.”

In the year 1804, we find it voted “that the bridge on the Saw-mill Brook, on the road leading from the Harbour to the West River, be railed, the same to be paid out of the public Treasury.” It was also agreed to expend so much of the public money as may be necessary for repairing the bridge on McCulloch’s Brook, Middle River. These votes show that these had been previously erected.

As showing the progress of expenditure, we give the amounts voted at February term, 1808,-

Altogether, an examination of these records impresses one very favorably, regarding the business habits and capacity, of those who first administered our county affairs. One who remembers them, says of those we have named. “They were all men of education and refinement, and their gentlemanly deportment and dignified manner induced a high respect for the bench, and gave a tone of order and refinement to society.” We may add, that considering all the circumstances, the records were kept by the clerk, Thomas Harris, in a very creditable manner.

The Inferior Court, as it was commonly called, or Court of Common Pleas, though issuing progress to any part of the Province, trying titles to land, and indeed doing the same work as the Supreme Court, with the exception of the higher criminal business, was not presided over by a legal mind. It was not till the year 1824, that the act was passed, by which a lawyer was to be appointed the presiding judge and also President of the Court of Sessions, an act which at the time was very unpopular. Even then he was to be aided by two lay justices. At this time however all the judges were laymen. The first book of Records of the Court now existing commences with the year 1804. The first Judges of the Court were Hugh Dunoon, Robert Pagan, and either then or a little later, John Dawson and Edward Mortimer. One who remembered them on the bench, says, “They all commanded respect. The former were in education superior to the last, but from natural gifts he after all exerted the most influence.”*

* [The following is a list , so far as we have been able to make it up, of all who occupied the office till the abolition of the Court;

Hugh Dunoon, John Dawson, Robert Pagan, Edward Mortimer, A. McDonald, George Smith, Robert Lowden, Andrew McCara, James Skinner, William Mortimer, Abraham Patterson. Under the act of 1824, Jared I. Chipman was appointed first justice for the eastern part of the Province. He died on 2nd June, 1832, and was succeeded by William Q. Sawers, who filled the office till the abolition of the Court.]

Besides the Inferior Court, there was established in each county by an act of the Legislature, a court known as the Commissioners Court, consisting at first of five, and afterward of three, commissioners, which met monthly for trial of cases of debt, up to a certain amount. Of this court in Pictou, Mortimer was the head and almost the body. The system did not continue long.

The first meeting of the Supreme Court of which we find a record , took place on the second Tuesday of June, 1806, George Henry Monk being the presiding judge. It was usual at that time for two judges to attend, but, he being the only judge of the Supreme Court present, the judges of the Inferior Court, Hugh Dunoon, John Dawson, and Robert Pagan sat with him as associates. In the following years, Judge Monk usually presided, with either Brenton Halliburton or Foster Hutchinson as his associate. Thomas Harris (clerk) was the first Deputy Prothonotary, and his cousin, Thomas Harris, the surveyor, was sheriff at this time. The court sat once a year, till the year 1816, from which time it met twice a year, in June and September.

There being no court house, the first sittings of the Supreme Court were held in a building on the west side of George Street, a little below Church Street, now, we believe, Dr Kirkwood’s barn, but then a carpenter’s shop. To the lower end, it was said, was sometimes a pig pen, which even extended under the building. The late D. Fraser used to say, that he was foreman of the first jury. On his describing the place of meeting, one asked him, “Where was your jury room?” He replied, “When allowed to retire to make up our verdict, we went to a grove in McGeorge’s pasture,” which was near the site of the Episcopal church. In this or places not much better, the Court continued to meet, till the erection of the court house in the year 1813.

The first movement for the erection of a court house was at the January Sessions, in 1801, when it was resolved, “That a proper piece of ground to build a proper court house on near to the Blacksmiths shop, on the north side of Pictou Harbour, be purchased from the owner. And as Walmsley is a very inconvenient place to hold a court at, Government ought be immediately memorialized to confirm the above spot, where court house is to be built, and Sir John Wentworth to give a name to the township.”

At a meeting of the Sessions, presided over by judge Monk, at the first sitting of the Supreme Court, it was “ordered that £200 be assessed for erecting court house,” but this was not done that year, and accordingly in the following year, (1807)] the Court resolved, that, “the Grand Jury not having assessed the amount necessary, the district be amerced £150, which appears necessary for defraying the District debts and charges, with £200 formerly for court house.“ In the estimates for 1808 appears £30 for “purchasing a lot for court house.” It was not however till the year 1813, that the building was erected, being that now known as the old court house.

The only lawyer resident in town at this time was John Fraser, a son of Capt. Fraser, already referred to. He was also the first collector of customs and was hence usually known as Collector Fraser. A number of eminent lawyers began to attend, among whom S.G. W. Archibald was especially noticed, but there were also such men as Chandler, S.B. Robie and W.H.O. Halliburton, who interested the people by their eloquence or amused them by their flashes of wit.

We may at this place give the names of the officers of the Court till the present time. The offices of clerk of the Peace and Prothonotary have in this county always been held by the same person. Thomas Harris died in 1809, but we find George Smith holding these offices from 1806 till 1809. Walter Patterson succeeded, and continued to hold both positions till his death in 1821. At his death, his brother Archibald was in office for a few months, when Dr. James Skinner* was appointed. He died in 1836, and was succeeded by his son, James Skinner, Jr., who died in 1861, and was succeeded by David Matheson.

* [Dr. Skinner was a son of the Rev. Donald Skinner, parish minister of Ardnamurchan, and grandson of Hugh McLean of Kingarlock, Argyleshire. He was for years active not only as a physician, but in the public business of the county.]

Thomas Harris, Sr., was deputy sheriff till 1811, when he was succeeded by the late John W. Harris, who continued in office till the county was divided in 1836, when the Government appointed J.J. Sawyer, who had formerly been High Sheriff of the united county of Halifax, to be High Sheriff of the three counties of Halifax, Colchester and Pictou, and Mr. Harris was appointed his deputy. But when the Legislature met, the House of Assembly set their faces against this plurality system, and in the following year, he was appointed High Sheriff, which office he continued to hold till 1857, when his son, Wm. H. Harris, succeeded him.

In connexion with this, we may here notice the first trial for murder in this county. The crime was committed on the 26th May, 1811, by a man named McIntosh. He had been originally a tradesman, but took up the idea of going into business. He went to Halifax and obtained a supply of goods, which he put on board a schooner to bring around to Pictou, but was detained all winter in Guysborough. Giving himself out as a person of some importance, he succeeded in marrying there a lady, renowned for her beauty. Arriving in Pictou in spring, he commenced merchandizing, and flourished while the goods lasted; but when they were done he found himself in debt. His creditors had him arrested, when a friend, named Dougald McDonald, obtained his release by becoming security for his appearance at court. When the time arrived, however, he failed to appear. The judge told his bailsman to take him wherever he could find him. The latter accordingly went with the sheriff to try to seize him. McIntosh shut himself in his house, which stood on the east side of Yorstons wharf , a little below where Hamilton’s bakery now stands. McDonald took a crowbar and commenced prying open the door. As soon as he had it partially open, McIntosh fired a blunderbuss at him, the contents of which lodged in his body, so that he bled to death in an hour or two.

The magistrates met and immediately issued a warrant for the arrest of McIntosh. But he armed himself and defied any one to arrest him, threatening death to every person who should touch him. Leaving his house, he crept under the wharf, and perching upon some of the logs, it was no easy matter to dislodge him, and almost every person was afraid to venture near. At length, John Sylvester, of Middle River, a fearless old man-of-war man, undertook, with another, to make him prisoner. Taking a pistol, he went under the wharf, and, immediately presenting it, ordered McIntosh to come down, threatening to fire if he did not do so at once. Seeing his determination, the latter surrendered.

McIntosh was arraigned for murder at the Supreme Court, on the 3rd of August, 1811, and his trial came on in due course on the 5th, before Judge Monk. There being then no proper court house, the trial took place in the old Presbyterian church. As this was the first case of the kind in Pictou, great interest was excited, and the house was crowded. Trials were not conducted in so tedious a manner as they are now, but this was prolonged well into the night, so that the closing address was delivered by candlelight. R.J. Uniacke, the Attorney- General, conducted the case for the Crown, and the prisoner was defended by Halliburton and Chipman, who set up as a defence that an Englishman’s house was his castle, and that he had a right to defend it against any person breaking in. The Attorney-General closed the case in a manner that excited general admiration. He had taken no notes either of the evidence or the addresses of the opposing counsel. But with his marvelous memory, he omitted no fact bearing on the case, and no point in the objections of the defense, disposing of all opposition with consummate ability. McIntosh was accordingly condemned, and on the 7th sentenced to be executed. But while he lay in prison, the jubilee of George III. was proclaimed, and he was pardoned. During his imprisonment, he seemed affected by his situation, and every Sabbath sent a request for the prayers of the church. But on obtaining his freedom all his concern vanished. He afterward went to St. John, where he was drowned. His widow married in the United States a very wealthy man, and was living till recently.

We may add here that in subsequent years, the county suffered much from litigation, especially regarding boundary lines, owing in a great measure to the manner in which the surveys for the early grants were conducted. Sometimes the surveyors were incompetent, but more frequently the system was to blame. The one rule adopted was to give more land than was named. Some of this was put down , as “allowance for roads, &c., “ while such excuses as slack chainage or hilly land formed pretexts for further additions. But besides this, surveyors exercised a sort of princely liberality, as it was regarded, in giving as if the land were their own, a considerable surplus. This was deemed kindness to the settlers, but from the disputes which these extra quantities produced, it would have been a real kindness to the county if each man’s quantity had been exactly measured. Then sometimes the lines were not run round the whole lot, but merely corners set, and the courses marked, and thus the settler was often left to his own conscience how much he would appropriate. Again grants were given nominally for a certain amount, but to a certain boundary or some other grant, without the distance being measured, though it might include an additional quantity, as large as was originally intended. Then the possessor of the next grant might consider himself equally entitled to the land between them, and perhaps would get a surveyor to run his lines, so as to interfere with the other’s. Or sometimes a second surveyor coming on the same lot, instead of endeavouring to trace the line made by his predecessor, would make a new one of his own. Such proceedings led to endless disputes, with the worst results. Two neighbours have gone to law about a piece of land till both lost their farms. We have known a litigious man ruin himself, and two neighbours in succession, upon the same adjoining lot. Then family connexions and friends would take sides in the quarrel, and the strife thus extend through a whole community.

Trials were not then the tedious affairs they are now. The judge took brief notes of the evidence, without delaying the examination, there was little squabbling over the putting a question, by which so much time is now spent, and lawyers as well as judges acted as gentlemen. Hence the trial of a cause, was often considered by many “as good as a play.”

Of all the lawyers who attended the court, Archibald stood preeminent. At a later date, Johnston was his equal in knowledge of law, but Archibald was always unrivalled in his tact and skill in managing a jury. When all other means failed, he would laugh them out of a verdict. In private he was celebrated for a constant flow of genial humour, but sometimes he had the laugh turning against him. An old Highlander on the West River, who had been much at law, but was still in comfortable circumstances, had frequently invited him to stay at his house, when traveling that way. Mr. A. at length accepted the invitation. His horse was fed and himself welcomed to the house, and soon a savoury dinner was prepared, the principal part of which was a little pig, known as a roaster. Hungry from travelling, he relished it heartily, and when he had eaten, was loud in his praises of the delicacy, and of his host’s hospitality, but at length made the unfortunate remark, “But you don’t kill all your pigs so young?" “Ah !” said the old man, “No kill her at all; she pe drooned i' the brook!”