Section II, 1912 [217] Trans. R. 8. C. 
William Dummer Powell. A Critical Incident in his Life, 1792. 
By C. C. JAMEs. 
Read May 15, 1912 
Some weeks ago there was sent to me the following extract from 
“ The Gazette of the United States” of Saturday, July 23rd, 1792. 
“By a gentleman of veracity from Canada we are informed that 
when he passed Three Rivers, he met an escort who had Judge 
Powel of Hesse District in Upper Canada with them, a prisoner 
and in irons. The charge against him was said to be treason— 
letters having been detected written in his name, and as report says 
in his hand, giving information to his friends in the United States 
how Detroit may be easily carried. This gentleman was formerly 
of Boston, in New England; and when our informant saw him he 
was on his way to Quebec, by order of the Commanding Officer 
at Detroit.” 
This referred to the Honorable William Dummer Powell, who was 
born in Boston in 1755, educated in England; returned to Boston; 
served under General Gage; upon the evacuation of Boston went to 
England, where he was called to the Bar; came to Canada in 1779; 
practised for some years in Montreal; was appointed Judge of the 
Court of Common Pleas for the District of Hesse in May, 1789; went to 
England with the petition of the Upper Canada Loyalists and helped 
procure the passing of the Act of 1791; and was resident at Detroit 
until the latter part of 1793 or early in 1794, being succeeded by Judge 
Jacques Baby. He was appointed Chief Justice of Upper Canada in 
1815 and remained upon the bench until 1825. He died in Toronto in 
1834. The record of his life as given in Read’s “ Lives of the Judges” 
shows him to have been a man of great ability, who rendered splendid 
service to Upper Canada and who had the confidence of the people. I 
could find no reference whatever there or in any of the histories to the 
matter set out in The United States Gazette. Was it a case of mistaken 
identity or a case of early Yellow Journalism? The fact that the item 
appeared in The United States Gazette suggested that there must be some 
foundation for the bit of news. Of course the charge of treason could not 
be true, but had such a charge been made or had anything happened that 
might be so construed? Here was something about which our histories 
were silent—this only added interest and aroused curiosity to know what 
was behind it all. 
