586 Among the Thousand Islands. 



deeds, and escapes, — followed by his final capture, — which would 

 fill a novel. Indeed, we understand that a novel has been written by 

 a Canadian Frenchman on this theme, though we have not had the 

 good fortune to find any one who has read it. The burning of the 

 steamer Peel, which occurred on the 29th of May, 1838, remains, 

 however, an act of inexcusable and stupid incendiarism, answering 

 no conceivable good' purpose. 



For some time there had been mutterings among certain of the 

 societies, and for a few days previous to the occurrence something 

 mysterious was felt to be in progress. The night of the 29th was 

 dark and rainy. About eleven o'clock, the Peel, then on her way 

 from Prescott to Toronto, stopped at McDonald's Wharf, on the 

 south side of Wellesley — now Wells — Island, for the purpose of 

 replenishing her almost exhausted stock of wood. The passengers 

 were all asleep in the cabin, and the crew busily engaged in their 

 occupation, when a body of men, twenty in number, disguised as 

 Indians and with blackened faces, yelling tumultuously and shouting, 

 " Remember the Caroline!" ran quickly down the bank, armed with 

 muskets and bayonets, led by a tall, strongly built man, in a red 

 shirt — Bill Johnston himself. In a moment they overpowered the 

 unsuspecting crew, while on board all was tumult and terror. Some 

 of the ladies fainted, and several of 'the passengers fled to the shore 

 through the rain, clad only in their night-clothes. A short oppor- 

 tunity was allowed for the passengers and crew to carry their bag- 

 gage to the shore, but by far the greater part was lost when the 

 vessel was subsequently burned. 



Toward morning, the Peel was drawn off from the wharf, and 

 after being run upon a point of shoal about thirty yards below, 

 was set on fire and abandoned. For some time the flames blazed 

 aloft, illuminating the shores for miles around ; but about dawn in 

 the morning she once more got adrift, and finally sank in about 

 seventy feet of water. It was nominally the intention of the captors 

 of the steamer to convert her into a gun-boat and use her against the 

 Canadian Government ; but upon finding that she was firmly aground 

 and resisted all their efforts to get her free, they fired her to prevent 

 her recapture. By some it is asserted that the vessel was deliber- 

 ately robbed and then burned to prevent detection and throw an air 

 of patriotism over the crime of the perpetrators. 



