232 CANAPIAN LOCAL HISTORY : 



Jail of the Home District suffer much from cold and damp, there being no method of eommuni' 

 eating heat from the chimneys, nor any bedsteads to raise the straw from the floors, -which lie 

 nearly, if not altogether, on the ground." He accordingly suggests that "a small stove in the 

 lobby of each range of cells, together with some rugs or blankets, will add much to the comfort 

 of the unhappy i>ersons confined." The magistrates authorize the supply of the required neces- 

 saries, and the order is marked "instant." (The month, we are to notice, was December.) At 

 a late period, there -vyere placed about the town a set of posts having relation to the Jail. They 

 Were distinguished from the ordinary rough posts, customary then at regular intervals along 

 the sidewalks, by being of turned wood, with spherical tops, the lower part painted a pale blue ; 

 the upper, white. These were the "limits" — the certi denique fines — beyond which, theoretical 

 detenus for debt were not allowed to extend their walks. 



Leaving the picketted enclosure of the Prison, we soon arrived at an open piece of grouAd on 

 the opposite (north) side of the stred;,— afterwards known as the "Court House Square." One 

 of the many rivulets or water-courses that traversed the site of York passed through it, flowing 

 in a deep serpentine ravine, a spot to be remembered by the youth of the day as aifording, io 

 the winter, facOities for skating and sliding, and audacious exploits on "leather ice." In this 

 open space, a Jail and Court House of a pretentious character, but of poor architectural style, 

 were erected in 1824. The two buildings, which were of two storeys, and exactly alike, were 

 placed side by side, a few yards back from the road. Their gables were to the south, in which 

 direction were also the chief entrances. The material was red brick. Pilasters of cut stone 

 ran up the principal fronts, and up fce exposed or outer sides of each edifice. At these sides, 

 as also on the inner and unornamented sides, were lesser gables, but masked by the portion of 

 the wall that rose in front of them, not to a point, but finislung square in two diminishing 

 stages, and sustaining chimneys. It was intended originally that lanterns should have sur- 

 mounted and given additional elevation to both buildings, but these were discarded, together 

 with tin as the material of the roofing, with a view to cutting down the cost, and thereby 

 enabling the builder to make the pilasters of cut stone instead of "Roman cement." JoJm 

 Hayden was the contractor. The cost, a,s reduoed, was to be £3,89Q for the two edifices. 



We extract from the Canadian Review for July, 1824, published by H. H. Cunningham, Mon- 

 treal, a short account of the commeneemeht of the new buildings: "On Saturday, the 24th 

 instant, [April, 1824,] his Excellency the Lieutenant-Governor, attended by his staff, was met 

 by the Honorable the Members of the Executive Council, the Judges of the Court of King's 

 Bench, and the Gentlemen of the Bar, with the Magistrates and principal inhabitants of York, 

 in procession, for the purpose of laying the foundation-stone of the new Jail and Court House 

 about to be erected in this Town.^A sovereign and half-sovereign of gold, and several coins of 

 silver and copper, of the present reign, together with some newspapers and other memorials of 

 the present day, were deposited in a cavity of the stone, over which a plate of copper, bearing 

 an appropriate inscription, was placed ; and after his Excellency had given tne first blow, witti 

 a hammer handed to him for the purpose, the ceremony concluded with several hearty cheers 

 from aU who were present. — If the question were of any real importance," the writer adds, "we 

 might have the curiosity to inquire why the deposit was made in the south-east, rather than in 

 the north-east corner of the building ?"— a qnery that indicates, as we suppose, a deviation from 

 orthodox masonic usage.— In one of lie lithographic views published in 1836 by Mr. J. Young, 

 the Jail and Court House, now spoken of, are shewn. Among the objects inserted to give life 

 to the scene, the artist has placed in the foreground a country waggon with oxen yoked to it, in 

 primitive fashion. 



After 1825, the open area in froni of the Jail and Court House became the " Public Place " of 

 the town. Crowds fiUed it at elections and other occasions of excitement. "We have here wit- 

 nessed several scenes characteristic of the times in which they occurred. We here once saw a 

 public orator run away with, in the midst of his harangue. This was Mr. Jesse Ketehnm, who 

 was making use of a farmer's waggon as his rostrum or platform, when the vehicle was suddenly 

 laid hold of, and wheeled rapidly down King Street, the speaker maintaining his equilibrium 

 in the meanwhile with difficulty. Mr. Ketchum was one of the most benevolent and beneficent 

 of men. We shall have occasion to refer to him hereafter.— It was on the same occasion, we 

 believe, that we saw Mr. W. L. McKenzie assailed by the missiles which mobs usually adopt. 

 From this spot we had previously seen the same person, after one of his re-elections, borne aloft 



