LEAVES THEY HAVE TOUCHED. 99 



When The Sj^eedy foundered, Mr. Herchmer, a merchant of York, 

 also perished. I have Mr. Herchmer's signature attached to a 

 receipt, which happens to give the amount of municipal tax paid by 

 two citizens of York in 1801. " Received, York, 22nd April, 1801, 

 from Alexander Wood, Esq., for Doct. Burns, the sum of four 

 dollars, being the amount of his Taxes and his brother's. J. Herch- 

 MER, Collector. Doct. Burns, I65., Alex. Burns, Esq., 4^.; total, 20s." 

 One barrister who narrowly escaped drowning in The Speedy was 

 Mr. Weekes. He determined, as Mr. Thorpe proposed to do, to 

 " ride " to the vessel's destination, and so saved his life. My speci- 

 men of Mr. Weekes' autograph consists of an order for window-glas3 

 and putty left with Mr. Wood. He was contemplating building at 

 York. " Please to order from England for me Six Hundred feet of 

 Glass, ten by sixteen inches, and putty sufficient for glazing the 

 same. W. Weekes. 12th Oct., 1805. Alexander Wood, Esq." 

 In the following year Mr. Weekes was killed in a duel at Niagara. 



Chief Justice Allcock's successor was Chief Justice Scott. I have 

 two autograph letters of Mr. Scott. One was written when he was 

 Attorney General, and is addressed to Judge Powell, requesting him 

 to nominate some one to conduct the Crown business in his absence, 

 it being necessary for him to repair to York in consequence of the 

 death of the Lieutenant-Governor, General Hunter. " As the 

 melancholy event," he says, " that hath taken place renders it a duty 

 in me to return to York as soon as possible, I request that you will 

 appoint any gentleman at the Bar whom you may think fit to carry 

 on prosecutions for the Crown, when a person in such a situation 

 may by you be considered as necessary." The other letter was 

 written by Mr. Scott eleven years later, on his being allowed a 

 pension. It is addressed to Governor Gore, and reads thus : " March 

 30th, 1816. My Dear Sir: I have only time to offer my sincere 

 thanks to your Excellency and the Members of the Legislature, 

 Their generous conduct I see and feel ; and I shall ever bear in mind 

 the high obligation they have laid me under. I now return the 

 enclosed according to your request. I am, with great regard, your 

 Excellency's obedient and obliged servant, Thos. Scott." The 

 pension was the comfortable one of £800 sterling per annum, as 

 appears from a receipt which I have : it is a printed form tilled up, 

 and it runs thus with great and satisfactory particularity : " Upper 

 Canada. Receiver General's Office, Y ork, the third day of January, 



