TORONTO OF OLD. 107 



siifibrer, annoiuiotng the theft of a Plough from the same farm. We observe that Mr. Jastice 

 Allcock, in May, 1802, lost in a similar way the iron teeth out of his harrow. In the Oracle of 

 the date named we read :— " Twenty DoDars Reward wUl be paid by the subscriber to any 

 person who will discover the man who is so depraved and lost to every a^nse of social duty, as 

 to cut with an axe or knife, the withes which bound some of the fence round the late Cliief 

 Justice's Farm on Yonge Street, and to throw down the said Fence. Independent of the above 

 inducement, it is the duty of every good member of society to endeavour to find out who the 

 character is that can be guilty of such an infamous act, in order that he may be brought to 

 justice. Robert J. D. Gray, York, June 2Sth, 1803." 



Occasionally notices of the reverse order appear, indicative of honesty in finders. A liomely 

 article picked up on the Common was judged to be of sufficient importance to its owner to 

 induce the finder to advertise as follows in the OTucle of Saturday, Aug. 14th, 1802 : — " Found 

 lately near the Garrison, a Cow-bell. Whoever has lost the same, may have it again by applying 

 to the Printer hereof, on paying the expense of this advertisement, and piroving property. 

 York, Aug. 7, 1802." Again, in the Oracle of Feb. 25, 1804: "Found on Saturday last, the 11th 

 instant, a Bar of Iron. The owner may have it again, by applying to the Printer hereof. York, 

 Feb. Sth." And again : " Found on Friday, the 5th instant, two silk handkerchiefs. Tlie owner 

 can have them agam by applying to the Printer, and paying the expense of this advertisement, 

 York, Oct. 12th, 1804." In October, 180(3, an Iron Pot was picked up : " Found, on Sunday last, 

 the 12th instant, on the beach opposite Messrs. Ashbridge's ; an Iron Pot capalile of containing 

 about .two pails full. Whoever may own the above mentioned Pot, may have it again by 

 proving property, and paying charges, on application to Samuel Lewis or to the Printer hereof. 

 York, Oct. 16th, 1806." A barrel of flour was found on the beach near the Garrison in 1802, 

 and was thus advertised: "The Public are hereby informed that there has been a barrel of 

 flour left on the beach near the Garrison by persons unlmown. Whoever wOl produce a just 

 claim to the same may have it, by applying to the Garrison Sergeant-Major, and paying the 

 expense of the present advertisement. J. Petto, G. S. Major, York, March 22, 1802." 



Peter Russell's name has become locally a household word for a kind of helhw agrorum, an 

 inordinate self-appropriator of broad acres ; and not without some show of reason, as the 

 following list to be seen in successive numbers of the Oracle of 1803 would seem to indicate. 

 Of the lands enumerated he styles himself, at the close of the advertisement, the proprietor. 

 We have no desire, however, to perpetuate the popular impression, which was that all the said 

 properties had been patented by himself to himself This, of course, was an Impossibility. He 

 simply chose, as he was at liberty to do, after acquiring what he and his family were entitled to 

 legally, in the shape of grants, to invest his means in lands, which in every du'eetion were to be 

 had for a mere song. — The document spoken of reads thus : " To be Sold. — The Front Town 

 Lot, with an excellent dwelling-house and a kitchen recently built thereon, in which Mr. John 

 Denison now lives, in the town of York, with a very commodious water-lot adjoining, and 

 possession given to the purchaser immediately. The Lots Nos. 5, 6, and 7 in the 2nd, and lot-s 

 Nos. 6 and 7 in the 3rd concession of West Flamboro' township, containing 1,000 acres, on 

 which there are some very good mill seats ; the lots No. 4 and 5, in the 1st concession of East 

 Flamboro' with their broken fronts, containing, according to the Patent, 600 acres more or less ; 

 the lots Nos. 1, 3 and 4 in the 2nd, and lots No. 2 and 3 in the 3rd concession of Beverley, con- 

 taining 1,000 acres ; the lots Nos. 16 in the 2nd and 3rd concession of the township of 

 York containing 400 acres ; the lots 32 and 33 with their broken fronts, in the 1st, and lots No. 

 31 and 32 in the 2nd concession of Whitby, containing 800 acres ; the lots 22 and 24 in the 11th, 

 lot 23 in the 12th, and No. 24 in the 13th and 14th concessions of Townsend, containing 1,000 

 acres; the lots No. 12, 13 and 14 in the 1st and 2nd concessions of CliarlottevUle, immediately 

 behind the Town plot, containing 1,200 acres ; the lots Nos. 16 and 17 in the 1st concession of 

 Delaware township, on the river Thames (La Trench [sic] ) containing 800 acres ; the lots Nos. 

 I, 3, 4, 5, and 7 in the 10th ; No. 1, 2, 4, 6, and 7 in the 11th, and Nos. 3, 4, 5, and 7 in the 12th 

 concession of Dereham, containing 3,000 acres, with mill-seats thereon ; and also the lots No.s. 

 22, 24, 25, 26, and 28 in the 1st, Nos. 22, 23, 25, 27 and 28 in the 3rd, Nos. 22, 24, 25, 26 and 2S 

 in the 11th, and Nos. 22, 24, 25, 26 and 28 in the 12th concession of Norwich, containing 600 

 acres, with mill-seats thereon. The terms are either cash, or good bills of exchange on London, 

 Montreal and Quebec, for the whole of such purchase, in which case a proporti(mably less price 



