Connecticut western news., 1878-03-28
ALMOST A WAR WITH CANADA.

ALMOST A WAR WITH CANADA. The Patriot AGair-The Burning of the Steamers Caroline and Sir Rob ert Peel.
 From "Among the Thousand Is- lands," by Howard Pyle, in .Scri6ner for April, we clip the following interest ing incident of the Patriot war :"- Of late years perhaps no event caused such stir of excitement in this region as the so-called Patriot war in 1838-a revolt of certain Canadians dissatisfied with the government of Sir Francis Bond Head, then Governor-general of Canada-which was joined by number of American agitators ever ripe for any disturbance The first center of opera tions of these so-called patriots was Ma " Island, in the middle of the Niagara River, where they congregated, en- ploying the little steam-vessel G Caro- line, in carrying arms and munitions of war to that point. At length the steamer was captured by some Canadians, fired, and run over the falls of Niagara. Con- siderable indignation was excited in the United States, by this destruction of the property of American citizens, particu- larly along the border, where indigna- tion meetings were held and secret so- cieties called |" Hunters Lodges " were formed, with passwords, secret signals and all due attendant mysteries, the ex- pressed purpose of which was revenge upon the Canadian government. The agitators were deceived by these signs into imagining that events were now ripe for general border war, in which they hoped to free Canada from the rule of Great Britain.
 It was wild, insane affair altogether, and after some time consumed in petty threats of attack, finally reached eli max in the burning of the Canadian steamer " Sir Robert Peel" one of the finest vessels upon the St. Lawrence. The most prominent actor in this affair was Bill Johnson-a name familiar to every one around this region-whose ca reer forms series of romantic adven- lures, deeds, and escapes-followed by his final capture, winch 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, 1888, remains, how ever, an act of inexcusable and stupid incendiarism, answering no conceivable good purpose.
 For some time there had been mutter- ings among certain of the societies, and for few days previous to the occurrence something mysterious was felt to be in progress. The night of the 10th was dark and rainy. At about II o'clock the Peel" then on her way from Pres colt to Toronto, stopped at McDonald's Wharf on the south side of Wellesley now Wells-Island, for the purpose o
 replenishing her almost exhausted stock of wood. The passengers were all asleer in the cabin, and the crew busily engaged in their occupation, when body of men
 twenty in number, disguised as Indians
 and with blackened faces, yelling tumult
 uouslv and shouting, Remember tn, Caroline p ran quickly down the bank
 armed with muskets and bayonets, lec
 by tall, strongly built man in ret
 shirt-Bill Johnston himself. In mo
 ment they overpowered the unsuspect
 ing crew, while on board all was tumul
 and terror. Some of the ladies tainted
 and several of the passengers fled to tn
 shore in the rain, clad only in their nigh
 clothes. A short opportunity was al
 lowed for the passengers and crew t. carry their baggage to the shore, but b,
 far the greater part was lost when tn vessel was subsequently, burned.
 Toward morning the "Peel" was draw
 off from the wharf, and after being run up
 on point of shoal about thirty yards be
 low was Set fire and abandoned. For som time the flames blazed aloft, illuminatin, the shores for miles around but abou dawn in the morning she once more go adrift, and finally sank in about sevent, feet of water. It was nominally the ill tention of the captors of the steamer t, convert her into a gunboat and use he against the Canadian Government bu upon finding that she was firmly agroun, and resisted all their efforts to get he free, they fired her to prevent her recap ture. By some it is asserted that tn vessel was deliberately robbed and the1 burned to prevent detection and thro7 an air of patriotism over the crime of tn
 perpetrators.