The journalists who were feeding the early printing presses learned what all journalists have learned; that crime news is prime news.
– Mitchell Stephens, A History of News
A small army of Nova Scotia’s earliest, crime-obsessed journalists filed the reports that form the foundation for these stories. The newspapers of an earlier age spared no ink or paper when it came to coverage of crimes and trials, often providing verbatim transcripts of testimony and legal arguments. These accounts are the only surviving record of some trials and many key events.
Some of these reports were sensationalized. Rumours were printed, lending them the veneer of fact. Nineteenth-century newspapers were openly partisan, proudly proclaiming their biases and political beliefs. And too many journalists assumed suspects were guilty long before a court passed judgment. But the sheer number of newspapers that once covered Nova Scotia’s courts (as many as a half-dozen were published in Halifax in the mid-1800s) helped to ensure accuracy. Journalists were quick to correct mistakes made by their rivals, leading their readers – and today’s researchers – closer to the truth.
To verify press reports and dig deeper into each story, I consulted an array of books and primary sources. The original court files have survived for some of these cases, while research at Nova Scotia’s provincial archives turned up case-related letters, reports, petitions, and other documents. The Nova Scotia Supreme Court’s official case reports, available online, include rulings on Nicholas Martin’s prosecution for murder, the Zero mutiny, and the brazen robbers who looted a Halifax bank while the tellers were outside, watching a circus parade. The additional historical accounts, biographies, memoirs, and other published sources listed below allowed me to flesh out the legal, political, and social context of these cases, and provided the detail needed to bring characters and events to life.
Akins, T.B. “History of Halifax City,” Nova Scotia Historical Society Collections, vol. 8 (1892-94), 3-320.
Bank of Nova Scotia v. Forman et al, in Nova Scotia Reports, 1872-75, vol. 3, 141-61.
Beck, J. Murray. “‘A Fool for a Client’: The Trial of Joseph Howe,” Acadiensis: Journal of the History of the Atlantic Region, vol. 3 no. 2 (Spring 1974), 27-44.
-------- The Government of Nova Scotia. Toronto, ON: University of Toronto Press, 1957.
-------- Joseph Howe: Volume I, Conservative Reformer, 1804-1848. Montreal, QC: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1984.
-------- “The Nova Scotian ‘Disputed Election’ of 1859 and Its Aftermath,” Canadian Historical Review, vol. 36 (1955), 293-315.
-------- Politics of Nova Scotia, Volume One: Nicholson-Fielding, 1710-1896. Glen Margaret, NS: Four East Publications, 1985.
-------- “Rise and Fall of Nova Scotia’s Attorney General, 1749-1983,” in Peter B. Waite, Sandra Oxner, and Thomas Garden Barnes, eds., Law in a Colonial Society: The Nova Scotia Experience. Toronto, ON: Carswell, 1984, 125-42.
Bird, Michael J. The Town that Died: The True Story of the Greatest Man-made Explosion Before Hiroshima. New York: Putnam 1963.
Blakeley, Phyllis R. Glimpses of Halifax, 1867-1900. Halifax, NS: Public Archives of Nova Scotia, 1949.
Cahill, Barry. “‘Fide et fortitudine vivo’: The Career of Chief Justice Brian Finucane,” Nova Scotia Historical Society Collections, vol. 42 (1986), 153-69.
-------- and Jim Phillips. “The Supreme Court of Nova Scotia: Origins to Confederation,” in Philip Girard, Jim Phillips, and Barry Cahill, eds., The Supreme Court of Nova Scotia 1754-2004: From Imperial Bastion to Provincial Oracle. Toronto, ON: University of Toronto Press, 2004.
Calnek, W.A. History of the County of Annapolis. Toronto, ON: William Briggs, 1897, 293-94.
Cameron, Silver Donald. Schooner: Bluenose and Bluenose II. Toronto, ON: McClelland and Stewart, 1984.
Chisholm, Joseph A. “Sir Thomas Strange, C.J.,” Canadian Bar Review, vol. 24 (1946), 600-03.
-------- “The King v. Joseph Howe: Prosecution for Libel,” Canadian Bar Review, vol. 13 no. 8 (1935), 584-93.
-------- ed. The Speeches and Public Letters of Joseph Howe, vol. 1 Halifax, NS: Chronicle Publishing Co., 1909.
-------- “Three Chief Justices of Nova Scotia,” Nova Scotia Historical Society Collections, vol. 28 (1949), 148-58.
Cuthbertson, Brian. The Old Attorney General: A Biography of Richard John Uniacke. Halifax, NS: Nimbus Publishing, 1980.
Dennis, Agnes. “Reminiscences of a Halifax Centenarian (Mrs. P.H. Lenoir),” Nova Scotia Historical Society Collections, vol. 23 (1936), 2-3.
DesBrisay, Mather B. History of the County of Lunenburg. Toronto, ON: William Briggs, 1895, 501-58.
Dictionary of Canadian Biography. Available online: www.biographi.ca.
Doull, John. “Four Attorney-Generals,” Nova Scotia Historical Society Collections, vol. 27 (1947), 1-16.
-------- “The First Five Attorney-Generals of Nova Scotia,” Nova Scotia Historical Society Collections, vol. 26 (1945), 33-48.
-------- “Sketches of Attorney Generals of Nova Scotia, 1750-1926” (Unpublished typescript, 1964).
Dubinsky, J. Louis. In and Out of Court. Hantsport, NS: Lancelot Press, 1981.
Elliott, Shirley B. The Legislative Assembly of Nova Scotia, 1758-1983: A Biographical Directory. Halifax, NS: Province of Nova Scotia, 1984.
Gillespie, G.J. Bluenose Skipper. Fredericton, NB: Brunswick Press, 1955.
Greco, Clara. “The Superior Court Judiciary of Nova Scotia, 1754-1900: A Collective Biography,” in Philip Girard and Jim Phillips, eds., Essays in the History of Canadian Law, Volume III: Nova Scotia. Toronto, ON: University of Toronto Press, 1990, 42-79.
Hale, C.A. The Early Court Houses of Nova Scotia, vols. 1 and 2, Manuscript Report No. 293. Ottawa, ON: Parks Canada, 1977.
-------- “Early Court Houses of the Maritime Provinces,” in Margaret Carter, comp., Early Canadian Court Houses. Ottawa, ON: Parks Canada, 1983, 37-77.
Harris, R.V., comp. Catalogue of the Portraits of the Judges of the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia and Other Portraits. Halifax, NS: Law Courts, 1929.
History of the Bank of Nova Scotia, 1832-1900. Halifax, NS: Bank of Nova Scotia, 1901.
Judicial Proceedings Relating to the Murder of Capt. Benson on Board the Brig Zero. Halifax, NS, 1866.
Kesterton, Wilfred H. A History of Journalism in Canada. Toronto, ON: McClelland and Stewart, 1967, 21-3.
-------- The Law and the Press in Canada. Ottawa, ON: Carleton University Press 1984, 3.
Kimball, R.E. The Bench: The History of Nova Scotia’s Provincial Courts. Halifax, NS: Province of Nova Scotia, 1989.
Kitz, Janet F. Shattered City: The Halifax Explosion and the Road to Recovery. Halifax, NS: Nimbus Publishing, 1989.
Lynch, Charles. You Can’t Print THAT!: Memoirs of a Political Voyeur. Edmonton, AB: Hurtig, 1983.
Lynch, Peter. “Early Reminiscences of Halifax – Men Who Have Passed From Us,” Nova Scotia Historical Society Collections, vol. 16 (1912), 171-204.
MacDonald, Peter V. Court Jesters: Canada’s Lawyers and Judges Take the Stand to Relate Their Funniest Stories. Agincourt, ON: Methuen, 1985.
MacMechan, Archibald. “The Saladin Pirates,” in Old Province Tales. Toronto, ON: McClelland & Stewart, 1924, 207-38.
MacNutt, W.S. The Atlantic Provinces: The Emergence of Colonial Society. Toronto, ON: McClelland & Stewart, 1965.
Oxner, Sandra E. “The Evolution of the Lower Court of Nova Scotia,” in Peter Waite, Sandra Oxner, and Thomas Garden Barnes, eds., Law in a Colonial Society: The Nova Scotia Experience. Toronto, ON: Carswell, 1984, 59-79.
The Queen v. Dowcey, Douglas et al, in Nova Scotia Reports, 1865-67, vol. 2 part 1, 93-140.
The Queen v. Nicholas H. Martin, in Nova Scotia Reports, 1853-55, vol. 1, 322-26.
The Queen v. Watson et al, in Nova Scotia Reports, 1876-77, vol. 2, 1-5.
Raddall, Thomas H. Halifax: Warden of the North, rev. ed. Toronto, ON: McClelland & Stewart, 1971.
Russell, Benjamin. Autobiography of Benjamin Russell. Halifax, NS: Royal Print & Litho, 1932.
-------- “Reminiscences of the Nova Scotia Judiciary,” Dalhousie Review, vol. 5 (1925), 499-512.
Saunders, E.M. Three Premiers of Nova Scotia: The Hon. J. W. Johnstone, the Hon. Joseph Howe, the Hon. Charles Tupper, M.D., C.B. Toronto, ON: William Briggs, 1909.
Schull, Joseph and J. Douglas Gibson. A History of the Bank of Nova Scotia, 1832-1982. Toronto, ON: Macmillan of Canada, 1982.
Smith, James F. “Cumberland County Hatchet Murder,” Nova Scotia Historical Quarterly, vol. 5 (June 1975), 117-29.
South Shore, Seasoned Timbers, Vol. 2: Some Historic Buildings from Nova Scotia’s South Shore. Halifax, NS: Heritage Trust of Nova Scotia, 1974.
The Supreme Court of Nova Scotia and Its Judges: 1754-1978. Halifax, NS: Nova Scotia Barristers’ Society, 1978.
Townshend, C.J. “Historical account of the Courts of Judicature in Nova Scotia,” Canadian Law Times, vol. 19 (1899), 25-37, 58-72, 87-98, 142-57.
-------- History of the Court of Chancery in Nova Scotia. Toronto, ON: Carswell, 1900.
-------- “History of the Courts of Chancery in Nova Scotia,” Canadian Law Times, vol. 20, (1900), 14-21, 37-42, 75-80, 105-17.
Townshend, C.J. “Memoir of the life of the Honorable William Blowers Bliss,” Nova Scotia Historical Society Collections, vol. 17 (1913), 23-45.
Trial of Jones, Hazelton, Anderson and Trevaskiss, Alias Johnston for Piracy and Murder on Board Barque Saladin. Halifax, NS: Petheric Press, 1967.
Trueman, Howard. The Chignecto Isthmus and Its First Settlers. Toronto, ON: William Briggs, 1902.
Waite, Peter B. The Man From Halifax: Sir John Thompson, Prime Minister. Toronto, ON: University of Toronto Press, 1985.
Willis, John. A History of Dalhousie Law School. Toronto, ON: University of Toronto Press, 1979.