1890s Hamilton

                      A week after a public meeting protesting immorality in some of Hamilton’s theatres, Reverend R. G. Boville, of the James Street Baptist Church, created a sensation when he secretly attended a performance at the Star Theatre. Rev. Boville, not wishing to be recognized, wore a disguise:         “His make-up was that of a well-to-do businessman out for a lark. He wore a black, fedora hat, and an ordinary suit of clothes, with a mourning coat and, carelessly hung over his shoulder, a tweed ulster. Having a walk more characteristic of a businessman than of a preacher, he was not taken by the management of the Star for a clergyman, nor would he have been by anyone who did not know him.” 1             1 Herald. May 19 1895         “Seated in a box   near the passageway leading from the stage to the dressing rooms, Rev. Boville and a reporter from the Herald who accompanied him, were the objects of some flirtation from the lady performers:         “The fair soub

  As described by a Times reporter who was present for the big debate. From the Hamilton Times.     February 27, 1895.Image 393 “There is not a hat in the city that Prof. Williams, barber, preacher, and debater, can get his head into today. The professor is a probationary minister, and it must not be inferred that the cause of his big head is that which is usually assigned for a cranium being in a swelled condition. The reason of it that he was gloriously victorious in the debate on ‘Women and Money,’ last night with the heretofore invincible debater, ‘Prof.’ Grant. “The victorious professor, it is said, spent the greater part of last night and this morning shaking hands with himself, his friends, his enemies and the clock – but chiefly with himself. “And the victorious debater is now waiting for telegrams from some of his illustrious brothers in the south, and cablegrams from crowned heads of Europe, congratulating him upon his success. While there can be no doubt about the vict