1897 - Meeting Turns Wild at the Dundas Town Hall
Dundas Town Council - 1897
Photo by Brian Henley ca 1979“Fought in the Chamber
: Exciting Scene at the Dundas Town Council Meeting”
Hamilton Times. May 19,
1897 Image 936.
(Special correspondence
of the Times)
“Dundas, May 19 – The Town
Council met again last night. Tame and quiet as the beginning of business was,
the wind up was a scene of excitement and consternation.
“A motion to adjourn
had been moved and seconded, when Councillor Fisher called the Council’s attention
to the fact that, as he had mentioned at the last meeting.
“Contractor Fielding
was going on with work at the Head street bridge, although he (Councillor
Fisher) had notified him verbally not to do so. Reeve Knowles advocated asking
for new tenders for the work, as Contractor Fielding had not carried out his
agreement to have the work done by a
certain time; and, further, the work he had done on the bridge had not turned
out satisfactory.
“A motion to hear
Contractor Fielding was carried, and in explaining matters from his standpoint,
he referred to Reeve Knowles statements as ‘pettifogging’ arguments. That
raised the ire of the Reeve, who demanded that Fielding should be put out, and
on Fielding demanding to know who would do the job., the Reeve said he would do
it himself, and, leaving his desk, he was about to carry out his purpose, but
seeing Deputy-Reeve Wilson and Councillor Fisher about to prevent him, he
called on Policeman Hyde to remove the offender, and on the Mayor to be
protected from insults. Constable Hyde, thinking that the Mayor had ordered
Fielding’s removal, proceeded with great energy to carry out the order.
“But Fielding had
decided objections to being so summarily dealt with, and the result was that he
and the constable clinched, and in an instant were struggling with each other.
“The scene was an
exiting one. Chief Twiss, who was near at hand, entered the room, and was about
to take a hand in the struggle, when the Mayor called for a cessation of the
combat. He asked Mr. Fielding to apologize for using the language he had, which
Mr. Fielding did; Mr. Knowles accepted the apology, and business oved on again.
The only damage done was to some of the recent improvements made to the council
room.
Deputy-Reeve Wilson
moved that Mr. Fielding confer with the Streets and Sidewalks Committee, and
Councillor Hickey, to see if a satisfactory solution of the matter could not be
arrived at, the committee to report to a special meeting of the Council.
“Thus ended one of the
most exciting incidents that ever took place in the Dundas Council Chamber.”
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