PRESENTS
LEGENDS OF THE JUNCTION
The Local Option
By Kristen Buckley
It's gonna be fierce up there, 10, 000 men out on a tear
CPR boys loaded for bear
Last Call before the Junction goes dry
There's mud in the street, here's mud in your eye
Great Canadian party, eh, from here to Runnymede
You hear 'Up the Rebellion but God Save the Queen'
From LAST CALL (Before the Junction Goes Dry)
By Neil Ross and Julian Fauth
Saturday April 30 1904 saw a crowd descend on the Junction. Packed in cars
and walking the mud spattered streets, men came from along around to have
one last drink in the junction. By 5 o'clock it was nearly impossible to get
into many of the hotels in the area; the Peacock, Subway House, Heydon House
and Avenue Hotel were filled to capacity. For those that had made it inside,
many were fall down drunk. Bar tenders, journalists and police all worked
feverishly to control and capture the situation. At the Peacock, the saloon
keeper Mr. Francis Watt made a wise decision to cut off the supply of drink.
The crowd was getting too boisterous and it was likely someone was soon to
be trampled. Under the direction of County Constable Brown and his four policemen,
the Peacock crowd was shuffled out of the bar and into the street. There was
little violence during this move but the language was ungodly. Now, although
the Peacock crowd was without liquor did not mean their night came to an end.
The bar crowd merely joined the numerous men who took over Dundas Street West
sloshing through the mud and haggling passersby. The scene at the Avenue Hotel
was not much better. At the Avenue, the saloon keeper also decided to close
before the mandatory 7pm temperance enforcement except the Avenue did not
have the aid of the police. The lack of police led to violence between disgruntled
patrons. One particular incident involved John Smith, an Englishman of professional
boxing size. The night of debauchery had taken its toll on Mr. Smith however
and when he opened his mouth to heckle he was so intoxicated four young men
easily took him to the ground. The crowd did not react well to this attack
however and in the commotion John Smith regained his composure, sober with
fury and pursued his attackers through the bar, out into the street and into
the muddy distance. The last hotel to close that wet night was the Occidental.
As other hotels and saloons closed sending their patrons to the streets, many
congregated outside the Occidental to taunt the swarm of police there led
by Chief Royce. Many of the men were not simply satisfied with harassing Chief
Royce though; they wanted to continue drinking. Although the Occidental had
been successfully closed at 6:45pm, some persistent men forced there way back
in by forcing open a small window. Although these men were unable to make
it to the bar, they did cause the police much grief in trying to get them
to leave again. When Chief Royce opened the main door to go in and fetch the
persistent drunks, the crowd surged after him and the police were once again
left with the task of emptying a rowdy, overcapacity bar.
In the end, Chief Royce and his men, supported by County Constable Brown and
county constabulary, successfully emptied all the Junction bars in and around
7pm and over 90 years of local option came into effect. Although the crowds
did not disperse immediately, the major incidents were behind them and eventually
the crowd dispersed leaving a messy scene of mud, empty beer bottles and broken
glass. It is claimed almost 10 000 men descended on the Junction that night,
mostly city men and CRP workers and despite a police presence of only 10 men,
the night was virtually violence free.