Chapter XIX

1843--TRIUMPH OF MR. PARIS--UTTER DISCOMFITURE OF THE CHIEF.

Driven almost to desperation, Mr. John Paris at length resolved to institute legal proceedings for redress. To submit to this oppression was criminal. To apply to the courts for protection would entail enormous expense; but no alternative presented itself. Remonstrance had been used repeatedly and ineffectually. Every pacific effort had been tried in vain. The Chief was obdurate. A narration of the whole transaction, from first to last, had been prepared by the writer. Mr. Paris went to Perth and applied to Mr. Radenhurst and some of the veteran practitioners, who advised unfavorably as to the commencement of legal proceedings. As a last resort he consulted Mr. W. O. Buell, then a new beginner. Mr. Buell took time to reply. He studied the case profoundly in all its bearings, and found it was practicable to obtain ample redress. Hitherto, actions had been brought for damages done by back water. None had ever been tried in our courts for withholding and purposely stopping the natural flow of water down stream. Mr. Buell reported favorably on all points, and advised immediate legal proceedings. The Laird's mill and part of his dam were erected on the concession line, thus blocking up Her Majesty's highway. This was a public nuisance. This was a salient point of attack. It was resolved to proceed criminally on this point, by indictment. _Actions on the case_ were also commenced against McNab and Wm. Yuill. At the Spring Assizes in May, 1843, Mr. Paris, attended by Daniel McIntyre (Dancie), Mr. James Headrick, Sr., and a number of witnesses, having proceeded to Perth, laid the matter before the Grand Inquest of the Bathurst District. A Presentment was brought into court indicting the Chief for erecting nuisances on the public thoroughfare of the township. Mr. Thomas M. Radenhurst was Crown Officer, and immediately prepared a formal Bill of Indictment. It was brought into court by the Grand Jury endorsed a "True Bill." The Chief, then in court, was immediately arrested, and being arraigned pleaded "Not Guilty." On motion of Mr. McMartin the trial was put off till the Autumn Assizes, and the Chief admitted to bail. The civil suits were also on affidavit postponed by McNab.

To weary out, to cause useless expense, and still further to harass Mr. Paris was now the object of the defendant. He imagined that Mr. Paris could not enter upon or keep up a protracted legal contest--that Mr. Paris, being a new beginner, could not furnish or procure the necessary funds to resume proceedings in the fall. He was mistaken. The friends of the latter, among whom was the writer, advanced all that was required. The Fall Assizes came on at the appointed time. Mr. Robert Hervey, of Ottawa and Mr. Buell, together with the late Mr. T. M. Radenhurst, appeared for the prosecution. The nuisance case was first proceeded with. A verdict of "Guilty" was pronounced. The Chief was fined, the mill ordered to be removed, and the dam demolished. This was immediately done. The order of the court was at once carried out. The water in its downward rush nearly swept away the mills of Mr. Paris. The Chief's saw-mill was moved further down the stream, and was afterwards the property of Mr. William Lindsay, who purchased it and a large portion of the White Lake property from the late Allan McNab. The walls of the grist mill having never reached further than one storey, still remain in ruins on the concession line, near the spot where the saw-mill once stood, a monument of the Chief's folly and futile revenge. The traveller, unacquainted with the history of this transaction, is struck with the mournful aspect of the ruins so close to the bridge, and wonders what was the builder's intention. It is there a memorial of the past, and its ruins are a fitting memento of the downfall of attempted feudalism.

Mr. Paris was equally successful with his civil suits. The law was admirably laid down by Mr. Jonas Jones, who presided at the trial. Verdicts were returned by the jury for the plaintiff. The damages against Yuill were L79, and against the Chief they were found and fixed at L35. No point of law was reserved. McNab was compelled to pay the verdict with costs, but Wm. Yuill, having absconded soon after, has never paid a farthing to this day. The victory, however, was complete and effectual. It settled the question of water stoppage forever. It was the final culmination of the defeat of McNab's power. It was the last lawsuit with the Chief to establish any of the settlers' rights, and it was the most effectual and triumphant. It was the termination of the final struggle of right against might. As Mr. Daniel McIntyre (Deil) was the first who had the moral courage and boldness to defeat the Chief in a court of law, so Mr. John Paris was the last to gain the crowning triumph, and though seriously retarded and embarrassed for many years, yet by a course of persevering industry he overcame his difficulties and embarrassments, rose to a high position among the people, was for many years Reeve of the Township, and in middle age, surrounded by a numerous family, and in the midst of prosperity, looked back to the struggles of his youth, and the oppressions of the Chief as a dream which has vanished like the evanescent shadow of a disagreeable vision and is buried in the past forever. Soon after these verdicts the Laird left the township forever. Four years before he was in the height of power, had the ear of the Government, and could outrage the law with impunity; but a revolution had taken place, bloodless, it is true, but effectual and beneficial. Now forced to abandon a township where he might have lived happily and respected, venerated and beloved; and with the advantages he possessed might have redeemed his ancestral estate, and ended his days in the midst of wealth and affluence.