The Brooke’s Bush Gang & Other 19th Century Criminal Gangs in Toronto

Note: This article is an addition to an earlier two-part article about the Brook’s/Brooke’s Bush Gang. You may read those here and here.

Introduction

From about 1855 to 1862, the dangerous, disorderly desperadoes of the Brooke’s Bush Gang terrorized Toronto. Headquartered in a wooded area and shanty on the east side of the Don River, the group made their mark assaulting and robbing travellers along Kingston Road near the river. Their actions culminated in the murder of Ontario politician John Sheridan Hogan on the Don Bridge and led to the trial and execution of one the gang members.

The Brooke’s Bush Gang provides an interesting window into the criminal history of Victorian Toronto. In particular, it speaks to some of the early workings of organized crime. However, the group was not the only criminal collective in the period and area. Two other groups existed in the decades before and after the Brooke’s Bush Gang — that is, the 1840s and 1860s. These were the Markham Gang and the Ridout’s Bush Gang, respectively. The groups resemble and differ from one another in the level of sophistication of their operations and information available about them.

The Markham Gang

The Markham Gang was formed by 1841 and, like the Brooke’s Bush Gang, enjoyed a relatively short existence which was ended by several high-profile trials involving violent crimes. As the name suggests, the group focused their activities to the north and east of Toronto. Its origins have been linked to the 1837 Rebellions.

The membership and function of the Markham Gang were an interesting subject. Gang members were young, often related to each other (in prominent local families) or neighbours. Unlike the Brooke’s Bush Gang, which seemed to be more of an amorphous group of desperadoes and unfortunates, the Markham group was comprised of rich, well-to-do men — which made their tendencies toward burglary more curious. Members were sworn to secrecy by oath to protect each other. The Markham Gang also operated in a very distinct way to its later counterpart. First, the group was quite sophisticatedly organized with leaders and prominent members. The gang posed as ‘avant couriers’ who would conduct reconnaissance on their future victims — noting where money was located in houses and their occupants’ activities.

There are two defining events in the history and end of the Markham Gang: (1) the robbery and assault of John Morrow and family and (2) the murder of William McPhillips.

The first case occurred in the Morrow home on the night of November 7, 1845. This was the year the gang gained the most notoriety and began to be reported on almost regularly by The British Colonist. The Morrow household was located in Reach Township, near the hamlet of Jockey Hill (now Epsom) halfway between Uxbridge and Port Perry. Just after midnight, Hiram and James Stoutenborough, Nathan Case, and Robert Burr violently entered the home and began wielding clubs while demanding money (the Morrows had sold some livestock earlier that day). John Morrow was repeatedly beaten and left badly injured.

In the subsequent arrest and two trials (Burr was charged separately from the others as a ringleader), all were found guilty and sentenced to hang. These were commuted to life sentences at Kingston Penitentiary, but they were released and pardoned by 1853, long after the gang ceased operations.

In the second, the William McPhillips killing occurred in Logan’s General Store in Markham on November 20, 1846. It was deduced that someone entered the store and struck McPhillips viciously on the head while he was working. Among the identified culprits were Stephen Turney who was arrested and tried successfully for murder. He was hanged in June 1847 in Toronto.

Other criminal activities took place in Whitby, Vaughan, Pickering, Sharon, and other nearby localities. Although the methods differed, much like the Brooke’s Bush Gang, they were often larceny involving money, watches, grain, and livestock. From 1845 to 1846, other members of the gang were arrested and tried for varying crimes to varying results. The end of the gang was likely spelled by several members being dead or, if still alive, mostly jailed, eventually returning to society and distancing themselves from their criminal pasts after their served terms.

The Ridout’s Bush Gang

The first mention of Ridout’s Bush was in June of 1859 when members of the Brooke’s Bush Gang were found in another ‘bush’. A group of “unfortunates” consisting of Maria Reid, Mary Sheppard, Catherine O’Brien, Harriet LeGrasse, Mary Martin, and Ellen McDonald were “charged with conducting themselves in a disorderly manner in the bush in the rear of Mr. Ridout’s residence, head of Sherbourne Street”.

The events had Sergeant Major Cummings receiving word of what was happening behind Ridout’s home and proceeding to the area with a posse of constables to apprehend the girls. In court, one of the captured girls, Reid, defended that she was just “out for a walk for the good of her health” when they saw some boys catching birds. What followed was a humourous exchange with laughter in the courtroom in which Sergeant Cummings asserted to the Magistrate the girls were “notoriously bad characters.” Reid replied how can they be bad characters if they are in gaol all the time where they can’t have any mischief. The episode ended with a sentence of one month gaol (although the Magistrate added that it probably wouldn’t help) and the prisoners left “laughing and jeering”.

John Ross Robertson noted in 1894 in an anecdote about another “historical sketch” that “Ridout’s Bush” was now Sherbourne Street. The naming of the street and the bush both relate to the Ridout family, who from 1818 owned Park Lot 4 — consisting of the modern borders of Sherbourne Street to Ontario Street and Queen Street to Bloor Street. The lot seems to have been subdivided into thirds with different Ridout members holding ownership at different times. The 1858 Boulton Altas of the area indicates two marked Ridout houses (to a T.G. Ridout and J. Ridout) and a third at the head of Sherbourne which may refer to the house in the 1859 episode with the Brooke’s Bush Gang. The area from Sherbourne to Bleecker Street, north of Carlton Street (which corresponds to the western third) is illustrated in a grassy motif. In 1845, Thomas Gobbs Ridout donated a 30-foot wide strip of land which straddled his property and the adjacent property to the west. It was initially called Allan’s Lane (William Allan was the adjacent owner) and, by request from Ridout to honour his family’s birthplace, was changed to Sherborne (without the ‘u’). Allan’s Lane was a grassy road with a wagon trail in the middle and straddled the pasture to the west and the bush to the east.

The next time Ridout’s Bush seems to appear as a locale for disorderlies was in May 1862. It was noted in The Globe that following the final Hogan trial and execution of James Browne in March, the Police disbanded the Brooke’s Bush Gang. “Depredations” in the city had been reduced since then. Some persons, including some formerly belonging to the gang, began to gather in Ridout’s Bush, and like in their former hangout, began to behave “in a very unbecoming manner”. A posse of constables visited the bush and apprehended Catherine Dunn, John Wiley, and Edward Finagan, charging them with disorderly conduct. In a subsequent court appearance, the women were charged with 30 days in gaol and the men were discharged.

The Ridout’s Bush Gang’s antics seemed to continue into the next years, although references were sparse in the historical records. In May 1863, police arrested members in the bush in connection to a robbery near the Blind Tollgate at Bloor Street and Dundas Street. A woman approached a travelling victim and invited him back to the bush with her, at which point he was surrounded and “requested money” to buy a drink. He attested he had little money and was subsequently attacked and robbed of his coat which had seventy-five sovereigns (British pound sterling). There was no direct mention of the idea at the time, but the action resembled the tendencies of the Brooke’s Bush Gang.

Commenting on the episode, The Globe did warn:

“This gang is becoming quite notorious, and if it be not soon completely broken up and dispersed, will, in all likelihood, finish its career by some scheme of villainy equal to that of the late Brooke’s Bush party.”
The Globe, June 1, 1863

In July of the year, two men and four women were arrested for robbing hen roosts and disorderly conduct; one man was fined and the others sent to gaol for a month. In September 1864, police stopped “a band of ne’er-do-well’s” who “were holding high carnival at Ridout’s Bush, near Sherbourne street.” They found seven persons in “the midst of the riotous mirth” and “their conduct was disgraceful in the extreme”. Four women and three men were arrested and sentenced to hard labour in gaol.

The Ridout’s Bush Gang seem to disappear in the historical records after the fall of 1864. Their activities while akin to the Brooke’s Bush Gang did not seem to reach the level of notoriety of the more eastern-situated group. Also, the Ridout’s Bush Gang, unlike the Markham Gang and the Brooke’s Bush Gang, did not have a high profile trial pertaining to a violent crime which led to their end. While no record points to any possibilities towards their disbandment, it may be that the group quietly ceased their mischief.

The similar activities and timeframe between the Brooke’s and Ridout’s Bush Gangs, as well as the possibility that one gang was an offshoot of the other, led to some subsequent reporting that may have confused the two. In 1920, a Colonel Grassett, born 1847, recalled in The Globe that “Ridout’s Bush, above College Street” was a “pleasant place” for young persons “in long ago summers”. He did, however, distinguish it from “the black pine woods east of Sherbourne Street”, which were to be avoided. Grassett noted there were a lot of robbers and people in them. He also recounted how the gang murdered Mr. Hogan, although he seemed to have them confused with the Brooke’s Bush Gang. It seems like The Globe may have also made the mix-up as well when they reported that “trinkets and valuables” from the Brooke’s Bush Gang were found while tearing down a home at the corner of Carlton Street and Homewood Avenue in 1924; the site was written to be the shanty headquarters of the gang. The house was located on the sizeable lot of former Homewood Estate, which was located on the west side of Sherbourne Street opposite Ridout’s Bush and may explain its association with the latter gang.

Conclusion

The Markham Gang, Brooke’s Bush Gang, and Ridout’s Bush Gang paint a very interesting picture of organized crime in and around Toronto in the mid-19th century. While the nature of the crimes between the three groups were quite similar, their execution, scale, and frequency differed. The first group was a complex and layered gang with pre-meditated crimes and secret oaths. The second was an amorphous collection of individuals with a great frequency of thefts and assault. The third gang had the least presence of the three. Both the Markham and Brooke’s Bush Gangs were associated with significant violent crimes. The Brooke’s and Ridout’s Bush Gangs operated in similar fashions and may have been tied together. All three seemed to have a short existence of less than ten years, but their stories are notable aspects in local history.

Works Consulted

2 Wellesley Place. City of Toronto. (n.d.). https://www.heritagetrust.on.ca/en/oha/details/file?id=1893

Another landmark in danger. (1924, April 19). The Globe, p. 14.

Arculus, P. (2003). Mayhem to murder: The history of the markham gang, organized crime in canada west during the 1840’s. Observer Publishing of Port Perry.

City news. (1862a, May 21). The Globe, p. 2.

City news. (1862b, May 22). The Globe, p. 2.

City news. (1863, June 1). The Globe, p. 2.

City police. (1859, June 22). The Globe, p. 3.

EGPLadmin. (2021, July 26). Stephen Turney: Murderer and member of the Markham Gang. EGPL Blog. https://www.egplblog.com/post/stephen-turney-murderer-and-member-of-the-markham-gang

Henderson, E. (1930). Bloor Street, Toronto, and the Village of Yorkville in 1849. Papers & Records (Later Ontario History), Volume 26, 445–456.

Moss Park home of William Allan. (n.d.). http://www.lostrivers.ca/content/points/mosspark.html

Old-time crooks often gentlemen, muses ex-chief. (1930, June 18). The Globe, p. 13.

Robertson, J. R. (1894). Robertson’s landmarks of Toronto: A collection of historical sketches of the Old Town of york from 1792 until 1833, and of Toronto from 1834 to 1908. J.R. Robertson.

Smith, W. (n.d.). The Toronto Park Lot Project. The Toronto Park Lot Project by Wendy Smith. https://parklotproject.com/

Thornburn, M. (1956, June 23). Mud road in 1800’s now a 5th avenue. The Globe and Mail, p. 25.

Toronto : J.H. Beers & co. (1970, January 1). Commemorative biographical record of the County of York, ontario : Containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens and many of the early settled families. – : J.H. Beers & Co . Internet Archive. https://archive.org/details/recordcountyyork00beeruoft

Wikimedia Foundation. (2022, June 4). Markham gang. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Markham_Gang

A Criminal History of The Notorious Brook’s Bush Gang

Note: This is Part II of a two-part series about the Notorious Brook’s Bush Gang. You can read Part I here.

In August 1857, James Gokey alias DeLavelle, Thomas Readmond, Andrew Jenkins, and Samuel Hannon, who were described as “four stout fellows”, and Susan McCormack and Mary A. Walton, “abandoned females”, were charged with being connected to the gang of thieves who infested Brook’s Bush, and who would pounce upon travellers passing the Don Bridge, rob and assault them, and otherwise “conduct themselves in a most lawless manner”. The constable who arrested them visited the bush and said the eastern end of the city was not safe from the low characters who infest it. The party were fined, sent to break stones, and sent to prison.

The episode provides a great account of the operations of the gang. First, it describes the physical and possibly social identity of the group. The men were stout and imposing – the kind that would be involved in physical assaults and worse. The description of the women as “abandoned” has been described previously, and their inclusion with men in the acts was common. The Don Bridge would come to be a common setting for their crimes, which would culminate in their most dastardly act a few years later. The general sentiment was of lawlessness and danger, particularly in their area. The gang were also targets of the police and were often sentenced to monetary fines, or breaking stones at the House of Industry when they could not pay, or time in prison.

A Series of ‘Motley Spectacles’

Over the next five years, the Brooks Bush Gang were involved in several robberies and assaults which terrorized the east end. In October 1857, six males and five female “disorderlys” of Brook’s Bush were brought into custody by Sergeant Smith, who dealt frequently with the group, and charged with disorderly conduct. They were fined 20s and those unable to pay were sent to gaol for a month and ordered to be kept at hard labour.

The year 1858 was eventful for the gang. On New Year’s Day, The Globe reported a Samuel Hannah, who was known to police, was charged with “uttering a flash bill”. He visited Mercer’s eating house at 24 Church Street at Wellington Street and paid with a counterfeit bill. The landlady, Mrs Verena as per the 1859 City Directories, told him the bill was bad. She informed the police and Hannah was arrested and “committed…as a rogue and vagabond to hard labour in the common gaol for one month.”

Later in January, denizens of the Brooks Bush Gang were charged with several acts of robbery. Those involved were Catherine O’Brien, Catherine Hogan, Bridget McGuire, and Matthew Flynn, the latter of who was described as a “rough-looking fellow”. The crimes included hen houses being robbed, clothes stolen off clotheslines, and other thefts which have led to citizens’ inability to leave any items in gardens and yards. Two officers, including Sergeant Smith, pursued two thieves on Parliament Street and caught up with one of them. Flynn hid in a culvert at Gerrard and Parliament Streets with his stolen goods hidden in a nearby culvert. Among the property were shirts, a pail, an axe, an iron pot, and other things. Flynn was going back to the Bush after the robberies. The officers found at the site poultry, two geese, three lanterns, two boilers, and other property. O’Brien, Hogan, and McGuire were also waiting there with supper for Flynn and his accomplice. In court, Flynn acted with “great effrontery” and “appeared as if he had been recently drunk”. He defended himself that the goods were his own and he was protecting them from his landlord who he owed rent. However, several people — Francis Langrill, Mrs Hagarty and Mrs Murphy — refuted the story and identified the items. In the directory for the year, Langrill was listed as a “butcher, 30 St. Lawrence arcade, house Parliament Street”. A Patrick Hagerty was listed at 279 Parliament Street between Gerrard and Dundas. The identities of the ladies are unknown. Flynn was later reported to be sent to the Penitentiary for two years.

Following the thefts, a reader of The Globe wrote into the newspaper expressing a hope that “there will not be too much clemency shown towards him”. He lamented how City and York Township authorities have allowed the group to annoy the public and residents of the area. The only course was to make an example of the group and clear the bush of its denizens so local inhabitants can live a little easier.

The following month, Sergeant Smith placed Patrick Matthews, Samuel Jocelyn, Catherine O’Brien, Catherin Cogan, and Margaret MacGuire in front of the bar again. Smith had found stolen property such as axes, lanterns, tins, boilers, and geese and fowls. Richard Boles of Sumach Street, who had three fowls and an axe stolen, went to the Brooks Bush shanty and said he recognized Matthews, who told Boles that he would “knock the brains out of any person who dared to enter”. The alleged victim appears in the 1859-60 Caverhill Toronto City Directory, listed as “Richard Bowles”, a labourer at 185 Sumach Street in the Dundas Street area. In July, William Brown, Robert Brown, J. Pigeon, P. Matthews, James Hallachy, and Samuel Josleyn were brought up with the charge. Sergeant Smith said he went to the shanty and found several of the prisoners and three females, which he took into custody. The females said they were in the shanty all night and Pigeon, R. Brown, Hallachy, and a man named Smith not in custody came back early in the morning with the poultry. Robert Brown, John Pigeon, and Hallachy were founded guilty and a sentence was deferred.

In April 1858, James Harrachy, William Brown, Patrick Matthews, Samuel Josleyn, Robert Brown, and Bridget McGuire were brought again to the bar for crimes of theft. William Brown was acquitted, but the others were found guilty. Robert Brown was imprisoned for ten days in the city prison and then in the provincial penitentiary (in Kingston, Ontario) for three years and three months. Harrachy was committed to ten days for larceny; Matthews for three years and three months in the penitentiary; Josleyn was sentenced to three years and four months and McGuire to two years and one month. John Pigeon was charged with larceny and committed to ten days in the city prison and five years in the penitentiary.

In June, three ruffians of the Brook’s Bush attacked two men on Queen Street. One of the victims got away but the other was struck in the face, neck, and shoulders with a black bottle and severely cut.

In September, Cornelius Leary was charged with assaulting a feeble-looking woman, Mary Sheppard. The lady said she had a dispute with Leary in which he struck her and dragged her toward a shed. She fell and he stepped on her, severely injuring her. Constables said both prisoners (it is unclear if this meant Sheppard too) were part of the Brooks Bush gang. Leary was fined $5 but was unable to pay, so he was sent to break stones for a month.

In November, Jane McDonald, Margaret Evans, Sarah Fielder, Mary Ann Walton, Mary Crooks, James Brown, and Thomas Willis appeared in court and “presented a very motley spectacle.” The men were fined $5 and the women were sent to prison for a month. In an odd layer to the story, Mary Cary, also of the gang, went to the police station to find them, but behaved “disorderly”. She too was arrested and sent to gaol for a month.

In May 1859, four coats and a bag of coppers were stolen from Leak and Matthews, soap and candle manufacturers on Palace Street (today’s Front Street East). The Directories identified this at 62 Palace Street near George Street. There was also a “Leak’s Wharf” associated with the business at the foot of George Street. A witness heard them chuckling over the haul. Several days later, several officers on The Esplanade were monitoring the water for “persons bathing during prohibited hours” and attending to arriving and departing steamers, when they interrogated four suspicious fellows. One had a bundle in his hand. They were taken into custody — they were Thomas O’Brien, John Connolly, Barker Coulder, and John Scott of the Brooks’ Bush Gang. They appeared to be sheltering in an old boat moored off the Esplanade.

Also in May, William Reid and Henry Miller, of the gang were brought up on the charge of stopping a young man on the Don Bridge. They offered to leave the city and were discharged. The judge was about to send them to prison for a month as “disorderly characters” but relented after hearing their pleas.

Maurice Malone, John Clyde, John Esson, Margaret Hagarty, Elizabeth Nolan, Mary Ann Pickley, Mary Ann Flanaghan and Bridget Drew were sent to gaol for a month each. William Edwards and Francis Curran were sent for 14 days for disorderly conduct as well as Charles White for a similar offence with hard labour.

In August 1859, the Globe reported a number were in custody for assaulting Edward Closghey. There was a chase for them. Among the party is a desperado named John Clyde, who replaced the former ringleader, Carr, who was committed to the Penitentiary. James Tuck, Denis O’Dowd, Edward Short, Martin Kelly, William Macpherson, Marry Ann O’Bryan and Elizabeth Nolan were brought in for assaulting Edward McCloskey. The victim fell into the company of Clyde, Kelly Marry Ann O’Bryan, and Nolan on Carlton Street. They had a bottle of whiskey and asked him to drink part of it, which he did. He paid a dime and tried to leave but was stopped by Clyde. Clyde struck him and tried to kill him with the help of Martin Kelly. Eliza Nolan tried to protect the victim. McCloskey got away and Clyde threatened him again not to tell on him or “he would make him suffer for it.” Clyde and Kelly, the attackers, were sent to Assize Court. Nolan got “only two months in gaol” for protecting McCloskey. O’Dowd was discharged for previous good behaviour. The others were sent to gaol for three months.

In September 1859, William McPherson, John Burns, Jeremiah Leivy, James Tuch, James Brown, Thomas Richardson, James Cochrane, John Eppison, Mary Anne Pickely, Mary Anne Walton, Sarah Fidder, Ellen McDonald, Margaret Hill, Mary Crooks, Mary Sheppard and Isabella Convony were found at the bush and arrested. The offences are unknown. The females were sent to gaol for fourteen days and the men for a month.

The Murder of John Sheridan Hogan

On December 1st, 1859, Mr John Sheridan Hogan, a journalist turned member of parliament for Grey County for the Province of Canada, was visiting a female acquaintance on Terauley Street ( now Bay Street). The unmarried 44-year-old man left the home at 8:30 to visit the office of the new editor of The British Colonist, his publication. It was the last time he was seen alive.

Hogan’s disappearance was not noted by police until months after his last known sighting. He lived a peculiar life in Toronto, having few friends and no family and living a transient life with the Rossin Hotel as his base. His sudden disappearance was a mystery. His body was found washed up at the mouth of the Don River in March 1861, some sixteen months later, by some fishermen. He was identified by Mrs Laurie, the acquaintance he visited on the December night, identified a broach or patch she put on his clothing.

Suspicion quickly turned to the Brook’s Bush Gang for having something to do with Hogan’s death. His final location at the mouth of the river suggested he had washed down from somewhere upriver — potentially the Queen Street bridge, a location the gang had notoriously terrorized over the past five or so years. But pinning it on The Brooks Bush Gang was a task.

Queen Street East, Church St. to Davies Avenue, bridge over Don River (1851-1878), looking northeast, 1861. This was likely the bridge Hogan was murdered.
Source: Toronto Public Library

The key to the case was the testimony of Ellen McGillick, a member of the Brook’s Bush Gang present when Hogan was murdered. In the four years leading up to the event, McGillick had often given witness testimony about the actions of the gang, which the Police trusted as truth. The detective on the case, a Colgan, hailed from the same Irish place as McGillick and went to question her. McGillick told him about the murder and who was involved. Arrests were made soon after of Jane Ward, James Brown, also known as ‘English Jim’, William Reid and Mary Crooks.

McGillick testified seeing two men struggling with each other and another woman with them on the east end of the Don Bridge. The woman, who turned out to be Jane Ward, told one of the men, James Brown, to throw the other man, Hogan, off the bridge. She also noted other gang members were present and how they spoke of tying Hogan’s legs before throwing him into the river. Ward also told McGillick how she robbed the man and was holding a rock and handkerchief. Members of the gang after the murder threatened McGillick not to say anything about it. McGillick finally added that there was blood on the rail of the bridge and Brown had gone the next day to clear it; police corroborated by finding blood on the bridge.

In a trial in April 1861, John Sherrick and Jane Ward of the Brooks Bush Gang were acquitted. James Brown was found guilty that fall in a separate trial. He was retried again in 1862 with the same result. Brown was a labourer born near Cambridge, England in 1830. He moved to the United States and then Toronto in 1852, hoping to find work in shipyards. At some point, he fell in with the Brook’s Bush Gang (the first mention of him in the newspapers was November 1858). Brown was hung in front of spectators on March 10, 1862, at the York County Courthouse on Adelaide Street. It was the last public execution in Toronto.

The End of The Brooks Bush Gang

After the Hogan trial, references to the Brooks Bush Gang dwindled. In August 1862, members of the gang were charged with assaulting and robbing a farmer a short distance from the city. They were tried at Yorkville as the crime was outside city limits. In 1864, John Smith was violently assaulted and nearly robbed near the Don River by two ‘desperadoes’. The victim was possibly a property owner as the Smith family was known east of the Don. The attack was very much like the antics of the Brook’s Bush gang, “who infested the neighbourhood some time ago”, which signified that although they were not behind the attack, the gang was no longer present and their memory still haunted the area. Interestingly, Charles Sauriol noted how E.T. Seton said members of the gang destroyed his cabin in 1875, although this may be dubious as it was much after the early 1860s.

In the following years, stories of past members crept up in the news. In 1864, Mary Ann Pickley was found dead. Since the murder and police broke up the gang, she had been living “here there and everywhere” but mostly in jail. The Globe reported she was one of the last of the gang with almost all of them dead. In 1868, the Globe reported Kate (possibly Catherine) Cogan, “the last of the Brook’s Bush Gang”, was arrested for breaking windows. Similarly, the newspaper also wrote in 1872 about a former member of the gang, Bill Reid, who was described as “probably the last who will ever be seen of the once dreaded Brooks Bush Gang” and how nineteen years ago he was “conspicuous even among the lawless community, and he was connected to them about the time of the murder of” Hogan. Finally, Jane Ward moved to Guelph in the mid-1860s, changing her name to Jane Lewis and saying very little of her past life. She wound up in the Wellington County House of Industry for the remainder of her life, dying in 1904. She was said by newspapers of the time to be the last member of the Brook’s Bush Gang.

The former haunts of the Brook’s Bush Gang east of the Don River disappeared too, leaving little geographic trace of the gang. By 1880, the lot near the Don Jail was subdivided, houses were built on it, and Holly Brook was buried. Even Withrow Park, the other possibility for the gang’s headquarters, was made a public park by 1910. In 1912, the Butcher’s Arms, the old hangout of the Brook’s Bush Gang, was torn down for houses, where a strip of Edwardian-style, century-aged homes stands there today.

Broadview Avenue, at the former location of The Butcher’s Arms, 2020.
Source: Google Maps

The Globe also reported in 1924 on the upcoming demolition of a house at 154 Carlton Street at Homewood Avenue which stood on the site of a former Brook’s Bush Gang headquarters. There are few details of this “shanty”. The Oldright House was built in the 1870s according to The Globe piece and some of the gang’s belongings were found when the house was constructed. Its location was appropriately situated in the east side of the core of Toronto where the gang did some of their criminal activities.

The east end of Toronto was transformed in the decades following the end of the gang. In addition to the redevelopment of the specific woodlots mentioned above, the general area was laid out with streets and landmarks. ‘Brook’s Bush’ as a district name understandably fell out of use. On March 25, 1888, the area of Riverside was annexed by the city of Toronto (Riverside replaced ‘Don Mount’ as a name in 1880, the latter was likely used alongside Brook’s Bush; Riverdale later came into use in the early 20th century). Police protection, a lacking factor which allowed the Brook’s Bush Gang to prevail as a menace, was cited as a reason for annexation.

Annexation Map of the City of Toronto, 1967
Source: Old Toronto Maps

Appendix I: List of Members

Michael Barry (possibly an affiliate), Jane Ward, Catherine Cogan (possibly also listed as Catherine Hogan or Kate Cogan), Andrew Jenkins, Catherine O’Brien, John Clyde, Samuel Joslin, James Gokey alias DeLavelle, Thomas Redmond, Samuel Hannon (possibly also listed as Samuel Hannah), Susan McCormack, Mary A. Walton, Bridget McGuire, Matthew Flynn, Patrick Matthews, Margaret Maguire, William Brown, Robert Brown, John Pigeon, James Hallachy, Cornelius Leary, Jane McDonald, Margaret Evans, Sarah Fielder, Mary Crooks, James Brown, Thomas Wills, Mary Cary, “Yankee” Mary (unclear if she was one of the listed Marys), Robert Wagstaff, Thomas O’Brien, John Connolly, Barker Coulter, John Scott, William (Bill) Reid, Maurice Malone, John Esson, Margaret Hagarty, Elizabeth Nolan, Mary Ann Pickley, Mary Ann Flanaghan, Bridget Drew, a man named Carr, James Tuck (or Tuch), Denis O’Dowd, Edward Short, Martin Kelly, William MacPherson (possibly an affiliate), Mary Ann O’Bryan, John Burns, Jeremiah Leivy, Thomas Richardson, James Cochrane, Johm Eppsion, Sarah Fidder, Ellen McDonald, Margaret Hill, Mary Sheppard, Isabella Convony, Ellen McGillick, John Sherrick, John Coteau, William Dillon, Charles Gerne, Andrew McGuire, John Hudie, Patrick Fogarty, William Eppison, Sarah Hill, Anna Maria Gregory, Mary Carey, Catharine Dalton, Bridget Kane, Francis Furdon, Esther McDonell, Margaret Adams, Rachel Smith, and James Curtain.

Works Consulted

“Another Landmark In Danger.” The Globe, 19 Apr. 1924, p. 14.

“Article.” The Globe, 19 Feb. 1859, p. 2.

Bonnell, Jennifer. Reclaiming the Don: An Environmental History of Toronto’s Don River Valley. University of Toronto Press, 2014.

BOYLE, D. Township of Scarboro 1796-1896. Book ON DEMAND LTD, 2014.

“The Brook’s Bush Gang Again.” The Globe, 15 Aug. 1859, p. 2.

“Buglary and Capture of The Robbers.” The Globe, 6 May 1859, p. 3.

“’The Butchers’ Arms,’ Once Rendezvous of Notorious Gang, Is Being Torn Down.” The Globe, 29 Apr. 1912, p. 9.

“City News: A Notorious Character.” The Globe, 15 Feb. 1872, p. 1.

“City News: Assault and Attempted Robbery.” The Globe, 10 May 1864, p. 1.

“City News: Found Dead.” The Globe, 18 Nov. 1864, p. 2.

“City News: Police Court.” The Globe, 1 Aug. 1862, p. 2.

“City Police Court: A Month’s Stone Breaking For A Supper.” The Globe, 1 Jan. 1858, p. 2.

“City Police: A Parcel of Thieves.” The Globe, 28 Jan. 1858, p. 2.

“City Police: Another Gang Arrested.” The Globe, 11 Aug. 1857, p. 3.

“City Police: Brook’s Bush.” The Globe, 24 Feb. 1858, p. 2.

“City Police: Cowardly Assault.” The Globe, 7 Sept. 1858, p. 2.

“City Police: Disorderlies.” The Globe, 24 May 1859, p. 3.

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