Page:1898 NB Magazine.djvu/14

Subscription lists were opened at Halifax, Miramichi and St. Andrews, in aid of the fire sufferers, but at another public meeting held in St. John on February 4, while gratitude was expressed for the aid thus offered, it was decided "that this community cannot with propriety accept the same; a sufficient sum being already provided by the munificent grant of the Legislature and the generous donation of our worthy Lieutenant Governor." It was therefore resolved to refund the money which had been received from the places named. It was further decided to extend pecuniary aid only to those whose destitute situation called for relief.

The community soon took heart again, and the work of rebuilding went forward rapidly. Property was held at its former value, and in some cases it brought a premium. The Peters building, Market square, which escaped the fire, was sold within a week, at auction, for $8,820. The size of the lot was 20½ by 25 feet. Many of the new buildings were of brick, but enough wooden structures were put up to be a menace to that part of the city in future years, and to materially aid, forty years later, in the spread of what is now the historic Great Fire.

The court opened at half-past ten o'clock in the morning. Mr. Justice Brenton Halliburton and Mr. Justice James Stewart were on the bench. The prosecution was conducted by the venerable attorney-general, R. J. Uniacke, then seventy-one years of age, assisted by S. G. W. Archibald and R. J. Uniacke, Jr., and the prisoner was defended by J. W. Johnstone,