JOHN SHERIDAN HOGAN.
I have several times had occasion to mention this gentleman, who first
came into notice on his being arrested, when a young man, and
temporarily imprisoned in Buffalo, for being concerned in the burning of
the steamer _Caroline_, in 1838. He was then twenty-three years old, was
a native of Ireland, a Roman Catholic by religious profession, and
emigrated to Canada in 1827. I engaged him in 1853, as assistant-editor
and correspondent at Quebec, then the seat of the Canadian legislature.
He had previously distinguished himself at college, and became one of
the ablest Canadian writers of his day. He was the successful competitor
for the prize given for the best essay on Canada at the Universal
Exhibition of 1856, and had he lived, might have proved a strong man in
political life.
In 1858, Mr. Hogan suddenly disappeared, and it was reported that he had
gone on a shooting expedition to Texas. But in the following spring, a
partially decomposed corpse was found in the melting snow near the mouth
of the Don, in Toronto Bay. Gradually the fearful truth came to light
through the remorse of one of the women accessory to the crime. A gang
of loose men and women who infested what was called Brooks's Bush, east
of the Don, were in the habit of robbing people who had occasion to
cross the Don bridge at late hours of the night. Mr. Hogan frequently
visited a friend who resided east of the bridge, on the Kingston Road,
and on the night in question, was about crossing the bridge, when a
woman who knew him, accosted him familiarly, while at the same moment
another woman struck him on the forehead with a stone slung in a
stocking; two or three men then rushed upon him, while partially
insensible, and rifled his pockets. He recovered sufficiently to cry
faintly, "Don't murder me!" to a man whom he recognised and called by
name. This recognition was fatal to him. To avoid discovery, the
villains lifted him bodily, in spite of his cries and struggles, and
tossed him over the parapet into the stream, where he was drowned. In
1861, some of the parties were arrested; one of them, named Brown, was
convicted and hanged for the murder; two others managed to prove an
_alibi_, and so escaped punishment.