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Submitted by Gary Carrol - [email protected]

Colonial Herald Sat., 19 Sep., 1840, page 3

At a late hour on the night of Saturday last, or rather on Sunday morning, an occurrence took place here which reminded us of those scenes not infrequently enacted in a neighboring republic - the demolition of one house and the destruction of another by fire, deliberately done by parties assembled for the purpose. In both cases, the work of destruction was complete. The house burnt was a story and a half, the other was a single story only and formed part of a row of houses owned by Mr. Axworthy, ship carpenter, situated in Rochester (Rochford?) Street, at the end adjoining Pownal Square.

They were occupied chiefly by coloured persons, a large proportion of whom consisted of females, and these, by all accounts, not of the most reputable description. In the immediate neighborhood these houses had long been considered an intolerable nuisance and one of them had indeed, been presented as such at the last term of the Supreme Court, but owing to some informality of the proceedings, nothing was made of it. An appeal was therefore made to that high functionary, Judge Lynch, in whose court forms are but little regarded, and the result has been as above stated.

Note: While this newspaper article might not seem to be politically correct, as someone pointed out, it is history, and did happen. One can't be selective about history and remember only the good things which happened.