June 17, 2025 • 21 mins
A clown and a fireman walk into a brothel... It sounds like the setup to a joke, but this bizarre collision sparked one of the most consequential riots in Canadian history and forever changed the face of Toronto.
The Toronto Circus Riot of 1855 erupted when rugged performers from S.B. Howe's Star Troop Menagerie and Circus—think less birthday party entertainers and more hard-laborers who could erect massive tents and wrangle exotic animals—encountered local firefighters at the White House Tavern, a notorious brothel. These weren't your friendly neighborhood firefighters either. Known as "rowdies," Toronto's firefighters were notorious for brawling with rival companies, looting burning buildings, and engaging in corrupt practices under the protection of the Orange Order, a Protestant Irish fraternity that effectively controlled the city.
When the clowns soundly thrashed the firefighters in their initial tavern confrontation, the humiliated rowdies retreated only to return with reinforcements during the next day's circus performance. What followed was utter chaos—firefighters ironically setting circus tents ablaze, performers fleeing for their lives (some even jumping into nearby rivers), and police either joining the mayhem or standing idle. The violence grew so extreme that Toronto's mayor physically intervened, reportedly saving a clown's life by wrestling an axe from a firefighter's hand, and ultimately had to summon a militia when the police proved useless.
This absurd yet violent confrontation became the catalyst for sweeping reforms. Public outrage at the blatant corruption forced a dismantling of "the Corporation" (as the Orange Order's leadership was known), professionalized emergency services, and transformed Toronto from a lawless frontier town to a city eventually nicknamed "Toronto the Good." It's a remarkable reminder that sometimes history's most significant turning points emerge from the most unexpected places—like a brothel brawl between clowns and firefighters.
Curious about other wild moments from North American history that shaped our modern cities? Subscribe to our podcast and join us each week as we uncover the strange, forgotten stories that created the world we live in today.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Ahoy hoy.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
And ahoy to you.
Hi, Good sir, On this beautifulday creeping up into summer, at
the end of the school year formost of the kids, right, yeah,
Sounds good.
Hey, you're one to tell jokesLike.
For some reason, Owen, you seemto like always remember some
joke, right?
I'm not very good at them, butyou seem to have a knack for
(00:25):
that.
I was wondering if you everheard one that started with a
clown and a fireman walked intoa brothel.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
I did just as of today, basically, essentially,
that's what the setup was for anevent, toronto we're going to
describe to you, but I I watcheda uh, an interesting video
where yeah man said like thissounds like it it's uh, you know
(00:54):
, leading up to a joke but no,it's not, it's a real deal.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
uh, it's about the toronto circus rights of 1855,
which you know some of you mayhave heard of it, I don't know,
seems like kind of an obscureone, but let's roll with it.
This one was actually.
This riot is actuallyresponsible, they say, for
creating the Toronto that weknow today, because it led the
way for a lot of reform in theirpolicing, fire departments and
(01:22):
just local politics in general.
And eventually, I don't know Ididn't know this until I
researched this episode, butToronto had kind of a moniker
nickname and it was Toronto theGood.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
Yeah, that was after all of this reform and stuff,
because it was kind of it seemedlike a wild, you know.
Then it was the Wild West, youknow Right.
Yeah, it reminded me of themovie.
Then it was the Wild West, youknow Right.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
Yeah, it reminded me of the movie.
Yeah, yeah, it reminded me ofthe movie Gangs of New York, for
those that have seen it, but alittle bit more.
So I don't know.
The story's crazy, so I supposewhat do you think we get into
it?
Indeed, all right.
So the Toronto Circus Riot of1855 is one of the most famous
(02:05):
riots in early Canadian urbanhistory.
It happened on July 12th of1855.
And what basically happened islike there was a traveling
circus that came to town andthis is one of the first I read
to actually do such a thing, tocarry these big tents and do all
this grueling labor to set upjust for a couple of days, only
(02:26):
to haul back everything up andtake off, haul it out.
Man, you know so, but it wasthe I love the name, by the way,
it's a heck of a name Owen SB,howe's Star Troop, menagerie and
Circus.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
Anytime you use it.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
It's got a nice ring to it, yeah yeah, or some people
may call it the S-B-H-S-T-M-N-C.
So you know, well said, I triedNonetheless out of here,
knocked that one out of the park, I feel.
But this play, anytime you useMenagerie in a title, it's just
(03:06):
hilarious.
I mean, it does sound kind oflike fantastical, but obviously
it probably reminds more peopleof another word, but it's a
thing, guys.
It means, like you know, it's abunch of spectacles in one
place under one roof, amenagerie, anyway.
So I guess that could apply toboth scenarios though.
(03:27):
Here we are.
So this American circus andmenagerie that was in Canada
jeez, I'm on it today, aren't I?
Not Included clowns, acrobats,equestrian acts and exotic
animals like elephants and agiraffe.
I never found any evidence ofanything else, but they do have
a giraffe as well.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
What giraffe?
What was the giraffe's name?
Did you uncover this?
Speaker 2 (03:53):
Giraffey, I don't know.
Do you remember the ChuckNorris joke that had to do with
that?
Speaker 1 (03:59):
Oh, absolutely Go ahead, bro.
Chuck Norris roundhouse kickeda horse under the chin.
Its ancestors became known asgiraffe.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
All right, there we are.
Yeah, background here Torontoin the 1850s was kind of wild.
Population was around 40,000people and their law enforcement
was kind of just formallyestablished in 1834.
So that's what 11 years, yeahor no.
Wait, 21 years, cold, do themath.
It was a pretty small andpoorly organized and mainly
(04:33):
Irish.
That seems to be a trend with alot of stuff like this in New
York as well and on our eastcoast.
I did see.
I can't remember if it was inthe video that we watched or
something different, but itexplained slightly why the Irish
were mainly firefighters andpolice and it had simply to do
with discrimination and it wastheir own.
Speaker 1 (04:59):
Sorry, the Orange Order.
You saw about that, right, butthe Protestant Irish made it so
the Catholic Irish immigrantscouldn't do anything but menial
labor.
Yeah, but basically the policewere run by this Protestant
group of.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
Irish yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
The Orange Order.
I'm surprised somebody hasn'tlatched on to that.
It seems like it could be adifferent kind.
Is that what they call MAGAthese days?
I don sorry, I'm just kidding.
The orange order, hey, hey, uh.
So on that fun note, um, yeah,these guys were pretty crooked
and corrupt as well, and theypretty much like yeah, you're
(05:40):
right.
But also to add to the, thepoint why it drew even these
Irish Protestants into theOrange Order, or to create it,
was because they were beingdiscriminated against as well
and it was their only way tograb a hold of some sort of
political power.
Because these firefightingtroops, or whatever they called
(06:01):
them, you know, they called themrowdies.
That was their nickname, thefirefighters, by the way,
because they were so freakingrowdy.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
Yeah, but these troops were formed, or whatever,
in these police departmentsbased on like local
neighborhoods and stuff, becausethey had to be kind of tough
and rugged and whatnot, andthat's why the Irish were able
to get into that and then gainsome political power.
And, just like many groups inhistory, once they gain
political power or some sort ofpower in their segment of the
population, you know, then whatdo they do?
(06:29):
They start taking a shit on theother part of their group and
then push them down so they havesomebody below them.
You know, yeah for sure.
Instead of working together,they're like you got brown hair
Right.
That's what it feels like.
I don't know, did anybody eversay if they had all red hair or
anything?
Speaker 1 (06:51):
I don't know.
I did see rowdies as a.
That's a very accuratedescription.
It sounded like it's precedingthe circus riots.
There was a story of twoseparate fire crews showed up
and, rather than trying to savethe building that was on fire,
they fought each other, and then, when the police showed up and
(07:14):
tried to break it up, thefiremen turned together and beat
the shit out of the police andyeah, the building just burnt to
the ground and apparently,allegedly, there was some
looting involved.
Even it was like these peoplewere supposed to be saved, but
these guys had just gotten agiant brawl and then beat up.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
The cops Sounded like a rough and tumble town Sounds
like Billings Police, hey, sononetheless.
Yeah, dude, that's great.
I have something to add to thatthat building was a church.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
Oh geez, yeah, no pun intended.
Yeah, no, it's yeah, no punintended.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
No, that's insane.
So, yeah, they would competeand these carts they would lug
around.
You know they didn't even usehorses.
They would like be running downthe street with these carts
that looked kind of like a wagonwith a big vat on it, like a
tub to pour water in, and theywould be running down the street
trying to beat each other tothese fires.
And and they would be runningdown the street trying to beat
each other to these fires.
And it wasn't the only firemanriot that I seen in there.
(08:11):
That one you read was one ofthe other famous ones of sorts,
and there's notable ones likesix or seven of them within this
small time frame of Torontobeing birthed.
Speaker 1 (08:27):
What do they call people from?
Speaker 2 (08:30):
Toronto, I don't know , canadian, yeah, I guess.
Hey, that works.
So the other thing I've seensome of the firemen were also
part of street gangs.
It was known that they werepart of local street gangs as
well as their fire departmentgang of sorts, I suppose.
Yeah, it's recorded that enginenumber one uh company once got
(08:51):
into a street fight with thehook and ladder company over who
had the right to put out asmall warehouse.
So that's another one thatallowed a story where they
allowed the warehouse to burndown.
No police involved this time,guys.
So now that we, oh, and withinall this Orange Order crap that
the police and the firemen werea part of, which is kind of
(09:13):
funny that they would like fighteach other, but they are Irish
for one.
For two, it seems like there wastypically alcohol involved, but
they would fight each other.
But then when thesefirefighters and police,
obviously they'd get brought upon charges eventually because
people be so frustrated withthis situation that they would
take it to court, and then thepeople who would testify like
(09:36):
prosecute them were members ofthe Orange Order, so they would
just get the case dropped andnothing ever happened.
Right, lots of bribes and allsorts of racketeering type shit
and whatever man.
So anyway, I feel like we kindof set the backdrop there, mr
McMichael, unless there'sanything else you have to add
(09:59):
about these rowdies andpolicemen of 1855 Toronto.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
No, I think we'll get right into the heart of the
story.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
All right, my friend.
So on the night of July 12th1855, after the S&B Howard
Circus performance that evening,some of the clowns decided
they'd go over to the WhiteHouse Tavern on King Jarvis
Street.
The White House Tavern wasreally known for to be.
It wasn't a, it was a tavern,but it was a brothel.
(10:29):
Right, it was more well knownas a brothel.
And within my research andreading and you know, going
through all my books and whatnotI found that there was quite a
few brothels in Toronto at thetime, around 40 plus that they
knew of.
And that's pretty.
That's a lot for a town.
That's only like.
What did they say?
40,000 people, 30,000?
(10:51):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (10:52):
Yeah, so it seems like brothels and taverns were
the thing, because there's 150taverns, oh, my goodness, and
I'm sure a lot of those wereundercover brothels, you know.
Right.
Speaker 2 (11:03):
Yeah Jeez, that's insane.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
I'm sure they knew a gal huh.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
Yeah, must have.
So after this performance.
You know, clowns just beingclowns, man, and these clowns,
they're rugged, bro.
Let's not forget.
These ain't our modern-dayclowns riding a unicycle or
doing stuff like that.
Even though that seems slightlyathletic, these guys were
roughnecks.
I would compare them more tolike oil rig drillers or some
(11:30):
shit like that than people thatwork on the rigs, because they
had to tear down those massivetarps for the tents and haul
everything up.
It was a very laborious workand they continued to mention
that over and over in everyarticle I read about this kind
of stressing the point that, hey, these clowns weren't no sissy
clowns.
Okay, you can just honk theirhorn and get away with it, all
(11:51):
right, or nose whatever.
Nonetheless, they say thatwithin this fight, uh, uh it.
They're not quite sure why itstarted, but basically some
firefighters went into the samebrothel and they were kind of
vying for these ladies attentionback and forth, because this is
one of the the firefightersmain haunts was this white house
brothel or whatnot, the tavern,sorry, anyway.
(12:14):
Uh, and so within this they're,they're going for each other's
attention.
They, one of them, says, likeone of the clowns mouthed off or
somebody knocked thefirefighters hat off, or vice
versa, they don't know, but it'sjust.
Craziness ensued and they juststarted fighting Owen Within.
That fight the clowns.
Stopped the shit out of theserowdy firemen, did they not?
Speaker 1 (12:37):
Yeah, yeah, it sounded like they definitely got
the better of round one.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
Yeah, of round one indeed, but yeah, so they really
roughed them up and sent thempacking.
You know.
So the firefighters, though,they had to run off and they
went and complained to theirbuddies at the police force and
all their other orange orderpartners.
You know how bad they got beatup and uh, so you know the the
clowns thinking that this isover, like, look at these clowns
(13:03):
, we just whooped their ass,right?
You know, vice versa, the clownhappy.
So we got two sets of clownshere, people.
Not the crime on the inside kindof, yeah, none of that stuff.
But at the end of the day herethe clowns still had to do
another show.
You know they were just at anight off.
That's why they went to thebrothel and they were gonna
relax, end up thumping on somefiremen, thumping on some
(13:24):
whatnot, headed back to thecircus, got a good night's rest,
presumably, and then did theirperformance.
Well, partway through theperformance, the Orange Order
and all these firefighters justlike stormed the circus.
Speaker 1 (13:42):
Yeah, beating people up and like with a, you know,
morbid sense of humor, thefirefighters lit the clown's
tents on fire, some of them.
Yeah, it's like what a thingfor firefighters to be lighting
clown's tents ablaze.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
Good idea.
It's a heck of a legacy to beknown for this hook and ladder
company, you know.
So yeah, they did.
There was no reported deaths,but you know, the only thing
that was reported was that thecircus performers were trying to
escape, some even like justjumping into the river trying to
get away, because it was likethey got flanked or something.
(14:19):
You know what I mean, likethey're just doing their thing
and then here comes a couplehundred orange people to,
probably yelling in Gaelic andbroken English, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (14:29):
But and then there's a story of even the Well, the
mayor did show up, but that heeven saved a clown's life by
grabbing an axe out of afireman's hand.
It's unclear if that's entirelytrue, but the mayor did show up
.
That's the only thing thatprobably kept anyone from being
killed.
Yeah, Was he showed up and wasjust like okay, I know that this
(14:51):
is not good for tourism, guys.
Speaker 2 (14:54):
Yeah, or maybe depends on what kind of tourist
you're looking for, right, butthis thing was so out of hand
that, yeah, the mayor got likeran over there because they
couldn't.
The way they ended up stoppingit was by calling in a militia
group, because when the policewere called in, they, yeah,
because when the police werecalled in, they excuse me they
(15:14):
either joined in or just satthere, kind of deal.
Speaker 1 (15:19):
So they had to have a local militia group which would
be like that day's you knowarmy reserve or whatnot, I
suppose, come in there yeah,because another thing like you
know what they call the peoplewho really like ran stuff in the
orange order, people that justhad carte blanche for anything
the corporation.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
Oh my goodness.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
So they were the ones who were running Toronto
basically.
So the mayor had to like bandtogether you know misfits like
unofficial militia to fight likethe people who were really
running shit.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
No, that's a thing, man.
Yeah, and then so they weren't.
They weren't going to prosecuteany of these firefighters for
this crazy act.
I'm sure some of the public gothurt within this as well, and
it's just insane.
Everybody's sick of it, andthis is what began the
dismantling of the corporation,which I'm sure still existed in
(16:14):
parts, late afterwards, you know, because that's just how
corruption really works.
It doesn't, doesn't typicallyjust go away, I guess,
especially if you leave the samepeople in place, right?
Speaker 1 (16:27):
No, we swear we'll be good next time.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
Yeah, yeah, Anyway.
What a bunch of clowns.
I'm glad our firemen are betterthese days.
I actually think firemen arepretty legit Police.
We're looking at you sometimes,you know, but that's just
America, and Canada actuallydoesn't have a very good
reputation for their Mounties.
(16:50):
So these are things, people Idon't know.
Owen, what the heck do youthink?
What do you think of this mess?
It was just like we justregurgitated all this learning
so fast.
Well, yeah, think.
What do you think of?
Speaker 1 (17:04):
this mess, it was just like we just regurgitated
all this, this learning so fast.
Well, yeah, just I think it wasprobably about a year ago.
You sent me this article and Iwas just like what the like?
Where did you?
I certainly have not heard ofsuch madness.
I'm not up on toronto, hiscircuit history, or or riot
history for that matter, butstill, I was just like history,
or riot history for that matter.
But still I was just like whatan interesting.
Yeah, the video I watched wascalled the History Guy.
(17:28):
Who did it?
Yeah, he started it.
What's up?
A fireman and a clown walk intoa brothel.
Sounds like a joke, right, youknow.
It's like whew, what aninteresting story.
Speaker 2 (17:40):
Yeah, no, that's a thing.
So people from Toronto Owen arecalled.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
Torontonians, I just call them Canadian.
Yeah, no, I feel youTorontonians is stupid.
Speaker 2 (17:54):
It sounds forced.
Yeah, we're just going to startcalling them T-words.
I know where that came from oh,I get it.
Yeah, oh, you're from Toronto.
Damn, you're a T-Bird, huh?
All right, see if it catches on.
All you folks out there fromyou know our Canadian listeners
start calling your Torontopeople T-Birds and just see
(18:14):
where it goes.
I don't know, it may not goanywhere.
If it does, you heard it herefirst, right, yeah, exactly,
give us some credit.
Hashtag I tell stories.
Does that still work, owen?
I?
Speaker 1 (18:28):
don't know.
I am unclear, yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
On lots of things.
But yeah, toronto's aninteresting.
You know that Canada is apretty diverse city.
They did explain in thebeginning of this Canada's a
city, now Shut up country, buttoronto and quebec I feel one of
them like brags that they'reone of the most diverse cities
in the world.
I just can't recall.
I do know that they kind of are.
They they really did uh, takingopen books.
(18:55):
They're still pretty open withtheir immigration.
From what I understand, I Idon't know uh, canada doesn't
seem like such a bad governmentat times for a government.
The only thing I would like tosee Canada do and I'm talking to
you, canada, prime minister guyis to treat your indigenous
folks a little better.
That's about it.
Speaker 1 (19:15):
Yeah, that's probably about every country, yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
All over the globe.
No, that's a thing, yeah, andI'm not even trying to Canada,
bash Elbows up Canada, I'm withyou on all this stuff.
Speaker 1 (19:29):
So, nonetheless, we're pro-American hat and maple
syrup.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
Yeah, I like Canada, whatever, I wish I could go
there.
I used to be mad about that,that I'm not allowed in Canada,
but eh, whatever, I guess I cango to a lot of other places, and
although you guys do have theonly place in the world, you
have a whole province thatspeaks Gaelic I think I'll just
skip that and go right toScotland, because I'm allowed
(19:55):
there.
Speaker 1 (19:58):
Well, what we could do.
I believe I'm allowed in Canadaand I may find otherwise upon
reaching the border, but sincecannabis is legal on both sides,
we could go up there, roll ablunt and I could stand on the
Canadian side and pass it to youon US turf.
Speaker 2 (20:15):
All right, sounds like a plan On that note
everybody.
I hope everybody out there hasa good day.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
Much love everybody.
I hope everybody out there hasa good day.
(21:03):
Much love everybody, thank you.
Ahoy hoy.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
And ahoy to you.
Hi, Good sir, On this beautifulday creeping up into summer, at
the end of the school year formost of the kids, right, yeah,
Sounds good.
Hey, you're one to tell jokesLike.
For some reason, Owen, you seemto like always remember some
joke, right?
I'm not very good at them, butyou seem to have a knack for
(00:25):
that.
I was wondering if you everheard one that started with a
clown and a fireman walked intoa brothel.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
I did just as of today, basically, essentially,
that's what the setup was for anevent, toronto we're going to
describe to you, but I I watcheda uh, an interesting video
where yeah man said like thissounds like it it's uh, you know
(00:54):
, leading up to a joke but no,it's not, it's a real deal.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
uh, it's about the toronto circus rights of 1855,
which you know some of you mayhave heard of it, I don't know,
seems like kind of an obscureone, but let's roll with it.
This one was actually.
This riot is actuallyresponsible, they say, for
creating the Toronto that weknow today, because it led the
way for a lot of reform in theirpolicing, fire departments and
(01:22):
just local politics in general.
And eventually, I don't know Ididn't know this until I
researched this episode, butToronto had kind of a moniker
nickname and it was Toronto theGood.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
Yeah, that was after all of this reform and stuff,
because it was kind of it seemedlike a wild, you know.
Then it was the Wild West, youknow Right.
Yeah, it reminded me of themovie.
Then it was the Wild West, youknow Right.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
Yeah, it reminded me of the movie.
Yeah, yeah, it reminded me ofthe movie Gangs of New York, for
those that have seen it, but alittle bit more.
So I don't know.
The story's crazy, so I supposewhat do you think we get into
it?
Indeed, all right.
So the Toronto Circus Riot of1855 is one of the most famous
(02:05):
riots in early Canadian urbanhistory.
It happened on July 12th of1855.
And what basically happened islike there was a traveling
circus that came to town andthis is one of the first I read
to actually do such a thing, tocarry these big tents and do all
this grueling labor to set upjust for a couple of days, only
(02:26):
to haul back everything up andtake off, haul it out.
Man, you know so, but it wasthe I love the name, by the way,
it's a heck of a name Owen SB,howe's Star Troop, menagerie and
Circus.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
Anytime you use it.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
It's got a nice ring to it, yeah yeah, or some people
may call it the S-B-H-S-T-M-N-C.
So you know, well said, I triedNonetheless out of here,
knocked that one out of the park, I feel.
But this play, anytime you useMenagerie in a title, it's just
(03:06):
hilarious.
I mean, it does sound kind oflike fantastical, but obviously
it probably reminds more peopleof another word, but it's a
thing, guys.
It means, like you know, it's abunch of spectacles in one
place under one roof, amenagerie, anyway.
So I guess that could apply toboth scenarios though.
(03:27):
Here we are.
So this American circus andmenagerie that was in Canada
jeez, I'm on it today, aren't I?
Not Included clowns, acrobats,equestrian acts and exotic
animals like elephants and agiraffe.
I never found any evidence ofanything else, but they do have
a giraffe as well.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
What giraffe?
What was the giraffe's name?
Did you uncover this?
Speaker 2 (03:53):
Giraffey, I don't know.
Do you remember the ChuckNorris joke that had to do with
that?
Speaker 1 (03:59):
Oh, absolutely Go ahead, bro.
Chuck Norris roundhouse kickeda horse under the chin.
Its ancestors became known asgiraffe.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
All right, there we are.
Yeah, background here Torontoin the 1850s was kind of wild.
Population was around 40,000people and their law enforcement
was kind of just formallyestablished in 1834.
So that's what 11 years, yeahor no.
Wait, 21 years, cold, do themath.
It was a pretty small andpoorly organized and mainly
(04:33):
Irish.
That seems to be a trend with alot of stuff like this in New
York as well and on our eastcoast.
I did see.
I can't remember if it was inthe video that we watched or
something different, but itexplained slightly why the Irish
were mainly firefighters andpolice and it had simply to do
with discrimination and it wastheir own.
Speaker 1 (04:59):
Sorry, the Orange Order.
You saw about that, right, butthe Protestant Irish made it so
the Catholic Irish immigrantscouldn't do anything but menial
labor.
Yeah, but basically the policewere run by this Protestant
group of.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
Irish yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
The Orange Order.
I'm surprised somebody hasn'tlatched on to that.
It seems like it could be adifferent kind.
Is that what they call MAGAthese days?
I don sorry, I'm just kidding.
The orange order, hey, hey, uh.
So on that fun note, um, yeah,these guys were pretty crooked
and corrupt as well, and theypretty much like yeah, you're
(05:40):
right.
But also to add to the, thepoint why it drew even these
Irish Protestants into theOrange Order, or to create it,
was because they were beingdiscriminated against as well
and it was their only way tograb a hold of some sort of
political power.
Because these firefightingtroops, or whatever they called
(06:01):
them, you know, they called themrowdies.
That was their nickname, thefirefighters, by the way,
because they were so freakingrowdy.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
Yeah, but these troops were formed, or whatever,
in these police departmentsbased on like local
neighborhoods and stuff, becausethey had to be kind of tough
and rugged and whatnot, andthat's why the Irish were able
to get into that and then gainsome political power.
And, just like many groups inhistory, once they gain
political power or some sort ofpower in their segment of the
population, you know, then whatdo they do?
(06:29):
They start taking a shit on theother part of their group and
then push them down so they havesomebody below them.
You know, yeah for sure.
Instead of working together,they're like you got brown hair
Right.
That's what it feels like.
I don't know, did anybody eversay if they had all red hair or
anything?
Speaker 1 (06:51):
I don't know.
I did see rowdies as a.
That's a very accuratedescription.
It sounded like it's precedingthe circus riots.
There was a story of twoseparate fire crews showed up
and, rather than trying to savethe building that was on fire,
they fought each other, and then, when the police showed up and
(07:14):
tried to break it up, thefiremen turned together and beat
the shit out of the police andyeah, the building just burnt to
the ground and apparently,allegedly, there was some
looting involved.
Even it was like these peoplewere supposed to be saved, but
these guys had just gotten agiant brawl and then beat up.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
The cops Sounded like a rough and tumble town Sounds
like Billings Police, hey, sononetheless.
Yeah, dude, that's great.
I have something to add to thatthat building was a church.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
Oh geez, yeah, no pun intended.
Yeah, no, it's yeah, no punintended.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
No, that's insane.
So, yeah, they would competeand these carts they would lug
around.
You know they didn't even usehorses.
They would like be running downthe street with these carts
that looked kind of like a wagonwith a big vat on it, like a
tub to pour water in, and theywould be running down the street
trying to beat each other tothese fires.
And and they would be runningdown the street trying to beat
each other to these fires.
And it wasn't the only firemanriot that I seen in there.
(08:11):
That one you read was one ofthe other famous ones of sorts,
and there's notable ones likesix or seven of them within this
small time frame of Torontobeing birthed.
Speaker 1 (08:27):
What do they call people from?
Speaker 2 (08:30):
Toronto, I don't know , canadian, yeah, I guess.
Hey, that works.
So the other thing I've seensome of the firemen were also
part of street gangs.
It was known that they werepart of local street gangs as
well as their fire departmentgang of sorts, I suppose.
Yeah, it's recorded that enginenumber one uh company once got
(08:51):
into a street fight with thehook and ladder company over who
had the right to put out asmall warehouse.
So that's another one thatallowed a story where they
allowed the warehouse to burndown.
No police involved this time,guys.
So now that we, oh, and withinall this Orange Order crap that
the police and the firemen werea part of, which is kind of
(09:13):
funny that they would like fighteach other, but they are Irish
for one.
For two, it seems like there wastypically alcohol involved, but
they would fight each other.
But then when thesefirefighters and police,
obviously they'd get brought upon charges eventually because
people be so frustrated withthis situation that they would
take it to court, and then thepeople who would testify like
(09:36):
prosecute them were members ofthe Orange Order, so they would
just get the case dropped andnothing ever happened.
Right, lots of bribes and allsorts of racketeering type shit
and whatever man.
So anyway, I feel like we kindof set the backdrop there, mr
McMichael, unless there'sanything else you have to add
(09:59):
about these rowdies andpolicemen of 1855 Toronto.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
No, I think we'll get right into the heart of the
story.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
All right, my friend.
So on the night of July 12th1855, after the S&B Howard
Circus performance that evening,some of the clowns decided
they'd go over to the WhiteHouse Tavern on King Jarvis
Street.
The White House Tavern wasreally known for to be.
It wasn't a, it was a tavern,but it was a brothel.
(10:29):
Right, it was more well knownas a brothel.
And within my research andreading and you know, going
through all my books and whatnotI found that there was quite a
few brothels in Toronto at thetime, around 40 plus that they
knew of.
And that's pretty.
That's a lot for a town.
That's only like.
What did they say?
40,000 people, 30,000?
(10:51):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (10:52):
Yeah, so it seems like brothels and taverns were
the thing, because there's 150taverns, oh, my goodness, and
I'm sure a lot of those wereundercover brothels, you know.
Right.
Speaker 2 (11:03):
Yeah Jeez, that's insane.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
I'm sure they knew a gal huh.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
Yeah, must have.
So after this performance.
You know, clowns just beingclowns, man, and these clowns,
they're rugged, bro.
Let's not forget.
These ain't our modern-dayclowns riding a unicycle or
doing stuff like that.
Even though that seems slightlyathletic, these guys were
roughnecks.
I would compare them more tolike oil rig drillers or some
(11:30):
shit like that than people thatwork on the rigs, because they
had to tear down those massivetarps for the tents and haul
everything up.
It was a very laborious workand they continued to mention
that over and over in everyarticle I read about this kind
of stressing the point that, hey, these clowns weren't no sissy
clowns.
Okay, you can just honk theirhorn and get away with it, all
(11:51):
right, or nose whatever.
Nonetheless, they say thatwithin this fight, uh, uh it.
They're not quite sure why itstarted, but basically some
firefighters went into the samebrothel and they were kind of
vying for these ladies attentionback and forth, because this is
one of the the firefightersmain haunts was this white house
brothel or whatnot, the tavern,sorry, anyway.
(12:14):
Uh, and so within this they're,they're going for each other's
attention.
They, one of them, says, likeone of the clowns mouthed off or
somebody knocked thefirefighters hat off, or vice
versa, they don't know, but it'sjust.
Craziness ensued and they juststarted fighting Owen Within.
That fight the clowns.
Stopped the shit out of theserowdy firemen, did they not?
Speaker 1 (12:37):
Yeah, yeah, it sounded like they definitely got
the better of round one.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
Yeah, of round one indeed, but yeah, so they really
roughed them up and sent thempacking.
You know.
So the firefighters, though,they had to run off and they
went and complained to theirbuddies at the police force and
all their other orange orderpartners.
You know how bad they got beatup and uh, so you know the the
clowns thinking that this isover, like, look at these clowns
(13:03):
, we just whooped their ass,right?
You know, vice versa, the clownhappy.
So we got two sets of clownshere, people.
Not the crime on the inside kindof, yeah, none of that stuff.
But at the end of the day herethe clowns still had to do
another show.
You know they were just at anight off.
That's why they went to thebrothel and they were gonna
relax, end up thumping on somefiremen, thumping on some
(13:24):
whatnot, headed back to thecircus, got a good night's rest,
presumably, and then did theirperformance.
Well, partway through theperformance, the Orange Order
and all these firefighters justlike stormed the circus.
Speaker 1 (13:42):
Yeah, beating people up and like with a, you know,
morbid sense of humor, thefirefighters lit the clown's
tents on fire, some of them.
Yeah, it's like what a thingfor firefighters to be lighting
clown's tents ablaze.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
Good idea.
It's a heck of a legacy to beknown for this hook and ladder
company, you know.
So yeah, they did.
There was no reported deaths,but you know, the only thing
that was reported was that thecircus performers were trying to
escape, some even like justjumping into the river trying to
get away, because it was likethey got flanked or something.
(14:19):
You know what I mean, likethey're just doing their thing
and then here comes a couplehundred orange people to,
probably yelling in Gaelic andbroken English, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (14:29):
But and then there's a story of even the Well, the
mayor did show up, but that heeven saved a clown's life by
grabbing an axe out of afireman's hand.
It's unclear if that's entirelytrue, but the mayor did show up
.
That's the only thing thatprobably kept anyone from being
killed.
Yeah, Was he showed up and wasjust like okay, I know that this
(14:51):
is not good for tourism, guys.
Speaker 2 (14:54):
Yeah, or maybe depends on what kind of tourist
you're looking for, right, butthis thing was so out of hand
that, yeah, the mayor got likeran over there because they
couldn't.
The way they ended up stoppingit was by calling in a militia
group, because when the policewere called in, they, yeah,
because when the police werecalled in, they excuse me they
(15:14):
either joined in or just satthere, kind of deal.
Speaker 1 (15:19):
So they had to have a local militia group which would
be like that day's you knowarmy reserve or whatnot, I
suppose, come in there yeah,because another thing like you
know what they call the peoplewho really like ran stuff in the
orange order, people that justhad carte blanche for anything
the corporation.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
Oh my goodness.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
So they were the ones who were running Toronto
basically.
So the mayor had to like bandtogether you know misfits like
unofficial militia to fight likethe people who were really
running shit.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
No, that's a thing, man.
Yeah, and then so they weren't.
They weren't going to prosecuteany of these firefighters for
this crazy act.
I'm sure some of the public gothurt within this as well, and
it's just insane.
Everybody's sick of it, andthis is what began the
dismantling of the corporation,which I'm sure still existed in
(16:14):
parts, late afterwards, you know, because that's just how
corruption really works.
It doesn't, doesn't typicallyjust go away, I guess,
especially if you leave the samepeople in place, right?
Speaker 1 (16:27):
No, we swear we'll be good next time.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
Yeah, yeah, Anyway.
What a bunch of clowns.
I'm glad our firemen are betterthese days.
I actually think firemen arepretty legit Police.
We're looking at you sometimes,you know, but that's just
America, and Canada actuallydoesn't have a very good
reputation for their Mounties.
(16:50):
So these are things, people Idon't know.
Owen, what the heck do youthink?
What do you think of this mess?
It was just like we justregurgitated all this learning
so fast.
Well, yeah, think.
What do you think of?
Speaker 1 (17:04):
this mess, it was just like we just regurgitated
all this, this learning so fast.
Well, yeah, just I think it wasprobably about a year ago.
You sent me this article and Iwas just like what the like?
Where did you?
I certainly have not heard ofsuch madness.
I'm not up on toronto, hiscircuit history, or or riot
history for that matter, butstill, I was just like history,
or riot history for that matter.
But still I was just like whatan interesting.
Yeah, the video I watched wascalled the History Guy.
(17:28):
Who did it?
Yeah, he started it.
What's up?
A fireman and a clown walk intoa brothel.
Sounds like a joke, right, youknow.
It's like whew, what aninteresting story.
Speaker 2 (17:40):
Yeah, no, that's a thing.
So people from Toronto Owen arecalled.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
Torontonians, I just call them Canadian.
Yeah, no, I feel youTorontonians is stupid.
Speaker 2 (17:54):
It sounds forced.
Yeah, we're just going to startcalling them T-words.
I know where that came from oh,I get it.
Yeah, oh, you're from Toronto.
Damn, you're a T-Bird, huh?
All right, see if it catches on.
All you folks out there fromyou know our Canadian listeners
start calling your Torontopeople T-Birds and just see
(18:14):
where it goes.
I don't know, it may not goanywhere.
If it does, you heard it herefirst, right, yeah, exactly,
give us some credit.
Hashtag I tell stories.
Does that still work, owen?
I?
Speaker 1 (18:28):
don't know.
I am unclear, yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
On lots of things.
But yeah, toronto's aninteresting.
You know that Canada is apretty diverse city.
They did explain in thebeginning of this Canada's a
city, now Shut up country, buttoronto and quebec I feel one of
them like brags that they'reone of the most diverse cities
in the world.
I just can't recall.
I do know that they kind of are.
They they really did uh, takingopen books.
(18:55):
They're still pretty open withtheir immigration.
From what I understand, I Idon't know uh, canada doesn't
seem like such a bad governmentat times for a government.
The only thing I would like tosee Canada do and I'm talking to
you, canada, prime minister guyis to treat your indigenous
folks a little better.
That's about it.
Speaker 1 (19:15):
Yeah, that's probably about every country, yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
All over the globe.
No, that's a thing, yeah, andI'm not even trying to Canada,
bash Elbows up Canada, I'm withyou on all this stuff.
Speaker 1 (19:29):
So, nonetheless, we're pro-American hat and maple
syrup.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
Yeah, I like Canada, whatever, I wish I could go
there.
I used to be mad about that,that I'm not allowed in Canada,
but eh, whatever, I guess I cango to a lot of other places, and
although you guys do have theonly place in the world, you
have a whole province thatspeaks Gaelic I think I'll just
skip that and go right toScotland, because I'm allowed
(19:55):
there.
Speaker 1 (19:58):
Well, what we could do.
I believe I'm allowed in Canadaand I may find otherwise upon
reaching the border, but sincecannabis is legal on both sides,
we could go up there, roll ablunt and I could stand on the
Canadian side and pass it to youon US turf.
Speaker 2 (20:15):
All right, sounds like a plan On that note
everybody.
I hope everybody out there hasa good day.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
Much love everybody.
I hope everybody out there hasa good day.
(21:03):
Much love everybody, thank you.
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