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The Players' Guild of Hamilton, Inc.

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History of the Guild, Page 6

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By 7:30 that evening a jury had been sworn in and had gathered at Palm's Saloon at the corner of King & Bay Streets (where the Regal Hotel is now). The coroner's jury found cause to send him to court on a charge of murder. McConnell was defended by John Crerar (one of the founders of the Garrick Club, coincidentally) who had him plead insanity, one of the first times this defence had been used in Canada.

This defence was supported by several expert witnesses but, nonetheless, he was found guilty and sentenced to death. He was executed by hanging on March 14, 1876 at the old Barton Street Jail.

Mrs. Nelson Mills, the widow, sold the lot to Valancey E. Fuller, a local lawyer and the son of Thomas Brock Fuller, the first Bishop of Niagara. Bishop Fuller lived nearby in the house where ONTV is now.

Valancey Fuller built the house on the lot in 1878. He then got himself into financial difficulties over a herd of Jersey cows that he had imported to his farm on what is now LaSalle Park. In 1889, the farm and all his assets, including the house, were sold.

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