By Brett Popplewell
The hand of death was placed on permanent display in a Sparks Street tavern this week, when D’Arcy McGee’s Irish pub opened an exhibit in honour of the man for whom the bar is named.
The pub has collaborated with the Bytown Museum to pay tribute to Thomas D’Arcy McGee, a Father of Confederation who was assassinated on Sparks Street 136 years ago. “We’re unveiling a permanent showcase for (him) which will include a replica of an original mold of his hand which has been on display in the museum for quite a few years,” says museum volunteer Margaret Hamilton.
The museum has had the original molding of McGee’s right hand in its possession since 1923.
Christina Tessier, director of the museum, explained that in Victorian times, people of importance would often have a molding taken of their faces after they had died. “It was a way to remember them by,” she says.
“The lore is that McGee’s face was too disfigured at the time for a proper death mask,” says Hamilton, which may explain why a molding was taken of his hand.
The exhibit includes a memorial plaque and information about the man behind the hand.
“It’s going to be a nice little tribute,” says Alexander Munro, general manager of the pub, which took McGee’s name when it opened in 1998.
McGee lived in Trotter’s Toronto House, a Sparks Street rooming house that has since been demolished.
“We took on the name for obvious reasons; being an Irish pub on Sparks Street the name just seemed to fit,” adds Munro.
Born on April 13, 1825, McGee was a journalist, poet, politician and Irish patriot. Elected to Canada’s first House of Commons, he was renowned for his eloquence and ability to captivate his listeners with the power of his speech. He was also known for his public denouncements of the Fenians — a group of Irish extremists who advocated seizing control of Canada from the British by violent means.
On the night of April 6, 1868, McGee attended a late-night session in the House of Commons, where he spoke passionately in favour of national unity. Returning to his rooming house in the early hours of April 7, McGee was shot through the back of the head as he was unlocking his door.
Patrick Whelan, the man convicted of McGee’s assassination, was sentenced to death — a sentence that led to the last public execution in Canadian history. It was believed at the time that Whelan had shot McGee as part of a Fenian conspiracy, an accusation which
Whelan denied to the end. Today, some believe that Whelan was wrongfully convictedand that the actual assassin was never caught.
“McGee’s appeal to Canadians is two-fold, because of the almost uniqueness of his death — his was one of only two assassinations in Canadian history, and because of his eloquence as a spokesperson in early Canadian politics,” says Duncan McDowell, a professor of history at Carleton University.
“Our goal here is to reintroduce the myth of McGee to the city,” adds Hamilton
Some of the proceeds from the April 7 event will be donated to the museum, which is trying to purchase the Smith & Wesson pistol believed to have killed McGee for its collection of artifacts. The pistol is presently owned by an auto mechanic in Dundalk, a small town in Southern Ontario, and has been confirmed through its serial number to be the same gun taken from Whelan’s home.
“People love good stories and McGee’s story is a captivating one that still interests people to this day,” says Tessier.
Both the museum and the pub acknowledge that the new exhibit is a small token of recognition for a man of great importance to Canadian history.
“Let’s face it, if this was in the United States, there would have been a movie made about him by now,” says Munro.