HISTORIC HOTEL.

Putaruru Press, Volume VI, Issue 231, 5 April 1928, Page 3

HISTORIC HOTEL.

KING EDWARD AND DICKENS WERE GUESTS. I St. Lawerence Hall, which has got a place all its own in the social and political history of Canada is to be closed, as the C.P.R. requires the land on which it is built. King Edward VII when Prince of Wales, slept beneath its roof. Sir John A. MacDonald planned there many of the steps that led to the Confederation in 1867. “Jeff” Davis, of “Sour Apple Tree” fame, later President of the United States, found sanctuary there before and after the Civil War. John Willis Booth, who murdered President Lincoln, wrote his name on the register. Surratt, his companion, fled to Canada, and registered at The Hall under an assumed name. Charles Dickens assembled many of his living mind-pictures of Canada while a guest there. The list is internationally known with figures of those who found a temporary home within its walls. Adelina Patti, Field-Marshall Wolseley, Lieut, (afterwards General)Buller, “Buffalo Bill”( Colonel Cody), Sir George Etienne Cartier are among the number. The visit of the Prince of Wales, to open the bridge across the St. Lawrenct in 1859, brought a distinguished company to the hotel, including Lord Lyons, Lady Franklin, Genral Bruce, and Admiral Milne The Trent affair, which led to mobilisation in Caada, brought the hotel into prominence as the headquarters of the staff. The proprietor of the hotel, from the ’fifties onward, Henry Hogan, had an international reputation.