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18 The Canadian Statesman, Bowmanville, Wednesday, April 6,1994 For Your Information Liberty Pentecostal Church Dramatizes "Last Supper" Reflections on lil Clarington over the past two centuries By SherLectooze In 1837 there were two factions living in Upper Canada. The United Empire Loyalists (second and third generations) who first populated the province and were loyal to British rule, and those who came later and' decided, with some help from American American patriots, that Canada should seek its independence. Throughout Darlington, there were few people who supported the rebellious thoughts of separation, and those who were roused to arms did so on the 'royalist' side, as their ancestors ancestors had done 200 years earlier during Britain's Civil War. In his book, The Townships of Darlington and Clarke, John Squair says he had heard that a small contingent contingent of recruits was hurriedly gathered gathered to march to Toronto, to help quell the troubles with William Lyon MacKcnzie and his 'boys'. J. B. Fairbaim tells us that Frederic Cubitt, eighteen at the time, was an ensign with the Darlington Militia unit, and that H.S. Reid was the commander of it. In 1905, Stephen Washington wrote some reminiscences in the Canadian Canadian Statesman, and" said that he and his brothers, Anthony and John, went part way through the deep mud with the others. They got as far as the Don River and saw, or heard of, the burning of the bridge by Matthews and his men. Even though this small militia unit was late in arriving at Toronto to take part in the skirmish, they marched up Yonge St. Some of the men didn't have rifles, so they put 'sticks' over their shoulders, to look like a well- armed unit. One of the commanding officers at Toronto saw them march by and commented that even if they had made it to the fight in time without without arms, they would have made the country proud. But there was one local lad who fought for the other side. Apparently swayed by a visit from Samuel Lount, who was later hanged for his part in the rebellion, Ben Lett joined up with the rebels and headed to Navy Island to be part of William Lon MacKenzie's rebellion. The Yankee patriots had equipped a ship, The Caroline, to shuttle supplies supplies along the lake for the rebels, but the government got Wind of-the plan and scuttled the Carolina and tried to send her over Niagara Falls. She sank in the Niagara River before she went over. Ben Lett was one of those who fought to save the Caroline from her fate. Another local lad, Robert Armour, Armour, was one of those who scuttled her. Robert Amour was only 19 at the time, Ben Lett was 25. Ben Lett was also implicated in the murder of Captain Usher (he was responsible for the demise of The Caroline) but it could never be proved that he had a hand in that crime. Talk of the day also implicat- . cd Ben in the blowing up of Brock's Monument, but others were eventually eventually charged. The crime with Which Ben Lett was charged, and found guilty, was for his part in the burning of the steamer Great Britain, in the harbour at Oswego. He was sentenced, to seven seven years in the Auburn State Prison. While cn route to jail, Ben escaped escaped custody when the train on which they were transporting him slowed down while travelling through a swampy area. He had no boots, and ripped his coat in the escape. escape. He was at large for over a year before being re-captured. During that year it is surmised that he came back to Darlington and hid out at the homes of various friends and relations. Many talcs floated around about sightings of him. From J.B. Fairbaim's, History and Reminiscences of Bowmanville, we have this talc: "Mr. (John) Simpson, then in management of the Bowman business, had gotten a number of Roman Roman Catholic Irishmen from Ops to work on the mill dam which had been carried away by the spring freshets. Mr. Burke (of early settlement fame) • being short of hands in the harvest,, got one of the men to go to the farm to assist. He was put to work in a field by himself. In the meantime a Province Wants Region to Care For Highway 2 The Ontario Ministry of Transportation Transportation is looking at how Durham Region can take over the responsibility responsibility for maintaining Highway Two. Before that happens, though, the province will be sinking $1.2 million million into the reconstruction of Highway Highway Two from Ncwtonvillc to the Clarington - Hope Township boundary. boundary. Ward One Regional Councillor Larry Hannah told The Independent ' the improvements to Highway Two will probably happen litis summer, picking up where last year's improvements improvements left off. : The work is, of course, subject to approval from the Ministry of Transportation. brilliant idea struck (his son) David. Determined to have a little fun at the expense of the raw Irishman, he dressed appropriately for the occasion occasion and, armed with an old blunderbuss, blunderbuss, dropped down on the man from Ops who was evidently taken aback by the apparition of an apparently armed desperado. David told him that he was Ben Lett and that he heard they were very anxious to make him a prisoner, and invited the Irishman to undertake the job. David finally left, but not before making the Irishman Irishman promise on his sacred honour that he would never reveal the encounter. encounter. Once the man was up town with his friends, he told his secret. It became whispered from one to an other until it reached the cars of the authorities, who believed that Ben Lett was being harbored by the Burkes. The militia surrounded the house one night and searched the bams, sheds and house, to no avail. It was many years before the truth of the matter was made known by young David." Another story has it that Ben was, in fact, hiding out in an alcove behind behind the fireplace at the family home in Solina. J.B. Fairbaim also relates this story story about John Frank, who came to Bowmanville in 1831, and was also known as Big John. Apparently, Mr. Frank was out in the com field one morning and came upon a man very sound asleep, evidently evidently very worn out. His gun lay at his side, and he was otherwise heavily heavily armed. Mr. Frank sneaked up and took the gun and roused the man, stating that he knew who he was and that he was now a prisoner. He fed the man and then let him go, telling him to get out of the area as soon as possible. Not even the reward of J500 could really tempt Mr. Frank. Ben was finally captured in Buffalo Buffalo and he served his time. Later, he lived in Illinois, where it is said he was a model citizen. The Liberty Pentecostal Church held a dramatization of "The Last Supper" on Sunday night. At the dress rehearsal, Larry Lindberg, Jim Leask, Mike Sills, A1 Crichton, Jim Mercer, John Harness, Rich Richter, Bob Mongrain, Lyn Wood, Scott Jones, A1 Johnston, Johnny Conner, and Dan Mongram each struck their pose as depicted in the Leonardo da Vinci painting "The Last Supper." Pastor GilL said each man portraying one of the 12 disciples would speak a monologue and then ask Jesus "Is it I?" The pro-; duction was estimated to last a little over one hour. 92 CHEV PICKUP Box linor, V-8. Slock No. 930312A 4-Dr., V-6, loaded, Stock No. 940195A