Episode 182 - The Clown Riot of 1855

In 1855, a bizarre incident in Toronto escalated into one of the city’s strangest riots. After a fight broke out between clowns from a visiting circus and members of a volunteer firefighting company, tensions quickly spiraled. What began as a confrontation in a brothel turned into a mob attack that ended with the circus being burned to the ground.

In this episode of the Lunatics Radio Hour, we explore the Clown Riot of 1855, the culture of volunteer fire companies at the time, and how the chaos exposed corruption within Toronto’s police force. The fallout from the riot helped push the city toward major reforms in policing and public order.

Episode 182 examines how an unlikely clash between firefighters and circus performers became a turning point in Toronto’s civic history.

Sources 

• An article by Alex Dunne, on The Uncircurriculum: The Great Toronto Circus Riot
• https://grandorangelodge.ca/history/
• BlogTo article by Alice McCurty: This weird event in 1855 sparked the creation of the Toronto Police force
• Peter Vronsky – "Rogues, Scoundrels and Screws" (Toronto crime history)
• Adam Bunch – "The Toronto Book of the Dead"
• Heritage Toronto article on the circus riot
• Toronto Public Library archives
• First hand sources, that we will cite as we go. Thanks to April Brenker for finding those for us.

Get Lunatics Merch here. Join the discussion on Discord. Check out Abby's book Horror Stories. Available in eBook and paperback. Music by Michaela Papa, Alan Kudan & Jordan Moser. Poster Art by Pilar Keprta @pilar.kep.

Transcript

Clowns Spark A Real Riot

SPEAKER_01 0:18

Hello, everyone, and welcome to another episode of the Lunatics Radio Hour Podcast. My name is Abby Branker, and I'm sitting here with Alan Kudan.

SPEAKER_00 0:27

Hello.

SPEAKER_01 0:27

In 1855, a fight between circus clowns and firefighters started in a brothel and ended with a mob burning down a circus.

SPEAKER_00 0:37

I'm sorry, is this real?

SPEAKER_01 0:39

Not only is it true, it also went on to inspire reform in Toronto's police force.

SPEAKER_00 0:46

So clowns brawled with firefighters, and that changed legislation.

SPEAKER_01 0:53

Today we are talking about the clown riot of 1856.

SPEAKER_00 0:57

Sure. You know what? Why not?

Sources And Recording Setup

SPEAKER_01 0:59

Why not? Life is short. Let's talk about our sources. An article by Alex Doon on the UN Curriculum, the Great Toronto Circus Riot, the Grand Orange Lodge's website.

SPEAKER_00 1:10

What is the Grand Orange Lodge?

SPEAKER_01 1:11

Don't worry, Alan, more to come. A blog two article by Alice McCurdy. This weird event in 1855 sparked the creation of the Toronto Police Force, a Heritage Toronto article on the Circus Riot, and contemporary newspaper articles that we're going to cite as we go. And thank you so much to April Branker for researching and sending those over to us.

SPEAKER_00 1:31

I just want to make a little note for all the listeners that Abby is currently sick, and we are recording in separate rooms. And despite this, sorry, what do you do when you're, you know, really sick? I'm not sick. What do you do when you're sick? I'm not sick. You make a a history podcast about clown riots.

Toronto Tensions And The Orange Order

SPEAKER_01 1:50

I'm not sick. And exactly. Let's set the stage, if you will. It's 1855. And clowns are rioting. Toronto has about 40,000 residents and at least 100 taverns. So the ratio there is pretty good.

SPEAKER_00 2:06

How many residents? 40,000. Oh. It's not a crazy ratio. And 100 taverns? No, that's that's nothing. That's less than 1,000 people per a tavern. Right. That's not enough. You need more taverns.

SPEAKER_01 2:25

You mean it's more than a thousand people?

SPEAKER_00 2:27

40,000 people divided by 100. 100 taverns. You would need 40 taverns. Wait a minute.

SPEAKER_01 2:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:36

Okay. But still, one uh it say say it was 40, right? Even a thousand people per tavern is two people.

SPEAKER_01 2:45

Well, they're not all gonna go. A lot of kids.

SPEAKER_00 2:48

Sure.

SPEAKER_01 2:49

Or old people or abstinent. I I still don't think it's a lot of taverns. The city was growing because of railway expansion. Most residents were either born in Britain, Scotland, or Ireland. Scotland. Or were second or third generation immigrants from those countries. I didn't realize that so much of Toronto was founded by like UK immigration.

SPEAKER_00 3:12

Wasn't like all of Canada founded by either UK or French immigration?

SPEAKER_01 3:18

I guess so, yeah. The city was dominated by the Grand Orange Lodge of Canada, the Canadian branch of the Orange Order. The Orange Order is a Protestant fraternal organization that still exists that traces its origins to events in England and Ireland in the late 17th century. And I'm not going to get into that because that history is dull.

SPEAKER_00 3:39

Okay, so translation for that is that you looked into it because you're like, wow, neat. And then you read into it and you're like, this sucks.

SPEAKER_01 3:48

The first formal Orange Lodge was established in 1795 in Northern Ireland, and the organization spread internationally. Orange Lodges appeared in Canada by the early 19th century, particularly in Toronto, where historians believe members were present before the War of 1812. Over time, the organization became active in Canadian political and social life, and its members participated in several conflicts, including the War of 1812, the Upper Canada Rebellion, the Fenian raids, and the Northwest Rebellion.

SPEAKER_00 4:22

What is the Upper Canadian Rebellion?

SPEAKER_01 4:25

For another episode. I'm sorry. I was promised clown riots. It was an insurrection against the oligarch government.

SPEAKER_00 4:34

Of of what?

SPEAKER_01 4:35

You know what? I'm trying to get to the clowns, and you keep asking clarifying questions. But the oligarchs of what? The British colony of Upper Canada. Sh yeah, okay, fair. Quoting from the blog two article, quote, during the 1800s, members of the Orange Order were known to wreak havoc on Toronto streets by engaging in sectarian violence with the local Irish Catholic population. It's worth noting that the Orange Order had a strong influence over politics, with mayors, councilmen, aldermen, local police, and firefighters belonging to the organization. End quote.

SPEAKER_00 5:11

So bigger topic, but why were the Irish Catholic prosecuted? Do you want to get to the clowns? I mean, yeah, but I I'm actually interested in this.

SPEAKER_01 5:24

It wasn't that they were persecuted, it was that it was the Protestants versus the Catholics. A tale as old as time.

SPEAKER_00 5:31

Wasn't it always the Catholics going after the Protestants? I I really don't know. This is my my own gap in No, I think it was a two-way street.

SPEAKER_01 5:40

Yeah. I think it was just that there was two different like their their versions of Christianity are so different.

SPEAKER_00 5:45

Are they are they?

SPEAKER_01 5:46

Yeah, quite different. Like Catholics believe well, here's the thing. Here's one one element of it. I think in Catholicism, you ha have a lot of ceremony and symbolism and ritual, if you will. There is a belief in heaven and hell and purgatory. It's stricter. And I think Protestant, and I think historically Protestants has have seen that as performative, perhaps. Like you can go to get what's it called?

SPEAKER_00 6:13

The Eucharist.

SPEAKER_01 6:14

No, you can go and get confession and the Eucharist. And you know, all these different things feel very like symbolic and maybe empty. Where Protestants, like even in um the Lord's Prayer, there's two different versions for Protestants and Catholics.

SPEAKER_00 6:27

Huh.

SPEAKER_01 6:28

There's, you know, there's just like fundamental differences.

SPEAKER_00 6:30

So interesting.

SPEAKER_01 6:31

Yeah. I mean, that's just like my off-the-dome take. It's it's obviously much deeper, and there's thousands of years of history there.

SPEAKER_00 6:38

Yeah, no, it's added, it's just so interesting because like you you see persecution throughout history where it's like, yes, this is my God, and this is your God, and your God is wrong. But uh this seems like you say it tomato, and I say it tomato.

SPEAKER_01 6:56

So the same God, but it's different. Yeah. Yeah, it's a different way of getting there.

SPEAKER_00 7:01

Huh. So anyway, so the clowns were upset.

SPEAKER_01 7:05

Okay. So about half of Toronto's police officers and many firefighters were members of the Orange Order. So I really can't stress like how important the Orange Order was to Toronto in 1855.

SPEAKER_00 7:18

And Orange Order was Protestant.

SPEAKER_01 7:20

Correct.

SPEAKER_00 7:21

Okay.

Why Circuses Drew Suspicion

SPEAKER_01 7:21

At the same time, traveling circuses were a common form of entertainment in North America. Companies moved from city to city by wagon, bringing performers, animals, and large canvas tents that could be set up quickly in open fields. The circus involved acrobats, clowns, animal trainers, and sideshow attractions. Many towns welcomed them as major events, but circus workers were often viewed with suspicion by local residents.

SPEAKER_00 7:48

Well, they're carnies.

SPEAKER_01 7:52

Well, you know, because the performers were temporary visitors who moved so frequently, newspapers even sometimes described them as rowdy or disorderly. You know, they just like didn't have a good reputation.

SPEAKER_00 8:03

I mean, are you about to trust the bearded woman? With my life. I I feel like there's a stone's throw difference between carnies and gypsies.

SPEAKER_01 8:13

I don't think you're allowed to say either of those words.

SPEAKER_00 8:15

I'm gonna have to bleep you. W I'm sorry, what what is the better term for carnie? Carnival workers and bohemians. Not bohemians, the romani. The romani, short. How dare you? All right, here we go. Uh it's sorry. Take it as you will. These are people whose livelihood comes through entertainment, which is very close to charlatanism.

SPEAKER_01 8:38

I disagree. You know what you're getting into. You're going to acrobats are not charlatans.

SPEAKER_00 8:44

Exactly. With acrobats, you're getting with clown.

SPEAKER_01 8:46

None of you. You see what you get. But you know what circus performer is tricking you?

SPEAKER_00 8:50

Anyone that does any kind of illusion or magic?

SPEAKER_01 8:53

That that's different.

SPEAKER_00 8:53

Any kind of a fortune teller? Like the uh all these things are staples at carnivals.

SPEAKER_01 8:59

But it's not a carnival, it's a circus.

SPEAKER_00 9:01

Uh think of Zoltan.

SPEAKER_01 9:03

He's not at the circus.

SPEAKER_00 9:04

He's at he's a carnival.

SPEAKER_01 9:05

He's a fortune teller.

SPEAKER_00 9:07

At a carnival. A carnival and a circus are different. Interchangeable. I don't think so. Okay, the circus has elephants. Yes. It used to, no longer.

SPEAKER_01 9:16

It has animals, it has trapeze artists, it has clowns. You know exactly what you're getting into.

Privatized Firefighting And Street Violence

SPEAKER_00 9:21

Have you seen Cirque du Soleil? No. Well, I have. Okay. And you know what? What? Did they trick you? No, it's great. Exactly. It's honestly really impressive performance.

SPEAKER_01 9:31

But going back to Toronto in 1855, another notable piece of context is that fire services in Victorian Toronto were not centralized. In fact, they were privatized. Instead, several independent firefighting companies operated across the city. These companies often competed to extinguish fires because payment went to the company that handled the fire.

SPEAKER_00 9:54

I'm sorry, payment? Exactly. For who paid?

SPEAKER_01 9:58

So I just looked it up. It was a combination of insurance companies, community fundraising, or the city. So, you know, at some points the city started to ease into paying for it.

SPEAKER_00 10:08

Oh uh, okay. So it wasn't the individual, but there they okay. I understand.

SPEAKER_01 10:13

But it wasn't like strictly coming out of taxes.

SPEAKER_00 10:16

Got it. So, like in in well, we we live in New York City. We have the NYFD, which is one of the few paid fire departments in the country.

SPEAKER_01 10:26

There was I will also clarify, there was in addition to these individual sort of like privatized, there was volunteer firefighting in Toronto at this time too. Sure.

SPEAKER_00 10:35

But and and this this is important, like you know, like right now, it depends on which county a fire happens in, depends on who which fire department responds, you know. It used to be where if I understand what you're saying, there were competing fire departments that would show up because then the city they would just pay the person that responded and put out the fire.

SPEAKER_01 11:00

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 11:01

Which is kind of crazy, but uh also a very small uh microcosm of capitalism.

SPEAKER_01 11:07

Yeah, exactly. And so fights between these companies were common and sometimes even became violent. Police often ignored violence involving Orange Order members and sometimes joined the fights themselves. Loyalty to fellow members of the Orange Order very often took priority in Toronto.

SPEAKER_00 11:25

This sounds just like Gangs of New York.

SPEAKER_01 11:27

It's so much like gangs of New York. So all this is just to like set the stage, right? Like Toronto in 1855 was like seeped, hypothetically, metaphorically, not hypothetically, just metaphorically, in lighter fluid. It was primed and ready for an explosive event when the circus came to town.

SPEAKER_00 11:49

I'm sorry, nothing about this translates.

SPEAKER_01 11:52

What do you mean?

SPEAKER_00 11:53

We have a very religiously charged situation where some people hate other people for very stupid reasons, but it's all prejudice-based. And but it's just like, you know, I don't know, fear of the other, but also you're me, but not quite me. It's just weird. So the fact that it's the circus that comes and just like really topples things over just seems insane.

SPEAKER_01 12:23

It was a place and time, it was riddled with corruption. There was like horrible, like the this the whole system of policing was horrible. There was privatized firefighting, right? It was just like this crazy, there was already like distrust generally for the circus. And so everything was very much primed and ready to go.

SPEAKER_00 12:43

By the way, I I was just reading Fahrenheit 451, and the definition of firefighter of the they are guys that just burn books was just uh so interesting and so spookily relevant.

SPEAKER_01 12:57

Yeah. A lot of these books that we grew up reading in English class are coming back around right now.

SPEAKER_00 13:02

I know, it really sucks.

SPEAKER_01 13:03

It really does.

SPEAKER_00 13:04

Come on.

SPEAKER_01 13:05

On the night of Thursday, July 12th, 1855, clowns from S.B. Hoy's Star Troop Menagerie and Circus and volunteers from the Hook and Ladder Firefighting Company were at a brothel operated by one Mary Ann Armstrong on King Street near Jarvis Street in Toronto. The Hook and Ladder firefighters were regulars at this brothel, right? And obviously the circus performers were not because they were just passing through town. They were the outsiders. A fight broke out between the two groups at the brothel, and the firefighters ended up retreating, fighting their time. But what caused the fight? Like so much of this incident, there's only conjecture. Some believe that it stemmed from a combination of drunken misbehavior and either a fight over a woman working at the brothel, or an argument between the firefighters and the outsiders, the men working at the circus, or some combination of the above. But even contemporary reports from the time disagree about who started the fight, right? So even the newspaper articles that came out immediately in 1855, like nobody was was really sure unless you were there. They all have different accounts of that.

SPEAKER_00 14:12

Which is fair. It's it's a fight between two different parties. It's really it's always hard to say who started what.

SPEAKER_01 14:18

Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_00 14:19

Unl unless it's like a the militia and then like the shot heard round the world. Somebody was clearly in the wrong while simultaneously, you know what? Both were probably egging on.

The Fair Green Riot And Burning Tents

SPEAKER_01 14:30

Well, they're both drunk. Like, you know, I don't know. I I feel like they both could have been horrible. So the next day, Friday, July 13th, so Friday the 13th, 1855, a crowd gathered at the Fair Green, a waterfront field in Toronto, where the circus had set up its tents near what is now the southeast corner of Front Street and Berkeley Street in Toronto. The Fair Green was an open field along Toronto's waterfront, and traveling circuses typically arranged their grounds with large canvas tents surrounded by wagons carrying equipment, performers' belongings, and animal cages. So it's kind of like this big, sprawling, you know, setup.

SPEAKER_00 15:10

We are well versed. The the the canvas tent is only surpassed by the sailcloth tent. That's right.

SPEAKER_01 15:17

Temporary fencing and ropes were often used to control crowds during performances. I'm gonna quote again from the blog two article quote When news got around that the hook and ladder company firefighters had been beaten in a brawl, members of the Orange Order were incensed. The circus troop had pitched their tents at the Fair Green, a former grassy field near St. Lawrence Market. Members of the Orange Order began to make their way down to the market area, encouraging shopkeepers and market vendors to clear out. The riot started when the crowd began to chuck rocks at the circus performers' tents. The violence quickly escalated. The tents were set on fire, with many of the circus performers fleeing into the lake to avoid the flames. Finally, the hook and ladder firefighting company members arrived, taking to the ensuing brawl with axes, pikes, and clubs. The police, who were mostly orangemen themselves, or had been appointed to their positions by members of the Orange Order, simply stood around and watched the frenzied brawl. The orangemen had been maligned, so it was only fitting that the circus performers received their comeuppance. End quote.

SPEAKER_00 16:25

This is from 1850.

SPEAKER_01 16:27

1855.

SPEAKER_00 16:28

Okay, so the the firefighters who are the pinnacle of machismo.

SPEAKER_01 16:34

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 16:34

Some of them were slighted the night before. Right. Presumably the the brothel brothel escapades. Sure. And then what do they do is they they call their their crony buddies to be like, you know what, let's fuck up these carnies.

SPEAKER_01 16:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:51

It can't say carnival world. Can't say carnies anymore. But yes, uh the these people who are different.

SPEAKER_01 16:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:00

Different and incredibly entertaining, yet somehow the second part gets really overlooked.

SPEAKER_01 17:05

I I agree. They're very entertaining. So entertaining. I mean, I don't like the the treatment of animals, but but not anymore.

SPEAKER_00 17:12

Like look at Barnum and Bailey. Like, not exactly that they are the pinnacle of uh moralism, but they got rid of elephants and a lot of the animal acts in general. So now it's just humans doing really dumb shit. And it's incredibly entertaining.

SPEAKER_01 17:31

Well, there you go. Newspaper accounts suggest that this was a very large crowd that ended up gathering. Reports vary on the exact number of people, but descriptions indicate that hundreds of spectators and residents assembled near the tents. Some appeared to simply be there out of curiosity, observing what was happening, heard about the fight the night before.

SPEAKER_00 17:53

I mean, as you do.

SPEAKER_01 17:54

And others joined once the disturbance began. As more people arrived, the situation quickly became difficult for the small police force to control. The people were using the equipment of the circus equipment as targets, like the mob was targeting the equipment. And they tore down tents and they damaged wagons throughout the area.

SPEAKER_00 18:14

I I pity the the guy that's like, you know what? Oh, fuck up this cage that houses the lions.

SPEAKER_01 18:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:21

Big mistake.

SPEAKER_01 18:22

The crowd threw stones and demanded that a clown named Myers be handed over. Again, we don't know much about Myers, but newspaper reports suggest that Myers had been involved somehow in the fight the night before, which made him the focus of the crowd's anger. After the fight at the brothel, rumors spread that he had been involved in injuring one of the firefighters. Eventually a firebell was rung, but when the firefighters arrived, they simply joined the riot.

SPEAKER_00 18:50

Okay, j j just to recap, so everyone's like, oh fuck you, Myers. And then somebody rings a bell expecting reinforcements. People show up expecting to fight a fire, and what do they get? Reinforcements.

SPEAKER_01 19:04

Well, I don't think whoever rung the firebell was. I think they rang it because the the firefighters had lit all these circus tents on fire, and they were like, Holy shit, there's a fire.

SPEAKER_00 19:14

Oh, so okay, so they lit a fire bell because someone said, Oh my god, there's a fire. We need firefighters to put out this fire, and then when they show up instead they just join the riot.

SPEAKER_01 19:24

Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_00 19:25

Okay. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:26

Cool. Crowds gathered around the circus grounds, and the situation escalated quickly. Several performers were forced to flee for their lives. Some reportedly ran towards the waterfront and jumped into the water to escape the crowd. The mayor of Toronto was present at the scene and attempted to disperse the rioters, but he had little support from the police. As the violence continued, city officials called in local militia units to help restore order. Militia forces in Canadian cities at the time were made up of volunteer soldiers who could be summoned during emergencies such as riots or fires. Their arrival was the only thing that helped disperse the crowd and bring the violence to an end. By the time the militia secured the area, however, much of the circus equipment had been damaged or destroyed. Only 17 people were arrested.

SPEAKER_00 20:13

I'm sorry, that's just crazy. The only thing that saved the circus was the army.

SPEAKER_01 20:19

It didn't this I mean it didn't even save the circus. The circus was fucked.

SPEAKER_00 20:23

Sure, but like the only thing that stopped people from just like completely pillaging the thing was the militia arriving.

Newspapers Condemn Police Inaction

SPEAKER_01 20:31

Yeah. The destruction was significant. Quoting from an article from the colonist a few days after the riot, quote, one of the wagons was tumbled into the bay, another was smashed up with axes and burnt, and other serious damage was done to the circus property. An attempt was also made to fire the canvas. The mayor and police were on the spot, but were unable to quell the disturbance. Firearms and other weapons were used, and one or two persons were badly hurt. While these proceedings were going on, the fire alarm was given and had the effect of heightening the confusion, end quote. By the time the riot ended, the circus was effectively forced to leave the city. We can see from newspaper articles at the time that there was clearly a bias against the circus performers, and a separate bias against the policemen. Quoting from The Globe, an article from July 16, 1855, quote, at night, however, some of the men employed in the circus, who are in general, we may remark, a very disorderly set of men, got into a row with several persons, residents of the city in a house of ill fame on King Street, end quote. So I'm just showing that to like, like literally in the newspaper, they're they're bluntly saying this was a disorderly set of men, right? Like there's so much prejudice that even the newspaper, like the journalists, are commenting on their distrust for circus performers.

SPEAKER_00 21:54

At this time, it sure, it was really tough to go against your local. Fire department. But this seems like a very clear-cut case of a group of people that was afraid of people that were different.

SPEAKER_01 22:10

I'm also going to quote from the Kingston Daily News from Wednesday, July 18, 1855. Quote The city papers are very severe upon the police, and deservedly so, we think. When in this instance, as in the case of the Church Street affair, a riot went on for a couple of hours, and yet no policeman, according to his own statement, was able to identify a single rioter, end quote. Public criticism followed because police failed to prosecute those involved, and a municipal election led to a mass firing and selective rehiring within the police force later that year. The mayor at the time was Jean George Bowes. Bowes had been born in Ireland and immigrated to Canada in his twenties. During his time as mayor, he faced accusations of corruption. In 1853, George Taylor Dennison II and several other aldermen resigned from the city council in protest, saying Bowes had acted inappropriately. And I'm not going to get into like his whole list of uh crimes here, but it was a lot of like insider trading and corruption and embezzling. But essentially he was sort of ousted.

SPEAKER_00 23:16

I'm I'm so glad that our government no longer does that.

SPEAKER_01 23:19

Yeah. I mean, right, it just it just adding color to like Toronto at this time. Bowes was never convicted of a crime, but he was required to return the profit he had made to the city. He ended up dying in Toronto less than 10 years later. John Beverly Robinson became mayor in 1856. Although Robinson was a member of the Orange Order, City Council moved quickly to address concerns about police corruption by creating a separate committee to investigate the issue. This pattern of Orange Order membership among Toronto mayors continued until Nathan Phillips, the city's first Jewish mayor, that was elected in 1955, so a hundred years later. Within three years of the 1855 riot, both the police chief and several officers were dismissed, and reforms began with the goal of reestablishing a police force independent of political influence.

SPEAKER_00 24:11

Wouldn't that be something?

SPEAKER_01 24:12

But this wasn't an isolated incident. Toronto was plagued with riots around this time. A la gangs of New York, street riots were relatively common in Toronto during the mid-19th century. Much of the unrest was linked to political and religious tensions, again, particularly between Protestant and Catholic groups. There seemed to be a lot of drama around St. Patrick's Day. So in the immediate aftermath of the clown riot, the circus company faced significant losses. Again, wagons had been smashed, equipment was destroyed, tents were torn down.

SPEAKER_00 24:45

Clowns had been disenfranchised.

SPEAKER_01 24:47

Several performers were reportedly injured trying to escape, so the company was unable to continue its performances in Toronto.

SPEAKER_00 24:55

Leave fuck you, Toronto. I'm sorry. It's like go to a different town.

SPEAKER_01 25:00

But I think if you think about it, although it sucks for the circus, it's a small price to pay for what went on to be like this huge act of police reform, ousting political figures. You know, it really like totally shifted the climate and like the separation of church and state, if you will, in Toronto.

SPEAKER_00 25:19

I mean, if if that is what came out of the clown riots, I mean, great.

SPEAKER_01 25:25

And as we said, the clown riot did not happen in isolation. I started researching it because it seems so outlandish, but it really is an example of a time of social unrest in Toronto and North America broadly. The circus riot became one of several incidents that highlighted how ineffective the city's policing system had become. It exposed political corruption over policing, weak law enforcement, and the growing tensions within a rapidly expanding city. In the years that followed, Toronto restructured its police system in response to these failures. So, while the riot may have started with clowns, its consequences help shape the future of policing in the city.

SPEAKER_00 26:06

I mean, honestly, how rare is it that you have an event that is so rife with corruption, and the takeaway is something that is actually beneficial for society? You know, in this case, Canadian society, but like it's it's a global precedent. Like this is what is going forward.

Final Takeaways And Sign Off

SPEAKER_01 26:27

Yeah, totally. Well, anyway, that is the history, what we know of it, which again, a lot of the details are missing, of the clown riot of 1855.

SPEAKER_00 26:37

It's so crazy. I really have to know. How on earth did you decide? You know what? We need to do an episode on the clown riots. I've never heard of something called the clown riots.

SPEAKER_01 26:48

That's for me to know. I have my sources. I mean, uh, sure.

SPEAKER_00 26:52

You're people tell me things. You are you are such an interesting, complicated human.

SPEAKER_01 26:57

That's right. And I'm more interesting because I'm mysterious. Yes, yeah, absolutely. Well, I'm gonna go rest my voice, not because I'm sick, but because I'm losing it.

SPEAKER_00 27:06

But the you know, unrelated to any else. Let's let's let's call it as it is.

SPEAKER_01 27:11

Thank you guys so much for being here. I hope I didn't annoy you too much with my gravelly, sexy nasal voice.

SPEAKER_00 27:16

No, she is she's gonna enjoy sleeping in the bed. I'm gonna sleep on the couch.

SPEAKER_01 27:22

Thank you guys. Stay spooky, stay safe. We'll talk to you soon. Bye. Bye.