That time a bunch of clowns went into a brothel and picked a fight with the local fire department

Via the_siobhan, a truly excellent moment in Toronto history: The Toronto Circus Riot of 1855.

No one seems to agree on exactly how the fight at the brothel got started. Some blame a particularly loudmouthed clown. Some say the clowns cut in line — or knocked the hat off a fireman's head. But this much is clear: that night, the clowns kicked some firefighting ass. At least two of the firemen were seriously injury [sic], dragged out of the brothel to safety as the Hook & Ladder crew retreated. For the rest of the night, the clowns could drink and have sex in peace.

But it wasn't over yet. Those firemen had a lot of friends. In those days, Toronto was still pretty much entirely run by a small group of Protestant, Tory elites. They were all members of the Orange Order, hung out together at the Orange Lodge, and made sure that other Orangemen got all the important jobs in the city. The police were pretty much all Orangemen. And the firefighters were too. Usually, they focused on beating up Catholics. But they were willing to make an occasional exception.

The whole thing is quite short and worth a read. Also possibly worth a reenactment as part of a Heritage Minute commercial, if Heritage Minutes were actually cool.

On a related note, I finished watching Carnivàle and am quite sad that it got cancelled. It's basically exactly my cup of tea, if instead of tea I were into methamphetamine.*

* I'm not really into either, but you get the point.