Michael Basso
Plot Y, Lot 39
Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Toronto
Born in Genoa, Italy in 1839, Michael Basso emigrated to the United States when he was 22 years-old. He spent the next ten years as an animal trainer with Barnum’s Circus. One evening he was attacked by a lion and suffered severe injuries. Deciding to change jobs, he moved to Toronto where he went into the tailoring business in a small shop on King Street East. He was soon appointed Italian police court interpreter, a position he held for almost forty years. His obituary described him as “an outstanding figure in Toronto’s Italian colony who, in his long years of interpreting in Ontario courts, was never frightened away from his duty. His unquestioned integrity won for him the respect of Police Magistrates and High Court judges alike.” He died in Toronto at the age of 81.
Mike Filey
Mount Pleasant Cemetery: An Illustrated Guide
Second Edition Revised and Expanded