...	File Devils Island has not supported permanent habitation for well over sixty years.

By AMY PUGSLEY FRASER / City Hall Reporter

A Toronto businessman says the pull of his ancestors made him jump on a plane to put $31,000 down on Devils Island at a Halifax-area tax sale.

"I can't explain it," Rick Condon said, shaking his head, moments after placing the highest bid on the land at a municipal sale Tuesday morning in Cole Harbour Place.

"The island wants to become alive again and I'm just playing along."

Mr. Condon, a computer specialist who works daily with numbers and realities in his job at the Insurance Institute of Canada, couldn't quantify his urge to return to Halifax for the sale after vacationing here just a few weeks ago.

"I'm on fire," the tall, clean-cut, bespectacled Mr. Condon said, his calm voice and demeanour masking his inner flame.

"And it's like I'm possessed by the ghosts of the Henneberrys, who want me to do this."

Last month, the city advertised for sale a four-hectare portion of the island, which includes with it the only house on the island and docking facilities, after longtime owner Bill Mont failed to pay his back taxes.

"When I was here on vacation, I found out that the island was going to be up for sale and I did a little bit of research," Mr. Condon explained.

Until then, his knowledge was limited to "a few tales here and there."

Andrew Henneberry moved his family over to the island from nearby McNabs Island in about 1830, setting up the first permanent settlement on the 12-hectare island.

His descendants, including Mr. Condon's great-great-grandmother, stayed on through the last century until they were moved to Eastern Passage during the Second World War.

"My grandfather used to go over to the island for picnics as a boy," Mr. Condon said of the family's attachment to the island.

Mr. Condon, who was married in May, wants to make his own Devils Island memories with his new wife, Patty.

"The island has been deserted for years, and I want it to become filled again with trees and children laughing," he said.

With that in mind, he flew down from Toronto on Monday specifically for the tax sale and spent the day going through documents at the Nova Scotia Archives - "everything I could get my hands on," he said.

He said he visited the bank to check out his savings account and acquire a line of credit.

At Tuesday morning's sale, Mr. Condon was one of two bidders for the land, which in only a few minutes jumped from the starting price of $4,244 in back taxes to $31,000.

Just after signing on the dotted line, the 38-year-old was quick to rhyme off a list of his plans for his share of the island.

He wants to fix up the house, put in a dock and restore trees to the island. The original forests, which contributed to its first names of Green Island and Wood Island, burned down in a fire years ago and never rejuvenated.

"From there, I'll use it as a summer home until I'm ready to retire," he said.

He said he hopes the sale will go through but realizes that Mr. Mont could still pay up and reclaim his title.

"I'm the only real contender who has ever wanted this island (this) badly," Mr. Condon said.

"I'm just totally committed to bringing the island back to life."

Mr. Mont, who still owns about two-thirds of the island, said it's too early to tell whether he'll give it up.

"I could have walked in and paid the taxes on it," he said, pulling from his pocket a folded Scotia Bank money order for the full $4,224 he owed on the account.

"Unfortunately, this fella here, he's decided he'd like to have it."

Mr. Mont, whose other acquisitions over the years have included an Irish castle and an old Annapolis Valley school, said he may "work something out" with Mr. Condon.

"But I don't know," he said. "He seems pretty obsessed, but I can be more obsessed if I don't want to sell it."

His ownership of the island was spurred by his own family connection: His wife's family traces back to the Hornes, people who used to graze sheep on the Halifax Harbour island.

"I've had it since 1963 and he came out of nowhere from Toronto," he said, outlining his plans to set it up as a living heritage museum like an old fishing village or an artists' colony.

"I'll have to think about it."