The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1864-01-29

his absolutions and Urgate requested them
to die happy, because they went direct to

his absolutions and Urgate requested them
to die happy, because they went direct to
Mary.
They then forsook the scene, and in that
awful night, when fainting women and
desperate men strewed the streets, and
wrlthing forms that a few hours before
were graceful and beautiful maidens, moan
ed and died in chemists shops, not priest
was to be seen to whisper word of
Chrlsts comfort to the dying ear or hold
the preolous crucifix before the glazing
eye. No, not SO for the priest of nature
was there-wOman, ministering angel in
the dark hour tended and soothed as
usual. One young lady-God bless her
tore up all her underclothing to make
bandages, and bound up the wounds as
only woman can. All this awful night the
only thing that remained of the clergy was
the incessant tolling of bells-about the on
ly thing they could do to add to the hor-
rOrs of the scene.
This being the third time that this church
has filled our homes with weeping, all
with one voice demand that it shall never
be rebuilt; but the priests, foolishly defiant
and despotic as ever, threaten to let off
their miserable medieval popguns at those
they term the sacreligiOus alienators of
holy ground. Their audacity has even led
them to attempt an appeal to violence
They preach THAT the irreparable loss of SO
many OF the fairest and most virtuous of
Chile's virgins and matrons is a special
mercy and miracle of Mary, who wished
to take them at once, without delay, to
her bosom. One monster exults openly
at that which has stamped eternal grief
and horror on our hearts, "because Chile
wanted supply of saints and martyrs"
Oh !! as we write our eyes fill with tears.
Nothing can console US in this affiction
We can think of nothing else but our loss
of those who never will come back to u.s.:
still there will have ensued some good if
the dark, degrading dominion of the
priests have melted away in the smoke of
that awful burnt sacrifice which, laden with
the dying breath of two THOUSAND victims,
rolled up to accuse Urgate and his accom-
plices before the throne of God.
now give the paragraph from the ere
view OF the fortnight" referring to the
priest Urgate and his Virgins Post Office:
-" A priest named Urgate, whose mind
Mariolatry had marked for it's own, headed
that sisterhood (the daughters of Mary)
| from the beginning, and worked his way
down to such depth of superstition that
one of his least extravagances was the in
vention of Celestial Post Office trick, by
which the Daughters of Mary might cor
respond with the Virgin in writing. At
the entrance at the temple the letter box
was constantly open, and there persons of
robust faith deposited in sealed letters
their wishes and their prayers"
The following gives an idea of the class
of persons that persisted by the deplorable
accident :-"Although many heroic men
performed prOdigies of daring and strength
in tearing some from the death grasp of
the phalanx Of bodies that chOked the door,
in some cases literally tearing off their
arms without being able to extricate them,
the number of saved by this means falls
short of fifty. More than five hundred of
our highest society have persisted, the
greater part young girls of fifteen to twen-
ty years of age. One mother has perish
ed with her five daughters. Two thirds of
the victims were servants, and there are
many houses in which not one has escap-
ed. Several houses have been noted by
the police as empty, because all their in
habitants have perished."
The past fortnight has produced no 9th
er occurrence worth mentioning. The
people only weep, and their public writer's
can only offer tears to the nations mourn
ing.
ANOTHER ACCOUNT.
The cry of "fre" re-echOed through the
temple Imagine, if you can, the conster-
nation of those kneeling thousands of ten
der women and children. say kneeling,
for kneel they must, as there are no pews
In the churches here, as with you. There
were at this time, as near as can now be
calculated, three thousand five hundred in
the church.
Only two of the doors were open, and
to these rush was instantly made. Hun
dreds fell in their efforts to reach them,
and, becoming entangled in their crino-
lines or fainting through fright, were I'M
able to rise again. Over these fell others:
and soon pile of bodies was formed in
front OF the doors, preventing all further
| egress. In the meantime the flames had
reached the dome and communicated
quickly to the roof. The lamps, of which
thousands were filled with camphene oil
or kerosene, bursting, scattered their con-
tents over the multitude below. You will
ask where were the fire engines all this
time. There are none in Santiago. But
to continue Many had already escaped
some few were saved by tie superhnman
efforts OF those from the outside but soon
the mass of shrieking victims before the
doors had become so compact that no
strength OF man was able to break it, and
in the efforts aims were actually torn
from their sockets.
| The struggle within must have been
fearful, since those who were saved
were dragged out completely naked.
and many have since died. Now followed
the most terrific scene mortal eye ever
witnessed. In a brief half hour from the
breaking out of the fire the whole interior
of the church was a lake of flame rising
far above the heads of the shrieknc suf-
terers, while the hundreds of bodies massed