Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1875-02-19
A CANADIAN AVALANCHE,
A Family Swept ont of Existence.

n FamIy swept out Of Existence.
NESTING under the promontory of
Cape Diamond are numberless home
steads of the hardy, industrious people
of whom Quebec is Justly proud. Many
of these houses are of wood, protected
from the fall of gravel and shale by
wooden uprights, and, perhaps, safe
enough in their way. Examples have
occurred to show that no dependence
whatever may be placed upon such safe
guards, and ii is plain enough now that
they afford no protection against snow.
The storm which set in The night before
last and increased in force yesterday
served to pile an additional load rpon
the tremendous heap behind the house of
Nicholas Haberland, on Champlain
street, near the Mariners Chapel. Like
many of his neighbors, he had never paid
much attention to the constantly-acc
mulating load, nor would he nor anyone
else in the neighborhood have bothered
about it without warning of some very
shocking character. Strange to say,
last year this house was moved by q
landslide. So far as we have been en-
abled to learn, the lower portion of the
house, a two-story wooden structure,
was occupied by the family of the owner,
Nicholas Haberland, and his family
of four souls. The upper fiat was
rented by John Gibson, whose fam.
lily was composed of his wife
and five children, and in the attics was
Mrs, Haberland's mother, bed. ridden
woman of seventy-five years of age. A
sudden crash about nine o'clock was the
signal of the impending catastrophe, for
a huge mass of snow had fallen in the
rear of the house. The old woman tried
70 rrtyr ,l, n,,A I,l,
voice was heard calling to his wife, who
had just entered the house from visit
to neighbor across the road Nearly
everybody was in bed at the time but
Haberland and his wife, who were for
tunately saved with their children. Soon
there was another crash, and this was
the crack of doom for the inmates of the
house. The enormous masses of snow
poised on the almost perpendicular face
of the cliff came down with a furious
force, and for a moment there was moth
ing but a whirl of fleecy white and a
storm of scattering timbers. The house
was wrecked in a fash, as it were, and
its unfortunate inmates buried In lv-
ing grave. There was no time for prep.
aration for their dread fate for them in
a moment, in a twinkling of an eye, they
were involved in destruction. The neigh
borhood was speedily aroused, and IA few
minutes after the wreck of the house
there were hundreds busy with spade
and shovel trying to eXtricate from the
mass of debris spread across the
street the bodies of the inmates of the
house. For nearly an hour there was
hard work with the constantly increasing
crowd pressing around, but the police
soon interfered and enabled those who
in fn orb .l.aA
The Haberland family-father, mother
and three children-were taken out alive
and well. They were Immediately con
veyed into the grocery store of Mr.
Manning opposite, where they were hos.
pitably accommodated, and in the mean
time the search went on. John Gibson's
body was next found, and taken into
Manning's and laid on lounge. His
face was placid, and he bore no appear
ance of pain, but, from the state of his
clothing we should say that he made
fearful struggle with death. A little
girl was next recovered from the ruins
and laid on the floor IN the kitchen.
Then there was found sticking through
the snow portion of the clothing of Mr.
Haberland's mother-in.law, and she was
shortly afterward recovered, but in a
rightfully-mangled condition in conse-
quence of the chimney having fallen on
her. Mrs Gibson was next found. She
had evidently been dead about an hour
and was still warm. Her death seemed
to have been attended with suffering
The children were gradually recovered,
and they looked, with the exception of
little Kate, just as peaceful as when they
were put TO bed, Finer children Il
would be hard to find than the little
bodies lying on either side of their moth.
er on the floor of Mrs. Mannings kitchen.
Quebec Chronicle, Feb. 4,