Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1889-09-26
HAD NO FEAR OF DEATH
At Last the Threatened Danger a
Quebec Breaks Forth.
AWfnl Work of Tons of Rock in the
Doomed Valley.
Recovering the Crushed and Manoied
From the Debris.

immediately below IIle southern extremity
of Dutferin terrace, and last night an
enormous mass was detached from the
cliff and hurled over the retaining walls
pushing half a dozen houses out Of its way
and crushing most of them beneath its
weight. The debris Of rock filed up the
narrow streetto the depth of thirty feet.
Nearly all the doctors Of the city were
soon In attendance. Quebec's famous
promenade, Duffer:n Terrace. has been
fearfully shaken by the slide. More rocks
are falling, and it is feared that the whole
bowlder forming the highest point of Que
bee will give way. The houses In that To-
cality were built of stone and brick and
inhabited principally by ship laborers,
and 900 men are now at the work of rescue
Thirteen corpses were soon taken out.
1t will take several days to recover all the
bodies. The bodies identified were: Mrs
Berrigan; child of James Bradley; child of
James Fitzgerald; Thomas Farrell: ship
laborer; two children of Thomas Farrell,
and two children of Stephen Burke. Those
rescured were: Mrs. and Mrs. Franz E.
Carlson; Mrs. and Mrs John O'Neil and
family, Mrs O'Neil being slightly in
jured; Mrs. Luke Kerwin and child; Mrs
Tim Berrigan; Dennis Berrigan, taken out
in an apparently dying condition; James
Hayden VIM Stevens and son; Nelly
Deehey; Patrick Fitzgerald, with leg
broken and internal injuries; Martin
Ready, with fatal injuries; three of the
Mayburg children; Stephen Burke and
his mother, the former badly injured
Mrs. Fitzgerald; Thomas Graves, with
broken leg; Mrs. Thomas Farrell
A large number of persons are still missing
and there is no doubt but that they are
beneath the ruins, and so deep down that
they will all be dead before they are reach
ed. The loss sustained by the surviving
victims of the disaster is almost total. In
addition to their homes, most of the suffer
ers, who are workingmen, lost all THEN
summer earnings The injured have beer
removed to the Hotel Dieu, where they are
receiving all possible care.
As the bodies of the dead and injured
were recovered they were removed, the
former to places of shelter and the latter to
hospitals At the scene thousands of GU
rious spectators blocked the marrow streets
today. The search is going ON slowly al
though large force of men is engaged in
the work. The shipping Office in the
Dominion government building has
been turned into a tenn
porary morgue, and this afternoon over
twenty bodies lie in 1t. 1t is difficult tC
identify some of them so much have beer
disfglred and crushed The following are
later identifcations: Miss Allen, Mrs Nc
Kenna, Michael Deehy, Mrs. Leahy, Chas
Allen and wife; Norah Kennedy, an
adopted daughter of R. Leahy. There are
several bodies not yet identified. Two Of
them are supposed to be the little daughters
of Mrs Stephen Burke Several of those
persons reported missing have turned up
but it is thought that there will be ten OF
more victims to be added to the list Nc
list of the injured can as yet be fully made
up, as they were removed to different hos
pitfalls, and many to the houses of friends
Only one or two are thought to be fatally
injured.
The extent of the disaster is likely, from
present indications, to fall but little short
of that which occurred on nearly the same
spot May II, 1871, when eight buildings
were destroyed and thirty-two persons
killed. In 1852 several others were killed
half mile further up the street by a SINH
lar avalanche of rock. Still the warnings
were disregarded and people continued tc
take up their habitation Immediately be-
low the overhanging masses of rock that
jut out from the front of the cape and III
the marrow street that bears the name OF
Quebec's founder and occupies all the
space that remains between the cliff and
river, save the wharyes, which also serve
as the back yards OF the houses where last
night s disaster occurred.
While the workers were busy clearing
away the debris from the crumbled build
ings faint groans could be heard at inter
walls from under huge piles of rocks. The
efforts of the volunteers were concentrated
to that point, and after three hours of hard
work the bleeding body of Joe Kemp was
extricated from the mass of rock. The
poor man is in the most pitiable condition.
Both legs were broken at the knees and the
left arm fractured above the elbow
and several ribs are fractured. He
cannot live man hours. Two hours later
his wife's body was taken out of the wreck.
Her head was almst severed from her body.
Further away another hideous spectacle
was offered to the sight. A corpse of a
young woman Mrs. Lauson) who has been
admired In life for her beauty. Her body
had been crushed almost fiat. Her abdomen
had been ripped open and her entrails scat
tered about. Shortly after viewing her re-
maing her husband became a raving
maniac 1t is doubtful if he will recover
his reason.
QUEBEC, Sept 20-Preparations have
been made for the funerals of the killed
who will be buried at the joint expense of
the citizens and the local government
Among those buried by the rocks are a
young couple named Nolan who were mar
ried few weeks ago. Nolan could have
escaped but he lost his life in trying to get
his wife out of the house. 1t is thought
that Kings Bastion on the citadel will
have to be removed as it is now near the
edge of the rock with unsafe crevices in
front of it. Asa precautionary measure
all communication with the bastion has
been cut off and morning and evening
guns will no longer be fired from it.
About 1000 persons have visited the
scene of the disaster during the day.
Thousands crowded into the morgue and
seized every point inside and outside the
building where a glimpse could be had of
the bodies of the victims. Many women
who obtained an entrance had to be re-
moved In a fainting condition, the mangled
bodies being a sight to try the nerves OF
the strongest men. IL mas Deen uecldeu 10
use small charges of powder to break up
the huge boulder covering the roadway as
it is certain there can be nothing living
beneath it.
A man named Michael Bradley who had
gone almost crazy when told that his fam
lily persisted in the land slide, discovered
while working over the wreck of his house
his ive-year-old daughter still alive. His
JOY was indescribable It Is thought the
child will live. Up to this time the num-
Der of corpses is twenty-five, and the num-
Der of wounded eighteen.