The Indianapolis journal., 1897-01-07
DIED SAVING OTHERS
SEVEN URSULINE SISTERS SUFFO-
GATED AT ROBERVAL, QUE.
Pcrished in the Convent of Our Lady
of Lake st. John While RescuinE
Their Charges from Flames.

OTTAWA. Ontario Jan. 6.-The convent
of the Ursuline nuns. at Roberval. on Lake
st. John. about 120 miles north of Quebec,
was destroyed by fire which broke out at
o'clock this morning, and seven sisters
are known to have perished in the flames,
while about fifty inmates had very narrow
escapes from a similar fate. Were it not
that the most of the students of the con-
vent had gone home for the holidays the
loss of life might have been greater. The
students were TO have returned tomorrow.
The convent is situated on the shores of
the lake. about one mile and a half east
of the summer and fishing resort called the
Hotel Roberval and of the village proper.
Shortly before o'clock the villagers were
alarmed by seeing a reflection from the
neighborhood of the convent. At first it
was supposed the fire was in the church
about a half mile from the convent Natur-
ally the greatest excitement prevailed
which augmented when the alarmed
villagers hurried TO the scene and found
the flames bursting from the convent build
ing. Ordinarily there are about thirty nuns
in the institution and about fifty pupils.
The village has no water works and the
work of saving the contents was therefore
made difficult, while the flames had made
such headway that their extingushment
was an impossibility. Many of the nuns and
pupils slept in dormitory on the second
story and these managed TO escape, but
others occupied a dormitory the fourth
floor at the north end There is fire-proof
tower near this. but the rapidity with
which the flames spread prevented the nuns
from reaching it, They were smothered by
the smoke. 1t is supposed they delayed
hight III order TO see that all their charges
had escaped. The religious titles and names
OF the dead respectively, follows:
Mother st. Francois de Paul-Eliza Cos
selln of St. Jean Chrysostome.
Mother Providence - Emma I.etourneau
of Quebec.
Mother st. Ursule - Catherine Garneau,
of st. Foye.
Mother St. Anne-I.aura Hudon, of Her
bertville. '@'ia
Mother ST. Antoine de Padua-Catherine
Boulte. of Deschambault.
Mother st. Dominique-Marie Louise Cir
ard, of Roberval.
Mother st. Louise-Rose Gosselin of st.
Jean Chrysostome.
Another nun was badly burned i'm irving
to eXtinguish the fire. The convent and
the school are nothing but mass of ruins.
Just how the fire started is not known
certainly, but, this being. the feast of
Epiphany. it is supposed that a lighted
candle near the cradle of the infant Jesus
ignited the draperies and floral ornamental
tions and in an instant the whole place was
"a mass of flames. The fact that parts of
the convent were uncOmpleted caused the
fire to spread more rapidly. The monastery
was stone building five stories high and
of 10 feet frontage, and was built eight
years ago.
The UruSline nuns of Quebec. by whom it
was controlled, are the oldest cloiStered or
der in Canada and il was in cavity made
by the bursting of a shell within their con-
vent at Quebec that General Montcalm was
buried after his death upon the plains of
Abraham.
James Balm. chief dispatcher of the Que
bee x Lake st. John Railway. who reached
Quebec from Roberval tonight, gave the
following account of the fire. which differs
materially from the first report: THE sis
ters of the convent came out of the dOrmi
tory at the regular monastery hour of a.
m. When the vestry man had finished light
ing the chapel one of the colOred lamps ex-
ploded. throwing the burning oil on the
decorations and the fire spread rapidly. By
the order of the superioress all the chill
dren were carried out of the convent, and
then the twenty-six nuns were marched out
in an orderly manner. Three of the nuns
entered the church 10 save some of the
costly ornaments. but they did not reap
pear four more went 10 their rescue. They
had scarcely entered when the roof of the
chapel crushed in. and the terror-stricken
sisters outside realized that several of their
companions had met with a terrible death.
The bodies of three of the nuns have been
removed from the chapel. but the work of
rescue mad to be given up on account of the
1rrf1N hnnt