The herald., 1897-01-07
SEVEN SISTERS PERlSHED
Ia Flames Which Consumed q Convent
of Ursulines
The Fire Spread With Such Rapidity
That Escape Was Impossible-The
Names of the Dead.

OTTAWA, Ont, Jan. 6.-The convent
of the Ursuline nurs at Roberval, on
Lake st John, about 120 miles north of
Quebec, was destroyed by fire, which
broke out at G O'Clock this morning, and
seven sisters are known to have perished
in the flames, while about fifty inmates
had very narrow escapes. Were it not
that most of the students of the convent
had gone home for the holidays the loss
of life might have been greater. The
students were to have returned tomor-
row.
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, there
fore. made difficult. while the flames had
made such headway that their eXtin-
guishment was an impossibility.
Many of the nuns and pupils slept In
O. dormitory on the second story, anu
these managed to escape, but others oc-
cunied a dormitory on the fourth floor
at the north end There IS a fire proot
tower near this, but the rapidity with
which the flames spread prevented the
nuns from reaching 1t. They We're
smothered by the smoke. The religious
titles and names of the dead are respect
lively as follows:
Mother St Francois de Paul (Eliza
Gosselin) of ST Jean Chrysostom.
Mother Providence (1mma lie Tour
neaup) of Quebec. ,.
Mother ST. Ursule Corinthe Of st.
Foye. =.
Mother st. Anna Naura Hudon) OF
Herbertville.
Mother St. Antoine de Paudua Gather
inc Boulle) of Des Chambault.
Mother St Dominique marie Louise
Girard) of Roberval.
Mother st. Louise (Rose Gosselin) Of
st. Jean Chrysostom.
Another nun was badly burned In try
ing to extinguish the fire The convent
and the school are nothing but mass
not known certainly, but this being the
feast of Epiphany it is supposed that
n lighted candle near the cradle OF the
Infant Jesus ignited the draperies and
floral ornamentationS. The fact tnal all
parts of the convent We're uncompleteu
caused the fire to spread more rapldly.
The monastery was n stone puliulns nVe
stories high and Of 120 feet frontage,
and was built eight yearsr ago. The
Ursuline nuns of Quebec. by whom 1T
was controlled, are the oldest order IN
Canada, and it was in cavity mace py
the bursting of a shell WITHIN tnelr con-
vent at Quebec that GeneraI Montcaim
was buried 2fter MS oe1o'i "Poip thS
Plains of Abraham.
James Balm, chief dispatcher of the
Quebec and Lake st. John railway, who
reached Quebec from Roberval tonight,
gave the following account OF the fire:
'The sisters of the convent came out
of the dormitory at the regular monas-
terry hour of am. When the vestryman
had finished lighting the chapel one OF
the colored lamps exploded, throwing the
all an, fiacOrati0OS and the
fire spread rapidly. BY the order Of the
superioress all the children We're car
ried out of the convent adm then the
twenty-six nuns were marched out in
an orderly manner. Three of the nuns
entered the church to save some of the
costly ornaments, but as they did not
reappear, four more went to their res
cue. Thew had scarcely etnered when
the roof of the chapel crashed in and the
terror-stricken sisters outside realized
that several of their compa MONS had met
terrible death. The bodies os three OF