Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1903-05-21
A NIGHT ATTACK UPON QUEBEC.
The Dramatic Storyof Montgomery's
Futile Attempt.

The Dramatic Story of Montgomery's
Futile Attempt.
Justin H. Smith in the Century
The last weekday of the year arrived,
and the afternoon brought cold,
clustering snowstorm from the North
east. At a quarter past O'Clock,
when the sun was supposed to be
setting, one could hardly see. ''Fav-
ored once more" thought Montgom-
cry. 1t was tie night OF year to as
saTlt Quebec night when Fortune
could keep a tTyst without fear of de-
lection. Dark? No; blackjack as
the bore of a loaded rife. The tempest
ragged; the dense, fine snow whirled
and drifted; hail stung the air, Kissing.
About half past in the morning
Malcolm Fraser rushed down st.
Louis street crying like a tocsin:
Turn OUT turn OUT turn OUT" and
Quebec awoke with a start and a cry.
Two rockets had gone up from the
foot of Cape Diamond bastion; firing
had begun there; men were seen ap-
preaching the walls. Out rang the
great bell of the cathedral. One by
one, but all quickly, the other bells
took up the tale. The bells OF the
Jesuit college and the Recollet mon
astery gave tongue The gentle prayer
bell of the Ursulines Joined in the
turmoil, while the sisters fell on their
knees in the dark chambers. rhe
nuns of the Hotel Dieu, praying in
the vaults, felt the jar and heard the
dull clang of their own bell swinging
furiously; and far away, in the Lower
Town, our lady of victory re-echoed
the cry for help. The dogs barked
madly. Cannon began to thunder. A
torrent of shells came in from the
American mortars in st. Roch, and
the city walls quivered with the re-
tort. Fire balls glared and sputtered
In front of the bastions. Drums beat
wildly up and down the streets in the
glow of lanterns and the smoky fare
or torches. Officers roared their or
ders. Citizens rushed hither and
thither to their posts. Boys and old
men OF 70 shouldered guns. Squads
or sailors and Macleans emigrants, in
green coats faced with scarlet; squads
OF the fusiliers, in red with facings of
blue; squads of militia, in green coats.
buff breeches and buff waistcoats. met.
stared threateningly at one another in
the dim light, and then hurried on
Children woke up and held their
breath, too frightened to cry. Even
at the general hospital mile away.
the nuns were sure that a fatal hour
had come, for the town blazed. and its
thunder enveloped them, and they
trembling partook of the communion.
The city was a ring of fire, a crater of
tumult. The frightful din of it swept
on up the st. Lawrence, tossing and
whirling and writhing in the tempest:
and in the midst of all this. Gov.
Carleton, calm, alert, fearless. walked
down the steps of the castle and
marched across to the Recorlet mon
ostery, the place of assembling.
For time the firing ragged all along
the fortified front and beyond it, but
In little while the attack seemed to
De dying out. An attempt to burn the
palace gate came to nothing. Living
ston's Canadians were soon scamper-
ing for shelter. Browns men kept I'D
rafting fire below Cape Diamond
bastion, but made no move toward as
sault. What did it mean? Then came
some schoolboys from the lower town.
crying at the top of their voices that
Americans had got in there. What?
Yes, had got in, they insisted. Garlic
ton sent Maclean to investigate. Soon
he was back. "By God, sir. it's true,
They're there" he said.
And so the battle ended "A COM
plete failure" says Trevelyan. No
doubt; but that is not the wonder.
The wonder is that human beings
dared the venture.