The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1905-04-25
PERISH IN CONVENT FIRE
Four Bedridden Old Women and
Nine Girls Among Victims.
Other Sisters in Quebec Institution Brave
Death to Save Children Until
Overcome bS Smoke.

Montreal, Quebec Feurteen lives
were lost in a fire which early in the
norning destroyed the little convent of
st. Anne, in the village of st. Gene
We've. Sister Marie Adjeteur, music
mistress of the convent, sacrificed her
life in attempting to rescue the young
girl pupils, nine Of whom persisted with
four aged women.
Sister Marie Robertine and Sister
! Marie Therese Of Jesus were badly
burned. All of the old women who
were lost in the fire were too feeble
to leave their beds, and were burned
to death without being able to help
themselves.
The flames started in the quarter Of
the convent used as a home for aged
women of the village and spread with
such rapidly that there was little
time for anybody to escape. The brave
sisters dashed through the halls risking
death to save their charges. The chill
dren who persisted were penned in the
d0rmitory and had been overcome by
smoke when the sisters forced their
way to the rescue. Sister Marie Adje-
teur was found in the centre of the
group Of bodies of the nine pupils on
the second floor of the building. The
other two sisters were found in the
halls by volunteer fremen of the vii
lage and were carried out almost dead.
The convent was branch of the
Order of the Sisters of st. AnneN of
Lachine, and was built many years
ago. Its gray stone walls and massive
construction made it an interesting
place to visitors to the little village of
st. Genevieve. The village is in the
parish of Jacques Cartier County on
REVERE des Prairies, three miles from
Beaconsfield and five miles from Pointe
Claire. When the fire broke out short
ly after midnight the inmates of the
convent were sleeping. On the first
floor was the hospice fer old women,
one of whom gave the first alarm.
The flames spread from floor to floor
with unaccountable rapidity, for the
building was supposed to be construct
ed in such way that it would resist
fire. The dormitory on the second floor
had thirty girl pupils, in ages from
eight to eighteen years. The sisters
sleeping rooms were on the same floor.
Frightful excitement followed the
alarm. The flames spread to the dormi-
tory before the children could reach
the halls. The little ones were huddled
at one of the-windows when the sisters
broke into the room. In terror they
shrieked to the latter to save them.
Many times the sisters ran back and
forth to the dormitory, rescuing chill
dren until the flames drove out all but
Sisters Marie Adjeteur, Marie Therese
and Marie Robertine, who plunged into
the furnace to save the nine little ones.
Sister Marie Adjeteur had the group of
nine about her when, overcome by
smoke, she dropped and persisted with
them. The other two sisters CROPPED
their way out of the dormitory, but
fell in the hall.
Bucket brigades were formed by viii
layers, but their efforts were unayail-
ing. Attempts were made to connect
by telephone with st. Claire, but for
some reason the town could not be
raised, and the hope of summoning aid
from Montreal had to be abandoned.
The convent burned until there was
left but its picturesque stone
walls, which stand blackened and
gaunt. The bodies of the fourteen
were recovered by men who risked
their lives to get them.