South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1914-06-02
Historic Town Becomes Vast
Morgue and Terrible Drama
of Empress of Ireland" is
Enacted When Relatives
Claim Their Dead.
BY III. p. BURTON.

QUEBEC, June 1.-The high ram
parts OF Slanung Quebec where the
very houses perched gaily at glib
angles, seem actually TO be winking
pledges OF only jOyOuSness TO visitors,
is the strange, incongruoUs stage that
fate has set this week for the terrible
taDleauX that shall go 10 complete the
awful tragedy Of that once beautiful
ship, The Empress of Ireland.
1t seems the hnal ironic touch Of
some master dramaUSt-thiS turning
of French QQuebec, the city Of the gay
into Quebec, the world capital OF
tears; but perhaps it is only the great
playWrights consistent climax tor a
plot which began with the doom of "a
great ship at the hands OF only a silly
little craft that happened casually 10
run dmuCk in ten-mlnute visitation
of transient fog bank.
For full seven days, from sunday to
Sunday, this city is destined 10 be a
city of death instead of a city Of life.
And for full seven days loads of name
less dead are to be carried from gov
ernment tenders constantly plOughing
the scene OF the disaster, into Sreat
temporary mOrgue erected on the
outer breakWater on the very pier,
indeed, from which some hours before
the lost vessel sailed TO the WaVings OF
handkerchief and to the strains OF
music
For full seven days fathers, mothers,
wives, husband, sweetheartS are TO
stalk gaunt-faced up and down vast
aisleS OF dea0, searching for faces that
mean more 20 them than pen or man
may ever learn TO write.
For full seven days guards will
school themselves to try 10 seem TO
bear the sight of the most hopeless
grief in all the world. The grief that
follows the always sudden, the always
stark realization by the living, that the
dead are dead.
Grief Overshadows Quebec.
Inside the newly built shed all day
long up and down the aisles go the
great throngs of people. Grand DANES
in new, rich crepe rub elbows with
French Canadian charwomen in the
hOmespun OF Normandy, all bent on
one tragic woman's missiOn-loOking
for the lifeless body of the best man
in all the world
And when the neW-made widow in
elegant weeds finds her husband. If
she is fortunate enough, she COM
presses her lips and an expectant
guard catches her in his arms; and
when the other woman, who has not
yet learned TO control her emotions
discovers her man, she is as like as
nCt to spring upon the great counters
on which the hundreds Of caSketS lie
to grasp the lifeless form in. her lifeful
arms and command him to speak to
her only once more. Again and again
this duet Of differences Occurs-for
many were the husbands lost on the
Empress of Ireland.
And it is wOmen's grief, wife's
grief, that oVershadOws all the other
kinds in Quebec today, for men do not
come 10 know so quickly as women do
that death makes love only stronger.
Sees Lesson in DiSeSter.
But, terrible as il all is, said Maj.
Morris, of the Salvation Army, one Of
the pitifully few survivors, as he stood
beside the casket Of his young brother
and pointed to the interminable rows
OF dead, lit is not all without its great I
lesson, for ii tells US as nothing else
might be able to tell US how puny are
all the efforts Of man in the face OF
the manifestations Of God. Again, IS /
ii not God speaking 10 us and saying II /
is He who has made us, and not we
ourselves? And without His help we
see that we are nothing and that even
iron boats are as paper unless they I
are guided by His mighty hand.
I'VE boast Of our civilization and 1
grow cynical in our wisdom, and yet I
with all our advances, He makes death .
to stalk the ramparts Of Quebec and 4
TO biVOuac on the plains OF Abraham .
once again just as surely as He did /
those hundred and more years ago.
Prepare for Burial.
While frenzied relatives OF victims
OF the Empress OF Ireland disaster
roamed through the gloomy lanes OF
the temporary mOrgue in Louise basin .
today trying TO identify their loved .
ones, local officials were making ar
to embalm the bodies of
the unknown dead that are unclaimed
tonight These bodies will be placed
in the vaults OF the local cemeteries
When the morgUe doors were opened
today there remained 90 still uniden-
tilted. Plans for the public funeral
Of mem bers Of the liners crew who
have been identified were completed
today by a committee composed OF
Capt Elliott assistant superintendent.
of the Canadian Pacific; George
Moore, passenger agent; Ritchie Ball.
Df the Montreal Sailors club. DR.. W.
; Atherton. Catholic Sailors club OF
Capt. Watson. OF H. NJ. :.
Essex. and Col. Burstall. commandant