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Show WILL UNVEIL A. O. H. ! FAMINE MONUMENT Grosse Isle, in the St. Lawrence river, near Quebec, was recently the scene of the unveiling of a monument to the fever-stricken famine victims who perished per-ished there in 1847-48, and who, to the number of over 40.000, 'found in that little lit-tle isle a nameless crave. The monument was provided by the Ancient Order of Hibernians in Amer-Ua. Amer-Ua. who, at their last national convention conven-tion in Indianapolis made an appropriation appropri-ation for the purpose. Elaborate ceremonies marked the unveiling. un-veiling. Mon.signor Sbaretti. papal delegate del-egate to Canada, hlersod the monument and solemn absolution of the dead was given by Archbishop Begin of Quebec. I Addresses were rriaJe by Sir Charles Fitzpatrick. Honorable Charles Murphy, secretary of state; Father Hanlev. C. S. S. P.. rector of St. Patrick's church, Quebec; Honorable L. A. Taseherenu minister of public works and labor province of Quebec; Matthew Cum-mings. Cum-mings. Boston, national president -ni the -Ancient Order of Hibernians, and Major Edward T. McCrystal. New York. The nameless whom this monument commemorates were Irish immigrants who. fleeing from the horrors of the famine of 1847, fell victims to 'the even worse horrors of the fever ships when the St. Lawrence river and its environs were a veritable plague spot. The 40,000 wno lie buried in Grosse Isle are but a fraction of the number who perished in that neighborhood. The immigrants were not the only ones who suffered; many of the priests and nuns who nursed them and one bishop were swept away bv the malignant fever.. In Montreal v.tV-,, t the Grey nuns were stricken down, thirteen thir-teen of whom died the death of martyrs. mar-tyrs. When the Grey nuns were totally exhausted, the Sisters of Providence took their places, and they in turn were succeeded by the cloistered Sisters of St. Joseph, who received permission of the bishop to come out into the world and share the trials and" dangers of the dreadful visitation. While the monu-j monu-j ment to be dedicated is the first public pub-lic one erected to the memory of those ! martyrs and those who so nobly assisted assist-ed them and will stand unique in history his-tory at Grosse Isle, It will not be the first time that some of the graves were marked. In the center of an enclosed spot of landxat Point St. Charles, near the Victoria bridge. Montreal, there is a huge boulder taken from the bed of the river and placed on a platform of roughly hewn stone, and on that boulder there is this inscription: "To Preserve From Desecration the Remains of Six Thousand Immigrants Who Died of Ship Fever. A. D. 1847-8." This Stone Is Erected by the Workmen of Messrs Peto. Brassey & Betts, Employed in the Construction of Victoria Bridge, A. D 1850," Pittsburg Dispatch. |