LE SECOND MONUMENT AUX VICTIMES DU TYPHUS

À LA GROSSE-ILE

Le 15 août 1909, on dévoilait à la Grosse-Ile un second monument à la mémoire des victimes du typhus de 1847-1848. C’est la société nationale irlandaise, The Ancient Order of Hibernians, qui a recueilli les fonds nécessaires pour l’érection de ce monument.

Nous empruntons la description de ce beau monument à une brochure-souvenir publiée lors de la démonstration du 15 août 1909 :

“ Standing on Telegraph Hill, the most elevated point of the island and overlooking the graves of the Irish dead near its western shore, the monument, which is composed of grey Stanstead granité, rises to a further height of 46 feet, 6 inches, so that its total altitude above the level of the river is 140 feet, making it a most conspicuous and striking object in a landscape having as its foregroûnd the sparking waters of the St. Lawrence and for a background the dark ramparts of Cape Tourmente and the Laurentian mountains, and rendering it visible for miles up and down the river. The pedestal is also of granité. The dimensions of the lower base are 15 feet by 13 . 4 by 2 feet ; of the next base, 13 feet by 10.10 by 2 feet ; of the die, 9 feet by 8.4 by 8 feet, and of the plinth, 8 feet by 7.2 by 5 feet. The shaft and cross stand 29 feet 6 inches high and the arms are 8 feet in length, the top of the cross being 2 feet 6 inches square. As usual in the case of ail Celtic crosses, the symbol of the Christian faith at the summit is enclosed within a ring or circle of the same material, binding as it were the shaft, arms and upper portion of the cross together, the spaces between the intersecting arms being pierced and the whole sculpture thus forming the cross.”

L’inscription du côté du sud dit :

SACRED TO THE MEMORY OF THOUSANDS OF IRISH IMMIGRANTS, WHO, TO PRESERVE THE FAITH, SUFFER- ED HUNGER AND EXILE IN 1847-48 AND STRICKEN WITH FEVER ENDED HERE THEIR SORROW- FUL PILGRIMAGE

ERECTED B Y THE ANCIENT ORDER OF HIBERNIANS IN AMERICA AND DEDICATED FEAST OF THE ASSUMPTION

Celle du côté nord porte :

PRIESTS WHO VOLUNTARILY MINISTERED TO THE TYPHUS STRICKEN EMIGRANTS : — *w. W. MOYLAN, XB, McGAURAN, J. McDEWITT, *P. I. SAX, J. NELLIGAN,

C.-Z. ROUSSEAU, *A. CAMPEAU, *J. BAILEY, L. PROVENCHER, *M. FOR- GUES, T. CARON, *N. BELLENGER, L.-R. PROULX, *H. McQUIRE* J. MC¬ DONALD,* L. TRAHAN,* P. -H. JEAN, J.-B.-A. FERLAND, J. HARPER, X F.-S.

BARDY, XE. MONTMINY, B. O’REILLY, L.-A. DUPUIS, J.-B. PERRAS, M. DU- GUAY, M. TARDIF, M. KERRIGAN, J. C. O GRADY, * E.-A. TASCHEREAU,