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| De Martigny, Pelland and Mercier (real heads taken from later photos) are seen in this photo collage re-enactment |
Admiral Horatio Nelson has kept lofty guard from his tower in the heart of Old Montreal since 1809, making his watchful eyes one of Montreal's most time-honoured landmarks.
His presence has occasionally rankled some French Quebec ethno-nationalists, as he represents Britain in a place where some have contested its reign.
One of the loudest to issue a series of screeds against the statue was journalist Michel Vidal who edited the La Patrie newspaper after moving from France in the early 1890s and published a series of articles urging that the monument be moved to a more English part of town.
The articles caught the attention of three young students from good families.
Their French Canadian nationalist fervor had been ignited by the hanging of Louis Riel in 1885.
The young men decided to adopt the bold strategy of blowing up Nelson's Monument.
The boys were among the cream of the elite: Honoré Mercier Jr, son of the eponymous former premier of Quebec, Alfred Pelland, whose bother Joseph-Octave Pelland (1860-1924) was a well-known lawyer and Paul de Martigny, whose father was a well-known doctor.
Rounding out the gang was 18-year-old Gaston Hughes, son of Montreal's chief of police
Here's an account of the evening, originally published in The Herald.
Sherbrooke Quebec Friday, November 24, 1893
Dynamite Plot Attempt to wreck the Nelson Monumen Foiled (Montreal Herald) The attempt to blow up the Nelson monument with dynamite furnished a live topic for conversation in the city yesterday (Monday). all day long little groups were to be seen discussing the matter, and the neighborhood of the monument had more visitors than it has probably ever had since the monument was unveiled. Various opinions were exchanged as to the cause of the attempt, many looking upon the case as the outcome of youthful impulsiveness, while others believed it was a long premeditated plan, and that the young men were only the tools of an organized body who prompted them to attempt the act.
Shortly after midnight on Sunday, Henri Mercier, son of the Hon. H. Mercier, ex Premier of the Province of Quebec, Paul De Martigny, son of Dr. De Martigny, and Alphonse Pelland, brother of Mr. Pelland, the lawyer, were arrested as the outcome of the following story.
Gaston Hughes, son of Col. Hughes, Chief of Police, was out driving Sunday with one of the dynamiters, and in the evening laughingly told a police officer that Montreal was to have a sensation, that at midnight the mighty Nelson was to be blown clean over to St. Helen's Island. The officer thought of course that the son of the Chief of police was joking and took no more notice of the affair."
At half past ten,however, word was brought to the Central Police Station that three or four young men had procured dynamite and that if action was not taken at once the Nelson monument question would be settled with neatness and dispatch. Constable Suthergil, who was on duty, saw that the man who was giving him the news was in dead earnest, so without delay he notified Detective Lafontaine, Constable Knuckle and Sergeant Soulliers.
At ten minutes to eleven half a dozen policemen were hid watching the monument, while Lafontaine, Sutehrgil and Knuckle walked up and down Notre Dame street awaiting developments.
About a quarter to twelve three young men in heavy overcoats were seen coming along Notre Dame street from the wet. The officers made themselves scarce and watched. When near the monument the trio paused and cast a threatening look at Nelson and then a perplexed look at two or three backmen who were sleepily watching for a fare. They appeared undecided what to do and passed the monument nd walked a couple of street eastward. The officers watched them an din the meantime a policeman ran from his hiding place and told the hackmen that the monument was about to be blown up. the carters got on their carriages and disappeared in the gloom in a twinkling.
Five minutes later the dynamiters came back, caused near the monument, passed it several steps, paused again, talked for a moment or two then boldly advanced upon the hero of Trafalgar.
The officers realized that the time for immediate action had come. they ran from their hiding places and Constable Suterhgill seized Pelland and De Martigny, while Detective Lafontaine took hold of Mercier and handed him over to Constable Knuckle. What looked like a small rope was hanging out of Pelland's pocket. Constable Sutergil pulled away at it, and when about twenty feet of the supposed rope was coiled around his arm, out came a dynamite cartridge, seven inches long and three inches circumference. What the officer had been industriously coiling about his arm was a fuse. The constable handed the cartridge gingerly and made all haste to the station where the terrible instrument of destruction was carefully laid aside.
So what became of the people involved in this story?
The three accused were jailed and their families sprung them out on bail.
Former premier Mercer made his presence known, with one report stating that he represented his son in court, while Octvate Pelland represented his brother Alfred.
One report has it that spectators were kept out of the courtroom during the proceedings while another suggests the room was full of curious onlookers.
The three were finally just fined $25 each, although had police waited until they actually laid the bomb down, they could have faced 14 years in prison.
Hughes Initial reports suggested that the young Hughes was part of the plot but that was quickly spun to ensure his reputation stayed intact, as it was noted that he told his mother, refused to believe his warnings. Indeed no protest had ever seen anything blown up in Montreal at that time, so she was understandably skeptical. His father was out hunting in New York State at the time so he couldn't be made aware of the matter. Hughes was proposed to become follow his father's footsteps and become chief of police in 1912 but that never came to be. Major Gaston Hughes died 22 Oct 1932 in San Francisco. He was only son of Col and Mrs. George A Hughes.
Mercier became Quebec's provincial Minister of Lands and Forests in the Taschereau government.
Pelland, who appears to have been the most intense of the three, undertook an initiative to groom Jean Riel to succeed his father Louis Riel as a radical leader. Jean Riel lived in Montreal for a time under their wings but eventually returned to Manitoba and died at the age of 26. Pelland went on to become head publicist for the Quebec Minister of Colonization.
De Martigny (1874-1951) became a journalist at La Patrie and wrote a half dozen books and co-founded the Montreal Literary School (1895-1935).
The episode, in retrospect was likely counterproductive as it delegitimatized any serious initiative to remove the monument to Nelson, which still stands over the city to this very day.