James MacPherson Le Moine

“ Whether it once contained a living being, or merely a lifeless corpse, none perhaps will ever ascertain. The awful noises caused by the creaking of the cage gave rise amongst the uneducated peasantry to innumerable tales and ghost stories; at last, the terror became so universal that some intrepid young men, after consulting, doubtless, with the curé of the parish, as to where the loathsome object should be stowed away, determined to rid the place of the nuisance. ”

“ There is enough of the horrible about her fate, without admitting, contrary to the text of the sentence rendered by the court-martial, that this fiendish woman was placed in an iron cage to starve to death ; and still, if her execution and the hanging up after death of the body were merely intended to strike terror, why place it inside an iron cage, well rivitted together ? [5] Certain it appears that the iron cage hung for several months high in the air close to the spot where the Temperance Monument now stands. ”

“ It is bad enough to have to admit that the red hand of slavery [4] has branded the early times of Canada with its plague spot, without having to acknowledge that the tribunals of the country inflicted on a miserable woman, however guilty, a punishment which would place her judges mostly on a level with Iroquois savages. ”

“ There are few in Quebec who do not recollect having heard of, or seen, in 1850, when it was exhibited in this city, a rusty iron cage, very antique in appearance. It somewhat resembled in shape a human form, having hollow iron arms, extended at right angles with the body, with legs attached to it, and a sperical iron structure, to receive the head. ”

“ The general court-martial having tried Marie Josephte Corriveau, for the murder of her husband, Dodier, the court finding her guilty, the Governor (Murray) doth ratify and confirm the following sentence : — That Marie Josephte Corriveau do suffer death for the same, and her body be hung in chains wherever the governor shall think fit. ”

“ This document, no doubt, found its way at Murray Bay through some of the officers who sat on the court-martial, and who belonged to [2] Fraser's Highlanders, who settled in numbers at Murray Bay, in 1782, and were the immediate progenitors of genuine Jean Baptistes — such as the Warrens, the McLeans, the Harveys, the Blackburns, and several other families, who of their Scotch ancestry have retained nothing save the name. They are all Roman Catholics, and speak nothing but French. ”