RichardHowe.com – Voices from Lowell & Beyond

Lowell Politics: December 8, 2024

In last Sunday’s newsletter, I mentioned a Lowell Sun report that the city of Lowell had imposed a $300 per day fine on the Eliot Church for failing to clear trash from its property. As I predicted, the matter came up at Tuesday’s Lowell City Council meeting. Councilors self-righteously criticized the Sun for saying the fine was per day when it was only a one-time fine (for now). To me, the issue is not the frequency of the fine but the imposition of it in the first place.

Located at 273 Summer Street, across from the South Common, the Eliot Church celebrated its 150th birthday this year. The current church building was constructed in 1874 although the congregation was organized several years earlier. The church is named after the Rev. John Eliot (1604-1690) who was born and educated in England, but who fled that country in 1631 because of his Puritan religious beliefs.

Eliot settled in Massachusetts and became minister at the First Church in Roxbury. In addition to his traditional pastoral duties, Eliot became devoted to the task of bringing the Christian religion to the indigenous people of Massachusetts. To advance that goal, Eliot learned the Wampanoag language and began traveling to and beyond the frontier of English settlement to preach to the Native Americans. In the late 1640s, that frontier included Pawtucket Falls on the Merrimack River. Each spring, Eliot would travel to the large Native American village called Wamesit, which was located to the east of the falls at the confluence of the Concord and Merrimack Rivers (today’s downtown Lowell). Because he returned each year and stayed for extended periods, Eliot constructed a small log building on a prominent hill inland from the river and used it as a chapel. The site of that log building, the first Christian house of worship in this region, is the location of the current Eliot Church.

In 1930, the Massachusetts Tercentenary Commission erected a plaque that still stands at the corner of Summer and Favor Street that reads:

“MEETINGHOUSE HILL – Site of chapel erected in 1653 for John Eliot, the apostle to the Indians. Here he preached to the Wamesit and Pennacook Indians, converting many and establishing a village of Christian Indians called Wamesit.”

While the wording of the plaque and the sentiments expressed on it depict an outdated and not entirely accurate view of history, the land the church sits upon has enormous historic and moral significance as does the mission pursued by those who work and worship within the church. Besides hosting a traditional Christian congregation and all its related functions, the Eliot Church is used by related organizations to feed and shelter the homeless, although not with overnight accommodations. (It is homeless individuals who camp on the small lawn of the church after the building closes each night who are the primary depositors of the trash for which the Eliot Church has been fined.)

Homelessness is a big problem nationally and locally, both for those who experience it but also for those who suffer from collateral damage. The latter group includes those whose lives and businesses in the vicinity of the South Common are adversely affected by things like discarded needles and human waste left in entryways to businesses by those who sheltered overnight in those spaces. History shows that there is no easy solution to such problems. What is required is thoughtful persistence backed by adequate resources. But in America today, it seems that frustration and impatience with complicated problems like homelessness – and many other issues – has led many to seek solutions that masquerade as easy, effective, and decisive, but which are instead cruel, shortsighted and futile.

In its turn toward fining a church that serves the homeless or outright arresting homeless individuals (see, “Arrested for the crime of being homeless” in the December 5, 2024, Lowell Sun), the Lowell City Council mirrors this broader trend in America today.

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If you go to LTC’s YouTube channel and watch the last half dozen Lowell City Council meetings, you would conclude that the mission statement of the current city council has three parts: (1) eradicate the homeless (as opposed to homelessness); (2) improve the trafficability of our streets; and (3) penalize those who drive too fast on the streets that the city has spent millions to make it easier to drive fast on.

Someone with a passing interest in local government or urban planning might be left wondering, where is the economic development strategy? Well, in 2024, there isn’t one. Sure, councilors will pontificate about economic development, and they will cherry pick an occasional issue, but that’s not what a “strategy” is.

An urban development strategy is a long-term, comprehensive plan that guides local government decisions and actions to shape the physical, economic, and social development of a city. It aims to promote sustainable growth, improve quality of life, and address current and future challenges through coordinated policies and initiatives.

What is perhaps most frustrating is that the city’s Department of Planning and Development has historically developed superb strategic plans, but successive councils have never even read them, never mind followed them. Instead, councilors take a reactionary approach to whatever issue bubbles up that week while disregarding the big picture that is essential to moving the city in a positive direction.

The coming closure of Mill No. 5 is fallout from this approach. Predictably, on Tuesday the council suspended its rules to take up the Mill No. 5 news. Councilors urged the City Manager to help the Mill No. 5 businesses locate elsewhere, reminded people that those businesses will still be open for a few more weeks, but generally acted as passive bystanders tut-tutting the bad news.

I devoted a big chunk of last week’s newsletter to how the ownership of Mill No. 5 is organized. But since that is an extremely complicated arrangement, the understanding of which is important to following how this will play out, I’ll review some of it again.

There are two separate mill buildings on the south side of Jackson Street. They are known as Mill No. 6, which is closer to Central Street, and Mill No. 5, which is closer to the Lord Overpass. The buildings share a common wall, so it’s tough to know exactly where one ends and the other begins, although the elevator for Mill No. 5 is at the boundary between the two mills. But the buildings are legally separate structures, on separate parcels of land. Since the 1980s, both buildings have been owned by the Lichoulas family in various ways. By 2004, Jim Lichoulas Jr. was the record owner of both buildings in his capacity as trustee of a family trust.

In 2004, Lichoulas “condominiumized” Mill No. 6. What makes this difficult to envision is that when we hear “condominium” we think of a single living space, maybe half of a duplex, or a single floor of a triple decker, or an apartment-like unit within a larger building. Each condominium unit is separately owned, although there is a condominium association that manages the “common areas” such as hallways, elevator shafts, and basements. The condo association is composed of all those who own individual units.

While that is the most common manifestation of a condominium, it is not the only type. In 2004, in a novel-for-this-area arrangement, Lichoulas converted the six-floor Mill No. 6 into three condominium units. Each of those condominium units consisted of two floors. The unit covering the first two floors was already occupied by the Lowell Community Charter Public School, which was renting those two floors, and continued to do so after the condominium conversion.

In 2006, Lichoulas took the original condominium unit that consisted of the fifth and sixth floors of Mill No. 6, and created a new condominium within it. Called the “Upper Cotton House Lofts”, this condominium development consisted of 31 residential units that were all sold to individual owners. The Upper Cotton House Lofts is what most of us think of when we hear the term condominium.

Then in 2007, Lichoulas took the original condominium unit that consisted of the third and fourth floors of Mill No. 6 and created another new condominium within it. This one was called Cotton House Lofts II and it consisted of 30 residential units, all of which were sold and occupied by individual owners.

The next big change to Mill No. 6 occurred in 2015 when Lichoulas sold the single original condominium unit that consisted of the entire first and second floors to the Charter School which had occupied that space as a tenant since 2000. The purchase price was $3.6 million.

To review thus far, since 2015, Mill No. 6 has been owned as follows: the first and second floors are owned by the Charter School; the third and fourth floors are owned by the 30 unit owners of the Cotton House Lofts II Condominium; and the fifth and sixth floors are owned by the 31 unit owners of the Upper Cotton House Condominium.

The recent news about Mill No. 5 has no direct impact on Mill No. 6.

As for Mill No. 5, in the same 2015 transaction that sold a portion of Mill No. 6 to the Charter School, Lichoulas “condominiumized” Mill No. 5, only this time the “condominium” consisted of just two units. A “school unit” which consisted of most of the first and second floors; and a “commercial unit” which consisted of small portions of the first and second floors and the rest of the building (meaning the third, fourth and fifth floors). At that time, Lichoulas sold the school unit to the Charter School for $3.8 million, and kept the commercial unit for himself.

The recent news about the “closure” of Mill No. 5 was that Lichoulas intends to transfer ownership of the commercial unit in Mill No. 5 – meaning the entire third, fourth and fifth floors, including the space occupied by the many retail establishments in the building – to the Charter School.

Reportedly, that transfer will be a gift from Lichoulas to the Charter School. Although many have speculated on Lichoulas’s possible motives, I’ve seen no actual reporting on that.

To the best of my recollection, I have only met or communicated with Jim Lichoulas Jr. once and that was probably eight years ago, right after the Mill No. 5 retail phenomenon burst on the Lowell scene. I was an admirer of the space and an enthusiastic and frequent visitor. But it was news about the decision to build the new Lowell Justice Center on Jackson Street, just a block from Mill No. 5, that prompted me to seek a meeting with Lichoulas. The site of the new courthouse was not a secret, but I had some thoughts on how technology was changing the legal and real estate businesses and suspected there might be some synergy between the recently emerged retail space in Mill No. 5 and the coming proximity of lots of legal business.

I contacted him and we met at Mill No. 5. He gave me a tour of the space and shared some of the thinking behind it. Jim said he had always been fascinated by the traditional “Main Street” business district of the prototypical small New England town where a number of small shops and retailers seemed to thrive with business from local residents and visitors despite the seismic shift of American retail to the shopping mall and then online. He also believed that the same model would work well in downtown Lowell and was frustrated that successful downtown retail was so scarce. My sense is that he attributed much of the downtown retail difficulties to the lack of a coherent, strategic, support structure that would allow private businesses to thrive. He decided to “prove the concept” and created a supportive, nurturing environment for small businesses on the fourth floor of Mill No. 5. Experience has shown that the idea worked and even worked brilliantly.

But I never got the impression that Jim Lichoulas wanted to spend the rest of his life as a Main Street retail manager. I think he wanted to show others, particularly the leadership of the city, that with the right support systems in place, small retail establishments could thrive (relatively speaking) in downtown Lowell in the hope that they would duplicate the model on Middle Street and Palmer Street and Central Street and Merrimack Street. But that never happened. Despite all the talk on the council floor of economic development and supporting downtown businesses, successive city councils have never shown the vision to adopt a strategic plan nor the discipline to follow it. Instead, we’ve had a reactionary approach that wanders from one crisis to the next, always playing catch up and never getting ahead of events. So maybe – and I’m just speculating here – Jim Lichoulas just ran out of patience. He demonstrated what works in terms of downtown Lowell retail but it’s a lesson that’s been largely ignored, so perhaps he finally decided to move onto his next challenge, whatever that might be.

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Yesterday was the anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Killed in that attack were Lowell residents Arthur Boyle, a private in the US Army Air Force assigned to the Hickam Field air base, and Navy Seaman Clifton Edwards who died when a bomb struck his ship the USS Curtiss.

Other Lowell residents were at Pearl Harbor that day. One was 19-year-old Henri Champagne who saw considerable action with the US Navy throughout the war and made the remembrance of Pearl Harbor his life’s mission. Champagne, who died in 2006, was instrumental in getting major American printing companies to include “Pearl Harbor Day” as one of the regular annotations on annual calendars.

Back in 2008, I was the guest speaker of the Greater Lowell Veterans Council Pearl Harbor Remembrance Ceremony. My remarks focused on the parallels between December 7, 1941, and September 11, 2001, and the reasons why Pearl Harbor was still very relevant in our lives. My speech is available on my website if you wish to read it.

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Also available on richardhowe.com is an on-the-ground update from Paris on the reopening of Notre Dame by frequent contributor Louise Peloquin. Her initial post provides all the details of the recovery from the great fire with 21 photos illustrating the work. There’s also a “news flash” from yesterday reporting that due to high winds and heavy rain, the rededication ceremony has been moved inside the church.

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If you’re looking for Lowell-themed Christmas gifts, don’t forget two wonderful books by local authors. The first is Legends of Little Canada by Charlie Gargiulo; the second is Portraits Along the Way by Paul Marion. Both are available online from Loom Press and also in person at lala books on Market Street.

Notre Dame Inauguration News Flash

Notre Dame Inauguration New Flash

By Louise Peloquin

Barely 24 hours before the ceremony, The Archdiocese of Paris and the Élysée Palace (France’s “White House”) announced that the weather has flipped the December 7th Notre Dame inauguration ceremony set to welcome over 50 heads of state. Several of the main events, such as President Emmanuel Macron’s official speech, were to take place under an enormous tent set up on the square outside the cathedral. But finally, the expected 50-mile-per-hour wind gusts and pelting rain will push the entire ceremony inside Notre Dame.

The weather conditions have upended the festivities as well. The Saturday evening musical program was pre-recorded on Friday night to be broadcast on Saturday.

Notre Dame: The Limestone Phoenix

Notre Dame, the Limestone Phoenix 

By Louise Peloquin

Victor Hugo’s bestselling gothic novel Notre-Dame de Paris, published in 1831, roused public interest in the deteriorating cathedral and led to its restoration between 1844 and 1864 spearheaded by architect Eugène Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc. Just as, on November 8th, the cathedral’s 8 restored bells tore through a five-year silence, Hugo’s words ring true today:

Perseverance, secret of all triumphs.

Victor Hugo

Three blog pieces have already covered the Notre Dame saga. The first was Dick Howe’s review of Notre Dame, a Netflix series on the firefighters who fought the 2019 blaze. Details on the restoration completed the text. See the link.

https://richardhowe.com/2023/04/03/notre-dame-de-paris-an-update/

 During his exclusive visit to Notre Dame on November 29th, French President Emmanuel Macron recalled how the world was shocked when flames tore through the cathedral on Monday April 15, 2019. “It will once again be shocked to see its resurrection” he told the press, “and this shock will be one of hope.”

On April 16, 2019, President Macron addressed the nation on 8 PM prime time news to announce that, in five years, Notre Dame would be rebuilt “more beautiful than ever.” His announcement triggered incredulity, hope and sarcasm. Everyone questioned the technical feasibility of the project, not to mention its financing. Opponents interpreted the declaration as a political ploy, a way to divert public opinion from the “gilets jaunes” (“yellow vest”) movement whose members had been energetically demonstrating every Saturday afternoon for months and months calling for higher salaries, better working conditions, lower taxes and less bureaucracy. The self-proclaimed “Jupiter”, was at it again with his will to control everything and everyone. As early as October 2016, presidential candidate Macron had enlightened journalists interviewing him by saying: “Jupiter is not just a simple god. He is the king of gods.”

How could Notre Dame reopen in 2024? Who would pick up the astronomical tab? After all, the French treasury was definitely not in a cozy financial position. Who could possibly rebuild a gothic cathedral today? Questions and comments flooded the media.

2,062 days after his gutsy announcement, Emmanuel Macron will preside the cathedral’s official inauguration. On Saturday December 7, 2024, the French State, proprietor of the cathedral, hands over the keys to the entrusted assignee, the Diocese of Paris. His Excellence Laurent Bernard Marie Ulrich, Archbishop of Paris, publicly specified that the Diocese had never relinquished the keys in the first place, thus invalidating the official press release.

In the square outside the cathedral, Emmanuel Macron will pronounce a formal speech, one he was determined to deliver inside Notre Dame. However, the Archbishop flatly rejected the presidential plan on the basis that it would violate article 35-1 of the 1905 law on the separation of Church and State. Moreover, on what grounds would a president do what no French king in history had ever done?  The 1905 law prevailed and Emmanuel Macron will address his distinguished guests – heads of state, philanthropists and other dignitaries – in the square.

Meanwhile inside, the grand organ will once again fill the nave, transept and side chapels with celestial music. Archbishop Ulrich will officiate at Vespers and conduct prayers.

A grand concert featuring an eclectic musical line-up will include French pop singers Clara Luciani and Vianney, Chinese pianist Lang Lang, South African soprano Pretty Yende (who sang at the Charles III coronation) and Venezuelan conductor Gustavo Dudamel. Naturally, the Maîtrise de Notre Dame de Paris, the ND choir, will sing.

2024 has been a banner year for Paris. After successfully hosting the summer Olympic and Paralympic Games, the city is once again taking center stage as Notre Dame reopens to the public on December 8th the feast of the Immaculate Conception.

Without the $895,001,318 donated by 340,000 individuals from 150 countries, the renovation would never have occurred. Philanthropists and multinational firms provided tens of millions. School children sent drawings and broke their piggy banks to contribute a euro or two. Retirees dipped into meager pensions and sent checks. More than any other nationality, countless Americans stepped up to the plate and gave generously. (Does that sound familiar from our fellow citizens?) Saving Notre Dame has been the most sweeping fund-raising project in history. Thousands of letters, many hand-written, were sent to the Rebuilding Notre Dame committee. All have been preciously archived.

$148,108,965 remain in the pot. It will be put to good use until 2030. Scaffolding remains as artisans continue to consolidate flying buttresses, prepare appropriate perches for gargoyles, statues  and decorative sculptures, and many other specific assignments.

Notre Dame in November 2024

Notre Dame’s reopening will mark not only its rebirth but also the perseverance and determination of all those who worked on its restoration. That warrants quoting another great French poet – Charles Baudelaire:

Nothing can be done except little by little.

Five years of  “little by little” prompted some 2,000 artisans to collaborate on resurrecting Notre Dame. Here’s a sampling of the marvels to (re)discover.

Approaching the cathedral on foot, the visitor admires the new spire. Details on the spire were posted in December 2023 and in February 2024. See the two links:

https://richardhowe.com/2023/12/18/gift-wrapped-in-steel-notre-dames-new-spire/#comments

https://richardhowe.com/2024/02/21/notre-dame-of-paris-spire-update/

Spire in November 2024

 The roof, which collapsed in the fire, was rebuilt. 460 tons of lead were used for the spire and the roof. The choice of material ignited a heated debate over safety concerns but the architects had the last word and decided on the material used since 1182 – 43,055 square feet of lead.

In order to access Notre Dame, the visitor crosses a 142-yard-long, 109-yard-wide area encased by 160 new trees – “a revegetation project offering a more welcoming space to tourists and visitors” according to Paris City Hall. No cars, no parking, no vehicles of any kind allowed. A café and bookstore will open underground, in keeping with the Paris vibe.

Architect’s image of the square

The visitor approaches Notre Dame’s miraculously-spared grand doors. Specialists in hazmat suits thoroughly cleaned the intricate decorative ironwork by gently scrubbing the 13th-century wood and metal with special brushes.

Doors

Once inside, luminosity envelops the visitor. When he paid homage to 1,200 of the artisans who participated in reviving the cathedral, Emmanuel Macron, at the end of his November 29th visit, declared that they had “turned ashes into art.” Indeed, a daunting task was not only reinforcing the weakened structure but also ridding the Lutetian Limestone – also known as “Paris stone” – walls and arches of the black soot and toxic particles left by the fire. The success of the enterprise surpassed everyone’s expectations.

Before and after photo of the nave

Before and after photo of the arches

Looking up at the arches

The brightness is further enhanced by Notre Dame’s 44 stained glass windows, most of which were removed and cleaned by hand, inch by inch, with specially-designed swabs. Miraculously, the famous rose windows did not shatter during the blaze. Nonetheless, artisans propped on delicate scaffolding, put their expert hands to work on a thorough cleansing. 220 stained-glass scenes now cast their multicolored iridescence on the blonde limestone and continue to illustrate Biblical narratives.

Rose window

The 29 chapels on both sides of the nave and choir were restored according to Viollet-le-Duc’s vision. Walls, arches and ceilings once again pop with the architect’s vibrant color scheme.

Before and after of chapel wall with Saint Marcel

Blue arches

Multicolored columns

30 artists breathed new life into the many figures sculpted on the wooden partition surrounding the altar. Surprisingly, these were untouched by flames. They now gaze lovingly upon the visitor with expressive eyes no AI robot can match.

Last Supper scene

Inside the renovated cathedral, the visitor notices the contemporary touches of new liturgical furniture – altar, baptismal font, tabernacle, etc., all signed by artist Guillaume Bardet. He describes the simplicity of the altar as “an inverted arch.” Although it is made of bronze, the new altar seems to defy gravity. Poised lightly on the floor, it guides one’s vision upwards.

Altar

Bardet also designed the 1,500 solid oak chairs, inspired by what he calls “noble simplicity… discreet, silent but comfortable.” The visitor has yet to ascertain the veracity of the latter.

Chair

Paris, with its 250 organs is sometimes called “the capital of organs” and Notre Dame’s is exceptional. The fire spared the monumental instrument. Nevertheless, it needed a complete overhaul. Each of its 8,000 pipes was disassembled, cleaned and polished by hand. Then, each was reassembled and tuned. The 8,000 pipes have all recaptured their unique enchanting voices.

Organ with rose window behind it

Organ pipes

Although tourists will not see it first hand, images of Notre Dame’s “forest” are available. This affectionate nickname represents the massive oak framework which the 2019 fire entirely transformed into ashes. In order to renew “the forest”,  2,500 centenary oaks were identified throughout France. Individual land owners, villages and organizations willingly donated their grandest trees. Foresters and lumberjacks mobilized for the daunting harvesting task.

Once the trees cut down, 1,200 artisans spent thousands of hours rebuilding Notre Dame’s framework. Technical Director for the Reconstruction, Jean-Louis Bidet of Perrault Brothers Workshop in Mauges-sur-Loire, specifies that his team used 13th-century techniques in their endeavour. Blacksmiths, inspired by medieval drawings kept in the national archives, fashioned special axes. Bidet and his artisans spent 4 months transforming the oaks into wooden planks, 6 months shaping them to the required dimensions and another 6 months assembling the 1,860 beams with wooden dowels, just as cathedral builders did in the Middle Ages. As luck would have it, the Herculean task was guided by national architects’ drawings minutely executed 6 months before the fire. These specialists had spent 6 months thoroughly studying the framework. The new “forest” is breathtakingly beautiful.

Inside “the forrest”

Wooden dowels

Workers on the completed framework celebrating their finished masterpiece

All of the above provides but a pale glimpse of the Limestone Phoenix. The best way to (re)discover Notre Dame is to pay her a visit. A special app allows up to 3,000 visitors at a time to reserve a free, 30-minute, time slot. The app offers different tour itineraries – for pilgrims, families, art lovers, historians – with optional audio-description headphones provided in French, English and Spanish. More language options will be added soon. Guided group tours will begin in June 2025.

For information, consult:

sortiraparis.com

Those who wish to pray or to attend Mass at Notre Dame will be able to enter with a separate queue. Those who have not reserved or who do not wish to attend Mass can always line up outside but they will need to be “armed with patience” as the French say.

Opting to charge a five-euro entrance fee to Notre Dame fuelled debate for months. However, the cathedral, though State-owned, remains a place of worship and all are freely accessible in France so the fee idea was abandoned. Archbishop Ulrich himself insisted on the necessity of “freely sharing this slice of history.” Only “le Trésor,” the space for liturgical treasures like golden monstrances and other artefacts, will be subject to a fee.

14 to 15 million visitors are expected to visit Notre Dame each year.

A series of religious and cultural ceremonies are scheduled from December 8th to 15th. Every morning at 10:30, the Archbishop will celebrate a Mass dedicated to specific intentions such as honoring the firefighters who saved the cathedral and the artisans who breathed new life into her. On December 12th at 5:45 PM, a special Mass will be celebrated for the Latin-American community in honor of Notre Dame de Guadalupe.

The Limestone Phoenix is spreading her splendid wings for the world to admire!

Notre Dame facade today

Crime or Insanity?

Crime or Insanity? – (PIP #49)

By Louise Peloquin

On  April 15th 2019, the New York Times featured the following headline:  “Fire Mauls Beloved Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris.”

95 years earlier, Little Canada’s beloved cathedral would have suffered the same fate were it not for a young woman’s acuity and responsiveness. Here is L’Etoile’s front-page coverage of the breaking news.

L’Etoile October 31, 1924

SOMEONE TRIES TO SET FIRE TO THE CHURCH

IS IT INSANITY OR IS IT A CRIME?

     An unknown individual tries to set fire to Saint-Jean-Baptiste church but the act of arson is perceived by a young woman performing her devotions  – A lit match on oil poured on the floor.

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THIS IS THE SECOND ATTEMPT

IN SEVERAL DAYS

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     The magnificent Saint-Jean-Baptiste church which, on November 1912, was almost devastated by fire, nearly met the same fate this morning when an arsonist believed to be a pyromaniac, tried to set fire after having doused the floor and lower walls with a quantity of oil.

     The news of this heinous attempt spread rapidly across the city and caused considerable emotion within the entire population. It is highly likely that, had the arsonist had the time to accomplish his work, we would once again have to recount the sad details of a blaze similar to that of 1912.

     According to the details we have gathered this morning, it seems that the arsonist penetrated into the church between 9:30 and 10 and stayed there for a while kneeling or sitting in the choir area of the church basement. There were a few people in the church at the time.

     Shortly after 10, a young lady doing the Way of the Cross devotions, looked in the direction of the choir and saw the stranger light a match and throw it on the floor.

     The young woman in question had the presence of mind to run to St.-Joseph rectory to warn the priests. When they arrived, the arsonist had disappeared. The priests immediately saw that oil had been poured onto the floor and along the walls close to the confessionals in the back of the church.

     The police authorities were immediately notified and, a few minutes later, Sargent Phillip Dart and agents Joseph L. Lamoureux and Daniel M. Lynch arrived on the scene. They investigated everywhere in the surroundings but, as they had received no reports on the unknown person, their research was useless.

     The police officers noticed that matches had been lit and thrown onto the floor but, remarkable thing, the oil had not caught fire. 

     It is reported that this attempted arson is the second to take place in less than a week. A few days ago, rags soaked in oil were found in the staircase leading to the choir loft of the upper church.

     The police authorities have begun an investigation and will make all possible efforts to arrest the culprit. According to indications, it seems that the two attempts were accomplished by the same individual. (1)

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1) Translation by Louise Peloquin.