A CANADIAN TRAGEDY.

Otago Witness, Issue 3315, 26 September 1917, Page 54

A CANADIAN TRAGEDY.

Marooned on a lonely rock in the middle of the Gatineau Lakes, Canada, for two days, with the body of her husband, who had been drowned before her eyes .in full view on the bottom of the lake, and rescued from a probable death through starvation by the sagacity of her dog, is the tragic sequel to a fishing trip which was undertaken by Mrs Patrick Bruyere, of River Desert, Quebec.

Patrick Bruyere, game warden for the Bras Coupe district, near Maniwaki, Quebec, set out on Duck Lake in a canoe with, his wife for a day's fishing. They got out on a sort of rocky island some distance from the shore. The canoe, breaking adrift, started to float away. Bruyere, who could not swim, tied a fishing line around his waist, and, giving the end to his wife, started to wade out in an attempt to reach the canoe. Coming to the end of the line, and still not being within reach of the canoe, Bruyere shouted to his wife to let go the line, which she did, and Bruyere stepped into a hole and went under.

The spot where the tragedy occurred is far removed from human habitation, and there was no response to her frantic calls for assistance, and for two_ days the poor' woman, almost insane with grief, sat on the barren rock, without nourishment of any kind except a drink of water from the lake, until her dog, which had been left on shore, sensing something wrong when his master did not appear, swam out to the rock.

Mrs Bruyere, who was rapidly growing weak through hunger and grief, found a pencil and some paper in the pocket of her husband's coat which had been left on the rock, and -as a last resort scribbled an appeal for help, and tied the note to the dog's neck and ordered him home. The dog did what he. was told and made straight for his home, where a neighbour, who happened to be calling at the house, noted the paper around the animal's neck and opened it. The man lost no time in securing help, and, procuring a boat, found the unfortunate woman, who was in a semi-conscious condition and almost famished. The body of Patrick Bruyere was also recovered.