Risques industriels à la fin du XIXe siècle : l’incendie de MacDonald Tobacco

On April 25, 1895, the four-storey MacDonald Tobacco factory on Ontario Street in the Sainte-Marie district of Montreal caught fire. The factory was owned by William C. MacDonald (1831-1917), one of the city's wealthiest industrialist. Four employees died in the fire, including 27 year-old Alphonsine Thibodeau. Coroner Edward McMahon concluded in his report of the deaths that William MacDonald was to blame "for not having trained sufficient and competent personnel to operate the [fire] extinguishing devices." Following this verdict, Désiré Thibodeau and Esther Desrochers, the parents of Alphonsine, instituted a civil action in the Superior Court of Montreal against William MacDonald, whom they held responsible for the death of their daughter. On April 15, 1897, MacDonald was found civilly responsible for the death of Alphonsine Thibodeau and ordered to pay her family $1,999. MacDonald's appeal of the verdict was rejected. The documents relating the fire and to Alphonsine Thibodeau's death are located in the Montreal archives of the Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec.

Instantanés : La vitrine des archives de BAnQ

25 octobre 2017

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