When you take Route 132, in Pabos (Chandler), in Gaspésie, you pass a mysterious tombstone. Mysterious because it is the only one that remains in front of the Sainte-Adelaïde-de-Pabos church, on the site of the old village cemetery, now a municipal park. All the other tombs have been moved to the new cemetery, behind the church.
Why did this tombstone remain alone, facing the sea?
Does the family name on the tomb, “LaTerreur,” have anything to do with it?
Many years ago, I worked in the communications department of a hospital in the Outaouais region, and when I stayed late at night, the security manager would sometimes come and chat with me. One day, when he was returning from vacation in the Gaspé, he told me that he had told his children that no one had been able to move the mysterious tomb because Édouard LaTerreur was protected by the devil himself! I listened to him until the end before telling him, to his great surprise: “Do you want to know the real story? Édouard LaTerreur is my great-grandfather!”
PHOTO FUND MINISTRY OF LANDS AND FORESTS, PROVIDED BY LIBRARY AND NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF QUEBEC
Sainte-Adélaïde-de-Pabos in 1927. We can see the cemetery between the church and the Gulf of Saint Lawrence.
So here is the story of Edouard “A bullet to the heart” LaTerreur and his funeral monument.
Édouard was born in Percé on November 11, 1860. Little is known about his youth, but family tradition tells of a great adventure that nearly cost him his life.
At the age of 27, Édouard LaTerreur left for California to work picking oranges and other small fruits or in a gold mine (this is the version of the oral tradition that I prefer).
In November 1887, he moved to San Bernardino, near today’s Los Angeles. On July 5, 1888, after his meal, he was going up the stairs of his rooming house. A gunshot rang out. He collapsed on the stairs, hit by a bullet in the back. No, it was not a settling of scores (many fathers in the family tried to embellish the story!), the tragedy was caused by the clumsiness of a workmate cleaning his revolver.1.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY LUC PAQUETTE
Edouard LaTerreur’s revolver
The injured man was placed on a table and a doctor was called. Using a probe, he looked for the projectile. The bullet was lodged very close to the heart, impossible to extract it, it was too risky. The doctor therefore recommended not moving the injured man, feeding him only liquids and praying that there would be no infection. To prevent a false movement from allowing the bullet to pierce the heart’s envelope, Édouard would remain bedridden for six months.
As soon as he was back on his feet, he would carry his ball with great pride. Back in Percé, he perpetuated his misadventure by having presentation cards and prints made on which one could read: “Édouard LaTerreur the man who has a ball next to his heart” or “50 years with a ball one line from the heart”.
This last print, circular in shape, made around 1938, had the drawing of a revolver in its center.
Additionally, every July 5th, Edward would wear his holey shirt to commemorate the event.
The threat to Édouard’s heart did not prevent Cédulie Plourde from marrying him in Bonaventure in 1892. A native of Saint-Jean-de-l’Île-d’Orléans, Cédulie was the niece of Canon Paul-Napoléon Thivierge de Bonaventure, a colourful Gaspé character who was both a priest and a political organizer. He would be one of those who led the charge in the Chaleur Bay scandal, an affair that would help bring down Prime Minister Honoré Mercier.
Édouard and Cédulie settled in Sainte-Adelaïde-de-Pabos (today a sector of Chandler) where Édouard bought land, a creamery and a general store. They had seven children, including Bernadette, my grandmother.
In 1941, a few months before his death, Édouard went to Montreal, to the Notre-Dame hospital, to have a chest X-ray. Intrigued by the presence of a shiny spot in the region of the heart, the doctors questioned him. Surely without being asked, Édouard recounted his Californian adventure. Amazed, the doctors asked him for permission, after his death, to extract the bullet in order to study how it had become encysted. Édouard refused: “She was my talisman and my companion for 54 years and she will remain so for eternity…!”
When he died, Edward was buried in the parish cemetery, near the sea, facing the church.
In the 1950s, the cemetery had become too small and the parish was forced to move it. The priest at the time called a meeting in the church basement to explain the situation to his congregation. According to my father, the discussion was long and difficult. At one point, Édouard and Cédulie’s son, my great-uncle Berchmans, stood up and gave a memorable speech on the responsibility to respect ancestors, a speech he is said to have concluded by banging a table with his cane and saying: “There is not a soul here who is going to move the monument to my mother and father. They are here and they are going to stay here.”
After much discussion, the whole village rallied to the priest’s wishes.
But not the LaTerreur.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY JULES PEDNEAUD-JOBIN
The tomb of Édouard LaTerreur and Cédulie Plourde, the only one still in the old cemetery of Sainte-Adelaïde-de-Pabos.
Édouard LaTerreur still rests today with Cédulie, and his inseparable bullet in the heart, under the only tombstone still in place in the old cemetery.
In the Jobin family, we love traditions. For years, all of Bernadette’s grandchildren, and now their own children, when they pass through Pabos, stop to have their picture taken near the grave. We are convinced that Édouard and his revolver bullet would not disdain this tribute!
This text was written thanks to the research of my brother Stéphane, who notably gathered notes taken by my uncles Guy and Luc Jobin.
1. In another family version, the scene takes place in Edward’s room, a companion visits him and, examining Edward’s revolver, accidentally discharges it. It’s up to you to decide.