The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-12-07
REIGN OF TERROR
Burying Dead, Caring for
Wounded, Feeding Homeless.
Halifax Survivors Turn All
Energies to Rescue Work.

Halifax. Dec stunned by the
magnitude of the disaster which has
overwhelmed the Garrison city by
the sea-" the people of Halifax today
bent all their energies to relieving the
injured, feeding the hungry, sheltering
l.the homeless and gathering the dead.
a heavy snowstorIn set in early to-
day, and while this in measure I'M
peded the work of relief and rescue, II
served to aid the firemen IN nghtine
the flames. which still burned nerceiy
in many places among the ruins IN
the devastated district.
Reports from the improv1sed
morgues and from hospitals, churches,
| schools and private residences seemed
| to bear out last nights estimate that
at least 1000 lives were lost When
the Belgian relief steamer limo col
| hded with the French munitions
steamer Mont Blanc, causing the de-
one of the most powerful explosives
manufactured.
! All Business Suspended.
| Virtually all business is suspended
and the schools are closed, while the
| inhabitants generally are turning their
attention to relief work Soldiers ana
sailors, including seamen from an
| American warship which rushed to the
port when it received word of the
disaster, are patrolling the stricken
| district and aiding in the rescue WORK
William Barton, former telegraph
editor of the Montreal Gazette and
| now travelling auditor for the Cana
dian Imperial Munitions board at OF
tawa, related today his experience
during the explosion. He was at
/ breakfast in the Halifax hotel
I'm ten seconds it was all over"
Mr.. Barton said "A low rumbling,
quake shock, with everything vi
brating, then an understandable noise.
followed by fall of plaster and the
smashing of glass. In such moments
the human mind does not hesitate:
| a cry went up a German bomb 4
rush for the door headlong down the
| hallway amid falling pictures, glass
| and plaster, to the swinging doors of
4 a few seconds before, now ripped from
| their hinges; thru great project
I ing triangular pieces of glass to the
l street. Here 1 found myself with
| burden. How she had come into my
was Historically shrieking: oh, my
poor sister, my poor sister,
| Outside overhead a giant smoke
cloud was moving northward. Dan
| ger seemed over, 1 crossed the road,
laid my feminine burden on a door
step and returned to the hotel My
| aid, for I was unscathed, was posi-
/ bly, needed far more there. I made
my way upstairs to the rooms of
two friends. The rooms were vacant,
x
and few panes of glass remain un-
| broken in this area. Once more I
was in the street, meeting my COM
panions on the Threshold. They too,
! were unscathed.
/ I'VE came to the armory. Here
/ the soldiers were already on parade,
| many of them showing wounds bound
with erchiefS-confusing to the
mind base hospitals of overseas.
I AS we passed they were already on
rd "a TO Nd
| area. The order had gone forth.
| Commander all vehicles, auto or
| horse
I "a Gordon was drawn across the
/ alight and resume their journeys
afoot"
Flames in a Hundred Places. ,
| 1t was established today that it was
twenty-five minutes after the COLI
sion before the explosion occurred
At the first shock houses rocked, YES
sells broke from their moorings, bits
of shells whistled thru the air, build
ings fell upon their occupants, shrieks
and means rose for a second above
the awful din, and in all parts OF the
city. men, women and children ran
into the street, many of them insult
ficiently clad. Then fire broke out
in a hundred places.
Orders were at first given that every
body should flee to the south of the
city, and IN a snort tune harrington
street resembled a road of Belgium
or Serbia when the inhabitants fled
before the Germans. Every variety
of vehicle was pressed into service for
the sick and infirm. Men, women
and children, some carrying hastily
snatched belongings, hurried along the
pavements and overflowed the streets.
Stores were deserted, houses forsaken
and the entrance to Point Pleasant
park was soon black with human be-
ings, some masse l in groups, some
running frantically back and forth!
The widest rumors were in circulation
rounded. The stories lost nothing in
the telling. When later flying auto
mobiles brought the. good word that
the danger was under control, the
; crowds returned to find their homes a
mass of wreckage or in ashes and rela-
tives dead or wounded
Rockhead prison lost the roof from
the main building but no one was Sc
riously injured Every available
hospital. The academy of music was
one of the first big buildings to post
, the notice, Free Shelter Here"
The headquarters of the Terminals
Construction company and the big
sheds on their piers have been hastily
equipped for hospital purposes. Ev-
everywhere people whose homes were
, intact are sheltering those whose
homes are gone. Hundreds of bodies
lie in temporary morgues awaiting
| recognition and burial Whole fam
lilies are wiped out: parents are left
| childless. and children have been
made orphans.
Find Bomb on Street Car.