The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-12-07
All Public Buildings Filled With
Dead and Wounded.
Richmond, Suburb of Halifax,
Is Totally Wiped Out.
BRING DEAD IN WAGON LOADS
% Heaped Up Loads of COrpses
Reach ImprOvised MOrgue.
Great Industrial Plants Col
Iapsed, Burying Workers.

TTaIffax. Dec. North Halifax is
a vast funeral pyre today. Many bod
ies are incinerated in the burning
ruins of this city of desolation and
woe. Snow is mantling with cloak
of white great blackened areas where
the flames have swept, hiding qn-
known horrors beneath. Hospitals
are crowded with moaning wounded.
A bitter wind is sweeping through
shattered windows and ruined houses.
The police estimate of 1000 dead
is the latest statement of the death
toll An equal Amount of seriously
injured are being cared for. United
States navy officer places the estimate
at 5000 dead.
Exhausted relief parties are dig
ging desperately in the confusion of
debris, hoping to find among those
buried, some still breathing. Many
of the rescuers have toiled ceaseless
" since yesterday morning, when the
French munitions ship, Mont Blanc,
blew up after cOlliding with a Belgian
relief vessel and its exploding cargo
Of T y. I. spread death broadcast.
Stories of Terrible Experiences.
Amid the chaos of destruction,
grief, pain and sorrow which is
sweeping the city, few episodes
more horrible than the rest stand
out in all their frightfulness.
Beneath one pile of wreckage lay
a girl. implorirg God to end her
agony The rescuers worked fever
ishly to reach her, butw hen the last
timber lifted, the girl was dead.
Five little children were borne ten
derly into one of the hospitals. A
short time later five little corpses
were borne out.
A woman wandered among the
dead. She peered at face after face.
When she found the one she sought
she lay down beside the body. All
she wanted was to stay there and die
beside her loved one.
Relief Workers Swamped.
Word was received here today that
all the hospital resources of the mill
tary establishment of Canada had
been placed at the disposal of the
shattered city. Tents, blankets, cots,
and all the necessities that have been
assembled for the Dominions wound
ed soldiers may be drawn upon for
the Halifax sufferers Great quanti-
ties of these Supplies are being rushed
here and the Canadian Red Cross is
to take charge
The surgical workers here are over
whelmed.
night of darkness and terror. Added
to this is the storm. Houses which
remain standing are crowded with
shelterless.
Many people, their faces grim
masks of grief. are wandering about
the streets or clambering over the
wreckage hunting friends.
Washington. Dec. Five thou
sand are believed to have been killed
I'm the explosion in Halifax harbor and
the fire which swept North Halifax
and Dartmouth, N. S, according to
advices from a naval commander
reaching the navy department early
today. The navy dispatch said these
figures had not been verified, how
ever.
The report, which came from a ma
val commander who witnessed the e.x-
plosiOn from a point fifty-two miles
off Halifax and later proceeded to the
harbor to render aid, said that all of
North Halifax was destroyed. three
ships sunk and many others damaged
''The ruins of buildings are now burn