The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1917-12-08
HALIFAX DAMAGE
WAS $50. 900, COO
Continued from page ID

other schools every child was injure
by flying glass.
Today Halifax is a place of hos
pitfalls and morgues. OF bitter colo
driving sleet and blackened wreck
age.
kilograms are pouring in from al
parts of America asking for infoi
nation concerning persons believes
to have been in the city when tn
French munition ship Mont Blan'
blew up. Every train brings crowd
of relatives racked with suspense FOL
some beloved one. The hotels arr
thronged with sad faced seekers
Everywhere is desolation. every
where mourning.
The exact extent Of the loss o.
human lives cannot be known FOL
several days-probably never will be
known. The fire which swept the
blasted area wiped out the wrecks OF
hundreds of buildings. The storm,
has greatly delayed trains and pre-
vented relief parties from outside
cities from getting to work as early
as they expected.
| When the official government III
| vestigaiioa of the munitions ship e2-
plosion begins here it will be tesu-
/ fled that the Mont Blanc carried ~
600 tons OF Int, the highest explos-
i've known. and a deck load of ben
zine. AS this floating bomb came
through the narrows there was a
light mist The duty of the vessel
was to keep to the right and hugging
the narTows as it went toward Bed
ford basin 10 await a convoy.
The Belgian relief ship Imo was
coming out of the basin and some
witnesses allege neither ship was on
its proper side of the stream
In order TO rectify the mistake,
they exchanged signals which were
evidently misunderstood. The Imo
rammed the munitions ship. backed
away and ran aground on the Dart
mouth shore
At this point there are several
versions of the story told. One is
that the munitions ship was on fire
before the collision. This is not gen.,
orally believed. She was on fire i'm
mediately after the smash, however.
The crew took to the boats. All have
been accounted for except one man.
Twenty minutes after the collision.
il is declared the munitions ship
blew up where she had grounded Al
Pier s, near the Inter-Colonial rail-
road station. The explosive on board
the Mont Blanc was three times as
powerful as illuminate. The powder
experts say that had the cargo had a
solid foundation beneath it, there
would not have been a rat or cat
left alive in Halifax
Pieces of shells, steel plates and
shrapnel have been found five miles
from Halifax. At Orangedale, Cape
Breton, $50 miles distant in an air
line, and at Sydney, 200 miles away,
the shock was that OF a severe earth
quake.
At Truro. siIty-two miles distant,
the windows OF the Iearmont hotel
were shattered and the clock was
shaken from the wall of the train dis
patcher's office. At Meaghers Grant,
thirty-five miles away. 9 barn was
lifted from its foundations as though
me work had been done by an ex-
pert house mover.
Two American vessels were max
ing port at the time. One, cruiser
about forty-fire miles off Halifax,
was so shaken up that the CHIEF Of
tcer believed his ship had struck a |
mine.
Then. seeing another craft on the |
horizon, he concluded that he had |
been fired on. He stopped to investi- |
gate the stranger. a hospital ship. |
sixty miles off Halifax, felt the shoca l
and at once concluded that the cruis /
sr, whose location was known TO 1t, |
vas in action
The explosion raised tidal wave i
n the harbor that went forty feet
over the tracks OF the Inter-Oolonial
,ailway and lifted and swept away 1
oaded freight cars Today the rail
way loss in rolling stock was placed
L 500 loaded freight cars, 100 pas
aeager cars and twenty locomotives.
Survivors tell of feeling two dis 4
met explosions. The first was
light, this probably being the blow
ng UP Of the benzine on the Mont
Blanc. The great explosion is de-
Jared by ali 30 be beyond description 4
II an instant Halifax was trans
ormed into hell-spot Wooden build I
ags II the north end, including many
Id and rickety structures along Water
ueet poured their w-eckage into the I
ueets. 4;
Corpses huddled everywhere and fire
the destruction il
The worst damage was done over :
I area OF two square miles in the
orth end. This is swept fiat and re-
emblss a bit Of the Flanders front,
My the demolition is even worse. !
he great dock yard Is IN ruins.
Hundreds OF corpses have been |
ounc- Some Of the refugees are try /
1g TO live IN what remains Of their I,
ONES today. The Rev n Lemoine is {
aston at St. Marks Anglican church 1
i the north end His house is gone.
is church is gone-nothing remains +
ut the cellar Of his Sunday school Z
nd there the pastor is now living {
Half the members OF MS parish are r
cad. All but two OF his choir have
erished. Not q single vestryman re-
nains. Practically the same is true
I St. Joseph's Roman Catholic parish
Forty-six children died in the Prot