Durant weekly news. (Durant, Choctaw Nation, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 190?-1944, 1917-12-14
TwO-Thiiiis of city In Ruins; Win.
d"wS Broken 6D Miles Away; Vas,
stores of War supplies Destroyed
by the Explosion.

''.''H ga 'h' tlty Ol fihilIdN is III
ruins. thousand persons are dead.
and more than three thousand are
more or less seriously wounded u
the result or the explosion of a big
French munitions ship near the mar
rows cnterind Bedford Basin on last
Thursday morning.
| IA" uoSiI,d.S are crowded to Ov-
erflowing. bodies lie in scores in the
street and in ovcrthrnwn buildiups.
"r 'wri 4 beneath the debris of fall
en- walls.
The full toll of dead. dying and
wounded cannot be given. II will
probably be days before II can be as
crrtained with any degree of accur-
acy. All that can be said is that ful-
ly half of the city has been razcd to
the ground. the entire harbor front
ruined. enormous damage done to
shipping and stores at the docks and
In the harbOr sheds and many mil
lions gone up in the smoke OF the
fires that burst out in dozen diff
fercnt parts at once. following hard
upon the explosion itself
The exact location of the explo-
sion Is not known. The munition
the narrows from Rockingham Bay
into the harbor proper. and Nor
wegian boat in the Belgian relief
service was entering Bedford Basin
In some way the incoming boat ram
med the munitions boat and a hugo
fire broke out on the latter From
the shore the crew were seen making
desperate efforts to overcome the
flames. but their efOrts were Of no
avail and they put off from the
doomed vessel in boats. rowing as
hard as they could for safety.
Conclusion Kills Many.
The munitions boat drifted a little
and then. with roar that was heard
in Truro. sixty miles away. the ship
blew up. The concussion killed tel
| egraph operators at their desks four
| miles away. 1t broke windows in
| Truro, sixty miles distant. 1t blew
hcavily-!aden freight trucks Off the
railway lines. II caused the collapse
| or partial collapse of nearly every
building along two and Il half miles
| of thOroughfarc from the union sta
| tion to the Queen Hotel. II sent the
harhor sheds and wharves to ruin.
1t shook the magnificent new ocean
terminals at the lower end of tn"
harbOr. which cost over $35.000.-
| 600 and were the finest of their
| kind in the world. into snitherccns.
| IL laid waste acre after acre of resi-
Dental and commercial districts. II
| brought grain elevators tumbling 10
the ground with rOars that sounded
like the incessant rolling of thun
| der. and. above all. rose the cries
and shrieks of the dying and the in
| jured
In a moment the entire city was
stricken as If by gigantic blow of
an earthquake. Indeed. 1t is doubt
full II an earthquake could have
done more damage. Every tcle-
graph wire, every cable connection.
was put out of cOmmi sion by tn
shock. The entire lighting and tel
| ophone system was disorganized
For a while Halifax was cut off com
plctcly from the outside world. As
speedily as the magnitude of the ca
tas'rOphe could he appreciated meas
urcs were instituted 10 relieve the
In ,urcd and succor those in need Of
aid.
Calls for help were s"nt ont to "v
cry town within a radius of fifty
miles or moro. Fire brieadcs wrr :
hastily assembled and shipped by
rail. Doctors, nurses. ambulanc"s,
and all sorts of surgical supplies
wcr" also rushed to the scene. Al
first the news was not credited. In
"rodu'nrs irnuiri"s hc"an to filter
In. Then, as the magnitude of tn"
iieaet'r bocam" NOR" apparent and
further details were sent ont. II WAS
apparent that the significance of the
disaster was hoing felt outside. 'Os-
ton was fir't to send message of
hclp. the Governor of Massachusetts
rushing Il carte blanche offer to III -
Mayor.
Many Old Buildings Destroyed.
The disaster was rendered all th'
more extensive by reason of tn" fact
that il was the older portion of tn"
city that had received tn" full force
Of the cOncus ion. and many OF IN
buildings affected were as old
Halifax itself. with narrow street
and houses of the frame variety
These on c0llapsing burst into flan"
and soon the terror of the fire was
added to the first terrific shock.
Vast quantities of food wcr" In s'or-
age on the docks and In IN" sheds,
and these were all DESTROYED as w"r
also tremendous supplies of muni-
tions and other war material await
ing shipment to Europe. TIL" rail
way station was buried beneath It's
own roof The big Canadian Coz
ernment railway depot, also used b'
the Canadian Pacific Railroad. col
lapsed. and the great repairing plant
at Willow Park was wrecked.
The shock seemed to hay" miss"l
nothing worth Will" in its path. Il
spread out In an extraordinary man
ner. A days sheilfir" from h"av'
guns could not have swept the city
in any more devastating fashion.
The fires were got under contro
nv 6 O'Clock. but not until after the'
had ravaged enormous areas. Ho"
many have p"rished in IN" flames 4
mt known hut II is feared that IN