Arizona republican., 1917-12-09
OFFICIALS NEW ESTIMATE
 OF NUMBER PERISHED WHEN
 Dl0jfi;;;;fT::!!0NS SHIP ISBL0WN UP
Republican A. p. Leased Wirel

HALIFAX, N. S., Dec S.-Four thousand persons were killed in the destruction of buildings resulting from the explosion on a munitions ship in the harbor Thursday, according to es- inmates tonight by officials.
 This estimate, higher than any here tofore, was made after a survey of the devastated district of Richmond where acres of debris probably will not be cleared for a month
 This is the new estimate tonight of the superintendent of morgues whose duty it is to assemble and expose for Identification is possible, the bodies or those who perished by shock or fire when the ammunition ship Mont Blanc blew up in the harbor Thursday.
 His estimate, that startled even those who had lived through three days of horror here, was based on the rec ords of his district assistants, who late | tonight reported a total of one thous- and bodies recovered. They have fig ured on certain number for a pre- | scribed area There appears to be no l other way of determining the loss. l Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of bod 1 ies have been consumed by the flames, l and in scores of cases not only whole | families but whole neighbOrhoods have 1 been wiped out, and the names of all ] their dead may never be known. 1 Others think this estimate too high, | but all admit that the superintendent'S | way of figuring is as good as any. l Late in the day dredging parties working under the direction of naval authorities dragged ashore 200 bodies | of sailors, soldiers and laborerS recov- 1 cred from the bottom of the harbor. | Another searching squad reported having found forty bodies in the hulk of the Norwegian steamer IIno, which collided with the Mont Blanc.
 The work of relief was organized to- day at a meeting of Americans and ! Canadians, officials and volunteers, | who are here with all resources at their command to restore so far as possible the injured and provide shell
 ter, food and clothing for the 10000
 who are destitute.
 Late tonight authorities in charge of
 morgues announced that about 400 of
 the 1000 bodies had been identified.
 The casualties in the Wellington
 Street barracks announced tonight were:
 Killed, 6; missing and presumed dead, 27; badly wounded, Al; slightly wounded, 96; unaccounted for, A; to-
 tai, 37s CD.
 In the married mems quarters 160
 women and children were reported killed, missing and badly wounded.
 Thirteen sailors and petty officers were killed on the Canadian cruiser
 Niobe. Fifteen other men are missing , and cannot be traced.
 Halifax has ceased to number its } dead and is directing its energies to
 the aid of the living
 The total lives lost as a. conSeQuence
 of the explosion on the French ammu- nition ship Mont Blanc Thursday, may
 never be known, but for the moment !, the number Is of secondary importance.
 If you ask the police, they will give , you the stereotyped reply: Our esti-
 mate is 1000 dead, 5000 others in j. jured."
 Among the relief workers it is felt | that the toll of dead may not exceed 8 1,500
 But the outstanding fact that has been faced by the local authorities,
 with courage that challenges the ad- miration of their kinsmen from south
 of the border, is that twenty thousand persons are destitute and of the num-
 Der perhaps one out of seven is suffer ing from injuries which in many cases
 are bound to prove fatal. D. Tonight the work of organizing the | various relief units into a workable > whole, with a general direction that
 should avoid duplication of effort and l. tend to greatest efficiency, was vel
 under way.
 - Federal, provincial and Red Cross
 aid, supplemented by volunteer units = from other cities and the United States
 were being utilized to the best advan-
 tage. The Massachusetts relief train
 which had been stalled much of the
 night in snow drifts near the Nova
 Scotia border, arrived today. bringing
 the first contingent of physicians nurses and supplies. It was the frs of several trains enroute from th' American side.
 More than foot of snow fell las
 night. Today the storm passed and tn
 weather was clear and cold. Stree
 cars were stalled in the drifts durinI ,h the night but today the service hat
 been partly restored. The day als tv saw the lighting system was renewe, ,d in part and when darkness fell, tn l. city loked a little less black and for nt bidding. Fortunately the telephon sd service is good, but there is g. sombr n- significance in the report of so man t7 dead" numbers.
 Id The water supply is causing tn as mos. concern. Emergency repairs ar
 being made as fast as it is humanl in possible, but the system still was ser t. iously deranged this evening. at The property loss. variously esti f. mated at from s20,000, 900 to $50, 1000, DO ve
 Continued on Page Two)