Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1917-12-08
MONT BLAND CARRIED
Continued from page one)

benzine. AS this floating bomb came
through the narrows there was light
mist. The duty Of the vessel was to
keep to the right and hugging the
narrows as it went toward Bedford ba-
sin to await a convoy.
The Belgian relief ship limo was COM
ing out of the basin, and some witness
es allege neither ship was on its prop
er side of the stream.
In order to rectify the mistake they
exchanged signals which were evident
ly misunderstood. The Imo rammed the
munitions ship, backed away and ran
aground on the Dartmouth shore.
At this point there were several YER
sions Of the story told. One is that the
munitions ship was on fire before the
collision This is not generally believ-
ed. She was on fire Immediately after
the smash however. The crew took to
the boats. All have been accounted foi
except one man.
One Slip Blew Up
Twenty minutes after the collision
it is declared, the munitions ship blew
up where she had grounded at pier g.
near the Intercolonial Railway station
The explosive on board the Mont Blanc
was three times as powerful as Full
inmate The powder experts say that
had the cargo had 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 all
line, and at Sydney, 200 miles away,
the shock was that of severe earth
quake,
Sixty Two Miles Away
At Truro, so miles distant, the win
dows of the Pearmont hotel were shat
tered and the clock was shaken from
the wall of the train dispatcher's of
flee. At Meaghers Grant, 35 miles
away, a barn was lifted from its foun-
dations as though the work had been
done by an expert house mover.
| Two American vessels were making
port at the time One, cruiser, about
As miles off Halifax, was so shaken up
that he chief officer believed his ship
had struck mine.
Then, seeing another craft on the
horizon he concluded that he had been
| fired on. He stopped to investigate the
stranger. A hospital ship sixty miles
off Halifax, felt the shock and at once
concluded that the cruiser, whose To-
lcation was known to it, was in action,
-. Explosion Raised Tidal Wave
The explosion raised a tidal wave
/ in the harbor that went forty feet
Railway and lifted and swept away
L - Tol he y0v
loss in rolling stock was placed at 30O
loaded freight ears, 100 passenger ears
and twenty locomotives.
| Survivors tell of feeling two dis
tinet explosions. The first was slight
this probably being the blowing up OF
the benzine on the Mont Blanc. The
great explosion is declared by all tc
be beyond description.
City Become Hell Spot
In an instant Halifax was transform
ed into a hell spot. Wooden buildings
in the North End, including many old
and rickety structures along Water
street, poured their wreckage into the
street. Corpses huddled everywhere anj
fire completed the destruction.
The worst damage was done over al
area of two square miles in the NORTH
End. This is swept flat and resembles
la bit of the Flanders front, only the
/ demolition is even worse. The greaf
Idoekyard is in ruins,
Dead are Everywhere
Hundreds of corpses have been found
lSome of the refugees are trying to livS
i'm what remains of their homes today
The Rev n. Lemoine is pastor at st
Marks Anglican church in the Nort'
End His home is gone, his church i
lgone-nothing remains but the cellai
lof his Sunday school and there tbs
pastor is now living. Half the member
lof his parish are dead. All but two o.
his choir have perished. Not singl
vestryman remains. Practically tn
same is true of St. Joseph RomSl
Catholic parish.
Orphan Children Dead
| Forty six children died in the Pro
: testant orphanage with the matron AM
. three domesties. Two children surviv
led. fs'
All the buildings of the exhibition