Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1917-12-11
1000 DEAD, ESTIMATE
Of HALIFAX DISASTER,
FOLLOWING SURVEY
Twenty Thousand Persons Are
Destitute and Probably One
Seventh of These Are Suf-
fering From Wounds

from the explosion OF a MUNITIONS snip
in the harbor Thursday according to es-
Inmates tonight by officials. This esd-
mate, was made after a survey of eAe
devastated district of Richmond, where
acres of debris probably will not be
cleared for a month.
Working Halifax, however, has ceas-
ed to number it's dead and is directing
its energies to the aid of the living.
The actual number of lives lost may
never be known, but for the moment the
number is of secondary importance.
The outstanding fact that has been
faced by the local authorities with a
courage that challenges the admiration
of their kinsmen from south of the bor-
der is that 10000 persons are destitute
and of the number perhaps one out of
seven is suffering from injuries which
in many cases are bound to prove fatal.
Tonight the work of organizing the
various relief units into a workable
whole with a general direction that
would avoid duplication of effort and
tend to the greatest efficiency, was well
underway.
Federal, provincial and Red Cross aid;
supplemented by volunteer units from
other cities and the United States were
being utilized to the best advantage.
The Massachusetts, relief train which
had been stalled much of the night IN
snow drifts near the Nova Scotia bor-
der, arrived today, bringing the first
contingent of physicians, nurses and
supplies 1t was the first of several
trains en- route from the American side.
More Than a Foot of Snow Falls
More than a foot of snow fell last
night. Today the storm passed and the
weather was clear and cold. Street cars
were stalled in the drifts during the
night, but today the service had been
partly restored. The day also saw the
lighting system renewed in parts, and
after darkness fell the city looked a
little less black and forbidding. Fortu-
there is a sombre significance in the re-
port of so many dead" numbers.
The water supply is causing the most
concern. Emergency repairs are being
made as fast as 1t is humanity possible,
but the system was still seriously de-
ranged this evening.
The property loss, VariouSly estimated
at from $2O,O0O,O00 to $50,OOO,000
probably will prove to be nearer the
minimum figure
The search for bodies goes on
methodically and hundreds are exposed
in temporary morgues through which
thousands continue to file, though there
have been but few identihcations. The
clearing of the streets by the removal of
wreckage OF homes facilitates the re-
covery Of bodies. Those engaged in this
work are having many depressing and
some disheartening experiences.
When the blow fell little Lola Burns,
the eight-year-old daughter of John
Burns, Of Granville street, was on her
knees by her cot saying her morning
Tho hOnSa nnllanSed Hours
later Lola was found in the midst of
the wreckage, hemmed in by fallen tim
bers and surrounded by broken glass,
but quite unframed, still on her knees
and praying fervently.
Soldier Finds Loved Ones Dead
In cellar at Richmond a soldier in
uniform was seen digging frantically.
1t was private Henneberry, who had
been overseas with the sixty-third bat
talon and recently returned home
wounded.
Here was my home" explained the
soldier briefly, while he continued to dig,
and ] am sure 1 heard a moan a nO-
ment ago."
Others gave him hand and presently
from under a kitchen stove the pro-
truding ash pan of which had protected
her, was revealed Henneberry's eigh-
teen-months-old baby, Olive. Her
wounds were superficial But the pri-
Yates joy was short-lived. A little more
digging exposed the bodies OF his Wffe
and five other children.
At one hospital several children were
listed as negroes from their general ap-
pearance. Later it was discovered that
they had been white before the flames
reached them.
Word has come from st. John that
more injured can be accommodated
there. Among the injured already in
that city the cases of twenty are cr1ti-
cal
Twelve hundred bodies remain in their
few solitude in that blasted region of
the old city into which entrance is bar
red by armed guards. From that desert
ed horror spot in the north end OF the
town no sound comes tonight except
the bowling of the bitter Atlantic gale
through skeletons of houses, and the oc-
casional thunder of a tumbling fragment
of wall.
All the dead, both identified and UNI
identified. lie uncoffined tonight. There
is not enough lumber in the town to
warrant using any Of it for making cas-
kets Some bodies are wrapped IN
sheets. others have bits of rag drop
ped over their faces.
Call for doctors came from hotels to-
night where relatives of those VINO dled
here succubed to nervous strain and ex-
haustion after hours of gazing at dead
faces frozen in expressions OF agony,
hunting for the one dead face they
Dreaded to find
Food Resources Near End
The food depots were nearly at the
end of their resources. A system of
rationing for all inhabitants of the city
may be established. There is still food,
but, with the city practically isolated,
il must be careful conserved or famine
might add to the hardships already un-
dergone here.
When collins for the dead come in,
there must be many small ones among
them. The casualties among the chill
dren were frightful. More than two
score little ones lie in the ruins Of the
protestant orphanage
While the sleet blizzard moaned
through Halifax to night there were
many sad scenes in the Academy of
Music, in the churches and other shell
ters which are devoted to caring for the
! 20, 900 homeless.
Scores of these people, dazed by shell
| shock, their brains curdled with the
horrors they have undergone, are just
coming to their senses. Many still have