The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-12-08
LOSS 80 MILLION
Continued from Page One.l

Continued from Page One.)
driving sleet and blackened wreck
age.
Telegrams are pouring in from all
parts of America asking for informa-
ton concerning persons believed to
have been in the city when the
French munition ship Mont Blanc
blew up. Every train brings crowds
of relatives racked with suspense for
some beloved one The hotels are
thronged with sad faced seekers. Ev-
erywhere is desolation. everywhere
mourning.
The exact extent OF the loss of hui
man lives cannot be known for sew
eral days-probably never will be
known. The fire which swept the
I blasted area wiped out the wrecks of
hundreds of buildings. The storm has
greatly delayed trains and prevented
relief parties from outside cities get
ting to work as early as they ex-
pected.
When the offici% government inves-
tigation of the munitions ship explo-
sion begins here it will be testified
that the Mont Blanc carried 1000 tons
of ''T N. IT, the highest explosive
known, and a deckload of benzine. As
this floating bomb came thru the
narrows there was a light mist The
duty of the vessel was to keep TO the
right and, huggings the narrows as it
went toward Bedford basin to await
a convoy.
Trying to Fix Blame
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 evil
IDENTIFY misunderstood. The limo
rammed the munitions ship, backed
away and ran aground on the Dart
mouth shore.
At this point there are several YER
sions of the story told. One is that
the munitions ship was on fire before
the collision. This is not generally
| believed. She was on fire Immediately
after the smash, however. The crew
counted for except one man.
Twenty minutes after the collision,
it was declared, the munitions ship
blew up where she had grounded at
Pier 8, near the Interco1onial railroad
station. The explosive on board the
Mont Blanc was three times as power
full 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.
Felt Quake 200 Miles.
Pieces of shells. steel plates and
shrapnel have been found five miles
from Halifax. At Orangdale, 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 62 miles distant, the win
dows of the Learmont hotel were
shattered and the clock was shaken
i from the wall of the train dispatcher's
office. AT Meaghers Grant, 35 miles
4 away, a barn was lifted from its
| foundations as tho the work had been
done by an expert house mover.
| Two American vessels were making
/ port at the time. One, a cruiser, about
T45 miles off Halifax, was SO Shaken
up that the chief officer 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 inyesti-
gate the stranger. A hospital ship,
/ 60 miles off Halifax, felt the shock
and at dice concluded that the
cruiser, whose location was known to
it, was in action.
Threw Tidal Wave 40 Feet High.
/ The explosion raised a tidal wave
in the harbor that went forty feet
over the tracks of the Intercolonial
railway and lifted and swept away
loaded freight cars. Today the rail-
way loss in rolling stock was placed
at 500 loaded freight cars, 100 pas
senger cars and twenty locomotives
Felt 2 Distinct Shocks.
Survivors tell of feeling two distinct
explosions. The first was slight this