Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1917-12-08
RELIEF TRAIN RACES
in BILLIARDS. TEETH

on Board Massachusetts kelleI
Train Via Amherst, y. S. Dec. The
first official word from Halifax receir-
ed today on the special train from
Boston speeding TO the relief Of the
stricken city only added TO the story
of death and suffering aireAdy unde-
scribab,y sad. Two thousand dea'! and
other thousands injured was the esti-
mate wired 10 A. G. Ratshesky, in
| charge of the special. by Gen. Mana
ger Hayes of the Canadian Govern
ment Railway at Halifax
| To find and bury the dead 70 care
for the wounded and house the home
| less was described as task calcuiat-
ed to tax the available resources Of
half a dozen nearby towns.
Help from Boston is a God send to
| HahfaN," Hayes said in his message,
which asked that Ratschesky go ahead
with the plans for dspatching u Red
| Cross outfit from Boston
Glass Is Shattered
Orders for the shipment of thiS
| equipment had been held up pending
| adViceS as to whether it could get
| through. Meanwhile at St. John, where
a great quantity Of hospital supplies
| was taken aboard. Mr.. RatsheGky
learned that practically every pane of
| glass in Halifax had been shattered
| by the blast from the harbor. The
mind of child could comprehend what
| that meant with snow and seet. There
was not a moments delay in sending
| to Boston a request for the prompt
| shipment Of glass, putty and tar
| sheets to make a roof for the homeless
| that slept tonight in tents. Because of
| demoralized wire conditions it was diff
| ficll1t to obtain any sort of connect
| ed account as to the extent of the dis
aster while the relief train was racing
| ir the teeth of a blizzard. AS the dis
lance to Halifax was cut down the
! storm increased and snow piled high
i er everywhere At every station hun
dreds stood in the cold waiting eager
| ~ in the hope Of news. There vas
none. The message from General Man
ager Hayes saying 1000 We're dead gave
Just about the number that was fixed
in everybody's mind.
Orphans Were Manned
At ST John a Pullman car, on the
sides Of which great sheets of ice were
fastened hard, arrived with half Il
| hundred children. their heads band
aged and their little arms in slingS.
, They made Up a small group of orphans
who escaped when their place of abode
at Halifax was wrecked. A shower of
stone and glass had manned some of
them for life. In the frantic effort
to find out who and how many actu-
ally were dead, the people of Nova
Scotia, long hardened by the horror
of war. asked over and over again
how it happened. In the absence OF
definite information, they seemed to
accept without reservation the expla-
nation given heretofore in newspaper
| dispatches. With 1873 miles to go the
plans of the relief party for imme-
date work at Halifax had been eX-
/ ceilently arranged when the special ar
rived here tonight. AS Il unit it will
be placed at the disposal of the mill
tary authorities for service anywhere.
| Surgeons and nurses We're ready for
war time work and they We're espe-
| ciallN eager to jump in and help as
! the hours dragged and stories brought
by refugees and railroad men told of
the hundred dead and the thousands
hurt.
| Half of Population Injured
I A woman came through to Moncton
with the form of an infant apparent
! ~ asleep clasped to her breast The
mother, temporarily insane. had made
the long journey with only the body
/ of her child. The CHASTITY discovery
! that the head was gone was made by
! citizens. Mai. s. G.. Giddings. in charge
Of the surgical unit. in addressing a
meeting on the train today. said later
I showed that the pXtont n AZ
disaster was even greater than was
, earlier indicated. Fifty per cent. of
I the population of Halifax had been
| injured, he said. DIR. Giddings also an
nounced that another party of doctors
and nurses had started from Boston.