Coulee City dispatch. [volume] (Coulee City, Wash.) 19??-19??, 1937-05-20
"The Halifax Explosion"
By FLOYD GIBBONS
Famous Headline Hunter

7 DON'T believe it hurts any of us to stop once in a while and
j take stock, to reflect how lucky we actually are. That's one
berry of New York, N. Y. It's an incredible tale, this story Of
how out of two hundred people living within range of an explo-
sion, only ten survivors remain-of whom Mrs. HenneDerry IS
one.
Mrs.; HsnnebeE5ys house was at l4s Darlington as street TIA. Malta * ! N w.
Flynn iyn It WAS vss1 known "a S Flynn fn 'l Block !" The day a December s, 1917.
getting As s 4ssa :. t On, . ss as' Hss sr, ssi'ass ssI Ill a,s had s' j snsn LIT T s:
house, and the younger ones were eating their breakfast.
muniton, for this was during the World war.
The Ammunition Ship Exploded.
Mrs. Hennebery, wishing to make sure the children had gone around
hearing In the son hssssg' . sss n @%Y a { cloud 44 f s BoAT E;s HEpl s5f ES%:@ 4sss
ar.t M + tb ae sfsfsess}1a.. hp os e, s ssS s sss sgs e4 aSsssssi he with ~s the s the ssf ss'
Pita5 When ben he ee heard the hsv noise Sc 81 The fbi s5Rlesja to x he as sa sr to Pad + Of his
the North Side is blown up, one Of the boats exploded carrying
When Ben Ben H I cherry, heard ard that at , he t, said: my n family family t is ~ up
norta end a of thy city as as All te so Sdies al and a sa n5saa Wer e ut a to help I'll Them IN
Throngs of Hysterical People.
The city was roped in because all the people who had relatives iv-
m gan she mad were wtb t fsgq and 1o fe gnaety she so u Henn T yyn relat 8 # fa t&e
geag W "a "n NOT ! stopp ed smne'o 81 tn them@|they would actually rn into
Into this rush Of historical human beings. Ben Henneberry pushed
hi his fg Tsy, maadn n with tfm ls9nit tsat p sd pean h ff homie 5ns unreeosnlza0ls mass
in th wh eeua Mr 81 ber hema: All il% around 1e; i hss s ses ce sIsIf ssP people 3 s Screams sns
ing as;s for + help hgr b shs was She som M 1sgg PINNED ON ser By S.t tRe a lass al ' ahe aou and do f9 %as
to asn move el h r fingers gsg she 5eG says VS. '''S . D' D''N' N' = ~ NNN :
20, One thing ;oa and that on only y,s saved ed BE- from from being }saf t burned msvs to
AON" Iva AO"S Wo
washed all over the demolished building, extnguishing flying
sparks. Otherwise, Mrs.. Henneberry says, 81 wouldn't b ere
to tell the story"
Not far off, completely crushed and buried under timber and de-
bris, lay one of Mrs. Henneberrys children. She could hear the child
moaning and crying, but she could not move to help her. After a while
she heard the childs cries cease, and she knew she was dead.
Then Mrs. Henneberry sank into mercful Inconsistencies.
Their Five Children All Dead.
At three o'clock, Ben Henneberry, frantic with grief, came upon the
unconscious form of his wife, and the scattered bodies Of his five dead
children. Of this I simply cannot write. No words of mine could ever
portray this scene, nor would I if I could. Suffice it to say that the grief
stricken husband and his friends assisted in putting Mrs. Henneberry on
one of the numerous boats that were taking victims in relays to a hos
pial IN the south end of the city. .A
So extensive was the damage that all hospitals were damned, vic
tins were taken to the colleges for treatment and disqualification. Mrs.
Henneberry says she was taken to the "Womens College," Some doc
tors and nurses from Massachusetts had been sent along, and she hap
pened Ito be one of their patients. She was o badly hurt that she just lay
numb for three weeks. When she got out of the hospital, she had to
walk n crutches for a year.
While Mrs. Henneberry was in the hospital her family doctor
came into the ward and was talking to of her neghbors.
Speaking Of Mrs. Henneberry, he remarked how badly he felt,
after being her doctor for 10 many years; for, he said, he could
hold out little hope for her. When Mrs. Henneberry heard him say
that, she spoke up: emo, doctor, Pm still here"
"He was the most surprised man I ever looked at" Mrs. Henneberry
says.
Relatives in Massachusetts mouned her as dead. On Christmas Day
they got word she wa still aive-"The best Christmas present they ever
got" they said.
@-WNU Service