The Hennessey Clipper (Hennessey, Okla.), Vol. 28, No. 30, Ed. 1 Thursday, December 20, 1917 Page: 3 of 16
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THE CLIPPER. HENNESSEY. OKLAHOMA
J
4THERED CROSS NEEDS
SCENE OF MUNITION EXPLOSION AT HALIFAX
ML v H
B V V- ' rflu
. 1
ffi ■ • '•
iM?
literally by the million fori
their wounds. It moans
splints and wound pads and
pillows and all ma iner of
surgical dressings without
That is why the Red Cross wants
15.<H 000 members. It is not so much
the $2 or the $10 or the $25 or the
$11)0 or the $1 fee that membership
costs, though that has its importance.
ntt/v '/-v W'',* -
ArTER nRAW!fic bt Artm/rtMi/enOKon.y
*tr//rrttoa>ojs mcAz/ns •>
By WILLOUGHDY LEE.
OIK heart of America at this
°T
f
Christmas time is yearning
towi
leys
France
and
the hills and vai-
mud flats of
• thousands and
tens of thousands and, ft r
nil we know, hundreds of
thousands of our linest boys
are over there with Persh-
ing. And by a n o t h e r
d> Christinas there may be 2,-
000,000 of them, and two
years from now, so far as anyone can
see, it may he nearer 5,000,000. For
America has taken oath that not until
kaiserism has been blotted from the
earth will the war end.
Thosi boys of ours who are over
there, and the others who are going,
seed all the help and encouragement
and aid the folks at home can possl-
1>ly givo t! .'in. That Is why the Red
Cross, instead of confining itself to giv-
ing them hospital treatment after they
liave been hurt or are sick, is giving
them Christmas trees and comfort kits
and doing everything possible to make
Christinas enjoyable for them. Not a
man in all "Black Jack" Pershing's
army, will be without some reminder
of the people at home for whom he is
fghting. Not a man in any one of all
the army and navy cantonments scat-
tered all over the United States will
be without a genuine Christmas—even
to a Christmas tree. The Red Cross
lias gone into the Santa Claus business
wholesale. ::s it goes into everything
tt undertakes.
And that is why every man, every
Woman, every child, owes it to him-
self and to the soldiers and sailors to
become a member of the Red Cross. A
campaign is being carried on to enlist
10,000.000 new members of the Amer-
ican Red Cross, which will make it five
times as large and ten times as rich
and powerful as any other Red Cross
in the world.
It is because of the millions and mil-
lions of American boys who are going
•ver to France that the whole Amer-
ican people has got to join the Red
Cross in helping care for them. A few
hundred thousand can be looked after
by the present membership; but multi-
ply them by ten or twenty or twenty-
live, and it takes a nation to back them
properly.
It has been great sport this year to
tlx up the Christmas packets, and write
the little personal note that goes with
each one, and picture to one's self the
pleasure with which the unknown sol-
dier in France will hail the gift from
the home land. For there has been no
stint. It means pi'Jamas and It would I « even more necessary
bed shirts and surgical shirts , membership did not cost a cent. Hut
—the kind that surgeons can 1 in this case the fee is a small consid
open and reaeli wounds with-1 eratlon. What is needed is an tinny
out handling buttons. It of 15,000,000 true-hearted Americans
means bed socks and bath' who will stand back of the army and
robes and convalescent robes navy, and supply them with everything
and all the things that in- they need to keep them well and
valids need. I cheery, and to give them every chance
it means drugs and modi- j lor life if they get sick or are hart.
Confidence in his backing is a mighty
factor in a fellow's spunk when he is
lighting ".500 miles from the home he
is defending.
Now a word about the different
legs and arms, kinds of membership: A patron mem-
other methods j her pays $100 in one sum, and the in-
terest on that money accrues to the
Red Cross every year. A life member
pays .v'jr> in one sum, and the interest
sullices to keep his membership alive
so long as he lives. But the most
stress is not to be laid on these forms
In this campaign because, as I have
said, money is not the chief object.
Everyone who can possibly afford it
ought to be what is < lied ti "Maga-
zine Member." It costs $2, each year,
but it brings with it the Red Cross
Magazine, published every month with
a wealth of pictures of Red Cross
work, and inspiring articles telling
what the Red Cross is doing all around
the world.
For those who cannot spare $2, the
annual membership costs but $1, and
one who has this membership is just
as much a Red Cross member as any-
one, the only difference being that he
does not get the magazine. The great
effort will be to enroll the $1 and $2
people, for it is numbers and not mon-
ey at this time that the Red Cross
wants.
When the membership has climbed
to the 15,(X)0,000 mark, then will come
the call for members to help turn out
supplies. There is no compulsion—•
nobody has to pledge himself to give
any money except his dues, nor to
give service nor anything. Rut of
course you will want to help, and you
will have a world of opportunity.
Whether you can knit, or sew, or roll
bandages, or run errands for those
who can do those things, or give mon-
ey to help them buy supplies of yarn
and muslin and gauze, you can help.
It will be your part to do the biggest
That is what Maj. Grayson M. P. j thing you can to back up the lighting
Murphy had in mind a few weeks ago | boys over there.
when he fabled to the Ited Cross that ; The flrst thlng tri bocome „ Re(j
nothing on earth is now of equal in,- Cross Tllke s„m,.|,„<ly In
portanee to getting a big supply of w|th you If y..u possibly cnn. Help the
surgical supplies into France. Unless | Illorabershll) tenm tUnt comes to you
fines and operating instru-
ments and sill the appliances
with which modern surgeons
are daily performing miracles
in saving lives and restoring
to usefulness
which under
would have been cut off at
once.
American soldiers must not be for a
single day without all of these tilings
they need. The French have been. In
the early days of the war—and it has
been said in some later days—word
went out that the French surgeons
were operating without anesthetics be-
cause they had none. It Is bad enough
to lose an arm or a leg, byt iu> one
likes to think of being tied fast to a
table and the leg or arm cut off with
no chloroform or ether to give the suf-
ferer unconsciousness while the knife
is wielded.
Also, within the last year, word has
come from the battlefields of France
that the little Pollus had to use old
newspapers to stanch the blood from
their wounds. That was because their
supply of gauze had run out and no
more was to be had. It meant infect-
ed wounds, gangrene, lockjaw, and
the loss of legs and arms and lives that
might have been saved.
All America will agree that none of
these things must happen to Pershing's
boys. Rut it will happen unless the
American people get right behind the
Red Cross, and make and ship those
hospital supplies in a never-ending
stream. The surgeons at the French
hospitals say that sometimes It takes
a whole box of surgical dressings—
7,000 of them—for a single wounded
man. They have been so short at the
French hospitals that Instead of throw-
ing the dressings away after using,
they have been driven to try to clean
them and use them over and over.
x
J3 JS O :ir O R &
& I N
VOiX OFFICE^j
ROCKIN&HAM
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MrSTVINC
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DARTMOUTH
3L- /SjfC^RtCHMON D
ACADEMY^
YAR9 J
'■' V HALL
HOTEL
PROVINCIAL B
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S7„ i,A
1 Approximate location of collision between the Mont Rlanc, French
munitions ship, and the Ionia, a Relgian relief steamer. The Mont Rlanc blew
up. 2—Richmond, the section of Halifax which was practically wiped out
by the explosion and fire. The darkened districts covers more than two and
one-half square miles. 3—Dartmouth, where there also was heavy destruction
of life and property. '4—Rockingham, where there was some damage. 5 and 0
—The two harbors of Halifax, in which many ships were damaged and mem-
bers of their crews killed or injured.
WORST DISASTER
IN MANY YEARS
Catastrophe at Halifax Appall-
ing in the Loss of Life
and Property.
BIG PART OF CITY IN RUINS
we do, he said, disaster and disgrace
are ahead for America—and the Ked
Cross and the American people cannot
afford to incur that. No American sol-
dier must lose a leg or an arm or an
eye, or give his life, when it can be
saved by anything the American peo-
ple can do. Major Murphy Is t lie lied
Cross commissioner for France, and
knows perhaps better than any other
man in the world exactly what needs
to be done for the army in n medical
and surgical way. When he speaks
America will do well to listen.
Money is not all the Ked Cross must
have for this work—money is not even
the most important thing, though it
will take millions of dollars. What it
needs most of all Is an immense num-
ber of members, and their personal
real flchting—only a trench raid or so, I service. It needs, and hns to have, the
In which only a few lives were lost—
fewer, in all likelihood, than would
have occurred in the natural course of
•vents If they had remained in civil
life. So, while there was sorrow for
the brave fellows who went down fight-
ing, and for those others who were
•lain In the submarine brushes with
the Germans, there was not the over-
whelming grief that comes after every
great battle.
Next year It will be different—so
different. In the spring—and earlier
if the French line should break at any
point—Pershing will hurl his boys into
the gap, and everybody knows what
that means. There will he fighting
of the kind that made a whole world
admire the men of Hull Run, and An-
tietani, and Chancellorsville, and
Chlckamauga, anil Gettysburg, and
wherever Americans have fought.
They will be pitted against a foe who,
whatever we may say of his arrogance
end cruelty, his disregard of the laws
«f humanity and the ordinary decen-
cies of civilized life, is a hard fighter.
That means that I he hospital will he
Hull of American hoys whose lives de-
pend on the work the Ited Cross must
«lo—for there Is no other ngency that
«in wait on them. It means bandages
TOLD IN A PARAGRAPH
An English street railway is experi-
menting with cars that take current
from overhead wires and run on rails
a* far as they are laid, then complete
their Journeys over ordinary roads, us-
ing storag' batteries for power.
An individual life raft invented In
Germany Is provided with a compass ;
In front and tin Intermittent light, op- j
* rated by n motor, which, like the light, ,
Is supplied hy a storage buttery, in the
tear. J
whole American people, fathers and
mothers, sisters and daughters, and
the children, to back up the govern-
ment and the Red Cross in this work.
Take, for example, the recent call of
Major Murphy for 0,000,000 warm knit-
ted articles for the soldiers and for
the destitute of France. If the money
had been at hand to buy the lot, there
were not that many knitted things in
the whole world of the kind wanted.
Rut the Red Cross appealed to Its
members, and asked each chapter for
its quota, and the socks and sweaters
and mufllers and wristlets rolled in by
carloads, and are still coming. The
mothers and sisters and daughters and
wives went to knitting, and that an-
swered the call in an amazingly short
time.
The situation will be the same when
the boys begin to need bandages and
gauze dressings and hospital garments
in great numbers. Not all the stores
in all the land will have enough such
things to fill the demand. Rut the
American people are being enrolled as
Red Cross members, and they are
learning by tens of thousands how to
make and pack and ship these things,
and whatever the demand, they will
meet It in full.
Looking Ahead.
Junior, with his playmate, had been
given some candy by an old gentle-
man, and on being asked how they
liked it replied: "Just fine! Will you
get us some more when this is done?
We're big eaters."
Injuries and Insults.
Injuries may be atoned for and for-
given ; but insults admit of no compen-
sation. They degrade the mind in Its
own esteem and force It to recover its
level by revenge.—Junius.
for your name and your dollar or two
dollars. Remember, it Is not, in the
tinal analysis, the Red Cross you are
helping at all—It Is the boys who are
over there lighting for you. Nobody
concerned with the Red Cross ever
gets a penny out of anything given for
relief, or from any garment made and
entrusted to It. Every penny and
every stitch goes to some American
soldier or some destitute one whom the
Red Cross is trying to keep alive.
You will hear—If you have not al-
ready heard—a dozen stories about
graft In the Ited Cross. They are lies,
everyone of them. They were started
maliciously, and have been peddled
ever since by gossips, some malicious,
some merely chatterers with no sense
of responsibility, who would In the
same spirit repeat a slander about a
good woman.
You have heard, or will hear, that
the high officers of the Red Cross get
most of the money given It for relief.
Exactly the reverse Is true. 7'.very
member of the war council, every head
of every Red Cross bureau In Washing-
ton, every head of every bureau In
everyone of the thirteen divisions of
the Red Cross lti the United States,
Is giving his time free, and is spending
money of his own while he does the
work.
In a recent public speech on this
subject, Henry P. Davison, chairman
of the Red Cross war council, de-
clared that of every dollar given the
Red Cross for relief, about $1.02 Is
spent for relief. Not only are the ex-
penses met from funds provided for
that purpose, hut the money contributed
draws interest while In bank, and the
Interest also Is applied to relief work.
The Ked Cross Is led by the biggest
and brainiest and most unselfish men
the nation could find. Trust them.
They are doing the very best that
brains and money and determination
can do to prevent human suffering, and
to take care of Pershing's boys. Help
them. Your own may be there soon.
Idolatry on the Decline.
It Is becoming a custom among non-
Christian Chinese of Borneo to go to
the Methodist chapel for their inar-
riage ceremony. Rccuuse of the influ-
ence of the mission, Idolatry among
them has practically ceased.
Concrete Railroad Tie.
Italian steam nnd street railroads
are experimenting with a concrete tie
that rocks slightly, affording uulform
elasticity nnd a more perfect allgu.
uient of track thau wooden tie*.
Fire Following Rain of Explosives
Completes Destruction—Port and
Harbor One of the Most Valued
of British Naval Posts.
Outside the toll of life claimed on
land and sea by the great war, the
catastropne at Halifax is by far the
grrntest disaster in many years.
Numerous explosions have occurred
In munition plants In this country and
Europe, but the Halifax disaster Is the
most tragic explosion, in the number
of lives lost, in the last quarter cen-
tury. Indeed, few catastrophes of any
nature have probably exceeded It In
the number of dead.
Pilot Frank Mackie of the Mont
Rlanc declared that the collision re-
sulted from a confusion of whistles
sounded by the Ioma, causing a col-
lision with the Mont Rlanc, which ar-
rived at a United States Atlantic port
on November 0, laden with 3,000 tons
of munitions for France. She was In
bound from New York when she was
rammed by the Belgian relief ship
Ioma.
Flames Caught Benzine.
The impact set fire to a deck load
of benzine on the French ship and the
flames quickly communicated with tlie
munitions, resulting In a practical
bombardment of the city.
The zone of destruction In Hallfnx
itself extended from the North street
railway station as far north as Afric-
ville to Bedford basin and covered an
area of about two square miles In the
section known as Richmond. The
buildings which were not demolished
by the force of the terrific explosion
were destroyed by the fire which fol-
lowed.
District Densely Populated.
The devastated district was the old-
er part of Halifax and thickly popu-
lated. It contained, In addition to
Citadel hill, many churches and
schools, the railway station, govern-
ment dockyard, Wellington barracks,
Admiralty House (the official resi-
dence of the admiral in command of
the North American British squad-
ron), the military hospital, post office,
provisional parliament building, city
hall, the ordnance department, most of
the department stores, all of the tele-
graph and cable offices and a few ho-
tels.
The better residence district was al-
most unharmed. It lies southward
from the Queens, and Includes most of
the churches, Including St. Mary's Ro-
man Catholic cathedral.
In the fire-swept section were the
parliament buildings, post office, three
DESIGNATED BY INDIANS
GREATEST OF HAVENS.
Halifax Was a Settlement Before the
Dominance of the White Men
In America.
Long before the coming of the white
man the site of Halifax had been oc-
cupied by an Indian settlement. The
spot was called Chebueto ("greatest
of havens") hy the Indians because
they recognized the nlmost Impreg-
nable position of the harbor and inner
HALIFAX EXPLOSION
WORST EVER KNOWN.
The following big explosions
have faken place In recent
years:
FEBRUARY 1, 1911—Railroad
station in New York ; cars con-
taining twenty tons of dyna-
mite. Twenty-five killed, 125
injured; $2,000,000 damage.
MARCH 7, 1913—British freight-
er Alum Chine, in Raltlmore
harbor, carrying explosives.
Forty killed; 300 injured;
$40o.oo<v damage.
JULY 30, 1916— Black Tom is-
land, Ne\\ Jersey; trains load-
ed with explosives; seven kill-
ed. $10.01)0.000 damage.
JANUARY 13, 1917—Munitions
plant of the Canadian Car and
Foundry Company, of Kings-
land, N .1. Seventeen killed;
$2.000.(H)0 damage.
JANUARY 21, 1917—Munitions
plant In London. Seventy
killed; 277 Injured; damage,
200,000 pounds.
APRIL 12, 1917—Eddystone Am-
munition Corporation, Eddy-
stone. Pa. Two hundred klll-
Cvl; $1,000,(HX) damage.
newspaper offices, Royal Rank of Can-
ada, Canadian Rank of Commerce,
Rank of Nova Scotia. Bank of British
North America an*.! the Bank of Mon-
treal.
Other structures destroyed are Dul-
housie college, two Roman Catholic
convents, the Presbyterian Theological
college, the government technical col-
lege, 42 churches and HO factories, in-
cluding iron foundries, breweries, dis-
tilleries and two sugar refineries.
FAMOUS FOR BEAUTY.
<>!* of the oldest of Canadian cities,
Halifax also is one of the most pic-
turesque. It has two principal beau-
ty spots, Point Pleasant park and
the Public Gardens. The first lies
between the North Arm, a fiord three
miles long, and the harbor proper.
Tin? North Arm Is the cruising basin
for canoes and pleasure craft of small
size.
Two hundred acres of land make
up Point Pleasant park, and the woods
have been left In a wild state. The
roads are splendid. They were built
for military purposes. The park has
a pair of magnificent Iron gates given
to the city by Sir William Young, a
former chief justice of the province.
They are set at the head of Young
avenue, one of the principal roads of
the park.
A nnle from Young avenue gates
are the Public Gardens, the most cul-
tivated spot nl Canada, and said to
be Its most beautiful garden. An area
of 20 acres Is tlitis given up for pur-
pose of pleasure right in the heart of
the city. When the land was origin-
ally taken up for park purposes it lay
on the outskirts of the town, and was
a hunting field. It is laid out In formal
flower beds, a band stund and precise
walk 8.
Like Bit of London.
A dozen public buildings, each with
a history, also tended to soften the
lines of "the garrison city." Houses
originally built of wood and stucco and
later of stone and brick and patterned
after the English style, give the visi-
tor the impression that Halifax Is a
corner of London Itself, lifted and
transplanted in Nova Scotia.
From the citadel a beautiful view
of the entire city and harbor is given.
Facing the water front, one fooklng
from the fortress may see the entire
business district of Hnlifax( lying par-
allel to the docks nnd extending back
almost a mile from the water front.
On three sides of the citadel the resi-
dence section slopes away to the wa-
ter. which almost surrounds the prom-
ontory.
llallgonlans always took the great-
est pride In their public buildings. In
the point of age, Old Martello Tower,
built during the earliest days of the
city's history, Is second only to St.
Paul's church. It was used as an out-
post when settlers were unable to
leave the fortifications of the colony
without taking chances of being scalp-
ed by the Indlnns.
Other Noted Buildings.
The Provincial Building, the Govern-
ment House, the City Hall, the Domin-
ion Building and the new Cflstoms
House were among the edifices of
which the natives of Halifax boasted.
bay. It was first used as a base of
supplies by the French admiral, Duk
d'Anvllle, In 174"), when he attempted
to recapture Louisburg, taken from
the French by a band of New England
colonists.
The real story of Halifax, however,
begins In 1740, when It was settled by
Lord Edward Cornwallls and 2,570
English soldier-colonists. The city
was named In honor of the earl of
Halifax. Cornwallls laid out the town
In the somewhat rigid style that marks j
It today. J
j Other buildings of prominence are the
Ihilhousie College. Provincial Museum,
Academy of Music, Y. M. C. A. Build-
ing, Odd Fellows' Temple and the three
principal hotels, Halifax, Prince
George and Queen's.
Among the famous edifices of the
city is the St. Paul's Episcopal Church,
said to be the oldest Protestant church
built in North America. It was con-
structed in Boston In 1750, a year after
the town was founded, and carried in
schooners to Halifax, where the parts
were put together. The story Is told
that when Cornwallls wrote the Earl
of Halifax he wanted to build a church
the earl replied by sending to Canada
the architect who built St. Peter's in
London.
The architect patterned the desired
church exactly after St. Peter's. When
parts arrived the colonists often had
to lay down their implements and take
to their guns to drive off the Indians,
who made frequent attacks upon the
workers.
St. Matthew's Presbyterian Church,
which was built during the late years
of the eighteenth century, was de-
stroyed by fire In 1857, only to be re-
built.
Cathedral Also Noted.
One of the most beautiful buildings
In the city Is the St. Mary's Catholic
Cathedral. With a tall white spire
extending upward, It la visible for
miles.
Religion of all denominations seems
to thrive In Nova Scotia, for In a re-
cent census of religions only 543 per-
sons were listed as belonging to no
sect. At present there are 129,000 Ro-
man Catholics, 100,000 Presbyterians,
83,000 Baptists, 00.0(H) Anglicans, 57.000
Methodists and a few thousand spread
through the A<rveritlsts, Disciples and
Jews. Of the latter there were 437.
Eighty years ago, when the province
was small and practically uninhabited,
fhe Presbyterians were the largest
body, although there was a flourishing
colony of Roman Catholics at Cape
Breton. The Baptists then were nn In-
considerable body of poor peasants
with badly educated teachers and
preachers. Today the Baptists stand
third in the list of denominations.
One of World's Best Harbors.
"Halifax has one of the finest har-
bors In the world nnd is the chief
Canadian gateway for exports. It Is
the capital of Nova Scotia, with a
population of 00,000. The city is three
miles long and a mile wide; is built
on tln eastern slope of a small penin-
sula.
"It Is a garrison city and has eleven
forts and batteries, Including the Cita-
del, once one of the strongest fortifica-
tions in America.
"The harbor Is open all year. Its
Inner haven Is Bedford Basin, 20 miles
In circumference, In which the colli-
sion and explosion occurred. I have
seen as many as 140 ocean vessels In
the basin at once.
"Vast new wharves and railway ter-
minals are being constructed by the
government at a cost of $,'10,000,000,
but these are near the tip of the penin-
sula at the south, and evidently were
not harmed.
"Halifax Is 010 miles nearer Liver-
pool than Is New York for trans-Atlan-
tic liners. It Is 000 miles from New
York.
Founded By Cornwallis in 1749.
"Colonel Edward Cornwallls left
Britain In 1740 and founded the city.
The French armada gathered there In
1757 bent on demolishing Louisburg,
only to meet disaster through storm
nnd plague. Howe went to Halifax
with bis men after they were defeated
at Boston. Great numbers of royalists
from New York found refuge there In
the revolution. Hnllfax was the chief
British base of supplies.
"One hundred and six warships made
harbor there In 1812. The expedition
that burnt Washington started from
Halifax. And It was there the Shan-
non sailed with her prize, the Chesa-
peake."
Trimmed Up.
Customer—What, you want 40
•ents for a haircut like this? It's a
skin game.
Barber—Well, you said that you Just
wanted a trimming.
Puts Runners on Auto.
When the snow Is heavy, an Alaska
man puts runners on the front wheels
of his automobile, heavy chains on the
back ones and encloses the engine
with a special body and runs the ma-
chine as well as in summer.
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The Hennessey Clipper (Hennessey, Okla.), Vol. 28, No. 30, Ed. 1 Thursday, December 20, 1917, newspaper, December 20, 1917; (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc106108/m1/3/: accessed April 25, 2024), The Gateway to Oklahoma History, https://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society.