The Seattle Star Newspaper, December 7, 1917, Page 1

hgress Votes Austrian War The Seattle Sta THE GREATEST DAILY CIRCULATION OF ANY PAPER IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST NIGHT EDITIO WEATHER FORECAST Yair tonight; Saturday y winds wBhtims “Asse TTLE, WASH., FRIDAY, DECEMBER 7, 1917. OLL IS 2.500 n Halifax as Snow, Cold and Fire Add to Horror TON THE RED CROSS OR |* THE WOODEN CROSS unned by or ‘Shrieking From Grief, Relatives Claw With Bleeding Fingers Among Debris to Seek Cold-Stiffened Corpses of Relatives or Friends Who ti Leaves During Debate, Thus Missing ) the Actual Vote ILLING SPEECHES ’ United Preae Leaeed Wire “WASHINGTON, Dec. 7.— | 0 declared war on) tria-Hungary today. option of the war resolu- |) in the senate by a vote |} Ti to 0, was followed : ! hours later by its passage ‘the house. dent Wilson expected the war declaration he action by congress “Wered an unexpected sweep- of pacifism. i voted unanimously for “With Austria, Senator La Who took his seat during ‘The emite’s vote followed stirring Mir meches by Senators Stone, and Hitchcock Hitchcock said his objec 6 declaration against Aus had been cleared away by Pres Wilson's stand. assuring Aus |) free access to the Adriatic ; German menace today is |/ than on the day we declared | { he maid 1} Lodge, ranking repub-|) Member of the foreign relations } spoke against inclusion |) and Turkey at this time, | \ IMPEACHMENT OF MAYOR MAY COME SATURDAY After a session, lasting from 10 a. m. till 1230 p. m., Friday, the judt clary committee took under advise ment the question of impeaching Mayor Gill until Saturday morning. A decision will then be rendered. “If the committee decides to rec Chairman it } } only reason for leaving Tur O8t is the danger to American and property in Tur! ewe d> not touch Bulg: ina sense. But we have a Bul legation in Washington. and| Mficials are friendly to us| ‘Mtv traitors to their own coun-| and its ally, Germany | f Goes to the House JFiaks no stock in the dream that | aa detach Bulgaria and Turkey | the central powers,” said Lodge. | One result of the war will be @ttinction of the Turkish em. it Europe and freeing the Dar | to all nations.” | Mour senators vote “Yes” | a paaration of war. Discus-| Senate occupied jess than! bone, : AMe resolution was tmnediately fo the house, where it nay be for the house measure / famed before the day is over. ———— 0 GERMANS ED IN MAD DRIVE AT BYNG BY WM. PHILIP SIMMS | Wiled Prose Correspondent With THE BRI i AR- MES IN THE FIELD, Dee. 7. At least 2,010 Germans per- in two violent and fruit- attempts to break British This rare photograph, one of the few that have come out of Serbia, reveals the horrible Austrian and Bulgarian cruelties. The original was found on the body of Bernhard We- werisch, German officer, who was killed on the Monastir front. He snapshotted the gruesome scene as a souvenir of his stay in Serbia. It shows a sextuple execution of Serbi- ans in the presence of officers of the Austro-Hungarian army. If you shudder at this wanton cruelty, then search your own con- science. Are YOU less guilty if, by your neglect and indifference, the Red Cross fails to reach its support where needed, and wooden crosses, marking the graves of those who might have been saved, multiply? wooden cross or the Red Cross? That is the question propounded by those in charge of the campaign to make every man, woman and child a member of the Red Cross before Christmas. What is your answer? You cannot dodge responsibility. Join the Red Cross at headquar- ters, 1422 Third ave., near Pike st. The membership is $1. If you fail to join, you are adding to the number of wooden crosses that will go up over the graves of our American boys. There is no half-way measure. You are either helping or hurting our Sammies. doin the Red Cross! Today! ommend impeachment,” Larie declared upon adjournment, “it al complaint of will substitute for will formulate fe its own, which }the charges framed by the recent mass meeting. “This procedure is necessary to eliminate reference to the Merchants Protective corporation @ nection with the mayor’ Corporation Counsel ruled that harge of im Additional ¢ Murphy. fedora new | ther, of the Firs | was heard. Rev us a witness following a meeting with the or, arranged by J. W Efaw last week, at which an effort {liate the two im believed to} ee from U.0G,| of the Ministerial | al committee, and| nee from Rev. J. B. Crow Methodist church. | Crowther appeared | may Bes around Visi wood today ty fi Hhwas the Britinn » OM the Hir mame line 80 firmly fF RE wn detended the erntwhile en against several powerful to retake it a z ! of men w artillery, sto WE “y." work be Burwetl, y. St Camp Lewin tion's work ES C. A. secre Hi tell of the Epworth artment WA. Vriday evens ng to have been made, Rev. Crowther hi ng for several Sundays | | been pre | .dministration gainst Plan Noon Mass Meeting In the meantime arrangements for a big downtown anti-Gill mans meet 1g at the Hippodrome Saturday noon, and of other community meet nounced unity meetnig was held) Seattle Comme y night, in West ings were One e¢ by the | Club Thar | tle hig # a tion of Mz ution to thi Strath 6 British recru strongest nasser: | Assails the Mayor efficient n-up eannot bel 1 when the fountain head of current is pol-| An ain expe th 8 political none he de oy nr panned pledgi Comre Li *) the total of (Continued on page 15) RUMANIA REJECTS merican Girl Witnesses Tell of Jerrible Falifax Tragedy building,” Mins White said, * the «listers thought a magazine. which was situated ear us would explode. We all hurried into the woods in the rear of our nchoo! “About noon we returned to the ny At that time the city mass of flames. Men and begged for nda ges. We fran- p sheets and gave them erything in the place which would be of any use Hy thie time loads of dying and injured were being brought to us In Wagons, and our sisters began to assist in dressing their By United Press Leased Wire : 8T. JOHN, N. B, Dee. First refugees from the Halifax disaster arrived here today. The party included Catherine White and Dorothy McKenzie, both of Boeton. They were in their clans room at St. Vincent acad emy when the Mont Blanc blew up. The young women were unin jured. Miss White raid When the explosion occurred we were in our class room and all of a sudden there came an awful noise. The building shook like a leat “We thought some powder plant had exploded, About a minute later the full force of the explosion hit us and every win dow in the building fell tn “Then came the awful sereama and agonized moans of the stricken “We were ordered to leave the intact buildings. horribly cut ¢ babies to their ' breasts, begged for help.” EXODUS FROM CITY OF HORRORS — BEGINS AS RESCUE PROCEEDS ri wns. Most of ther By United Press Leased Wire MONTREAL, Dec. 7.—A exodus from Halifax, city of horrors has begun, according to information great n the work of ¢ the debria begins, further h " may be revealed, At » firewwept area is sheathed in toe. ns of the city for dead a stream of women. children, ne men, are flocking from the for these from the bay t ARMISTICE PLANS By United Presa Leased Wire ASSY, Dec. 7.--Rumanian troops ected enemy attempts to fra Rus a nd reserved action on sian and German armistice ne tions, fn official statement announc 6d today f Halifax WATER SHUT-OFF NOTICE Water will be shut off from’ tir N. W turd of 4,000 add main on 14th goth at 1 on embe munt®region 6 from em me, 2 Dp by the war office today. mm 1 by train, others A number of bodies have been re. 7° north of |My United Press Leased Wire Direct to The Star HALIFAX, N. S., Dec. 7.-(By Tele- | phone to St. John, N. B.)-The appall- ‘ing death toll, as the result of the ex- plosion of the French munitions ship Mont Blanc, when she was rammed by ‘the Belgian relief ship Imo, here yes- terday, was steadily increasing today, with the work of rescuing bodies pro- igressing slowly. | Conservative estimates by city of- ficials at 9 a. m. placed the dead close to 2,500, as fire, snow and freezing weather added to the misery of the wounded and shelterless victims. The scene as dawn broke over the city was indescribable. Here and there ‘about the smoking ruins of what ha’ , been their homes, men and women, / scantily clad, clawed at the wreckage effort to find lost relatives. NOW AND FREEZING COLD ADD TO SUFFERINGS F WOUNDED AND SHELTERLESS IN HALIFAX Freezing cold and a heavy snowstorm added to the sufferings of wounded and shelterless in this blasted city today. Fires which were believed extinguished have broken out again. There is no reliable count of dead. Two thousand is a low estimate, in the belief of those working among the corpses, now frozen stiff in grotesque and horrible attitudes of death agony. | Many of the injured are dying. | Police are attempting to round up lost childre jare wandering thru the appalling wilderness of wrec |weeping bitterly or calling for their mothers. | Amid the scenes of destruction, grief and pain and |horror, which are sweeping the city, a few episodes, more | terrible than the rest, stand out in all their frightfulness. Jeneath one pile of wreckage lay a girl, imploring God {to end her agony. The rescuers worked feverishly to reach her. t Five little children were borne tenderly into one of the hospitals. A short time later five little corpses were borne out. | WORSE HORRORS EXIST IN NORTH DARTMOUTH THAN HAVE BEEN FOUND IN HALIFAX A woman wandered among the dead. ace after face. When she found the one she sought, she lay down beside the body. All she wanted was to stay there nd die beside her loved one. Word was received here today that all the hospital re- of the military establishment of Canada had been placed at the disposal of the shattered city. Even worse conditions than exist in Halifax have -{turned North Dartmouth, across the bay, into a place of death and suffering. Thousands are homeless and churches, theatres and schools a cing used as temporary hospitals and morgues. The most badly damaged section of Halifax is shut off by guards. The dock yard magazines have been flooded to prevent who age, a source: more explosions ERICAN AND CANADIAN TROOPS JOIN HELPING WOUNDED AND GATHERING DEAD Canadian soldiers and American sailors worked side by side, “ching for wounded, gathering the dead and preserv- ing order Immediately after the explosion, whilé dense clouds of white smoke were rolling over the scene of devastation, the Canadian troops were assembling, each man ready for busi ness. Some of those who formed ranks were bleeding from wound The detachment of American bluejackets, which arrived the blast, were of immense help, Ameri@n relief jafter But when the last timber was lifted, the girl was dead. | She peered at| Were Killed in Munitions Ship Blast | workers from New York, Boston and other points are said to be en route here. When surgical help from nearby towns reached here last night, the injured there thronged around dressing sta- tions, awaiting their turns. Thousands who have no other hurts are suffering from cuts received when the air was filled with flying glass. FORMAL PROBE OF DISASTER BEGINS AND MAY SHOW IT WAS DUE TO BROKEN STEERING GEAR More bodies were found today. Snow is rapidly cloak- ing some of the more ghastly mounds of shattered wood and stone, where the corpses can be seen under the rubbish. A formal inquiry into the cause of the collision between the steamers will be made. Witnesses believe the Belgian 'vessel’s steering gear broke. | The most badly damaged area of Halifax is from Got- tingen st. to the dock yards. The drydock is wrecked. St. Joseph’s church is in ruins. Many big buildings were un- roofed, as if a tornado had swept over them. The explosion gave warning of its coming. It was pre- ceded by a noise like thunder; then came the terrific smash that shook the earth, caved in strong buildings, filled the air with death-dealing fragments and knocked thousands of people off their feet. Many families are believed to have been annihilated. The blast played strange freaks. Many doors were blown open, the locks being ripped from their places in the woodwork. Live electric light wires lay in the streets. No- d body seemed to know what had happened. Then the fires began spreading. | Freight sheds in Richmond were pushed over like houses of cards. Many of the injured were removed by train to Windsor today. sees frantically with bleeding hands, in an NIGHT OF HORROR FOLLOWS AS DARKNESS ADDS TO TERROR OF WOUNDED CITIZENS IN STREETS | | The city was in practical darkness all night. Schoo! | sessions probably will not be resumed for a month. Some wounded people were found lying where they had been hurled by the blast. Volunteer stretcher bearers gath- ered them up. Some of those found dead today had evidently died of wounds. By their postures it was apparent they made des- |perate attempts to crawl into the open before losing con- sciousness. The dead are being tagged as fast as they are identified. Several men, blinded, were found groping their way, calling for help. Weeping children and women and wounded men, groan- ing, made last night a horror for all in the city. A special train bringing car loads of food, clothing and other much-needed supplies, arrived here this morning from St. John, N. B. Mayor Hayes and the majority of the surgeons of St. John have als arrived. WOMEN SHRIEK AS THEY DRAW ASIDE BLANKETS REVEALING DEAD RELATIVES Every hour brings additional rescue workers—nurses and doctors, with ambulances and surgical supplies. Long lines of sobbing men and women began early today to file | past the row of blanket-covered dead. Women shrieked as they drew aside a blanket and rec- | ognized a loved one. Men sobbed over the bodies of children, while others, white-faced and haggard, stunned by the catastrophe, examined bits of clothing and trinkets on burned bodies, hoping to establish their identity. | There was one tiny golden-haired girl of about 4. She showed no surface wounds, and she lay among the others, |a dilapidated doll by her side, It was kept for help in identi- |fication. Early this morning this little body was claimed | by a sobbing girl-mother. She was wrapped in an old over- | coat. |DEAD ARE BEING CARTED AWAY LITERALLY IN WAGON LOADS BY THE RESCUERS In the common are other still forms, covered with blankets. Many are burned beyond recognition, and others |mangled, Some probably never will be identified. Today a slowly rising pall of smoke hung over the devas- tated suburb of Richmond, and while soldiers and sailors patrol the wrecked streets, the work of digging out the mangled and burned victims is going on, Hundreds of wounded are in hospitals in and near the city, many hovering near death. Of the thousands of homeless, many still are too dazed to know what to do. The suddenness of the death that over- whelms the city has left them dumb in their grief and suf- fering. Every available vehicle has been pressed into ser- vice, and literally wagon loads of bodies are being carried away Some deing made in relief work, but estie (Continued on page 13) progress i |