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HALIFAX DISASTER RECORD OFFICE
CHRONICLE BUILDING
HALIFAX, N. S.

PERSONAL NARRATIVE, Colonel R. B. Simmonds.

general public, which was admitted only on passes issued by the City Hall. He was working at 1355 Barrington St. Name of the family that lived there was Walsh. Noticed a boy about 13 or 14 poking about in ruins with a stick, and asked him sharply what he was doing there; asked for a pass, and asked his name. The boy answered that his name was Thomas Walsh, that he lived there, that his father was buried the day before at Mt. Olivat, his brother and sister were in hospital, and that the rest of his family was buried "there". Colonel Simmonds could say nothing more, simply turned away.
Moxon Case.
Richard Moxon, Truckman, 17 Roome St. Colonel Simmonds was talking to a man on Roome St. who was giving away poultry. "Any-one who wants them can have them." Told him of railway employee whose father, mother, wife and children had all been killed and he was alone in the world. Note Tjh
Note The conditions under which the soldiers were very severe. Snow, slush, rain. They began at 8.30 a. m. worked till noon, when they returned to barracks for a hot dinner. Noon interval, an hour and a half after which they worked until it was too dark to see. They had a tool depot at Wellington Barracks, where they stored their tools at night.
Note Every Military organization contributed its quota to the working parties. Sailors assisted from the American war-ships, and the British war-ships in the harbor, and from auxiliary cruisers lying at the South-End Terminals. Tram-cars took the blue-jackets up to the devastated area in the morning and brought them back at night. About 200 men working

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MGI vol 2124 number 225a