Results for ‘General Events’
[Welland Tribune, 30 November 1911]
Mr. and Mrs. James Abell, Bald street, who some time ago adopted a girl ten or twelve years from the Barnardo Home, were surprised to learn on Wednesday afternoon that she had gone to St. Catharines with the intention of staying there where her sister resides.
The child did not show up for the evening meal, and inquiring among her school mates, Mr. Abell was informed that the little girl had said in the afternoon that she was going to St. Kitts and not coming back. The ticket agent at the G.T.A. Station said she had bought a ticket for the Garden City and had gone on the afternoon train.
Mr. and Mrs. Abell have given her proper treatment and held her as a child of their own. No reason for the girl’s action can be thought of and she will be brought back.
[People’s Press, 12 August 1919]
Ten were killed, the bodies of two of them not yet having been recovered, in the disastrous explosion of the Canadian government elevator at Port Colborne at 1.15 last Saturday afternoon. In addition to those killed three others are so seriously hurt that they may not recover and a number of others were hurt less seriously. As it was Saturday afternoon, the full works staff was not at work and for this reason the list of casualties is as light as it is. On Saturday morning a gang of thirty men had been engaged in chipping the outer walls of the elevator, working high on the building, preparing to re-coat the outer surface with cement. This gang went off duty for the week at noon. Had they been working when the explosion occurred, every man of them would have been killed.
Port Colborne is a town of sad homes, practically all of the killed men having been old residents of the port town who were well and favorably known. In some instances the killed were life-long friends, and in one case two of them were brothers-in-law for whom a double funeral is being held. Following are the particulars concerning those dead and injured.
THE DEAD
Alfred Leslie of Port Colborne was killed instantly by falling concrete. He had been on the dock near the boat and his body was completely cut in two. He was a married man and leaves a wife and two children. He had been employed by the elevator as a rigger and was 32 years of age. He formerly resided at Lowbanks and his funeral will be held at that place on Wednesday afternoon at three o’clock.
Lorenzo Dunham had lived in Port Colborne for many years. He was 65 years of age and leaves a wife and a family of nine, five boys and four girls. His home is at the corner of Ferris and Omar Street, Port Colborne. He was a member of the K.O.T.M. His funeral was held yesterday afternoon at 1.30 o’clock to the Port Colborne Cemetery. He met his death from falling debris and was also badly burned.
Joseph Hanham, who was reported missing until Sunday morning, was found dead in a bin by the searchers about four a.m. He was the spouter at the elevator and was engaged in managing the loading spout in the bin when the disaster occurred. He was partially buried by the falling timbers and concrete and it was therefore difficult to locate his body. Mr. Hanham formerly resided in Welland having left here about twenty-four years ago to live in Port Colborne, where he operated for several years the Lakeview Mills. He was forty years of age and is survived by his widow and one child, a boy. He was a member of the Masonic Lodge under whose auspices the funeral will be held at 2 o’clock this afternoon to Overholt Cemetery. He was also a member of the Independent Order of Forresters. He resided on Clarence St., Port Colborne.
Clarence Hart of Port Colborne was seriously injured and on Saturday taken to the Welland Hospital where he succumbed to his injuries Sunday morning. He was among the first of the injured to be taken from the ruins of the elevator.
Joseph Latour, a French Canadian residing in Montreal and mate of the steel barge the Quebec, was instantly killed by falling debris. He was the son of the captain of the barge, the latter having sustained a broken nose in the accident. The dead son was 30 years of age and leaves a wife and three children at Montreal. The body was sent to Montreal yesterday afternoon at three o’clock.
Elijah W. Michener was among those at first reported to have been missing, but his body was later found in the ruins. He was employed at the elevator as a sub-foreman in one of the departments. His home is at Gas Line and he is survived by his widow and three boys and one girl. He was 36 years of age.
William Cook was weighmaster’s assistant and was killed instantly, his body having been found shortly after the wreck. He resided on Kent St., Port Colborne and is survived by his wife and two children, girls. He was aged thirty-eight and was a member of the Oddfellows, Beacon’s Lodge, Port Colborne. The funeral was held yesterday afternoon at four o’clock.
Charles Aston, chief weighmaster at the elevator died on Sunday morning about four o’clock as a result of his injuries and he was buried yesterday at four o’clock with Mr. Cook his assistant, who was his brother-in-law. He was 42 years of age and is survived by his wife and one child who reside in Port Colborne. Mr. Aston was born in England. The double interment took place at Oakwood Cemetery at Port.
DEAD AND MISSING
The bodies of Alex Beck and Sidmont Dunlop have not yet been recovered although they are known to be dead.
Sidmont Dunlop was a young man of 22 years who despite his youth had spent over four years overseas and had won the Military Medal at Amiens on August the 8th last year. He served with the 13th Canadian Battalion and was twice wounded in action. He was an assistant spouter at the elevator and is survived by his mother and two sisters and one brother of Port Colborne. He was not married.
Alex Beck was an assistant shipper at the elevator and was engaged in assisting the loading of the Quebec when the explosion occurred. His body is believed to be in the canal. He was a man 45 years of age and is survived by his widow and family who reside on Welland St., Port Colborne.
INQUEST
On Saturday night Coronor Mckenzie of Port Colborne empannelled a jury which after viewing the bodies that had been recovered adjourned until August the 29th at seven in the evening when an inquest will be held in the Police Court Building at Port Colborne.
SERIOUSLY HURT
D.S. Harvey, the general foreman of the elevator is so seriously injured that he is not expected to recover. He is suffering from severe burns which he sustained in the explosion. He and his family live in Port Colborne.
S. Mouck was also hurt so badly that he is not expected to recover. His injuries are chiefly from falling debris. His house is in Port Colborne.
William Rambeau, a French Canadian whose home is in Montreal, was employed on the barge Quebec and is also seriously injured, his physicians stating that his recovery is doubtful.
INJURED
Harold Armstong, a young man whose house is in Port Colborne, and who served overseas during the war, was badly hurt in the arm, shoulder and face, and sustained no less that 14 wounds from falling pieces of concrete. After having his wounds dressed he was able to be about however.
ESCAPED
Of all those who escaped injury perhaps the most miraculous and inexplicable escape was that of Mr. Ellery Neff who was working on the dock at the vessel’s side directly beside Alfred Leslie who was killed. His hair was slightly singed by the heat from the explosion but otherwise he did not have a scratch.
Geo. Aitins was burned about the hands and face but his injuries are not serious.
John Glenn, William Roach, George Upper and Robert Blackall, the remainder of the men who were in the elevator when the accident occurred, escaped without the slightest injury although some of them were in the midst of falling debris.
The office staff, consisting of W.F. Fawcett, superintent of the elevator, Miss Ada Catherwood, stenographer, and Jno. McKie, accountant, had not returned from lunch when the disaster occurred.
[People’s Press, 12 August 1919]
Sunday was a sad day in Port Colborne. The above scene where the disaster of the day previous occurred, represented to but very few Port Colborne citizens a monetary loss of over two million dollars. The ten men who were killed in the explosion leave sixty mourners of their immediate families bereaved. To these, the sympathy of the entire town and district went out. The human side of the disaster gripped the people. The property loss was forgotten for the day.
Scenes of indescribable pathos were witnessed as one went from home to home on Sunday afternoon. The two sisters who were bereaved when their husbands were killed side by side; the relatives of the young winner of the Military Medal who had left the war but lately to help in handling grain destined to feed hungry Europe; the widow and family of nine left by another victim; the relatives of the two men still missing; the father of the young man whose body was lacerated almost beyond recognition, how can the sorrow of these be described?
Even at the piers about the elevator, shown in the postcard above, with the ruins standing, a charred and tangled mass, fringed around the tops of the shattered walls with twisted steel work, with huge slabs of fallen concrete lying about under foot and an odor of burnt grain filling the air, the crowds of citizens and visitors from all over the Niagara Peninsula were almost oblivious to the material losses incurred. Two of the bodies were still missing and a tug maneuvered in the slip between the elevator and the Maple leaf Mill searching for one of the corpses believed to be in the water. This scene was the centre of interest.
Burst of flame shot into sky 600 feet-Steel barge “Quebec” wrecked by falling debris
OFFICE BUILDING SMASHED BY GIRDER
Quarter million bushels grain in elevator-Grain trade to coast paralyzed-Two years to rebuild elevator-Explosion of dust
DISASTER 9 AUGUST 1919
[People’s Press, 12 August 1919]
A loss approximating two million dollars is estimated as a result of the disastrous explosion which last Saturday afternoon at 1.15 demolished the Canadian Government elevator at Port Colborne. The elevator has a capacity of two and a half million bushels and is one of the largest in America. It will take two years to rebuild the elevator and in the meantime the shipping of grain in Canada will be paralyzed for the season, so far as water transportation is concerned. Practically all of the grain coming from the Canadian Northwest has been brought to Port Colborne in large vessels which unloaded there, the government elevator re-shipping it to Montreal and foreign ports. At the present time a million bushels of grain is in harbor at Port Colborne waiting to be unloaded, most of it having come down the lake after the occurrence of the accident. The Westmount, carrying 450,000 bushels of wheat arrived at the port Saturday night and a number of vessels with wheat from Chicago have also arrived. Two vessels, the Windsor and the Arabian and half a dozen barges were waiting their turn to load at the elevator when the explosion took place.
The Quebec Wrecked
When the tons of concrete and steel from the demolished elevator fell upon the Quebec, a large steel barge which was loading, it almost completely destroyed the vessel. The decks were stove in and the greatest loss of life occurred on the boat where a number of men were engaged in loading. The Quebec was soon towed across the slip and the bodies were removed from it. Captain LaTour escaped, as did also his wife and family of small children who were making the trip with him. The captain sustained, however, a broken nose and other slight injuries.
The weight of concrete on the boat and the injuries she received from the fallen debris soon caused her to spring a leak and as she was about to sink in the slip a tug towed her out to deep water to go down. Considerable grain had been stowed in her holds.
A Terrific Explosion
The explosion that caused the damage was simply terrific. The writer was standing in front of the three burned stores which had been wiped out the night before, when the roar of the explosion was heard. Immediately obtaining a car, a dash was made for the elevator. A shot of flame burst above the ruined building to the height of 500 or 600 feet, which was almost immediately smothered in a dense cloud of heavy black smoke which continued to pour out for some minutes. Meanwhile an apparently continuous series of explosions could be heard, and mingled with this was the crash of rending steel and heavier noises of falling concrete. It was like a bad thunder bolt, which after the first roar continues to rumble for some moments. While still several hundreds of yards from the elevator, charred grain began falling from the air where it had been blown by the force of the explosion and carried towards the centre of the town by the wind.
Elevator Wrecked
The elevator is an entire wreck although the outer walls which are solidly built of heavy concrete are still standing with the exception of the upper portions. Eyewitnesses of the explosion state that the entire roof was blown almost in a solid mass fifty to one hundred feet into the air before it fell apart and crashed down through the interior of the immense structure, carrying all of the machinery and inner works to the ground with it. The upper portions of the walls were blown out, and large chunks of concrete are to be found many yards from the building where they fell. The elevator was valued roughly at one million dollars and will have to be rebuilt entirely.
Office Destroyed
A big steel girder from the elevator was blown by the force of the explosion fully one hundred feet. It fell partly upon the roof of the office building which is separated from the main building, and completely demolished it. The roof fell in upon the inside and debris crashed through the ground floor and practically filled the basement under the building. By a peculiar trick of fate, however, the safe and filing cabinets were left intact, although concrete and twisted steel are piled high all around them. All of the windows in the Maple Leaf Mill across the slip facing the elevator were broken by the concussion, as were all the windows in the vicinity.
Grain Destroyed
A quarter of a million bushels of grain were in the elevator at the time, and it is not known if any of it can be salvaged. As practically all of the grain from the head of the lakes was stored for er-shipment in this elevator the accident means paralysis of grain shipments to the seaboard. Most of the grain was handled by the Montreal Transportation Company to whom the steel barge Quebec, which was destroyed, belonged.
Caused by Dust Explosion
The cause of the tremendous disaster is said to have been the explosion of dust which had accumulated on the girders, floors and other portions of the interior of the building. This grain dust when mixed with certain proportions of air and exposed to a spark of intense heat explodes violently and according to the United States Department of Agriculture, the destruction of four of the largest grain and cereal plants in the States which occurred between March 1916 and October 1917 were caused in this manner. Twenty four lives and a monetary loss of $6,000,000 were incurred.
Destruction Unimaginable
“I was just stepping off my verandah to return to the office when the explosion occurred,” said General Manager Fawcett. “First there was a warning roar and then a fearful crash. I did not suppose for a minute it was the elevator, but thought it was the Maple Leaf mill which adjoins the elevator. I never thought such vast destruction possible. The loss of many our best men is a terrible thing and then again there is the great setback to the grain trade at this most vital time. We were just getting ready for big business from now on till navigation closes, and the result of this cannot be estimated. Ninety per cent of the grain shipped to Montreal went through this elevator.”
Rescuers Took Chances
The debris had not stopped falling and the dust was still obscuring the building when the rescuers went into the ruins in an endeavor to locate the stricken men. Chas. Aston and Wm. Cook, spouters, were quickly discovered but died later of their injuries. For several hours loose debris continued to fall imperilling the lives of the rescuers who continued however to search for the missing men.
By William Pitts in the Toronto Star Weekly
[The Welland Tribune and Telegraph, 20 May 1924]
Follow North Main Street, Niagara Falls, out of the city for a distance of about three miles through the Township of Stamford, and you reach the junction of a great provincial highway with the old Portage Road. Along the latter thoroughfare commerce feebly flowed in the days of our grandfathers. Goods, mails, and sometimes settlers passed one another on their way to either Chippawa or Queenston. A few thousand miles away, George the Fourth, still lingered on the throne. In Upper Canada trees were falling; and in the clearings the beginnings of towns and cities could already be seen. Where the old “horse railway” once did duty, automobiles flash by, but a few old landmarks remain; and ninety-eight years old, St. John’s English Church, still bares its walls to the weather, and awaits its centenary as some humans do, not wonderingly, but as a matter of course.
Through those old doors Sir Peregrine Maitland, family and friends entered weekly, for the aristocratic governor’s mansion was little more than a mile away. The interior of the little church has been redecorated, but the sturdy old pillars stand as ever, and look as if they might be good for many more eventful decades. A tablet commemorative of the death of a young clergyman in the forties of the last century is affixed to the chancel wall; and in the body of the little church is another recording the death of a soldier in the Great War. Thirty men from Saint John’s then saw service. The building is of stone covered latterly with concrete, and fronts on as typical an English “green” as one may see in Canada. In the churchyard are the graves of many who figured not merely in the Niagara Peninsula’s early days, but in Ontario life.
The church has still a fair-sized congregation, made up of fruit growers and residents of Stamford village. The present incumbent is the Rev. Canon Charles Belt, who came there seven years ago. Its first priest was Rev. William Leeming, and it has numbered among its rectors, Canon Motherwell, the predecessor of Canon Belt and Rev. Charles Ingles, father of Archdeacon Ingles of Toronto. Preparations are already being made to celebrate its centenary in 1925.
Close to Death
[People’s Press, 19 February 1907]
Joseph A. Craig, proprietor of Uneda Laundry, and his driver, came near meeting death an awful death on Saturday. They were driving the delivery wagon across the railroad tracks at the G.T.R. Depot, when a light engine backed out from behind a train standing at the depot. The occupants of the rig did not see or hear the engine until it was right on them. Both grabbed the reins and jerked the horse up on his hind feet. The animal’s fore feet struck the tender of the engine as it went past. Spectators turned their backs expecting a horrible accident was about to happen. Mr. Craig says the electric bell, which is supposed to sound an alarm at the crossing when a train is about to pass; was not ringing.
One other day last week a farmer just escaped being caught by a Wabash express. The horses jumped when they saw the approaching train clearing the tracks in the nick of time.
[WellandTribune, 23 May 1890]
(Content: Bavaria, Capt. McCullogh, schooner Jessie Breck, Wolfe Island, Thomas, Joseph, Wm. Mackie, Maria Mackie, Donald McDonald, Mullen, Frank George, Frank Mahaffey, Isaac May, Solid Comfort, Cutler of Welland, Pepper, Dickinson & Suess)
Some two or three years ago the barge Bavaria went down the canal, and by accident paid her tug bill $10 short to Captain McCullogh. The Bavaria was lost with all hands, and in the cabin of the sunken ship was found a letter calling attention to the mistake and saying that the $10 would be paid…The other day the ill-fated schooner Breck went down and her master had over-paid Capt. McCullogh $1, and the crew of the Breck have found a watery grave.
LOSS OF THE JENNIE BRECK AND ALL ON BOARD-On Saturday last the schooner Jessie Breck capsized in a gale off Wolfe Island, Lake Ontario, and all the crew were lost. The boat was loaded with oak timber from Toledo. The names of the lost are Thomas, Joseph and Wm. Mackie, captain, mate and seaman of the vessel; Maria Mackie the cook, three brothers and a sister; Donald McDonald, William and John Mullen and Frank George. All lived on Wolfe Island except the last named, and sad to relate the accident took place within sight of the home of the Mackies.
FEARFUL ACCIDENT-An awful accident happened here on Wednesday evening. Mrs. Frank Mahaffey (widow) and her daughter are engaged as cooks on the barge Issac May, and while the boat was lying in the lock here, mother and daughter went ashore. They returned to the boat about 9 o’clock, and in the almost impenetrable darkness that surrounded this spot, Mrs. Mahaffey made a false step and fell between the boat and the lock wall. Aid was at hand instantly, and the lifeless body was recovered in about twenty minutes. The skull had been crushed in the fall and life was probably extinct before striking the water. The shrieks of the daughter, who witnessed the fatal affair, touched the stoutest hearts. Mrs. Mahaffey was forty-eight years of age and leaves two sons and two daughters, who have the heartfelt sympathy of our people in their terrible trial. The funeral will take place at 1 o’clock today (Friday).
The club house of Solid Comfort was given into the hands of the contractor this week. The building will cost $6000 when completed, and contractor Cutler of Welland has the carpenter work-a large contract. The painting, etc., has not been let yet…Cottage No. 11, for Mr. Pepper of Memphis, have been let to Messrs. Dickinson & Suess. These will cost about $900 each. The cottages must be completed in four weeks, and the club house by July 1st.
One of the Worst Wind Storms on Record Here
[People’s Press, 25 January 1910]
Welland, Jan. 24-Old timers whose whiskers are white with the years, and whose memories are ripe with experiences of early county days, of times when there was no Welland, but Merrittville, declare that they never knew of a storm with the severity of the one that swooped down on this town last Saturday.
Early in the day it came a gentle breeze, giving such fair promise of a good day, that a dozen farmers braved the slushy roads and came to market.
By noon it was a gale, and by one o’clock it had developed into a hurricane.
In this hurricane came snow, blinding in its intensity.
It is well that it was not cold, as they speak of cold in the far west, but it was a blizzard, the like of which has probably never passed this way before.
Business was paralyzed.
One could not see two feet away.
The blinding snow mercilessly filled the eyes of those who had to go out and many staggered like drunken men.
One young lady en route to the M.C.R. Station was blown over and had to take refuge in a neighboring house.
“Red” Jones who handles the ribbons for Mr. Minor, the buss-man, was lifted off his seat in the front of the buss, but hung to the ribbons.
At Fort Erie two cutters were overturned by the gale and the occupants injured.
Freight trains were stalled at the Falls, it being unsafe to send them across the bridge.
Business was suspended.
Several of the merchants did not return for the afternoon.
Some of the farmers who drove in early in the day, remained till Sunday morning, when they made their way home through drifts and bare spots.
Only five inches of snow fell.
It was not the depth, but the way it came down.
Places that were supposedly tight before, little chinks in windows, hitherto unnoticed cracks under doors, all wore white trimmings inside.
The snow drifted everywhere.
It was most artistic in its designs, and miserably partial.
One man had his walks swept by great nature’s brush, swept as clear as a board.
The man next door had a drift three feet high to clear away.
The wind had a fine sweep at the corner of Muir and Main streets.
And on Sunday the public awoke and those who ventured out found a long drift of pure white on this busy thoroughfare.
During the storm there were many collisions.
Some of them were head-on between men and those of the opposite sex.
There was not time to stop to apologize. Those who collided simply cleared the snow from their eyes and hurried on.
And Sunday the snow fell fitfully, and that which had piled up melted from the windows and Welland woke up and commenced to dig itself out.
Two of the Occupants Couldn’t Swim
-Narrow Escape from Drowning
[People’s Press, 21 June 1910]
A close call from death by drowning was experienced by a party of three in the Welland river about four miles above here on Sunday.
Byrne Eastman, Clarence Page and Alan Michener of Welland were out in the latter’s canoe. It seems neither Eastman nor Page could swim, nor were they used to riding in a canoe, and when they were about in the centre of the river, over went the canoe and all three went into the water. As soon as Michener noticed the other two couldn’t swim, he assisted them and got them ahold of the canoe, and was swimming around to push the canoe into shore, when young Eastman lost his head and grabbed him by the neck. Both went down, and Michener loosened his friend’s hold of his neck, and locked his legs around his neck, and when he came up, he brought Eastman up too.
About this time Henry Carl and Hugh Graham of Welland, who were paddling around in a punt, reached them and they hauled the two in the boat.
It was a narrow escape and young Michener is to be congratulated on the coolness and courage he displayed throughout.
Horn is Eight Feet Long and Weighs 250 lb.-Tooth the size of a Man’s Head-Owner has been offered Flattering sums for his find. Photo of the mysterious and as yet unclassified horn of a prehistoric animal.
[Welland Telegraph, 24 October 1911]
Buried four feet under the surface of the earth on the farm of Harry Smith in Wainfleet township a peculiar horn of immense size was found over a month ago.
Since that time experts from all parts of Canada and the United States have visited the strange find, but have been unable to give it a name. All state that in no museum in the world have they been able to find any trace of any other animal which inhabited this earth which in the least resembles the bones of the one found on his farm in Welland county.
When it inhabited this country and what sort of an animal it was will likely remain a mystery. Judging from the size of the horn it must have been of an immense size unequalled by any living animal today.
The horn found must not be confused with an ordinary tusk for it is not such. Tusks of this size are common.
How long it has lain under the earth is not known but it must have been a long time because of the depth it had sunken into the clay.
Along with the horn was found a quantity of other bones, but these were badly decayed.
One of the teeth found is shown in this picture. It weighs over six pounds.
The horn, now a mere shell, weighs over 250 pounds. The head of the animal to carry a weight like this must have been some size.
Mr. Smith was excavating for a pond when he made the find which stirred interest in the leading scientists of America.
It is seldom that evidence of early life in this part of the country is brought to light. Consequently Mr. Smith is very proud of his treasure and has refused flattering offers for it. History does not record an animal having a horn of this size. However the photo speaks for itself.
The remarkable feature of it all is that the horn is still in such a good state of preservation. All the bones were decayed but they were the same size in proportion as the horns.
Experts who saw the horn declare that they had never seen anything nearly so large and that they knew of no name for it.
The horn is of a bony composition and tapers gradually to a point. It is eight feet in length and twenty-six inches in circumference at the large end.
A number of rings, similar to those on an ordinary cow horn, circle the horn at the large end.
*Note: Mastodont skeleton, Mammut americanum donated to ROM in 1919.
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