6. Camp Hill Hospital
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“The hundred convalescent were working “Like slaves.” Some were hardly able to crawl.” From the personal narrative of Florence Murray, medical student, who worked at Camp Hill Hospital from the day of the explosion until Christmas day 1917. (See: Personal Narrative of Florence Murray, #192, MG1 vol 2124, Archibald MacMechan fonds, Nova Scotia Archives, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.)
“No one was in control. … “There were four rows of mattresses in the ward. In the dining room the mattresses were laid on the floor, touching one another. ”The living and the dead together” (repeated the phrase.)” “Lives were lost for want of attention.” (See: Personal Narrative of Florence Murray, #192, MG1 vol 2124, Archibald MacMechan fonds, Nova Scotia Archives, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.)
In Ward L of the Camp Hill Hospital, it was so crowded there were “four children in one bed.” (See: Personal Narrative of Miss M. E. Doane of Truro, #140, MG1 vol 2124, Archibald MacMechan fonds, Nova Scotia Archives, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.)
Bodies stacked "like cord wood": Several sources describe the remains of victims being stacked in the streets like fire wood.
Taking homeless to St. Mary’s Hall and the Academy, ferrying wounded to hospitals, and the six trips through the snow were made by Ralph Proctor. (See: Personal Narrative of Ralph Proctor, #216, MG1 vol 2124, Archibald MacMechan fonds, Nova Scotia Archives, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.)
“Private Henneberry, 63rd, who has recently returned from the front wounded, was digging away at the ruins of his home, when he heard a faint moan. Others of the 63rd came to his aid, and under a stove and protected by the protruding ash pan, they found little eighteen months’ old Olive Henneberry. The child was in semi-conscious condition, but soon recovered.” This was not, in fact, Olive Henneberry, but Annie Liddell, who became known as Ash-pan Annie. Sadly Pte. Henneberry lost his wife and all six of their children. (See: The Chronicle Herald, 10 December 1917.)
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While the events depicted in this walk are true, and we have endeavoured to represent them as factually as possible, it is important to note that the characters are fictional. As such, small details about their personal lives may not be accurate. These characters have been created from the remembrances of real people, and drawn from the communities present in Halifax in December of 1917.
