1914-10-12ds

Even though the outbreak of war might have been seen as a good thing regarding increased business for many Hamilton factories, no significant improvement had been seen by October 1914.

          The commercial depression which had impacted Hamilton, among many other cities in Canada and the United States, was still very much present in October 1914.

          One way in which the federal government hoped to ease the impact of the dire economic times on homeowners was the suggestion that people not be thrown out of their homes because of inability to keep up with mortgage payments.

          As noted in the Hamilton Herald of October 12, 1914, there was considerable debate as to whether such a thing was acceptable or not :

“While some of the civic authorities and many business men have strong objections to the proposal to declare a moratorium  in Canada, there is a feeling in some quarters that a moratorium is needed. In this city there have been many mortgage foreclosures, and it is stated that the principal sufferers are steady workmen who have been thrown out of work”¹

                ¹ “Mortgages Foreclosed”

          Hamilton Herald.   October 12, 1914.

          A local response to the crisis of widespread unemployment and the human sufferings resulting from that situation, the Hamilton United Relief Association was an organization created to fundraise and distribute money to the needy of the city.

          A substantial goal had been set to be raised on October 10, 1914, the Saturday of the long Thanksgiving holiday weekend. Volunteers were organized to visit every Hamilton home to solicit donations to the fund.

The following announcement regarding the drive appeared in all three Hamilton newspapers :

Hamilton United Relief Association.

Facsimile of receipt to be given for envelopes:

No. 31597                                                     Official Receipt No. 21597

  Gum this to back of envelope,                       Your contribution to the Hamilton

  correct side up, and in center.                        United Relief association is

  Give attached receipt to contributor.               hereby acknowledged with

                                                                          Thanks.

 

          The boys who will collect envelopes on Saturday morning will wear an identification badge and will also give you in exchange for your envelope the right hand portion of the receipt shown above.

          The left hand portion will be stuck on the back of the envelope by the boy. You are asked to retain your receipt, and if your contribution is not acknowledged in the newspapers, kindly notify the relief headquarters by telephone, 6849, or 6840, or by mail to 52 King street east, giving the number of the receipt, your name and address.

          The envelops will be collected next Saturday between the hours of 9 a.m. and 3 p.m., and if you will not be at home, please leave your envelope with a neighbor, who will be given your receipt.

          Contributors not wanting their names published will please at least give address for use in tracking missing envelopes.

          Re Envelope Subscription:

          There seems to be an impression that unless a family can give 50 cents for each member, their subscription is not wanted.

          The committee wishes to say that subscriptions of any amount will be gladly received. “

          Despite efforts to secure a sufficient number of volunteers to canvas every Hamilton home, the number of people required was not met, leading to the following announcement which was also placed in every Hamilton newspaper:

          “Hamilton United Relief Association

          “The committee regrets there were many homes at which no envelops were left, but wished to announce that those persons who have not had an opportunity to subscribe by such means are urged to either remit directly to W. S. Connelly, treasurer at the Molsons bank, or leave  subscription at collection headquarters, 52 King street, which will be open Monday from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.

          “Envelopes not called for by cadets on Saturday may be left at the above address.”²

² Hamilton Herald.  October 12, 1914.

The target had not been met but the leadership of the association were able to make a relatively positive announcement:

“The Hamilton United Relief association executive announced last night that the campaign for funds had resulted in about $50,000 being raised for the help of Hamilton’s needy this winter.

“The executive aimed to raise $100,000, but is satisfied for the present at least with the sum raised. The collectors gathered $15,700, the citizens gave $4300 in the envelopes delivered to the houses, and the city donated $20,000 and there is more promised”³

³ “Have $50,000 : The Sum is in Sight for Local Relief Work”

Hamilton Herald.   October 12, 1914

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“Mayor Allan’s right arm was broken in an automobile accident late Saturday evening.”

Hamilton  Herald.   October 12, 1914.

As mayors usually do, Mayor Allan was fully engaged in his mayoral activities seven days a week.

On Saturday October 10, 1914, Mayor George Allan, in company with Hydro Commisioner George Willoughby and his nephew George Anderson, was at the Victoria Yacht Club. The mayor had been asked to present prizes.

When returning from the ceremony, Commissioner Willoughby was at the wheel :

“When the party reached the railway crossing on Wellington street. The gates were down, but the brake of the car refused to act, and the machine crashed through the barrier.”¹

¹ “Mayor’s Arm Broken : His Worship Was Injured When Auto Brakes Failed”

Hamilton Herald.    October 12, 1914.

Mayor Allan had been sitting in the front side of the auto, on the right side, and was struck by one of the downed railway gates on the main Grand Trunk Railway line, sustaining a fracture just above his right elbow. None of the other occupants were injured.

Despite the painful injury, the ever-cheerful mayor was at his desk the following Monday morning. Interviewed by a Spectator reporter, the mayor stated, “with a few appropriate grimaces,” that he had learned “the exact route of his complete nervous system, having had plenty of time to become acquainted with it since the accident.”²

² “Back at Desk”

Hamilton Spectator.   October 12, 1914.

Dr. James Edgar was the physivian attending to the mayor, and the doctor allowed the mayor to resume his duties as long as he kept fairly quiet and did not move his injured arm at all :

“ It has always been my boast that I wouldn’t use a rubber stamp to sign my name,’ said Mayor Allan today, ‘but I guess I’ll have to get one now.’

“ ‘If you do, put it on your watch chain and keep it in your pocket,’ was the advice given to his worship.’ ”²

The mayor and a delegation of Hamilton leaders had been scheduled to travel to Ottawa to lobby for an immediate release of funding to lallow an early start on government public works in the city.

The mayor reluctantly heeded Dr. Davey’s advice and decided to remain in Hamilton, allowing the rest of the delegation to proceed without him.

1914-10-12aff

The Hamilton Spectator only published a morning edition on Thanksgiving day, 1914.

The lead local article focused on how that year’s Thanksgiving day would be observed in Hamilton:

“While services of thanksgiving were held in most churches yesterday, there will be psalms of praise and special services heard in a number of churches today.

“For this day, at least, people will turn from war sermons to consideration of the blessings they enjoy and ‘give thanks unto the God of all gods.’

“In this city, the holiday will be observed in various ways. In many cases it means a day of family reunion, with the family board straining under its loads of good things for the inner man. Numbers of people will spend the day out of town, visiting friends or attending Burlington fair.

“At the H. A. A. A. grounds in the afternoon, a football game between the Tigers and Queen’s University will be the attraction. All the theaters are sure to be crowded.”¹

¹ “Thanksgiving Services Held”

Hamilton Spectator.   October 12, 1914.

The widely-anticipated Thanksgiving afternoon football game at the H. A. A. A. grounds was less than a classic, as the Spectator sports reporter noted somewhat archly:

“Hamilton Tigers and Queen’s university were scheduled to play an exhibition game of rugby at the cricket field yesterday. The teams took their appointed places on the field, the officials were there, and a fair-sized crowd for ‘hard times,’ but the game failed to materialize, a farcical melee being staged instead.

“It is just possible that the college squad may be able to play good rugby at times, while it is a known fact that the Tigers can and have shown grand games, but yesterday both outfits acted just as mean and ill-behaved as a naughty child.”²

^{2 “}Scrapping Spoiled Holiday Fixture : Tigers Ran Up Big Score, But Played a Very Poor Game.”

Hamilton Spectator.   October 13, 1914.

What prompted the game to descend into farce was the result of the rules:

“The trouble and there was a lot of it, all started in the first few passages of the game. The first was played under Intercollegiate rules. This caused trouble.

“The Intercollegiate rules permit a certain source of interference. Naturally, the visitors were out to make the mot out of their knowledge of their game, and started right off to use that legalized interference.

“The tigers were not used to that sort of battling, and mistook some of the interference for a pugnacious attitude on the part of the students.”²

The result of the Tigers taking exception to what they considered to be provocative interference some became a free-for-all as teams began handing out punch after punch at each other:

“As yet the leading football coaches have failed to incorporate any of the Marquis of Queensbury rules into rugby., and it was but natural that the Hamilton wings were unable to mix prize ring tactics and rugby for effective results.”²

The student players from Queen’s University managed to keep the score relatively close in the first half, but the Tigers scored 20 points in the second half while their opponents did not score any:

“True, the Tigers ran up a 34-8 score, but that was no tribute to their prowess; rather a sad indication of the class of the visiting aggregation.

“The tigers put up the worst game they have shown in a couple of seasons. Loose balls, fumbling, scrapping, scragging, and every known offense in the game was committed, but perhaps it was just as well that they were off color, for had they played the game as they have been taught to play, the score would have been so one-sided that it would have become confused with a cricket match.

“Queens showed absolutely nothing. They looked even worse than a Hamilton senior city league team, and the only thing that kept them from being utterly disgraced was the wretched stunts pulled by the local outfit.” ²

As the fans who had paid good money to see the Thanksgiving day match, departed the H.A.A.A. grounds the majority were not pleased. Some may have found some entertainment watching the numerous on field fisticuffs, real football fans had little to be thankful concerning how the beloved Tiger football players conducted themselves.

 

 

 

1914-10-12ll

“Even though Canada, with the empire, is at war, there is much for Canadians to be thankful for in the circumstances of the war.”

Hamilton Herald.    October 12, 1914.

Thanksgiving Day in 1914 was on Monday, October 12. Although many of the traditional observances of the day took place in Hamilton, there definitely was a different context as war in Europe was on everyone’s mind.

In its editorial on Thanksgiving day, 1914, the Hamilton Herald urged readers to be thankful despite the unsettling events across the ocean in France and Belgium:

“We should be thankful that in entering the conflict the empire is defending a just cause – the cause of weak and oppressed people against truculent powers which would oppress them.

“We have gone into this fight in defense of freedom and justice. Never in recorded history has a nation had more ample justification for taking up the sword than Britain has in the present war.

“This is something to be thankful for. It is something to be thankful for that the empire’s course needs no apology and defense and that no British subject has reason to be troubled in conscience about it.”¹

¹ “Thanksgiving”

Hamilton Herald.     October 12, 1914.

After enumerating a number of reasons to be thankful in how the war effort was being directed by the leaders in England, the Herald editorial writer ended by directing his comments to Canadians specifically:

“It is an anxious time and the prospects are that the war will not soon be over. But Canadians are not called upon to suffer the worst evils of the war.

“Our harvests can be gathered: they are not trampled and destroyed by armed hosts. Our cities and hamlets are not danger of being reduced to blackened ruins. Canadian men and women and children are not exposed to outrage and murder and mutilation. Though at war we continue to enjoy the blessings of peace – no worse, off, indeed than the people of our great neutral neighbor – due chiefly, under heaven, to the protecting naval power of Britain.

“For these things, Canadians have reason  to give thanks today, and our gratitude should stimulate us to do all in our power to mitigate the anguish of the unfortunate people in the war zone.”¹

The Hamilton Spectator also published an insightful editorial on Thanksgiving day, 1914, urging readers to feel a spirit of thanksgiving despite the news from western Europe that was dominating the newspapers everyday:

“Amid war clouds and in an era of commercial depression, there may be less reason than usual for thanksgiving this year.

“Against this view, however, there are many considerations. Here in Canada, how many grounds for thanksgiving remain!

“Our country has not been ravaged as has Belgium or northern France. The sacrifices we have been called upon to make are as nothing  compared with those now common in all the great European countries.

“Every individual may be thankful for life, health, home, family, friends, comfortable environment, cheering prospects. As a nation, we may be thankful for abundant crops and and ever-expanding development of unlimitable resources.

“There is a ditty popular in certain circles which may well express our mood:

“ ‘Count your blessings. Name them one by one.

   ‘And it will surprise you what the Lord has done.’

“Even war with its horror and its havoc is not without compensations. How it has brought out into fuller view the nobler side of human nature. What instances of heroism do we not daily behold! How our whole empire has been raised above the realm of great hearts and great souls!

“Already in the wake of war, there are rumbles of a religious revival. In the face of momentary death, we think of immortal life.”²

² “Thanksgiving”

Hamilton Spectator.  October 10, 1914.

 

 

 

1914-10-12ww

“Sharp at 9 o’clock this morning, starter J. M. Harris will fire the gun that will send about a dozen runners on their way around the Herald race course.”

Hamilton Herald    October 12, 1914.

Even though Monday, October 12, 1914 was a Thanksgiving day holiday, the Hamilton Herald published an edition nevertheless.

Thanksgiving day was a big day for the Herald, and everyone from the president,  J. M. Harris, down to the printing room staff were at work to help make that day Herald Around the Bay road a success.

Since its inception in 1894, the Herald road race had gained a continent-wide reputation. By October, 1914, interest in the race was very high. Some of the world’s best runners would be at the starting line in front of Herald office near King and James streets.

The course was 19 miles, 168 yards in length, taking runners all the way around Hamilton Bay :

“The course is one that permits of fast running, and, at the same time, pits the runners to a severe test.”¹

¹ “Speedy Field for the Herald Race : No Less Than Ten Will Start in the Big Classic This Morning”

Hamilton Herald.    October 12, 1914.

The Herald race was wildly popular among Hamilton sporting types, and not a few wagers were placed on its outcome.

 By 1914, the race had produced winners who had become extremely famous. Billy Sherring, Jack Caffery and Tom Longboat among others, had become celebrities after winning the Herald race.

The lead article on the 1914 race in the Herald’s sports section began as follows :

“Whether it be on the gridiron, the baseball field or in the running game, it’s Class that the man of today wants.

“And this is just what he will get today in the running of the Herald Printing Company’s twenty-first annual road race around Hamilton bay.

“It’s class that has made the Great Herald classic the biggest and best running event, second only to the Olympic Marathon, and the greatest runners of the past score years have run in it. In fact Herald trophies are scattered all over the Dominion of Canada and the United States. Men have come from Nova Scotia in the east and Calgary in the west in quest of honors, and all have pronounced the competition most keen and the race the best managed they have ever entered in.

“Many other races have come to life and died again since the Herald proprietors launched the big Herald race just twenty years ago, but none of them succeeded in creating the same interest that attends the local fixture.”²

² “Jamieson Favorite For Today’s Big Annual Herald Road Race”

Hamilton Herald.   October 12, 1914.

Of the starters, Arthur Jamieson was attracting the most amount bets :

“Jamieson, in view of his rapid rise to fame under the wing of Tommy Thompson, Hamilton’s successful trainer and his recent victories in the local Labor day race and the Toronto exhibition 15 mile affair, is the favorite.

“When Tom Longboat left the canning factory at Burlington to train for the Herald race he was unknown, but he later became the sensation of the athletic world. The same is liable to happen this morning.”²

It was a cloudy but warm morning as the starters lined up in front of the Herald. An immense crowd of people were on hand to see the runners off.:

“The interest taken in the race was surprisingly intense. Thousands lined the course from start to finish, and along the outlying districts, there were more persons out to see the duel than has been seen in many years.

“In front of the Herald office and on the main streets of the city through which the speed merchants pushed, the crowds were exceedingly large.”²

Shortly after the starter’s pistol had sounded, the sun burst forth and the temperature rose noticeably :

“The course was in excellent shape and conducive to record-breaking time, and altogether there was every reason to believe that if there was speed enough bottled up in the field, the record would be samshed.”¹

It was Arthur Jamieson who first crossed the finish line but he did not break the course record, posting a time of 1 hour, 52 minutes, 17 seconds, exactly six minutes and two seconds slower than the record set by Jimmy Duffy in 1913. In fact, it was the slowest time for a Herald race winner since 1902.

Arthur Jamieson, only 20 years of age, was of aboriginal descent and hailed originally from the Woodstock area, although by 1914 he was a resident of Hamilton, and ran the race under the colors of the Ramblers’ Bicycle club.

In describing how the 1914 race unfolded, the Herald writer analyzed it in the following manner :

“Jamieson could not do his best when so far in front and with no person to make him extend himself. Jamieson likes competition; of this there is no doubt. He has shown in his training trials that he must have some person opposed to him before he can show to best advantage, and there is no doubt that if he had been pushed his time would have been much better.

“Regardless of his time, however, the little Indian proved himself a running phenom and bids fair to follow in Duffy’s footsteps by winning for himself the title of king of long-distance runners.”²

Jamieson, coming along the stone road on the plains near Hendrie’s farm, suffered a severe stitch, causing him to slow his pace for a time until he was able to resume full speed. At the end of the race, Jamieson was two and a half minutes in front of the runner who finished in second place..

Later that day, between the first and second acts of the evening performance of Polly of the Circus at the Grand Opera House, Arthur Jamieson, along with representatives of the second and third place finishers, received their Herald silver cups on stage in front of a large audience.

D. B. Wood, president of the Hamilton Board of Trade, was chosen to present the winning trophies.

In his speech, he said:

“ ‘On a Christmas day 20 years ago, the Harris brothers, proprietors of the great Hamilton Herald, inaugurated this fine race, and they deserve the congratulations of Hamilton and Hamiltonians on the continued success of the affair. It has been great advertising for Hamilton.

“ ‘In this event have been developed some of the greatest runners in the world. A great Indian boy, Arthur Jamieson, has come to the front in today’s race. He comes of a race of which we are all proud. I come from Brant county, which is the home of this great race of Indians, and I have always admired it. His is the race that has produced General Brant, Oronhyatekha, also the wonderful Pauline Johnson.’ ”²

Arthur Jamieson was presented the cup for winning the race, but was too shy to attempt a speech. Nevertheless, he received continued applause:

“In closing Mr. Wood once again declared that Harris brothers and the Hamilton Herald deserved unlimited credit for the success that has been made of this great annual event in Hamilton’s life.”²

 

 

1914-10-09ss

“Two or three weeks ago, we received a large number of letters complaining that women whose husbands had gone to the front were being visited by charitable ladies, who, with prying questions and suggestions, made them feel as if they were regarded as paupers”

  Hamilton Spectator.   October 9, 1914.

          It was barely two months since war had been declared, and since many Hamilton men had volunteered for service and had left wives and children without support.

          There was a plan to help the wives and children but it was not moving forward smoothly.

The Hamilton Spectator, on October  9, 1914, published an editorial about the situation, attempting to help resolve the problems :

“We attributed this state of affairs to the inevitable delay in getting the work of the Patriotic fund in smooth running order, and assumed that only cases of extreme destitution were being regarded as requiring ordinary charity.”¹

¹ “Patriotic Fund”

Hamilton Spectator.  October 9, 1914.

The newspaper had received letters about the problems being faced by those entitled supported by the Patriotic fund. One of which follows :

“To the Editor :

“Being an old subscriber, I hope you will not deny me a space in your valuable paper. Can anyone tell me why the wives of the men who have given up the means of supporting their families and given themselves to the service of their country, are obliged to have provisions given to them in the same way as benevolent societies to the worthy poor at Christmastime or to the beggar of handling money? Do we not know best what the babes left behind need? I wish these noble men and women who have so nobly given to this cause could in some way be brought to meet those who need it. It would at least save a lot of expense.

                             ONE WHO IS INTERESTED.”¹

The Spectator clearly articulated that the wives and children were not supposed to be objects of charity:

“They were to get a regular allowance consisting of three parts:

(1)  A portion of the soldier’s pay assigned for their benefit,

(2)  A contribution from the Dominion government,

And (3) an appropriation from the Patriotic fund.

These three sums were to make a regular income, which would at least keep the wolf from the door, and procure the bare necessaries of life. The wife or other dependent was to get this allowance this allowance as regularly as a pension or salary, and she was to receive it as a matter of right, precisely as if she earned it.”¹

The fact that a woman left behind had to be visited to assess whether she was somehow more or less deserving of Patriotic fund support was deemed to be unacceptable:

“What she did with it was nobody’s business but her own. If she spent it foolishly so much the worse for herself, but hers it was to spend in any way she pleased.”¹

The editorial concluded, thunderously, in opposition to recipients of the Patriotic fund being visited to assess whether they were worthy :

“There is no occasion whatever for the wives of members of the first Canadian contingent being visited by charitable ladies and treated in a patronizing though kindly way, as if in need of alms.

“Possibly an attempt has been made to relieve some few cases of dire privation. Grievances such as those complained of in the above letter can only be explained in this way.

“But we should think it was now high time for the handling and distribution of the Patriotic fund to have to have fallen into the systematic grooves all along intended. If women entitled to receive regular stipends are even yet being treated as if paupers, there must be something wrong somewhere.”¹

1914-10-13gg

By early October, 1914, the scale, savagery and slaughter of the war in Europe was becoming well-known in Hamilton.

On October 10, 1914, the Hamilton Spectator printed the following poem, titled Retribution :

 

The mills of the gods grind slowly along,

  While the horrors of war proceed,

And the ruthless troops of a tyrant, strong,

  Cause the innocent ones to bleed.

 

Slowly but surely the wheels move around

  A terrible justice to bring:

Though scant be the news from the battle-ground

  Retribution is on the wing.

 

Shall the ‘mailed fist’ with its wanton lust,

  The rights of all others defile:

And our freedoms be trampled in the dust

  By a murderous dynasty?

 

The British and the French and the Belgian dead

  With their blood have the issue scaled;

The flag of freedom must float overhead

  And the reign of oppression  must yield.

 

From the crimsoned ground and desolate homes

  Of fair Belgium’s wasted domain,

The appeal for a righteous vengeance comes;

  In justice, remember Louvain!

 

The allies are bravely holding their ground

  And forcing the enemy back,

While the Russians are marching Berlin-bound

  The capital city to sack.

 

Let the Germans dread the slow, steady tread

  Of the Russians as on they move;

For the cruel bite of the Muscovite

  With a just retribution prove.

 

With the Russian hosts and allies combined

  The foe will soon have to contend:

And swiftly flee if retreat they can find

  Their own fatherland to defend.

 

Should the war tide turn, the Cossacks may burn

  And pillage and plunder and loot,

They’ll grasp at the chance to handle the lance,

  Retribution is surely afoot.

 

The war will go on till freedom is won,

  Regardless of what it may cost,

Till Wilhelm is hushed and his armies crushed

  And the throne with its crown is lost.

 

-      Fritz Hermats,

Hamilton, Ont.¹

¹ “Retribution”

Hamilton Spectator. October 10, 1914.

 

Three days later, the Spectator printed a letter which gave an eyewitness account of what it was like at the front.

While most Canadian volunteers were still in training, and had yet to see any fighting, Clarence Cockburn was a Hamiltonian who had been part of war engagements with the German army.

Clarence Cockburn, was the son of Dr. L. W. and Mrs. Cockburn of Hamilton. After graduating for the Royal Military College in Kingston, he had taken a commission in the British army, and had been sent to western Europe, serving with number one company of the fourth divisional train of the Army service corps.

Clarence’s letter home was taken to the office of the Spectator so that it could be copied and its contents shared with the readers of the Great Family Journal:

                                                Expeditionary Force, September 21, 1914.

Dear Mother :

I am now able to write a few lines during a check in operations. We have been chasing Germans up to a week ago, and we are now engaged in severe struggle with them, which has lasted all week.

They have taken up a very strong position and we are now holding them in check, while the French are trying to outflank them.

The German losses are enormous, and so far the war has shown that the German infantry is hopelessly outclassed by the Britisher when in equal numbers. Their artillery and cavalry are good and they are splendid tacticians.

When on the move we have no difficulty in capturing parties of Chians who attack the convoys from the woods. They surrender at sight and seem to be glad to be taken prisoners. If they are driven out of this position, it will be a great deal toward their defeat, as their only possible exits will be either surrender or the Fatherland.

I have no doubt you already know of the famous retreat of the British army from the frontier to Paris in order to draw the Germans in.It was a most brilliant affair and will go down in history as a great military feat. We were faced by 500,00 men and yet we were rushed to the frontier by train, attacked the Germans, delayed their advance and retired from position to position toward Paris, thus allowing the French time to come up on the flanks. We lost heavily in one place, where the French failed to turn up as ordered. The French general was court-martialed and shot.

We are billeted in a big farm here about three miles from the German firing line. We are very comfortable and consider it a luxury to sleep indoors.

During the retreat we were exhausted by the end of the day. We were covering 30 miles a day, travelling all night. For four nights running I got only about three hours sleep, was often sound asleep on my horse, which wandered along with the column.

The Germans shelled our position and absolutely wiped out a battery of horse artillery and a squadron of cavalry.

 There is nothing more demoralizing than being under shrapnel fire. The other days I was motoring near the German position. They were shelling the road. Shells were bursting on either side of the road and any moment we expected to be blown to atoms. The noise was deafening. However we got through O. K.

Three days ago, I was on duty at some cross roads, not far from the firing line, to direct a column of motor to the right road. I was armed with a rifle and revolver but had no food. I was there all night and most of the next morning, the authorities having forgotten to relieve me. At the time it was pouring rain and rather cold.

Finally I saw a motor car approaching, and it proved to be one of our own. After a rather roundabout journey, I reached the farm. I had already been put down as missing, and might have been published as such.

During the German retreat the scene as we followed along  was in some cases appalling. The road on either side was strewn with dead horses, which had been lying in the sun for days; debris, clothing, smashed wagons, abandoned guns, and in one place we passed a smashed German aeoroplane.

Most of the dead have been hurled along the roadside, but in one place two or three bodies were lying in a heap with a top of straw and debris. The stench caused by the rotting of the horses in the sun was indescribable.

If the Germans retreat again, we will have to pass through the same sort of thing. Each village we passed through showed signs of German violence – houses found locked were burst open, the inhabitants either shot or kicked out and the interior of the house destroyed. In many cases, the furniture, clothing, etc. was all torn into pieces and thrown out of the windows onto the street.

We pass hundreds of refugees on the road who have been driven from their homes. Women and children in many cases being forced to walk miles in the pouring rain without food or shelter.

We are told that the Canadian force is now in England. I shall see --- when they arrive in France.

I am in the best of health, and am looking forward to the end of this awful business. At present, I am in temporary command of the headquarters company, 4^th divisional train, 175 men and 150 horses. I cannot say where we are, but if you take a map of France, we are about 60 or 75 miles from Paris – northeasterly

With best love,

your affectionate son.

                             CLARENCE COCKBURN²

² “Hamilton Man Tells of Awful Scenes at War : Clarence Cockburn in Midst of Fighting.”

Hamilton Spectator. October 13, 1914