1913-03-06yy

Relations between Hamilton City Hall and those individuals who lease space on the Market Square have generally been less than positive.

In March 6, 1915, relations were strained by a somewhat different matter than usual:

“Much indignation was expressed by the farmers on the Central Market this morning, especially those who deal in dairy produce, because of the clouds of smoke which poured forth from the chimneys on City Hall.”¹

¹ “Is a Nuisance”

Hamilton Times.    March 6, 1915.

In particular, dealers selling butter were affected :

“Several retailers, who were exhibiting butter for sale, were forced to take the top layer off after they had them on the counters for a short time, owing to the soot from the furnaces in the City Hall falling on the butter, and changing its bright hue to a more somber color.”¹

Butter was not the only item affected by the falling soot, also impacted were displays of meat and cheese:

“”In many cases, the farmers were forced to cover up all their merchandise, and display it only when asked to, as the soot accumulated in layers, giving one an impression that some new varieties of spotted farm produce was being offered for sale on the Hamilton market.”¹

 

1915-03-13ee

The war that was supposed to be over by Christmas was still raging in March, 1915. In fact, it was escalating.

Hamiltonians were finally in the trenches and the dreaded telegrams were starting to arrive, informing families of the deaths of loved ones in battle.

The war was dominating nearly every phase of Hamilton life. One impact of the war was positive, however. Its impact on the local economy.

An article which appeared in the March 13 1915 issue of the Hamilton Times began as follows :

“That Hamilton has benefitted largely by the governments of France, Russia and Great Britain placing war orders in this country is shown in the fact that up to the present time orders amounting to $12,000,000 have been given to local manufacturers.”¹

¹ “Orders for Shells Reach $12,000,000”

Hamilton Times.   March 13, 1915.

The $12,000,000 order referenced was just for shells and their component parts. Orders had been also placed from Hamilton firms for shoes, uniforms, hats, wire fence, kitchen stoves and more, totally nearly $18,000,000 totally for local companies up to mid-March 1915.

As regards the shell orders, largest of all the orders by far, many Hamilton firms had to react quickly to be able to fill them :

“Many of the large east end plants have constructed new buildings, while others have taken out machinery that they had in their plants to make room for that which would be necessary to make the shells. Other plants have been working night and day on the orders.

“The largest shell orders were received by the Chadwick Brass Company. In all, the orders amounted to 400,000 shells, the Steel Company of Canada received the largest order for cartridge clips, amounting to 420,000 in all.

“The Canadian Westinghouse Company have the largest order for plugs and sockets, in all amount to 150,000.

“In nearly every case, the plants receiving these orders have been urged by the War Office to get busy at once, and as soon as one order is completed, there will be another forthcoming.

“The shells being made in this city, it has been stated, are unequalled in quality and workmanship by any other city’s work, taking the whole output of the city into consideration.”¹

1916-03-16tt

“The scourge of the Kaiser’s war fell on another Hamilton home today”

Hamilton Spectator.   March 16, 1915.

The dreaded telegrams were starting to arrive at the homes of soldiers’ families with more frequency as the month of March, 1915 rolled on.

On March 16, 1915, Mrs. Albert Wiley, 44 Gore street, was saddened by the news that her husband, a private with No. 2 company, Princess Pats, had been killed in action.

A Spectator reporter visited Mrs. Willey. She said to him, with a gleam of pride in her eyes, “I am glad that he died on the battlefield. He always said that he would die like a soldier and he has done so.”

The Willey family had only lived in Hamilton four years, coming from Bradford, England.

Just the day previously, Mrs. Willey had received the following letters, in which Private Willey addressed the children who would never see their father again:

“My dearest loving daughter: I have received your splendid letter and I see that you are enjoying yourself with mama’s beautiful baby, Alfred Victor and your dolls. I suppose, dear Gladys, that Norman would rather play at soldiers with the other boys.

“You are getting along fine with your schooling and I think you can write lovely letters.

“Well, dear daughter, I hope that you area very good girl to your mother and help her as much as possible. Just spank Norman if he does not do as his mama wants. Of course, you must not do that to baby.

“I suppose you would like to see me home again. Well, the Germans will stop soon, as we are beating them, and I expect to be home this summer.

“Well, my dear, you are lucky that you are in Canada. The little girls here in Belgium don’t have big dolls like you got. They are very poor and their houses have been shot down with the German guns, so we are here to punish them for it.

“Well, I think this is all just now, my dear. Just be good and kind to mother until I return. So, good-bye,dear daughter. God bless you. Kiss your mother for me.

“From your loving and affectionate Daddy. Good night.

 

“To his little son, he wrote :

“My dear little Norman:

Just a line or two to say that I am all right at present, and I hope you are enjoying yourself with the other boys. I suppose you play at soldier most of the time.

“You must not forget to be good and kind to your momma, and be careful of our baby, you know.

“I see that you try very hard to write a letter to me. Well, that is very good of you. Soon you will be able to write all by your little self, so keep learning at school.

“Just get a money bank and put a few cents in it at times to buy me a nice pipe when I come home, then you can wear my medal. How do you like that, Norman boy?

“I have put a card in your letter and Gladys’ letter. We got them in a Christmas box from Princess May, so keep them, boy.

“Well, this is all at present, so be a good boy at home, and I shall soon see you all.

“Good-bye dear. Kiss your mother for me. God bless you

“From your loving and affectionate daddy. Good night all.”¹

¹ “How Private’s Wife Received News of Death”

Hamilton Spectator. March 16, 1915.

Besides Gladys, Norman, and the baby, there was another toddler son in the Wiley. Mrs. Willey, now a widow, was left with four children, the youngest being just four months old.

 

1915-02-26a

By 1915, the City of Hamilton’s reputation as having persistently combative, consistently dysfunctional city councils firmly in place.

In an interview with the Hamilton Spectator, published on February 26, 1915, Alderman Garson indicated that he, in his role as chairman of the property committee, was tired of being the target of ill-treatment. Things had become so bad he was considering not running for election to Hamilton City Hall again :

“ ‘I have taken a lot of personal abuse, which, had I not been chairman of the property committee, I would not stand for,’ declared Ald. Garson this morning. “The manner in which some of the members of my committee act at meetings is very annoying, and I am tired and disgusted with it. Some of them are like babies, and when men get to that stage, it is time they dropped out of municipal life. “¹

¹ “He’s Disgusted”

Hamilton Spectator.    February 26, 1915

1915-02-18uu

Relations between newspaper reporters and people at Hamilton City Hall often are tenuous at best. Occasionally, City of Hamilton politicians decide that the intrusion of the public, via the newspaper reporters and their investigations, was not welcome.

Such was the case as reported in the Hamilton Spectator of February 17, 1915:

“The official censor at the city hall has been busy during the past few days, and especially among the heads of the works department.

“Under ordinary circumstances, the works department is a central source of legitimate news, and except on rare occasions is tendered with every courtesy.

“For the last few days, however, the works department officials have been mum. ‘Nothing doing’ has been the slogan of the works department for several days, and this morning, when the reporters called, one of the officials even went so far as to forget to even say that much. He turned his back on the reporters and remained standing at the window, gazing at the sky until the reporters finally left the office.

“It was learned later that orders have been given not to hand out any information to the reporters and one official was told that he was spending altogether too much of his time talking to newspaper men, and would be expected to cut it out in future.”¹

^{1 “}Officials Mum : Are Under Orders Not to Converse With Newspapermen”

Hamilton Spectator. February 17, 1915.

In the next day’s newspaper, it became clear why the gag order had been issued, and that the order was not being followed.

In an attempt to fulfill an election promise, Mayor Walters, in conjunction with members of the Board of Control, was slashing department budgets severely:

“The decision of the controllers to cut down the office staffs in four of the busiest civic departments has caused consternation among officials.

“ ‘I don’t know how we can get along with less employees in our department than we now have,’ said one official this morning. ‘To make matters worse the new board of control insists on heads of departments being present at almost every one of the daily meetings. This occupies so much time that regular work in the department gets far behind. Instead of cutting staffs, they should be increased. If this silly idea of dragging heads of departments before the board daily continues, office staffs will have to be increased or important business affairs will suffer. In some of the departments, heads of departments are actually cutting out their noon hour in order to catch up with work, and it is not unusual for clerks to work at nights.’

“ ‘I have four clerks in my department, and I need every one of them,’ said E. A. Dempster, city accountant, this morning.

“In the treasury department, there are five assistants, and W. R. Leckie, treasurer, said he could use additional help to good advantage.

“In the works department and city engineer’ department, where staff reductions have been ordered, the heads of those departments say it will be next to impossible to comply with the order.

“ ‘I have eight men and require every one of them,’ said Archie Kappele, secretary of the works department.

“ ‘My department is already cut as fine as is consistent with good business,’ declared City Engineer Macallum. “I have eight men and if this number is reduced, the department will suffer.’ ”¹

    ¹“Howl Against Board’s Order :Officials Declare City’s Business Will Suffer.”

           Hamilton Spectator. February 18, 1915

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1915-02-25ts

“Although stories from Salisbury plain say that official news has reached there to the effect that the first and third Canadian brigades were in action all day Sunday and subjected to heavy fire, no confirmation was forthcoming from the war office up until press time today.”

Hamilton Spectator.     February 25, 1915.

For the relatives of Hamiltonians who have quickly volunteered in August, 1914 and who, afterwards, had undergone extensive training at Valcartier, Quebec and at Salisbury Plain in England, it was seen as inevitable that the boys would eventually see combat.

However, the news that indeed their sons, fathers, nephews, uncles  or brothers might possibly have  reached the front was unsettling:

“That the report may possibly be true is indicated by the fact that the censor permitted the dispatch to be cabled.”¹

¹ “Are Hamilton Soldiers on Firing Line? : Report 1^st and 3^rd Brigades Were in Action”

Hamilton Spectator. February 25, 1915.It would take some time for the news that the local lads had seen action, but by March 15, 1915, the first letters from home, written by Hamiltonians who had seen combat started to arrive in Hamilton :

“A large British mail brought to Hamilton for distribution today scores of letters and post cards from soldiers at the front.

Abner Fraser, city auditor, has received a letter from his son, James A. Fraser. It was dated February 22, but all other marks were erased by the censor, which would have indicated exactly where Fraser was located when it was written :

 “ ‘My Dear Father – Received your most welcome letter and was sure glad to hear from home. I also had a letter from Jeanette and Aunt Eliza. I was up to the trenches last Friday night for twenty-four hours, and, to tell the truth, I would rather be up there now than in the place we are, a hospital without any windows. Some place I should say.

“ ‘We were moved from our billets (a barn) to this place in motor transports and have been here two days. Now we are to move back to our old billets from where we started out. We will be there for a short time, and then we will take our places in the trenches where the dirty work will start.

“ ‘While we were in the trenches before, alongside the Argyle and Sutherlanders, there was one of their men killed and another wounded.

“Well, there is not much to say – that is much they will let me say, all letters being censored.

“Hoping all are well, also hoping to hear from you soon. Your Son, Jim.”

Soon afterward more letters from the front would be received in Hamilton. Some would be welcomed, others would contain news that families dreded to hear.

 

1915-02-19ag

“Leslie L. Glennie, 200 Lottridge street, an insurance agent, was instantly killed a few minutes before 1 o’clock this afternoon.”

Hamilton Spectator.    February 19, 1915.

Just minutes after the accident occurred, the Hamilton Spectator sent a reporter to the scene. He quickly gathered as much information as possible, enough to get the news of the fatality included in the late afternoon edition of that day’s newspaper.

Leslie Glennie, a married man 35 years of age, was an agent for the London Life Insurance company. He was known to many in the Spectator newsroom, as he worked out of an office in the Spectator building on James street south.

Glennie used his bicycle to visit customers, usually for the purpose of selling insurance policies, or collecting money to pay the monthly charges on policies previously sold. Even in the dead of winter, he used his bicycle to get around.

Early in the afternoon, Leslie Glennie was cycling west on King street, heading downtown, when he collided with a Hamilton Street Railway streetcar:

“The accident occurred at the corner of King and Steven streets. One wheel passed over the unfortunate man, almost completely decimating him. His head was crushed so as to be unrecognizable and he was not identified until nearly an hour afterwards.”¹

¹ “Fatal Plunge Under Wheels of Street Car.”

Hamilton Spectator.    February 19, 1915.

According to witnesses, Glennie had been cycling directly in front of the streetcar for several blocks, but when Steven street was reached, he skidded on the wet pavement and fell in front of the oncoming car :

“”The motorman applied the emergency brakes, but before the car could be stopped, the man was beneath the wheels.

“The car was crowded with passengers hurrying to work, and many ran to Glennie’s assistance, but death was instantaneous. The body was firmly wedged beneath the front trucks so that the car had to be jacked up before the remains could be extricated.”¹

It was a horrifying scene for all who witnessed the aftermath of the accident. At first, only Glennie’s mangled legs could be seen protruding from beneath the streetcar. Several women fainted at the sight.

By the time, two doctors and the police arrived on the scene, there was nothing that could be done until the streetcar was lifted off the unfortunate man.

Glennie’s identity could only be determined after his clothing was searched and several insurance papers were found in his pocket.

At first, there were rumors that Glennie’s bicycle had been struck by an automobile which had left the location hastily. That story was determined to be untrue.

Passengers on the streetcar stated that the motorman was entirely blameless, and that he had done everything possible to bring the car to a stop as quickly as possible.

The remains were removed to the city morgue, where a hastily-assembled coroner’s jury viewed it. It was decided that the circumstances of the sad incident were clear, and that no blame could be attached to anyone. It was concluded that a formal inquest was not necessary.