Hot Time in Halifax

Victory in Europe hit Halifax like a blitz. For two hysterical days, servicemen and civilians looted, burned, wrecked and smashed heads. They gutted Halifax's shopping section, destroying or stealing property valued up to $5,000,000. When order was restored, as the result of exhaustion rather than authority, two men were dead; hospitals and jails were crammed.

The victory orgy got off to a rather pedestrian start on Monday with speeches and fireworks. At 11:15 at night Police Desk Sergeant Charles White leaned back in his chair, said: "My God, things are dead. . . . Nothing like last time, when they tried to burn the city hall." Three minutes later the first alarm sounded. A few blocks away, patrolmen found a streetcar burning. Then a mob tipped over the patrol wagon. Then a sailor ignited the gas that spilled out.

Next the sailors, seconded by a growing mob of civilians, stampeded the Government liquor stores, which had been shut tight as a V-E-day precaution. They smashed windows, passed out cases of liquor, wines, beer. Expropriated liquor sold for $1 a bottle or was simply given away. Said a policeman: "They were drinking whiskey by the case." They kept drinking, with occasional pauses for pillage, all night.

Bacchic Rout. Toward 4 o'clock in the morning the rioting subsided. But the lull was illusory. By early afternoon of V-E day a bacchic rout of men, women and even children reeled down Barrington, Hollis and, Granville Streets smashing more windows and sacking more stores. Said one elderly woman: "I never had so much fun in my life."

The 80-man police force was powerless. Wearing stolen fur coats and clutching pilfered dresses and shoes under their arms, drunken girls were convoyed by drunken sailors. Three sailors went through the broken window of a furniture store and climbed into bed. Typewriters were gaily smashed. One sailor kicked in a window, sheared off his toes. Another severed an artery while punching through the window of a brewery. Fires swept through a women's-wear shop, a drugstore, a jewelry shop. Firehose was uncoupled or cut as soon as it was laid.

Nothing Left to Loot. Finally, there was nothing left to pillage. Hundreds of merchants were ruined. It would take days to clear the debris-strewn streets.

The orgy of destruction was followed by an orgy of recrimination. Civilians blamed the military. Mayor Alan Butler complained that 4,000 sailors had been given shore leave the first day of the riot, another 4,000 had been turned loose the second day. Said the Halifax Star: the Navy's part in the riot was "disgraceful and despicable." Said Rear Admiral Leonard Warren Murray: "Civilians led the assault. . . ."

This week looted goods were piling up at police headquarters. In railway sheds police found stolen jewelry, liquor, etc. marked for shipment to all parts of Canada. Hundreds paraded before angry police magistrates. Typical sentences: five years for looting; three years for receiving stolen goods; two years for smashing a $100 plate-glass window.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.