Vince Coleman, a railway dispatcher, sacrificed his own life
“Hold up the train. Munitions ship on fire and making for Pier 6 … Goodbye boys.”
Vincent Coleman, a railway dispatcher, left his Richmond neighborhood home on Russell Street in Halifax’s North End early on December 6, 1917, for work. He left his wife Frances, who was wearing a bright blue dress she had made herself, to care for their young, two-year-old daughter Eileen. To get to his workplace at the Richmond train station, it took only five short blocks.
He worked in the deceptively small wooden station in the middle of the Richmond rail yards, not in the opulent brick passenger station on North Street. His job was to manage the heavy rail traffic created by the crowded Halifax harbor during the Halifax Harbor War, which he did while working just a few feet from the harbour and its busy piers.
He routed the heavy passenger traffic entering North Street Station during the war as well as the necessary troop trains and hospital trains from the Pier 2 ocean liner terminal. He also sent orders to the numerous trains feeding freight into the ship-filled wharves of North End Halifax.
Despite the fact that it had changed its name to “Canadian Government Railways” in 1916, Coleman worked for what was known as the “Intercolonial Railway” or “ICR” in Halifax. He was a rank above most stations’ regular telegraph operators as a dispatcher. He received praise for aiding in the containment of a runaway train a few years ago. Additionally, he was very involved in his railway union. In his wallet that morning, tucked beside some raffle tickets for the Victory Bond drive, was a clipping about an upcoming union meeting in Montreal.
A distant crash was followed by a column of black smoke rising above the rows of freight cars parked in front of the station as Coleman took over as the night dispatcher at the telegraph. After a collision, the French munitions ship Mont-Blanc caught fire. A naval sailor suddenly plowed through the door. Everyone was given the warning that the on fire Mont-Blanc was about to erupt with ammunition. One of the few people who was aware of the sailor’s deadly cargo was one of the naval officers who responded to the fire and sent her ashore. Coleman turned around and used the telegraph key to send his infamous message as William Lovett, his boss and the chief clerk at Richmond, and he started to leave.
Coleman was particularly concerned about Passenger Train No. 10, an overnight train from Saint John, New Brunswick. At 300 people on board, it was scheduled to arrive in Halifax at 8:55 am. It was scheduled to pass through the North Street Station’s approach tracks in front of the scorching Mont-Blanc in a matter of minutes. The exact wording of Coleman’s message was slightly different in the newspapers of the time, but its general content was consistently reported as follows:
“Hold up the train. Ammunition ship afire in harbor making for Pier 6 and will explode. Guess this will be my last message. Good-bye boys.”
Coleman was clearly aware that the explosion was coming and that he was facing death. He even ended by saying “Goodbye Boys” in telegraph shorthand.
Explosion
After that, Mont-Blanc erupted at 9:05 am. Pier 6 and the ship disappeared in a flame column. While others were thrown through the air, rows of boxcars vanished. Coleman’s station vanished just 750 feet from the blast’s center. As tidal waves rose from the harbor and roared back and forth across the Richmond yards, it was buried in debris from the railway yard and crushed by the blast. The Maritime Museum of the Atlantic still has water stains in his wallet. His watch, whose hands and crystal have been blown away, and whose back appears to have been pounded in by hammers, speaks ominously of the violent forces that descended upon Coleman. Coleman most likely passed away at his telegraph key instantly.
However, the message transmitted by that telegraph key was picked up by every station from Halifax to Truro, including Rockingham, Bedford, Windsor Junction, Elmsdale, Stewiacke, and so on. The semaphore blades, or station order boards, that you once saw mounted on the sides of stations would have been swiftly moved by each station agent from the vertical “All Clear” position to the horizontal “Stop!” position. All Halifax-bound trains would come to a stop as they approached their next station with a bang, bang, bang, all the way to Truro, as the order boards would drop. In 1917, rail traffic was managed in this way. Before two-way radios were installed on trains, many years would pass.
Legacy
Coleman’s deed and outcomes were genuinely heroic. He is pictured alongside several Halifax explosion heroes, including Horatio Brennan, a brave tugboat captain who lost his life attempting to pull Mont-Blanc out of the city. They stand in for the many heroes of that day, including the firefighters, soldiers, sailors, and regular men and women who rushed into burning and collapsing homes to save their loved ones, their neighbors, and strangers.
The Bizarre (And Magical) Duel Between Chung Ling Soo And Ching Ling Foo
Ching Ling Foo and Chung Ling Soo were two magicians from the early 20th century who were bitter rivals. While Ching Ling Foo was genuinely Chinese, Chung Ling Soo was actually a New Yorker named William Robinson.
Knockers-up: waking up the Industrial Britain's Workers in 1900-1941
Before alarm clocks were invented, there was a profession called a knocker-up, which involved going from client to client and tapping on their windows (or banging on their doors) with long sticks until they were awake. It lasted into the 1920s.
Sylvan Goldman: The Visionary Who Revolutionized Shopping with the Cart
The inventor of shopping carts, Sylvan Goldman, had to hire several male and female models to push carts around in his store, demonstrate their utility, and explain their use to other customers, due to not catching on initially.
The History Behind the “No One Dies Alone” Program
In 1986, while doing a night shift at the hospital, Sandra Clarke, a registered nurse, was asked by an elderly patient to stay. She promised to be back after checking on her other patients, but by the time she returned, the gentleman had passed away. Clarke became one of the key figures in launching No One Dies Alone, a program that allows volunteers to sit with terminal patients who have no one else.
Keith Sapsford: The Story of 14-Year-Old Stowaway
The final image of 14-year-old Australian Keith Sapsford, who aspired to travel the world. In February 1970, he sneaked into the wheel-well of a plane flying from Sydney to Tokyo. It opened mid-air & fell out. When a photographer was testing a new lens, he captured this moment on film and was surprised when it developed.
What exactly was the US's 'Ghost Army' during WWII?
During WW2, there was a special unit of men dubbed the ‘Ghost Army’. The unit was made of artists, creative and engineers and their job was to create deception about the enemy. From inflatable tanks to phony convoys to scripted conversations in bars intended to spread disinformation, they used all possible tricks to fool the enemy.
Tunnels Dug by ancient giant sloths, A South American Megafauna
For years, scientists didn’t know what caused mysterious cave networks in South America. In 2010, they learned that the caves were actually tunnels dug by ancient giant sloths
Reason Behind The Suicide Of Christine Chubbuck Live On Air
Actor Rebecca Hall had serious reservations about tackling the macabre story around why Chubbuck killed herself in 1974. So what changed her mind?
how Ferris wheel invented
In 1891, Chicago challenged engineers to create a structure to surpass the Eiffel Tower for the World's Columbian Exposition. George Washington Gale Ferris jr. responded with the original Ferris Wheel, a giant rotating structure elevating visitors above the city. This invention became an iconic attraction at the fair.
Graves holding hands over wall, A Catholic woman and her Protestant husband grave
A protestant man and a Catholic woman who weren't allowed from being buried together in a graveyard in 19th-century Holland turned their graves into a monument showing them holding hands across the wall separating them.
1972 Andes Plane Crash Survivor recall the terrifying Struggles to Stay Alive
On October 13, 1972, a plane carrying a rugby team from Uruguay crashed in the Andes between Chile and Argentina. The survivors were in brutal conditions - high altitude, bitter cold, and the lack of food—and faced the most terrible choice—eating the frozen flesh of their dead friends or starving to death themselves.
Louis Le Prince Invented the motion picture camera, and then he mysteriously disappeared
Louis Le Prince, the inventor of motion pictures, vanished without a trace in 1890. Thomas Edison quickly claimed the title of "first and sole inventor of cinema," even taking Le Prince's son to court to dispute it. A few years later, the son also dies under mysterious circumstances.
The 1814 London beer flood
In 1814, there was a beer flood in London when a tank containing more than 300,000 gallons ruptured in which 8 people drowned.
Man's Blood Helped Save Millions of Babies
Australian blood donor James Harrison has been one of our most impressive and valued donors, having donated for 60 years. Know his story, how he was a pioneer of our Anti-D program, and why this matters.
Why the Brooklyn Bridge Was Once Crossed by 17 Camels and 21 Elephants
On May 30, 1883, a rumor that the Brooklyn Bridge was going to collapse caused a stampede, which killed at least at twleve people. To prove the bridge was safe, P.T. Barnum led a parade of 21 elephants over it.
The Mouth of Truth: Ancient Rome’s Legendary "Lie Detector" That Bit Off Hands
Discover the chilling legend of the Mouth of Truth (Bocca della Verità) in Ancient Rome—a massive carved stone face believed to bite off the hand of anyone who lied while inserting their hand into its gaping mouth. Uncover the truth behind its eerie reputation and how this ancient artifact became a symbol of honesty and fear.
How Dmitri Mendeleev Developed the periodic table of the elements
1850 Dmitri Mendeleev walked almost a thousand miles to Moscow so he could apply for the University of Moscow. Although he was not accepted, he walked to St. Petersburg where he was accepted, And with that education, he developed the the periodic table of the elements
Why was the Eiffel Tower almost demolished
The Eiffel Tower was intended to be a temporary structure for the World's Fair in 1889, but it was nearly dismantled and sold for scrap metal. It was saved because of its potential use as a radio antenna, and it now serves as a tourist attraction as well as a working broadcast tower.
Marion Stokes recorded 30 years of television
Marion Stokes, a Philadelphia woman began taping whatever was on television in 1979 and didn’t stop until her death in 2012. The 71,000 VHS and Betamax tapes she made are the most complete collection preserving this era of TV. They are being digitized by the Internet Archive.
Why This Belgian Bar Makes You Trade Your Shoe for a Beer
To prevent tourists from stealing their beer glasses, some bars in Belgium require people to hand over one of their shoes as a deposit which is then put in a basket and hung from the ceiling. These shoe baskets have also become an attraction.
The incredible story of a plane that lost its roof in mid-flight and the light signal that saved 94 lives.
On April 28, 1988, Aloha Airlines flight 243 was on the way to Honolulu from Hilo when a huge portion of the upper part of the fuselage blew off the airplane.
Albert Einstein’s brain after it was stolen from his body
Albert Einstein's brain was taken by the opportunistic pathologist who performed his autopsy hours after he died and kept in two jars for 30 years. The stolen brain of Albert Einstein was preserved in a cookie jar for 30 years until being discovered by a journalist.
June and Jennifer Gibbons The silent twin who Only Spoke to Each Other
Identical twins June and Jennifer Gibbons were born on 11 April 1963 at a military hospital in Aden, Yemen where their father worked as part of the Royal Air Force.
During the 1996 Olympic bombing, Richard Jewell falsely accused of committing the crime after saving dozens of people
Richard Jewell, an American security guard, discovered a bomb during the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta and assisted in the evacuation, but was later wrongfully accused and faced public scrutiny. He was cleared, but it had a lasting impact on him until his death in 2007 at the age of 44.
The touching story of David Vetter (bubble boy), the 'boy who lived in a bubble
David Vetter lived his whole 12 years in sterile “bubble”. He was “outside” for 20 second after being removed from his mother’s womb. He never touched any human.
