Stories from our pages over the last 150 years.
Eleven little children, all under ten years of age, and seven wives were tragically bereft of their breadwinners when the icy waters of the Gulf took the lives of seven Victoria longshoremen a week ago.
Never in affluent circumstances, these families are doubly harrowed by the tragedy which robbed them of husband and father and left them totally unprovided for and with a desolate Winter ahead of them.
While the families will in due course receive assistance through the Workmen's Compensation Act, that will not be forthcoming for some weeks, until the necessary formalities have been effected. In the meantime a relief fund has been started by Mayor Pendray for the purpose of administering immediate relief to the unfortunate families.
To augment this fund, a benefit concert is to be given at the Coliseum Theatre on Sunday evening next, Nov. 1, at 8:30, the hour being chosen to avoid conflict with church services.
The concert will be under the auspices of the Navy League of Canada, and Bob Webb is arranging the programme, while P.A. Raynor, secretary of the league and Mrs. S.W. Raven are assisting in the arrangements.
The theatre, with the necessary janitorial services, is being placed at the disposal of the committee free of charge, while the artistes are voluntarily giving their services, so that every penny of the collection will go directly to the fund for the bereaved families.
-- Victoria Daily Times
