Written by staff member, Vicky
When you join the medical field, you know that you're going to face trauma. Sick people, hurt people, dying people - that's the norm. Trauma is a part of the job, but you learn skills and techniques to help defend yourself and your mental health. You find ways to live with the day-to-day, which can include some very rough, very exhausting, very difficult days.
However...
When the word disaster gets thrown into the mix, your mental preparation is not just tested, it's interrogated.
When Dr. William D. Finn added the M.D. to his name, he had no idea the kind of disasters he would face. Let's take a moment to learn about the role he played in not one, but two historic tragedies.
A few words of warning: this article discusses grievous injuries, death, self-harm, and stories of incredible loss.
Growing up in Halifax
William Dominick Finn was born on Christmas Day, 1867. He was the first child of James and Mary (née Farrell), and was soon followed by siblings Mary, John, Kathleen (Kate), and Robert. William spent his early years in Halifax's North End at 48 Creighton Street (now 2118 Creighton Street). His grandfather William, who had immigrated to Canada from Cork, Ireland, also lived with the family for a time. The Finn Family were devote Roman Catholics, and in all likelihood would have attended services at nearby St. Patrick's Catholic Church on Brunswick Street.
James began work at age sixteen with the dry goods company Power & Co., likely working as a clerk. In subsequent years, he took additional positions with dry goods sellers Bell & Black and Neal & White. With both institutions, James began as a travelling salesman, and by all accounts, he was considered to be both successful and well-liked by his clients. While working with Neal & White, he was promoted to buyer, or agent, meaning he was purchasing the wholesale goods for Neal & White to sell to the public rather than doing the selling himself. While in this position, he made connections with Morgan & Co in Montreal and, as a result, he made semi-regular trips to Quebec. Thanks to James' natural salesmanship, the family fared well enough that in their North End home they were able to have two staff members on hand to help Mary run their household. Unfortunately, in 1877, when James travelled to Montreal on one of his business trips, he did not make it home alive. He suffered a fatal hemorrhage and passed away. James was only thirty-six years old, and little William was just ten.
With her husband now gone, Mary decided to move the family across the harbour to her hometown of Dartmouth. They moved into a house on King Street that was likely that of her father, Dominick Farrell, who had worked not only as the Director of the Halifax Steamboat Company, but also as the Justice of the Peace for Halifax County and one-time Mayor of Dartmouth. William and his siblings attended the public school in Dartmouth, but William would continue his education in Halifax. As a teenager, William attended the Halifax Academy (sometimes called the Halifax High School) on the corner of Brunswick Street and Sackville Street.
At seventeen, William began working for his uncle, Edward Farrell. Edward was a doctor who ran a practice out of his home on South Park Street across from the Public Gardens. Perhaps William had always had an interest in medicine, or maybe it was something that took hold after his father's death, or it's possible he developed a passion during the time he spent training at his uncle's practice. However it came to be, by the time William was a young adult, his mind was set: he too was going to become a doctor. After working with his uncle for approximately one year, William left Halifax for New York.
In New York, William attended the College of Physicians and Surgeons (CPS), which was the medical department of Columbia University. The CPS was formed in 1767 and was the first institution in North America to grant a medical degree. Conveniently, clinical training for the students was conducted at Roosevelt Hospital which was located across the street. During his education, William would have used classic medical tomes like Gray's Anatomy (though students could use Quain's Anatomy instead), Playfair's Midwifery, Asby and Wright on the Diseases of Children, and Gower's Diseases of the Nervous System. In total, there were upwards of 20 books that CPS recommended medical students purchase, along with their own dissecting case, at an approximate cost of $ 68.90 USD. Tuition charges for each year amounted to approximately $205.
During William's time at medical school, CPS was in a state of growth. Philanthropist William Henry Vanderbilt had given plots of land to the institution as well as generous financial donations that helped construct new lecture halls and state-of-the-art laboratories for the chemistry, pathology, physiology, histology, bacteriology, and dissection departments. In 1887, a maternity hospital was also added to the campus. Due to these upgrades, the school's high standards, and the department's focus on new and modern techniques, a degree in medicine from CPS was considered quite prestigious. William's mother and siblings were no doubt very proud indeed when William graduated in 1890 and returned home to Nova Scotia as Doctor William D. Finn.
Upon returning home, William worked with his uncle Edward until he passed away and William took over the practice. His office would move a few times over his career, from 100 Argyle Street, very near the corner of George Street (now Carmichael Street), then to 69 Hollis Street (not far from Bishop Street). By 1910, he would establish his practice at 127 South Park Street (on the corner of Breton Place and South Park Street). It did not take long for William to make a name for himself in Halifax. Not only was he a respected doctor, but he was also very active in the community. Over his life, William was a part of the Nova Scotia branch of the British Medical Association, the Treasurer of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, and an active member of the Knights of Columbus—just to name a few.
In 1882, William was appointed County Coroner, but the position was dissolved within a few years. It was replaced with that of a Medical Examiner (ME). The ME worked similarly to a County Coroner in that they reviewed the circumstances of deaths to determine the identity of the deceased, the time of death, and the cause of death. In the event that the death was determined to be a homicide, the Coroner/ME's reports could be used as evidence, and the Coroner/ME themselves could be brought in to testify in court. The main difference between a Coroner and an ME was the qualifications. In the Victorian Era, a Coroner was not required to have a medical degree or any kind of medical training. A Coroner could be anyone from a judge to a farmer, so long as they were trusted members of the community; the ME required a medical degree. This emphasized not only the importance of medical knowledge when determining the cause of death, but also brought the ideas of toxicology and forensics to the forefront of investigation. In 1885, William received the honour of being appointed the first Medical Examiner in Nova Scotia.
In July 1896, William became internationally known when the ship Herbert Fuller sailed into Halifax flying its black distress flag. The ship pulled behind it a small craft carrying the murdered bodies of the Herbert Fuller's Captain, Charles Nash, his wife, Laura, and the ship's Second Mate, August Blomberg. All three had been attacked with an axe after the ship had left Boston for Rosario, Argentina. After the attacks, the Herbert Fuller crew changed course and headed for Halifax. There were three main suspects in the murders:
- Lester Hawthorn Monks, a university student on a pleasure cruise. He discovered the bodies.
- Justus Leopold Westerberg, a quirky sailor. He was at the ship's wheel when the murders occurred, but it was possible for him to have tied it off long enough to commit the attacks and return to his post.
- Thomas Bram, the Herbert Fuller's First Mate, discovered the murder weapon and threw the axe over the side of the boat stating he was trying to protect the remaining passengers and crew. It was also said that before leaving Boston, Thomas had told Lester not to board the Herbert Fuller.
As ME, it was William's duty to examine the bodies for evidence and prepare a report of his findings.
In the meantime, the suspects were taken back to Boston. Following rounds of police questioning, Justus confessed that he had seen Thomas striking at someone where the three bodies had been found on the night the murders were committed, but he had been afraid to disclose it. When this information was relayed to Thomas, he replied: "You couldn't have seen me from the ship's wheel" (New England Historical Society). With this implied confession, combined with William's ME report, Thomas was put on trial for murder. In December 1896, William travelled to Boston to give testimony on his findings. Thomas was found guilty and sentenced to hang, but an error allowed him to be granted a second trial. He was found guilty a second time, but was sent to prison rather than being hanged. Due to the sensational nature of the trial, William's name became well known at home and across New England.
In 1899, William married Alice M. Downey, daughter of Maurice and Mary Downey. They had a son, William D. Finn Jr., in 1901. Unfortunately, their time together as a family was short. In December 1901, only months after giving birth, Alice contracted smallpox and died at the Halifax Smallpox Hospital on Gottingen Street. The following year in April, William Jr. contracted meningitis and passed away at just seven months old.
Although his heart must have been broken, William was able to find love again. In 1903, he married Emma Louise Grant, daughter of Duncan and Matilda Grant. Together, they had five children: William Joseph (1904), Herbert E. (1906), Mercedes Emma (1907), John Ernst (1909), and Madeline Rosemary (1911). William and Emma would also live through personal tragedy. At just four months old, their young son Herbert suffered a seizure and passed away. In their grief, the family were able to band together and find strength in each other, strength they would surely need in the days ahead.
April 1912: Disaster Strikes
It was billed as practically unsinkable.
But in the wee hours of April 15, 1912, the White Star Line's passenger ship Titanic sank into the Atlantic Ocean after striking an iceberg only hours before. Nearby ships sailing the Atlantic hurried to the Titanic's aid, but by the time they arrived, the worst had already happened. Of the 2240 passengers and crew on board, 1534 died during the horrific scene. The rescue mission became a recovery mission.
CS Mackay-Bennett in dry dock, Halifax, between 1885-1922, Halifax and Its People, pg. 20The Mackay-Bennett, a steam ship out of Halifax, was chartered by the White Star Line as part of the recovery effort. Deemed The Death Ship by local media, it spent five days between April 21 and 26 pulling people from the icy waves. Embalmers were aboard the boat to help preserve the dead for burial, though many were also buried at sea. It was debated whether the victims' remains should be taken to St. John's, Newfoundland, which was closer to the disaster site, or Halifax, which would be better equipped to handle the return of the dead to their families. In the end, of the three hundred thirty-seven people whose bodies were rescued from the sea, two hundred and nine were brought to Halifax, and almost all aboard the Mackay-Bennett.
When the Mackay-Bennett pulled into port on April 30, Halifax was ready. Citizens had blackened their windows in mourning, churches and fire stations rang their bells, and flags were set at half-mast as a sign of respect for the dead. The Mayflower Curling Club on Agricola Street had been transformed into a temporary morgue, and coffins were stacked at the docks with horse-drawn hearses ready to take them away. The Mackay-Bennett arrived at the Halifax naval yard at 9:30 a.m.; it took three and a half hours to unload the dead.
While John Henry Barnstead, deputy registrar of deaths in Nova Scotia, developed a system for tracking personal effects and physical descriptions of the deceased, and Snow's Funeral Home made arrangements for more caskets and further embalming, William began his task as ME: putting names to the nameless. Only a handful of the bodies that arrived in Halifax had been identified when they were removed from the water. It was now his duty to inspect the deceased, attempt to discover who they were, and determine their official causes of death.
Some individuals were easier to identify than others. For example: Body number seventeen. This thirty or forty-year-old man with dark hair had on his person a handkerchief with the inscription J. Chapman. Ship records confirm that John H. Chapman and his new bride, Sarah, were staying in second-class aboard the Titanic. Witnesses say that when it came time to evacuate the ship, Sarah was being placed in a lifeboat, but upon realizing that John could not come with her, she went back on the sinking ship to be with him. It does not appear that Sarah's body was ever recovered/identified. John was laid to rest in Halifax's Fairview Cemetery.
Body number two hundred and six was a female, approximately thirty years of age, with fair hair. Unfortunately, her name was not inscribed on any of her clothing. The list of her personal effects was unremarkable - a wedding ring, a purse, sixty-five Krono, two other coins, a brass Kuper mouth organ; but it also contained a letter, the details of which are not in the fatality report. Perhaps something in that letter gave a clue to her identity, as she was later found to be Alma Cornelia Paullsons (Pålsson), a third-class passenger with a husband, Nils, in Chicago, Illinois. Alma had been onboard with the four Paullsons' children, none of whom were ever found/identified. She, too, was laid to rest in Fairview Cemetery.
However, there were others that William simply could not name. Body number five, for example, was a woman around fifty years of age with dark brown hair. She carried with her some jewelry, a snuff box, and an empty purse that gave no clue to her name; her blue and black raincoat, black jacket and skirt did not have any name or initials sewn inside. Her most telling possession was a crucifix, indicating that she was likely Roman Catholic. Unable to determine her name, she was buried as an unknown victim in the Mount Olivet Cemetery, a Catholic Cemetery in Halifax.
This job also involved conducting interviews regarding the identification of bodies found aboard the Mackay-Bennett. These interviews were conducted with various members of the Mackay-Bennett crew, including Frederick Harold Larnder, Captain, Frank Higginson, Purser, and William Clarkson Stewart, Chief Officer. Accounts were also taken from representatives of Snow's Funeral Home who had been brought out on the Mackay-Bennett to embalm the deceased. The interview transcripts regarding the recovery of first-class passenger Alfred Rowe are available on the Nova Scotia Archives website. Causes of death for those retrieved from the Titanic wreckage varied. There were, of course, victims of drowning, but hypothermia ultimately claimed the lives of most. Many people had miraculously made it safely into the water, but the temperature of the Atlantic Ocean that night hovered around negative two degrees Celsius. Within minutes of being exposed to that kind of cold, the survivors' vital organs started to shut down, and death was not far behind.
In both its successes and its failures, this job would not have been easy. With the combined efforts of the crew of the Mackay-Bennett, as well as medical and funerary personnel, William helped give closure to the grieving families of the Titanic victims. However, this closure must have come with an incredible cost to the mental, physical, and emotional health of everyone involved.
For a few years after the Titanic disaster, William's life in Halifax would have returned to some sense of normalcy. Perhaps, it was even calm by comparison, but that feeling would not last.
December 1917: Disaster Strikes Again
On December 6, 1917, at 9:05 in the morning, the Norwegian ship SS Imo and the French freighter SS Mont Blanc collided in Halifax Harbour. The Imo was filled with relief supplies bound for Europe, but the Mont Blanc was packed with 2500 tons of explosives. Upon impact, the munitions aboard the Mont Blanc exploded. The blast destroyed the Mont Blanc and crippled the Imo. It levelled neighbourhoods, taking out homes, churches, businesses, and schools; it uprooted wood stoves that sparked dozens of fires and shattered window glass that blinded dozens.
A roiling cloud of hot gas rose high above the blast. Chunks and shards of the ship fell across an eight-kilometre range. Vaporized fuel and chemicals from the explosion fell as rain, coating people and wreckage with an oily film. Richmond and the Mi’kmaw community of Turtle Grove were struck by the full force of the blast.
Maritime Museum of the Atlantic
In the end, the explosion injured 9,000 people and killed more than 1,700. They didn't know it then—as the end of the war was still a year away—but more Nova Scotians lost their lives as a result of the Halifax Explosion than died in World War I.
Within hours, the Cities of Halifax and Dartmouth sprang into action. Firefighters battled blazes, makeshift hospitals were built in nearby churches and recreation centres, and temporary morgues—like the one set up at the Chebucto Road School (now the Maritime Conservatory of Performing Arts)—were once again a part of the landscape. Over days, weeks, and months, victims were recovered from the debris. With skills they hoped to never have to use again, emergency services collected the dead; their bodies and possessions were carefully numbered, and they waited in limbo to be identified. William, in partnership with other local doctors like Dr. R. Evatt Mathers and Vernon L. Miller, began their incredible task.
In the case of the Explosion, the task of identifying the dead was even more difficult than it had been during the Titanic disaster. Although the victims of the Titanic suffered more or less superficial physical injuries, the victims of the Explosion were, in many cases, badly injured, battered, and burned. Sometimes, even the smallest detail made the difference in being able to put a name to a victim. For example, letter carrier Thomas Spruce was killed while delivering the mail on the day of the disaster. His great-niece, Mary MacLeod, recalled to CTV News in 2016 that she was told he had been decapitated, and that they were only able to discover his identity by the numbers on the laundry pins he used to hold up his socks (MacDonald, Michael, CTV News, December 6, 2016).
With every case, William and his colleagues would be confronted with tragedy after tragedy.
In many cases, the cause of death for the victims of the Explosion was simply "Shock due to injuries in the explosion". This can be seen above on the death registration for Ethel Sullivan. She was only five years old when the blast tore through the Richmond neighbourhood and destroyed her home at 1418 Barrington Street. Ethel, as well as her father Daniel (40), mother Mary (38), and siblings Kathleen (11), Helen (7), Gerald (3), and Michael (1), all died in the accident. The same goes for William A. Hirtle. William Russell's home on Russell Street was hit by the impact, and he and his son Carl died as a result. The bodies of these two men were never officially identified.
Other registrations provide a picture of initial survivors. Robert Conrad (13) lived on Creighton Street. He was taken to the hospital after surviving the wounds he sustained in the explosion, but suffered from a ruptured spleen and peritonitis (inflammation of the abdomen). He passed away seven days after the Explosion occurred. Laura May Brown (39) lived on Duffus Street. She, too, survived her initial injuries but contracted pneumonia. With her body already weak from her wounds, she was unable to fight off the infection, and she passed away on December 22. John Forrest (61) lived on Bloomfield Street. After suffering from broken bones and other injuries for seven days, he developed septic (aseptic) meningitis, or a swelling of the brain, and died.
One of the most tragic deaths was that of the youngest Halifax Explosion victim, William Paul, a Mi'kmaq child from Tufts Cove in Dartmouth. William's mother, Mary (35), was pregnant at the time of the blast. The trauma from her injuries, combined with the overall shock of the accident, caused Mary to go into early labour, and William was born prematurely. Within a few hours of the accident, both mother and child lost their lives.
And so it went on for hundreds and hundreds of victims. Over the course of two months, 1,500 of the men, women, and children who had died in the Explosion were laid to rest. But in the months that followed, hundreds more would be found in the debris, or would succumb to the injuries they suffered on that tragic day in December. Once again, William and his colleagues braved the horrors. In their work, they helped bring some sort of closure to Halifax and Dartmouth's grieving citizens.
It is impossible to know the kind of toll this disaster—these two disasters—had on William's mental health, but for some, it was too much. Dr. Nathan Shacknave, a physician with a practice in Whitney Pier, Cape Breton, immediately travelled to Halifax to assist with the relief work as soon as he heard word of the disaster. He spent at least two weeks in Halifax offering what assistance he could to the cause. However, when he returned to Whitney Pier citizens said he was not himself and "...spoke incessantly of the dreadful scene witnessed by him while there" (Halifax Herald, December 21, 1917, pg. 7). On December 20, 1917 it was discovered that the Whitney Pier doctor had hanged himself in his office. Thankfully, William's story did not end this way. There's little doubt that he and his colleagues carried heavy weights for the rest of their days, but they somehow managed to find ways to carry them.
Time Marches On
Years passed.
The victims were buried. The wreckage was cleared. Homes, businesses, churches, schools: they were rebuilt. The city and its people were forever changed, but life must go on, and so it did. William continued in his role as ME; his practice on South Park Street treated the sick and the injured. William and Emma's children grew up, attending school and playing with friends. No doubt the Finns attended parties, went to Sunday Mass, celebrated birthdays and Christmases, and continued on as best they could in a city that was very different than what they had known before.
But following these disasters, William began to suffer a more personal tragedy. He was diagnosed with colon cancer. It is unknown how far his disease had progressed before he was diagnosed, but it was reported in multiple sources that he had been unwell for several years. This led to William eventually developing toxemia. Toxemia is the contamination of the bloodstream due to bacteria and infection. In William's case, it is very likely that the damage being done by the colon cancer had triggered an infection, which then began to poison his blood. Despite his own health issues, William's medical practice remained open, and it appears he continued to work until the Spring of 1924.
However long the toxemia had been putting an additional strain on William's health, the time came when he could no longer cope. On March 31, 1924, William went under the care of Doctor Charles S. Morton. Although Charles certainly would have done his best to treat William, antibiotics that could have potentially prolonged William's life were still in their infancy, with penicillin not being discovered until 1928. At around 9 a.m. on April 13, William suffered a toxemia-related hemorrhage and died in his home. He was fifty-six years old.
The following day, on the front page of the Halifax Herald, William's death was announced to the city:
Dr. Finn, who not only commanded an enviable position in his chosen profession in Halifax, but whose ability as a physician and surgeon was well known by those connected with the medical profession throughout Canada and the United States, was still in the prime of his life... and the news of his demise will be received by the community with a sincere sence of loss. ...it may truly be said that no physician commanded higher respect in the eyes of the members of the legal profession and the bench than did Dr. Finn.
Halifax Herald, April 14, 1924, pg. 1 & 2
It is interesting that in William's obituary, which was printed the day after his death, on the front page of the paper, included a large photograph, and sung nothing but his praises, his work during the Titanic and the Explosion disasters isn't mentioned at all. Perhaps it did not need to be said; his involvement in the accidents went without saying. Or perhaps it was because the wounds, both literal and metaphorical, were still too fresh.
William's funeral took place at the Finn home on South Park Street, followed by a requiem Mass at St. Mary's Cathedral. He was buried in Mount Olivet Cemetery.
The Finishing Lines
In 2012, 88 years after his death, the Dr. William D. Finn Centre for Forensic Medicine opened in Dartmouth on Garland Avenue. Spearheaded by Dr. Matt Bowes - Nova Scotia's current M.E. - this facility offers a leap forward in forensic technology for Nova Scotians: "...[it] is a building that takes advantage of modern technology in the morgue and associated spaces, and modern building design that better serves grieving families and our staff, who have challenging and highly technical jobs to do" (Nova Scotia). The centre was named after William, not just because he was a leader in his field, but because of his commitment to the people of Halifax in their times of grief.
It is only fitting that William should receive this honour so that he and his work will be remembered for years to come.
Library Sources
Ancestry, Library Edition
Chronicle Herald Microfilm
- December, 1917
- April, 1924
Halifax and Its People 1749-1999
Additional Sources
Brief Overview of the Halifax Explosion of 1917, Discover Halifax
Colon Cancer Symptoms, Johns Hopkins Medicine
Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons - Class of '90 Reunion, 1910, HathiTrust
CSI Titanic: Who Died How?, Encyclopedia Titanica
Dr. William D. Finn Centre for Forensic Medicine, FBM
Explosion FAQ, Maritime Museum of the Atlantic
Fiction Becomes Fact - Murder on the Herbert Fuller, The New England Historical Society
Finn, William D., Find a Grave
The Fuller Mutiny Case, Pokeepsie Evening Enterprise, December 11, 1896, page 6
Goldman, Lee, Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons, 2007, Academic Medicine
Halifax Explosion: A List of Those That Died, Nova Scotia Archives
History: Halifax Council 1097 and December 6th, 1917 Explosion, Knights of Columbus
In the Footsteps of the Dead: Remembering the Halifax Explosion Through Its Stories, CTV News
Many Halifax Explosion (Dec. 6 1917) Victims Remain Unidentified, Fairview Historical Society
Nova Scotia Medical Examiner Service, Government of Nova Scotia
On the Frontlines of Disaster, Canada's History
Panoramic view of the city of Halifax, Nova Scotia, 1879, A. Ruger, Library of Congress
Penicillin, Encyclopedia Britannica
RMS Titanic Resource Guide, Nova Scotia Archives
RMS Titanic Resource Guide, Fatality Reports, Nova Scotia Archives
Series RG 41 Volume 79-84 - Medical Examiner for the City of Halifax and Town of Dartmouth records
South Park Street, Halifax, NS, Halifax Public Libraries, Council of Nova Scotia Archives
Toxemia - Causes, Symptoms, Diagnosis, and Treatment, iCliniq
A Vision of Regeneration, Nova Scotia Archives
VP&S: The Early Years (1776-1928), Columbia University Irving Medical Centre
Why did the Titanic Sink?, History
https://archive.org/details/columbiauniversi1880colu/page/n293/mode/2up
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