Blind Ben Morris
Quarryman “Blind Ben Morris” became a familiar figure on the streets of Halifax after an accident cost him his eyesight in the late 1800s. Historical accidents like his are partly why the modern mining and quarrying industry is so safety focussed.
According to the Evening Mail’s July 19, 1899, edition, “Eight years ago Morris was a strong active workman in the stone quarries at Dartmouth. He bore a good reputation, and was as quiet as he was strong. While making a dynamite charge one day he lingered behind a moment to see if the fuse had been laid as it should be. In some way the explosion happened before it was expected, and Morris barely had time to get out of the quarry alive. As it was, he lost his eyes, both having to be cut out entirely as a result of the terrible injury from flying stone.”
Blind Ben Morris, as the Evening Mail called him, turned to begging on the streets of Halifax, or as the newspaper put it, “Morris was thus thrown upon the mercies of the public for a livelihood. In his circumstances and time of life there was no other course for him to adopt.”
Morris became well known to residents of Halifax, which only had a population of around 40,000 at the time, “one of the characters of the place, and everyone knows his errand, though his name and his history are not generally known.”
In an era when he might have made about one dollar a day as a quarryman, “His gains run from twenty-five cents to a dollar a day, some times, on holidays, reaching a dollar and a quarter….Sometimes a rainy day is his best friend, for the people are moved to more than ordinary pity. A well dressed lady, for example, in mackintosh and rubbers, will generally have some compassion for a blind man, standing unprotected in the storm, with outstretched hand.”
“I get a good many coppers [pennies],” he told the Evening Mail, “and of course every little helps, and I’m thankful for them, but you know four or five cents doesn’t go far on a pound of tea.”
Today, Nova Scotia’s mining and quarrying industry believes the most important thing to come out of a mine is the miner, and our modern safety record reflects this. Injury rates in the province’s mining and quarrying industry have been reduced 90% since the 1997 Westray public inquiry.
We are committed to continuous improvement in safety and to doing everything we can to prevent the tragedies that were far too common in historical mines and quarries. Nothing is more important than ensuring our friends and colleagues get home safely to their families each night.
The photo below shows Halifax's Granville Street in 1890, around the time when Morris became a familiar figure downtown. Photo credit: Notman Studio with thanks to the Nova Scotia Archives.
