The Prosecution of Henry Kissel in the Roaring Twenties in Halifax

• Author: Constance Backhouse
• Pages: 79-103

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EChapterF

THE PROSECUTION OF HENRY

KISSEL IN THE ROARING

TWENTIES IN HALIFAX

HK   young man whose future brimmed with promise. A

nativeNewYorkerbornintheBronxtwentysixyearoldKisselwasinhis

nalyearattheprestigiousDalhousieMedicalSchoolinHalifax Only the

beststudentswereselectedtointernatthecitysVictoriaGeneralHospital

and Henry Kissel was one of the favoured few.Whenhewasntatthehos

pitalhesharedacomfortabletworoomatintheWestminsterApartments

at the corner of Morris and Church streets with another Dalhousie medical

student from New York, Irving Marks.

Senior medical students were immersed in classes and rounds at the

hospital, but Henry Kissel never let his studies interfere with his social life.

His fashionable haircut and eyewear betrayed his dashing sense of style.

Round hornrimmed glasses were much in vogue meant to produce the

“academic look that was derigueuroncampusthatyearTrendseerslike

KisselfoundinsucientscopeforrevelryatDalhousiesstrictlychaperoned

student dances, where smoking was prohibited and a midnight curfew pre

vailed. Henry Kissel preferred t he public dance hall at the Armouries, where

he could mix with a looser, more boisterous crowd. That was where, in the

latesummerofhemetandmingledwithwomenlikeEthelMachan

BytheRoaringTwentieswereinfullswingpartofanirresistible

surge of rebellion sweeping across North America. The First World War had

ended, ushering in a bold and vivacious new decade to chase away the hor

ricmemoriesoftheshaeredbaleeldsTheMaritimeregionwasslower

to experience the optimism, having been crippled by economic instability

ﾌﾄCarnalCrimes

Dalhousie University Archives Photographic Collection

HenryKisselDalhousieMedicalSchool