The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1893-05-02

The Railways and Street Cars Taxed tn Their
Utmost-Over 400, 900 Persons Carried.
CHICAGO, May To-day the transporfa-
ton facilities to and from the exposition
grounds were given their first trial. AT the
time of the dedication exercises, last Octo-
Der. none of those were in complete opera
ton; the Illinois Central ran a large num-
Der of extra uburban trains and the cable
lines did their utmost but they were not
quite sufficient to meet the demand upon
them. To-day they were prepared. and the
thousands of people who started for the
fair between A. NJ. and ESQ r. NJ. reached
their destination promptly and in comfort.
The bulk of the downtown traffic came
upon the Illinois Central road. which all
day long ran trains of eight cars each ut
intervals of three minutes. This was suttl.
cient to handle the eight thousand people
who rode from its Van Buren, street station
every hour. At this point the Illinois Cen.
trai has erected twelve ticket offices, SIX or
them being on one long platform and six on
another. From each platform trains are TO
90, during the exposition. at three-mlnute
, intervals. making one train every ninety
seconds This schedule Will be Increased
by additional trains whenever occasion de-
mands. To-day the rush was all npon one
platform. the other not being quite CON-
pleted. The excellent manner in which the
road handled eight thousand people an
hour to-day, with but half its terminal
system. is strong evidence that It will.
when things are settled in O regular rou.
tine, be able to handle with ease almost
three times as many passengers as it did
to-day.
carried about five thousand an hour. and
that with cars not too badly crowded.
They were full, and he who got q seat was
lucky. But there was no suffocating crush
or rib-breaking jam. Grip cars with two
and three trailers ran to Jackson Park
every two minutes. The elevated road W As
not so fortunate. Its terminal system o.
Congress street is not yet ready. and 1t was
swamped to-day. 1t ran trains every three
minutes. but they were pOwerless TO di-
foot of the stars leading uD to
the depot special detail OF
policemen was stationed, and several
times the rush of the crowd threw some
clubs. for the people were quiet and orderly.
but the trouble lay in the fearful pressure
of a tremendous crowd. The stairs and
platform were packed to fearful degree.
and many people who had passed the
ticket puncher were unable to reach the
trains for the best portion of an hour. The
road carried about four thousand an hour,
and could have collected fares from about
three times that number il they could have
found room for them in the trains.
The boats ran at about three-minute in
tervas, but the day wes too cold and the
lake too rough for that route to be very
popular 1t carried several Thousand peo-
ple however. In addition to these means
of reaching the park were the Illinois Gen.
trail regular suburban service. which car
RED fully ten thousand people to the park
during the day. The electric road I'D the
State and Sixty third street cable line took
about half that number. Taking the day.
ana 1t was a day heavier than the average
will he nj n criterion II ia safe TO say tina
the transportation to the park from down
town will be ample for all demands made
upon il. 1t was stated tonight that 900
people were inside the grounds to-day.