The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1895-01-29
CORPORATION WAR.
Erie Elevation, Equal Tax
alton and Riparian
Grants Discussed
in Committee.
GRADE CROSSING SLAUGHTER
Property Seriously Depressed
Here and in Newark-The
Old Plea Of Poverty.
~. 1F.l J-~,o1xrnd in MI.
Dizzy Millions Involved in Mr.
Days Escheat Bill-Who
Shall Levy the Tax?
snec;ot to the JERSEY city Ne,rs.

S,1ec;nl to the Jersey Cstp Neirs.
TRENTON. Jan. 20, 1S95.-The COMMIT
fee on Railroads and Canals held near
ings at two o'clock yesterday afternoon
unon Mr.. brakes bill, which seeks TO
ccmnel the Erie Railroad to elevate Its
tracks in Jersey City and the equal
AVIATION bill. AS Mr.. brakes bill in
cl,,des Newark, a large delegation from
| that city joined the Jersey CITY citi%ens
| in urging the adoption of the bill Mayor
| wsnser was an interested auditor during
the discussion.
The committee first took UP the eieVa-
| ton bill. and William H. Speer, Jr.' De
gan the argument. He denounced 'he
| Erie Railroad generally and spoke OIL eh0
| danger to life and detriment to properly
| its grade crossings were. FROM 1000 |"
| 1891 ZIG people were killed on the hrle
| tracks between the tunnel ana the sta-
| ton. There was no reason, he contehoeo'
WHY the receivers of the road should not
| ,es,a certificates for the expenses OF
e~levating the tracks. .
citv Counsel Riker of Newark, OF
| course. said he did not wish to go on
| record as favoring the bill in its present
| shane 1--WE in Newark he continued,
.sare in favor of abolishing grade cross
| mos We have two important ones IN
| Newark, Broad street, over the Delaware,
| Lackawanna and Western Railroad, ana
| one at Market street over the Pennsyi-
| vania. The trains over the pennsylvania
| run so frequently that if we attempt 10
| enforce an ordinance which we haVe
| nassed. there would be one continuous
| train through the city, and Market street
would be blocked. On one side OF the
Pennsylvania's tracks there are oo,VoV
people and on the other $4,000, VINO are
| Obliged TO cross those tracks at grace.
1t. is estimated that 1,500 trolley cars
| each carrying from fifty to sixty people,
| cross those tracks every day. So II we
| attempt to enforce that ordinance regu-
| Iatine speed the whole traffic OF that
mart of a great city would be absolutely
stopped.
sat the other end OF the city we have
| the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western
| Railroad tracks, over which 1000 trolley
| cars and q, 1000 people pass daily. These
| two alone settle the question for Newark.
| All we want is results, not methods. If
| his bill meets your approval we are satis-
| fed. But we want the tracks e~leVateppI
/ and We want lueIl GlGNdttd IAii ySSA
at once"
| Mr.. James S. Allen, counsel Tor the
Erie Railroad Company, interrupted the
| speaker to ask if he considered the Dill
| now before the Legislature a fair Dill.
Before Mr.. Riker could answer Chair
| man Olcott called Mr.. Allen to order'
| telling him that he would have an op-
| ~portunity to speak when those favoring
| the bill had been heard.
Mt. C~ORCORAN'S PLEA.
Mr.. Allen subsidized and Mr.. Andrew J.
| Corcoran of Jersey City addressed the
| committee as a citizen and a manufac-
turer. He had fifty men working for hin
| and the loss he sustained through v
ing these men and his trucks delayed
| at the Erie crossing amounted 70 con
| siderable. He described the death OF a
| poor man who worked for him and VINO
| was struck by a train while crossing the
| Erie's tracks. 1t was true that the
they would not always work, and at
| this present time those at Jersey avenue
were frozen up. Then he told OF the
| streets which the Erie had gopplsd up
| without giving the city any equfvalent.
This was DONE" he continued, Pc
| cause the company controlled that dis-
trict. 1t marched its men from It's COCKS
up to the polls and voted them as II
saw fit. If a little more majority was
wanted they brought up more men from
another dock. Then when they Wanted
| elected and he woul say, The people
won't stand It. The railroad men would
| say, What do you care for the people,
what have they done for you compa pea
corrupted our politics for years.
when the road had grabbed up the
property you would never get its officers
to sign a petition for the improving or
grading of a street. They wanted to
degrade the streets SO that they could ouy
up all the property at low prices.
laughter by telling how when the city
authorities started to clean Eleventh
street and had to use a pillow before
they could find the paving stones. the
accounts of the discovery of Eleventh
street. All the political corruption, ne
said, had been changed by the
hanIe Cod. The people OF
Hudson county were so opposed to the
Erie Railroad and its methods, he de
nominated for the Assembly last fall
was defeated simply because he was
an Erie Railroad employe. He had to
give up the insurance on his property,
he said, because no company cared to
take it because the fire engines. going
into that part of the city were delayed
10 the fire in the umbrella factory al
Grove and Fourteenth streets was de
layed fourteen minutes.
A WORKINGMAN'S VIEW.
The bill was next advocated from &
~workingman's point of view by Michae
j. brennan of Jersey City, who said he
had lost two positions by being late
lthrougn delays at the Erie's crossings
He graphically described a narrow es
cape he once had from getting killed a.
hone of the crossings, and said that the
~"toothpicks," which the company called
gates, were no protection at all. They
were placed there because they JUS
4 barely covered the law. If you crep
under them and got killed that was you
own lookout. He told of a poor work
man who, was anxious to get TO worl
one morning when a long freight trail
blocked the crossing. He took out tn.
coupling pin and broke the train in two
SO that he could get over the tracks
For tina offense he was arrested an(
given ten months. MIR. Brennan though
fhat the roads ought to be made Qbserv.