The sun., 1896-02-03
RAT TRAP BRIDGE DEPOTS.
soME xMPROvEME ENTs, BUT
THEY'RE MIGHTY SMALL

OF the public. and that these improvements
werc miserable deiusions, that the people felt
they had been made victims of bunco game
that they had been made to purchase a gold
brick instead of a new depot, II was believed
that the trustees would take steps to investigate
the complaints and TO promptly remedy the de-
fccts. Past experience with the bridge trustees
did not encourage this belief, but in this case
the faults were glaring and the remedy 80
plain and so cheap that the possibility OF the
trustees refusing to apply 1t and grant the relief
which was absolutely necessary for com fort was
not thought Of Schoolboy stubbornness was not
supposed to be n part of the makeup OF men
Uf the character and standing OF the bridge
trustees.
Since the publication in THE sun OF this first
first notice every paper In the city Of New York
and in the city of Brooklyn has given more or
less attention to the matter. and the denuncia-
tion of the trustees by their victims. the people
who are compelled to travel over the bridge
once or twice daily. has grown more bitter daily.
Among all the travelling public they have not q
single friend or defender. Besides the denun-
citation by the public and the newspapers the
Grand Jury of Kings county presented the trus-
tees for the rat trap terminal that disgrnced the
two cities and demanded its immediate i'm
provcmcnt. 1t Is reported now that the Grand
Jury is to take the matter up again, and that it
will follow the usual course. Ar official of the
District Attorneys office here was asked yester-
day what the usual course in such case as this
was. Hc said:
"The custom is for the Grand Jury first to
present and in case this public warning, which.
next to indictment, is the most severe con.
demnution provided under the law is not
Needed. the next jury that takes the matter up
takes the only other step left, namely the in
dietment OF the persons at fault"
ynnNh hna l..f ,1iG hnI Iyy .t,of
has been said III THE Sun. Some additional
stnirways have been put in from the street to
brooklyn side. enabling pass sengers to yet of
the platform more quickly. and thus lessening
somewhat the jam during the rush hours Of the
evening. when the people are getting home
Is not any the less, but tdoesntlast solong nfter
each train load is dumped on the platform.
There have been some other improvements. by
the erection of unHainiy board fences in the
ting lost while searching for the train OH which
they are to go to Brooklyn has been lessened:
the minor officials in shutting off the sale of
tickets and thus preventing the overcrowding
of the dinky platforms when for some reason or
been followed twice within week. Under tho
Old system the sale Of tickets was continued,
come n and thousand 'i or more e' peopie who
were on the platform when the traffic was
stopped were held there like rats in
posed to all the dangers Of pneumonia
and there Is no question, physicians say.
be traced to ten. fifteen, or twenty minute
wait on this platform. A dozen times it was
'eG @ s ,Ia a
great loss of life. This new course of the minor
officials, which was taken in the first case at
trustees. made impossible the repetition of
these dangers. Still another improvement has
ties in the rat trap at this end. This was done
after man had been showed off the platform by
crowd and his skull fractured, There have
for life on the dinky platform in the Brooklyn
and legs OF others have been broken: in spite,
also. of the fact that the millions of persons who
and every one cursed the trustees individually
ard collectively. not thing has been done to
the nHs Scen II Ep pe 9 the "hefs
have been injured, no system of signals has
been adopted to prevent accidents when there
such system wi hin one weeks time. Plenty
OF feasible plans have been suggested: Farmer
suggested one and told the trustees they could
haye the design for nothing.
Nor has anytn1E been done 6y the
ger has to climb to reach the platform where
the train is. TO get to the train on which you
half way from Park row to the East River aud
to climb more than fifty stairs. THIS walk is
ever Upward. Ills walk is wet. Hundreds Of
dollars worth of dresses and hats are spotted
and spoiled there weekly; woman who
som" hat for which sh" had paid $50. found
when she REACHED the other side no less than
come out. She was one of hundred thousand
and more women who crossed the bridge Satur-
r cheap hasS s
it does @ expensive cones ones. That this dark and dis.
ma! passage. eyer onward and forever upward,
son 1t is wet Is that the roof leaks when it rains,
and when it doesn't raj the roof seems to sweat
: to gather moisture from the atmosphere and
drop it on the uniucky. 1t rained Saturday. The
weather outside WAS bad enough. but in this dis
NAL ever onward and forever upward passage
It It r"ned @ dirty TS Water va ns;ead @ pu Of clean. @
n gil of water and wet through whatever they
touched. The trustees cannot plead ignorance
vded shelter from the water for the ticket chop
pers By means Of ungainly and vi!lninOus look
Ing covers that are in all respects like the covers
to the boxes thnt the immigrant railroad laborer
who works for 90 cents u day calls his home.
These covers are about six feet square. and hang
protected. prot 'ThHc water thai falls on on them. and and
hat would fall on the men If they were not
aF and s so,ns OF the 'GSsss he
building Of these covers proves conclusively
that the trustees know all about the leak in the
roof. II seems 10 show also hat while they
want 10 protect the mployeeS, they do not care
n Hip for the people WHO pay their salaries. 1t
hctllIS W bc M u lHEl vi lllc W
make every body unfortunate enough to have
To travel over it wish he had never been born.
As stated before. the roof of this ever onward
and forever upward passage swcata when 1t
doesn't rain. Wien it does rain II collects great
quantities OF water and stores II for future use.
For three Days after it stops raining outside it
continues to form inside this passage. The i'm
mediate expenditure ~ less than $50 would
probably remedy NIL OF this, and the passage
would 10 50 dry that there would not even 10
any necessity for the unsshtly covers for the
men NJ the chop boxes.
While the jam in the BROOKLYN rat trap dur
ing the rush hours in thc evening is more
OF her I'D" OF the rat trap in the morning is un
changed. md tho Jam in the rat trap on this
side during the rush hours OF the evening is get
ting TO lie worse than it ever was. a SrS re-
porter went to BROOKLYN on saturday night
about q O'Clock. The rush saturday night Is
less than II is any other night during the week
because of tn" very general Observance OF the