The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-11-27
THE JOYS OF ELEVATED TRAVEL.
In the Afternoon Rush Hour on New
York,s Third Avenue Railroad.
From the New York ur

=
1t takes nerve and muscle to get on
board train at the city hall and the
Ninth street stations Of the Third avenue
elevated road every afternoon between
40 O'Clock and $50 o'clock One OF these
days when the pushing. eager crowd that
jams the uptown platform on the Ninth
street station and the entire city hall plat
form shoves some Of its members off the
platform under an incoming locomotive,
2here will be a great cutlery over the
thing and the condition Of affairs during
the rush VIII be changed. Some such ac-
cjdent seems inevitable sooner or later II
the present state OF things Is permitted
10 continue Meanwhile, everyday
bruises scratches and nervous strains are
suffered by the people who are Obliged TO
20 uptown on the Third avenue road IN
the rush hours. The mere item OF dis-
comfort, without any more serious IN
pleasantness, applies to every one OF the
roads customers at this time Of day. AS
a matter Of fact. the platforms OF these
Two stations between the hours speclhed
are the scenes Of jnnumerable rough-and-
tumble fights, and the training schools ana
happy hunting grounds of pickpockets.
one day last week a stranger 10 the east
side. moved by curiosity, fell IN with the
crowd that flows from the city hail DIS
trict toward the bridge stairs in immense
numbers late in the afternoon lie reach-
ed the level Of the brigade promenade III
safety. big blue sign over near the ele-
waited railroad station hdlcaueu tlal
trains were to be found somewhere IN the
neighborhood It did not indicate any or
the other varieties of activity TO be found.
Pouring out of the exit door on the
right of the elevated railroad ticket once
came a crowd that was as VIDE as the
doorway itself and moved with a velocity
which indicated strong pressure from more
crowd behind. The faces of these people
vorA e3pressions Of mingled relief ana eX-
citeuent They were flushed, and most OF
Them were angry Some were laughing
excitedly Ii was a strange thing, ana Al
seemed little startling 10 the stranger
that nearly every man, woman ana chlid
that came through that door during the
space of two or three minutes had hsts
clenched and elbows set at an aggressive
angle, as if ready to punch.
When he reached the end Of the platform
and began making these general oDserYd-
lions he had stationed himself on the out
side OF a crowd of sixty people, more or
less who had formed in semi-circle
around one of the openings in the railing
next to the right-hand track. Now, after
about a minute and half, he was almost
in the center of a crowd twice as large, 50
many had joined it in a short time. Every
individual of the hundred and more in the
crowd had his shoulder and one elbow
pointed toward the four-foot opening in
the railing. and was pressing steadily to-
ward il. There was no train there, but
they were pushing for position. Within
short distance of him the stranger saw
the young woman who had stamped on his
toe i'm the ticket office. He did not cherish
any resentment against her for she was in
worse plight now than her worst enemy
could have desired. Her hat had been
knocked over her right ear, and somehow
or other she had been foolish enough TO
raise her arms from her side, and she was
so wedged that she could not get them
down again TO protect herself. She was
being squeezed from her shoulders to her
knees. She was biting her lips to keep
herself from screaming and was twisting
her head up to get air.
A train rolled in. The platforms were
jammed full of men. Inside the aisles were
full of men and women rising from their
seats. 1t was apparent that the train was
more than comfortably crowded. The plat
forms of the last car and the next one
TO 1t came to a stop at the opening in the
railing nearest the stranger. AS soon as
the train stopped the crowd that had been
waiting around the opening pressed for
ward. The stranger himself moved about
three feet Then it stopped short 1t had
reached the train. There was a crowd just
as compact on the train that wanted to
get off For a minute or two the foremost
ranks in both crowds shouldered one an
other angrily. At last one man worked his
way from the train into the dense mass
that was pressing in against him He
was followed by another ana another. Each
one was the center of free fight Then
came one dragging a woman after him,
and in his wake a woman with a two-year-
old child in her arms Then came a whole
train load. and meanwhile the gathering
crowd that wanted to get on the train
fought TO reach the cars that were NOT
ready for them, fought to hold the posi-
tions that they had obtained by coming
early or by strategic showing or to relieve
themselves of their empowering wrath
against their fellowmen.
The stranger was fighting, too. He was
not usually a lighting man, but he couldn't
resist the desire He set his elbows firm
ly al1imbo and started for the ear whirliglg
fashion. He thought to himself that all
his good manners and generosity must
have been squeezed out of him. He knew
he must have had some such attributes
once upon time because one of his maid
en- aunts, who was very particular about
such things, wrote him a letter every
Christmas to tell him So inclosing q $50
bill as a guarantee of good faith. Thus
does the mind of perishing man cling To
tritling incidents of life.
A scream at his right brought him to
himself again. There was giving way,