The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-04-11
LIVES IN DAILY PERIL.
ROBERT sTUYTESlNT7S PLEA FOR
TIE BROADWAY POLICEMEN.


ne Thinks the Time HAS Como TO no some-
thing 60 Protect Them from tho Cable Cars
OF Them Injured in Their Devo-
tion to Their Duty-Fwo Striking Instances.
Robert Stuyvesant, q member of the we'll
known New York family founded by Gov.
Petor Stuyvesant, has made n personal appeal
TO Theodore Roosevelt, President of the Board
Of Police Commissioners, TO devise some means
by which the manning and ~inIuring Of the stall
whrt policemen who do duty at the Broadway
crossings may BIO stopped. Mr.. Stuyvesant has
been interested In the Broadway policemen for
many yenrs, and there isn't ono, from
Twenty-;hird street to the Battery, who
doesn't know him personally and who doesn't
regard him as a friend. Every day, almost.
Mr.. Stuyvesant strolls down Broadway, and Mt
each crossing he stors to have q chat with the
man on duty there. In this way he has learned
more about the men than appears TO the aver
age citizen. He has kept track OF the police
men who have been injured while on duty at
crossings, and he Gays that tho number is a.
tonishinR. IL wac n recent accident to n po-
liceman on duty ut e downtown crossing that
made Mr.. Stuyvosant make his appeal to Mr..
Roosevelt. The President OF tho Police Board
agreed with him that the work of q Broadway
policeman was stratninR and dangerous, but
thought that the cable road was responsible
Tor tho ~etato.of affairs, almost all OF tho acct
dents to policemen having oeen caused by
cable cars. To q SUN reporter Mr.. Stuyvesant
Ravo his views on the, matter at tho Century
Club yesterdays:
AS now constituted. Who said, II believe
New York has, without exception, the fnest
pollce force In the world. Where else can you
ind such mon in uniform2 Where else is
there 80 much bravery, so much self sacri-
ncep 1 have mover seen better men than those
on our New York police force, and I think
that portion known as tho Broadway squad IS
made UP OF as fine a set of mon as there Is
anywhere in the world. It is in these Broad
way mon that l am particularly interested. I
have watched them and their work for years,
l Eave seen great men of herculean proportions
literally knocked to pieces through too much
faithfulness to duty, and I think the time to
remedy their condition has come. These men
arc not ordinary fellows. II takes more than
muscle. stature, ,ard uniform to mako them
competent to do the work they are assigned
to. They are men OF character and superior
intellect, mon of diRnified department and
great consideration snes IS, and IL is enough tn
m AXE ones heart sick to hear constantly of
this one and TINT one being taken of in tn
ambulance after having been run down by o
cable Ear.
II don't believe the average citizen has the
~faintest idea of how many of these brave fell
lows are hurt In the cource of q year. People
have too much else to think of to bother about
the Broadway policeman. II any one cares TO
think of 1t at all, he will see that neaIly ten
hours Of work inBrondway every day is enough
to wear down In a very short time the best OF
men. IT is wearying. brain-rwisting work, yet
never for n moment do these big fellows shirk
II. Let any one stand, rs l have ST. cd MANY
times, at. any. rreouented crossing, where the
caole road makes the work harder, and see how
zealuusly they perform their duty. They
never seem to have any regard for themselves.
signal, comes up SUDDENLY. it is not himself the
policeman Will Try TO save. Time and again
l have seeL this thing happen and invariably
the policeman pushes whoever lie had in
charge into "A pl:c of safety. aud himself takes
the bump which he might easily have escaped.
for this sort OF thing?
Not Il day passes, 1t seems 20 me, thnt I
don't hear or read Of some broadway police
man being hurt by the cable road. some
times they are only slightly Siniured, some
there are other times When they are crippiedd
for life. l shudGer to think what the loss OF
life would be among the general public werei Il
now l thina the time has come to protect our
1T was.only a week ago Friday that one of
these brave policemen was run down and iu-
1ured, maybe for life. at broadway and Rector
street. The readers OF THE SUN must know
him, the big fellow who ha. watched over trt
lives OF so many thousand people at that cor
her for so long. a perfect giant in strength,
IL seemed that nothing could hurt him. but u
cable car Numbered down on Ina while ne was
seeing some ladies TOT plate Of safety and
knocked him iito Inconsistencies. lie was
carr.e ed to u neishboring drug store. and there
they brought him back to conscious .ess. back
spine TERRIBLY. lie wouldn't 90 to a %hosrital.
but wanted to go bac.: on duty. / finally In
du led him to get In Il CAP. and he went home.
IL. has been in bed ever since. ard three times
I have ueen 10 gee him. he IL suffering terri
by, and it mas be that that injury to his spine
Will incapacitatc him for WORK in the future.
Now hero 10 Ii man -Adolph Hummel Is his
name. and he lives ut i"l East fitty-sixth
~Itrert-who has served the city AS an nicer for
twenty years, who his a apotlcss record. who
has probably. saved hundreds OF lives in HI.
time, knocked out and ruined for life, maybe,
By n car belonging 70 n corporatIon. which
seems 10 Cprc.% nothing for the lives OF citiZens.
Can tho city afford to lose such material AS
thisf / sny IL Cannot, and something should
be done AZ once TO protect THESE men.
''There-is another, even more recent case.
| Broadway aud Worth street, n magnificent
man physically, was badly injured Nv a cable
smashed, and his shoulder blade was broken.
II WAS n case with Beiton OF receiving these
der tho wheels of the cable car. Bolton like
the true hero he Is, Cashed In and saved the
child; He wss injured. AS have old You; while
tied both Hummel and Bolton since they were
injured aud they ars suffering the most excru-
polio. force suffering in the same way to-day,
the result OF just such accideLts.
"Now | think the time has come to stop talk
ing ahonL Dead Man. Curve. and Hot Corner
in a Joking way and to provide some remedy
Tor these accidents which are gradually knock
ing out the best parL or our municipal police
force. The remedies ! would suggest would 10
first 10 make the cable cars run slower, to have
gripmen. "nrned To looS out for policemen,
and 70 Oily Instantly any orders they NAV get
from one Then, too, the cable road should
put men of It's own at all crossings. ! don't
mean at ono or two, but ~ all, and these men
should do all the standing between tracks that
it ia necessary 10 do. This would relieve tho
policemen OF u great deal OF work and would
remove one OF tho greatest dangers, for four
our OF five who a"e hurt are caught between the
up aud the down TRACKS. Then there should
be tenders on the cars tho s'me IA are used on
trolley cars, but above all the drilling cf new
| Rripmso on crowded Broadway should be
stopped. That work should be done else where.
We must save our broadway police men, even
II we do have TO force a CORPORATION into n little
extra expenditure. AS IL is now, they are be-
ing wasted. / could go on and tell you of
scores of accidents to policemen on Broad why.
but the story OF one is the story OF another. !
mean to do all In my power TO make better the
condition Of these fellows, and | hope that
many Others who feel as l do will help me-"
"BELLS OF SHANDON" MUFFLED.