The sun., 1900-09-07
A GRAND HOMEWARD RUSH
TRAVEL AND TRAFFIC FAR or or
THE ORDINARY.
TRANSPORTATION Compsuies ana baggage
Truckmen Put to IL to Handle the stun
Trains Ruu In Sections ON Schedule and
LusRaEs DeIaysd-Llke the Dewey Crowd

Trains Ruz in Sections ON Scheduic ANA
LusRaEe DeIaysd-Llke the Dewey Crowd,
Not the half has been told about the great
rush Of homeward- bound travel and traific 10
and through this city OF New York since last
Sunday. In a general way people know lhat
there has been a rush. There has been fush
unprecedented under normal conditions The
September Homecoming crowds are familiar
feature Of the autumn In tho metropolis ana
the railroad men and baggage truck,i"rs Know
Just what IL means when the first OF september
or especially Labor Day, comes around. Bu'
this year the volume OF business has gone he
yond tho records, excepting that Of the Dcwnv
throng last year. which was, Of course son'-
thing entirely different from the regular ad-
turhn homecoming OF summer soionrners NJ
the seashore and in the mountains ana IN more
or less quiet country dlstIiCts
The readest measure % the unprecedented
volume Of honeward travel ia the baggage
handled here By that measure the volume
OF business is excessive. The baggage simply
cannot bo handled promptly. II cannot be-
brought here promptly. transferred promptly
from railroad 20 railroad, or delivered with
promptness to the homes Of the owners In the
city and vicinity. Tho baggage express COM
panies merely refuse TO accept hurry orders.
because they have not the facilities
for handling the good Outside OK
prossInen who are at hand have aI
they can DO and people who really want their
luggage 70 reach their homes here IN season or
TO ACCOMPANY them on the trains outward bound
on other roads than those on which they reached
the city are obliged To dicker with cahmen TO
take the impedmenta along with the TaSsen-
gers. n indeed tho trunks. handbags or what
ever have come along on the trains with the
pass myers at ALL
The rush began on SUNDAY night Why
ary one who had been away from the city
should want TO get back here on Labor Day
the railroad men do not know but tho rush OF
hoineward-bounders fr4t made itself felt that
night. Sunday. Al day Labor Day It con-
tinued. Tuesday II increased and up TO last
evening the railroad and baggage men had
been unable to detect any appreciahIe let-'ip
In it. Trains from tho East and West and
South and North. came into the city terminals
loaded. not only 20 their normal capacity. but
burdened with all the passengers and luggage
they could carry In two and three sec
tlons Of six aud eight cars each. With
each coach carrying from forty to sixty
passen9ers II will be seen that one
train brought In the neighborhood Of a thous-
and people one train running in three sections
New York Central system came In with twenty
one cars Wednesday afternoon shore
Limo train from Boston over the New YORK.
New Haven and Hartford road broke in two
Just after It crossed the Harlem River. one
engine was trying TO draw fourteen filed
coaches. and something had to give "av or at
least SON ething did give wsy An engine was
hurried down from the Mott Haven yards 10
the assistance OF tho broken tram, ana the DELAY
resulting from tho accident was slight A'o-
gether tho railroad companies havo rot along
With comparatively little delay, considering
the volume " business handled. but with trains
running In two and three sections, waiting Tor
connections over equally crowded branch lines
and for people and baggage TO get aboard ana
be put aboard, delays running from ten minutes
g an hour and half haye been RECORDED on 70
N fact, the operating ofticiNls have considered
thnt they we're doing pretty well
The OF S% SSGT n eGTE rsEr6ad Se .@ons ,9 h
been bssgage 1asFaSe bIfsase .ssS oI,ts me great
an psnes. mas nndins SHs@ that they had to have
ernmost or1i spaf OF track in the train shed.
tance Of 200 yards down the shed and added
this space 70 the regular baggage room But
Cor nearly two days two lines OF trunks and the
larger pieces OF luggage Of travellers were led
high around three sides OF q psrallelograrn In
the train shed. occupying part of the space gen
erally, used by arriving passengeTs and thc
pieces ~ baggage were taken to the enlarged
baggage room, but there were from eight hun
drcd 10 a thousand pieces piled about the plat
were doing their beet 10 lower the piles, but 1t
took them day and halt t9 make deep i'm
prpsslou on them and q little longer 30 clear
them away. 1t f. entirely possible that other
piles may he there by this morning
BESIDES the express companies men who were
concerned with the luggage to be tn9Slerred
IN other railroads
Station Master William Henderson Of the Grand
Central station, one ot ths busiest men In New
nothing but sorting out baggage which arriving
on one OF the three rosds ceLtring ~ tho Grand
Central station, vas to be transferred o. one
course through tho city brought them into
and took them out from the Grand Central
station on thsir way TO their home? in this
obliged 10 go over other Toads. ~ hangs
chncks were Issued at the Grand Central
in on the Same traln with lin and ho wanted
10 20 on home by the first train out rom that
station he could exchange his check for an
other and go ahead home knowing that his
luggage would follow IA soon rs II arrived here
and could he found and forwarded, IT, on
the other hand. a traveller arriving at he Grand
q ey shS IN a8d could be ond % and e s S he
had 70 provide for their transportation a. best
be could 70 tho Other railway station or ferry
before he could get them checked for his home
and continue his Journey
The railroad companies have continued to
do their best TO keep mp the schedules and have
30 well succeeded that Yesterday nearly all
trains were marked "on time
Conditions at the terminals OF the Jersey
railroads have been similar 10 those al the Grand
Central, Even the spacious station Of tho
Pennsylvanis road at Twenty-thrd street
has been filed up with baggage and AZ the
Erie's Twenty-third street station the trunks
have come In SO thickv that not only has tho
regular baggage room been iammed with them
but they have heen piled ven on the bridge which
swings with the tides 10 meet the ferryboatS
An Erie baggage master who lives IN Jersey
decl ared that the reason FOR the hig rush this
year was not that the summer travellers were
more than ever desirous Of getting home soon
after the I n ~ Septcmber but that this year
money was generally distributed a. the result
OF the country's and the peoples prosperity.