New-York tribune., 1902-12-12
PASSENGERS TALK RIOT.
POLICE PROTECT AGENT
Ire on Third Rail Blocks EIeUated
Traffic.

The 0lIlCHilt pl bdfel Oh lne eieNate0 roads
last night caused by the failure of the third
au TO properly work. and leading to trains
crawling along at four miles an hour, getting
,rclx at curves, in blue flame and sparks con-
.,nuallv sputtering and in some instances
enarEs falling into the streets, while the lights
IN the cars loomed up brightly and then fiut-
tered up and down, sometimes to go out alto
gether. nearly led to riot at the Twenty-third-
81 uptown station of the Second-ave. branch
soon after IL p. m. Over two hundred people
20. of a train that had crawled in about half
en- hour from Fourteenth-st and demanded
their money back. When half a dozen Germans
who led the attack said they would get their
money by violence If not otherwise the ticket
seller sent for the police. and half dozen Off
GERS dispersed the crowd. Demands for money
10 be returned were also made by crowds at
the Twenty-third and Forty-second st. stations
Of the Third-ave road.
train that got into the Twenty-third- st up
town station of the Second-ave. line groaned
IN getting around the curve. which it Just man.
aged 70 make As ii stopped the passengers
could be seen to be standing up. and nearly all
of them left the train They were infuriated
by the slowness of the cars as they moved up
town. Many Of them had got on at Ninth
Fourteenth and Nineteenth sts-, and were go
ing far uptown. and they were so disgruntled
TO be kept the train half an hour in going a
few stations that they wanted their money
hack.
A BEDLAM OF VOICES
The two hundred or more, including a great
many women, were asking in all sorts Of voices
from low but firm demands to shouts for their
money TO be returned. All that could get into
the station where the ticket seller was behind
= cage which probably saved him some harm
got in there TO ask for their money or transfers.
You've got TO give us our money back" they
said. We've been on that train half hour
riding few blocks. and we'd never get to Har-
lem on such a bum road. What 90 you think
are? We've got to get our money back, and if
you don't want TO give it TO us. why, we'n take
it
The ticketseller had tried to tell the people
that he had say in the affair. He
der the company's orders and he had orders
10 give money back
Then give US transfers for the surface cars,
and we'll ride on them instead of this rotten
road" said they.
SENDS PORTER FOR POLICE.
Take the money" said number of people
outside, they heard that some people near the
cage were warming up, and the cries reached
the ears Of the ticket seller He sent the porter
around to the East Twenty -second-st. station to
tell the police there was riot at the station
and TO send help.
Half a dozen policemen went around the
run. The crowd was boiling up by this time,
and the cage the only thing that saved the
ticket seller.
We can smash something belonging TO this
bum road anyway said one man.
Then the police came up and the crowd backed
down. The ticket seller explained that he had
no order to give the money back to these people.
who were demanding it, and the people said
they were entitled 10 it, as the road was sell
ing tickets all stations while the trains were
not running as fast as a woman could walk.
The roundsman in charge of the police told
the people that they could not get money from
the ticket seller who had no authorization TO
refund money, and then he said:
You're too much of a crowd here and block
ing the road. Get on the train or get out alto
gether.'
Six men with clubs and plenty of help In sight
was too much for the crowd and they decided
to go without the money. Another train had
come along. and though il went pretty lamely,
some OF the women and men got aboard. But
the majority went to the street and walked or
took surface cars uptown
At F'orty-second-st. several trains that came
slowly along were lightened by dozens OF per-
sons who hurried into the station to demand the
return Of their money. AT Twenty-thrd-st. the
same thing occurred. There was violence.
hut the agents were denounced by women
well as men, The numbers swelled TO crowds at
times and the agents heard themselves called
names and the company condemned a thousand
times over.
drizZling rain turned into q thin layer of ice on
the contact or third rail, and prevented the
transmission OF power from that rail TO the
motors in the propelling cars. The result was
almost a complete tying up of the entire ele
waited railway service for hours. and on por-
tions of the road the trains at a stand
still as late IL O'Clock last night
At D. m. traffic on the Second-ave. line
abandoned, and further attempts on the part
of trainmen TO get their trains into the sheds
given up, the passengers being shifted along
from one train to another and thence to the
station platforms, where they received block
lines
On the Third-ave lire traffic was not entirely
blocked, but the trains made such slow head
way, and a ride to Harlem from the City Hall
station was accompanied by such inconvenience.
that thousands Of passengers got off and
walked along the icy pathway to the nearest
station, where they took the trolley lines
USUAL SCHEDULE GIVEN UP.
On the Third-ave. line all attempts to main
tain the usual schedule of trains running under
a four minute headway given up early.
All express trains were taken off, and sched
ue Of running trains every eight minutes was
put in force Even this proved Intellectual and
the result was that in the rush hours OF trafflc
" TOOK train from an hour and q half 10 Two
hours 10 from the City Hall station to that
at Pelham-aTe-. or the end of the line in The
Bronx
trouble experienced. All service above
Ftty-third-st. practically abandoned after
S~3o p. m. Engines were brought into requlSi-
tion and towed long lines of electric cars from
South Ferry as far as Fifty tf1ird-st-, where the
Passengers put off and turned over to the
surface lines
SITUATION AT BRIDGE ALSO BAD
The situation at the Brooklyn Bridge was al
most as bad. Bath Beach, Coney Island and all
other suburban electric elevated trains were not
run across the bridge to the Manhattan end at
all but took passengers on the end of the
bridge, the trains being drawn by locomotives