New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1902-03-22
PARK AVENUE CAVES IN.
A .SUBHAYROCK SLIDE RUINS
TWO HOUSES.
OCCUPANTS RUN FOR THEIR LIVES AS
WALLS COLLAPSE-A WHOLE
BLOCK TENANTLESS.

For the fourth time that well known and i'll
starred thorouEhfare, Park-ave., has been Wis
tied by "A serious accident. stratum Of rock.
Weighing hundreds of tons. yesterday slipped
from It's resting place under the front of four
houses on the east side Of Park-sve. between
Thirty seventh and Thirty-eighth SITS, and
crashed into the subway tunnel simultaneously
the stoops and areaways Of two OF the houses
fell into the sap When the dust had cleared the
fronts Of those houses werc torn and scanned
with ugly cracks, which slowly widened until
a gang Of workers was forced to pull down the
facades The fronts of the two houses on either
side Of those wrecked settled. and not many
minutes after showed dangerous teItalc streaks
that told OF undermining. Through wide hoie
in the street sixty feet deep directly in front
Of the ruined property could he seen the mass
OF rubbish, at N" base of the tunnel.
Luckily. uo lives We're lost and no ono was
injured. Conservative estimates place the dam
age to properly at $lotoOo What damage may
subsouuoutiy result to- houses Immediately ad-
joining tho damaged section is mere gUecswork
as IL is feared the rock beneath them may be as
14cacherous as that which slipped into the
tunnel
In seemingly fatal sequence Park-ave. resi-
dents have been distressed with disaster after
disaster. on January : the awful railroad ac-
cdent in the New-York central tunnel occurred
rihcd the district about the Murray Hill Hotel
ON February - the list Regiment Armory
burned and twenty-ouc persons lost their lives
i'm tho Park Avenue Hotel. Yesterday morning
at 30 o'clock the inhabitants of the same street
We're startled by thunder Of falling rock and
the rattle of trembling facades. All Of these ac-
cidents happened a direct line with and
within twenty-five blocks Of each other
The last on the unfortunate list served to
frigb nm : he
avenue. They we're asking yesterday if the list
was complete.
ORDERED OUT OF THEIR HOMES
As early as o'clock last Wednesday evening
tho hundreds Of tons Of shaln rock showed signs
Of insecurity. At $50 o'clock yesterday morn
ing the greater part of the mass plunged into
the gap. Workmen in the tunnel knew that the
rock was slipping, but the sliding movement at
The beginning was slow that there was ample
time TO make repeated attempts to shore il up.
The forts of the subway employees to hold back
the mass was unavailing. and yesterday the
era sh came At 30 o'clock five hours later,
another roar sounded ana another high French
stoop fell into the gap At this point Captain
Delaney acting under orders from Inspector
Thompson. ordered every person in the block
between Thirty seventh and Thirty-eighth SITS
10 leave their homes. simultaneously Perez NJ.
stewart, Commissioner of Buildings, temporarily
condemned tho entire property.
Those who were compelled to leave their
homes last night Arson W. Hard. No. -,
H II. FIagler. No II; Hall Clark Mccullough
No ~; j. J. Murphy. No 81. F. w Devoe No
80: L. Leroy Dresser. No. 81. and Mrs A. f.
Crawford, Nos. Is and 10
No - Park-ave. is at present vacant. II is
owned by Mrs. NJ T. Willett. who is travelling
in Europe. Mr.. Mccullough. the front of whose
house was wrecked, is lawyer in the office of
Stetson. Jennings & Russell No IL Wall-st
Mr. Mccullough. who was recently married, with
his young wife was forced To make a hurried
exit from his house, and seek refuge at the home
of Mrs. McCuough's father. who lives directly
opposite. When they felt their house sinking
they ran at full speed across their rear yard
and climbed fence to safety Mr. Murphy
and family, who live at No. 81. were forced to
retreat in the same manner. Mr. Murphy was
taking a bath when the roar was heard. The
houses Of the two last named suffered the great
est damage. Mrs. Willetts property was not
seriously affected by the slide. Mrs. Devoe and
Continued fourth pnge.
-rLe roiitS to California from, Nan. vorl or NJ.