The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1904-09-06
CRUSH ON The STEAM ROADS.
LABOR DAY TRAVEL HEAVIER
THAN EVER THIS YEAR.

Many Visitors In Town and Many Vacation.
lists Coming HOme-Riyer and Sound
boats Jammed-Dlsa ppearance OF Bi-
cycles Helps Solve baggage Problem
Each year larger number Of out of town
people visit the city on Labor Day. One
railroad man said that they come in spite
Of the heat-t wasn't hot yesterday-be-
cause there is more to see here than else
where.
Whatever the reason may be. the city
was never SO full Of strangers. Most OF
them came from nearby places. They
filed the financial districts as well as the
more lively parts of town. Wall and Broad
streets swarmed with women and babies
instead Of brokers and messenger boys
and all the sightseeing autos took in that
part Of the city
The railroads that were preparing for the
incoming travel yesterday had just got
through with immense crowds Of outgoing
week-enders Trains ran out of the Lack
awanna station in Hoboken every five min
utes nearly all day Saturday. There We're
twenty-five extra trains and the outgoing
business was the largest during the past
year.
General Passenger Agent d. W. Cooke
Of the Erie Railroad reported similar
condition on his line. The weekend BUSH
ness was much larger than last year.
The most interesting feature of the Labor
Day tide of travel was the comparative
ease with which baggage was handled.
A few years ago the railroads were over
whelmed with a mass of baggage which
sometimes took weeks to distribute. The
illustrated newspapers contained pictures
of mountains of trunks that reached nearly
to the station roofs. No such piles OF bag
gage could be found yesterday, although
the Grand Central officials say that cond-
tons will be worse to-day.
Since Labor Day has become such a
popular time for travel the roads have
learned how to handle the crush OF baggage
and now make elaborate preparations for
it. The Lackuwanna road had an extra
shift of twenty men last night. At the
Grand Central Station preparations had
been made and the same was the case at the
Erie station. The Pennsylvania station is
80 large and the facilities for handling
baggage 80 good that no extra help is
needed.
Another reason that the baggage crush
is less serious this year is that people are
sending their belongings home ahead OF
time. During the past week the amount
u
Station has been so great that the officials
there believe that people are. trying to
avoid the rush by sending their things
early.
The general abandonment of bicycles
has been another important factor in re-
ducing the crush. A few years ago, when
nearly everybody took a wheel to the coun-
try, the Homecoming OF the machines
crippled the service. According to a rail-
road man the riders were more particular
La,. tE4,r rtx-nn hnn
the rest of their baggage, and as they
are by no means easy to handle 1t required
lots Of valuable time to get them out of
the way. Between 800 and 400 bicycles
stood in one corner of the Pennsylvania
station in Jersey City on Labor Day a few
years ago, while there We're scarcely more
than dozen in the whole building yester-
day.
Travellers also carry more hand bag
gage and send fewer trunks than they
formerly did, one railroad man said. The
general use Of the suit case and the
better facilities in passenger coaches for
slowing away small baggage make this
possible.
The steamboats, and the Brooklyn Bridge
did their share in moving the crowds. A
passenger who came down from Albany
on a New York Central train passed both
the up and down Day liners and could
hardly tell which was the moro crowded.
Both looked like Coney Island boats on a
ditih
A steady stream OF people boarded the
cars on the Bridge, but so far as the police
could see there was no trouble in handling
them.
One young man, however, couldn't wait
to walk on the Coney Island train and
climbed through the window. Detectives
McCauley and Donohue arrested him, and
in the Oak street station, where he was
locked up, he described himself as George
Beier a stenographer. of $50 East Fifty
fifth street,
Up to a late hour in the afternoon very
few OF the incoming trains We're behind
time, although several were running in two
sections At the Grand Central station
the Southwestern Limited was an hour late.
At the Pennsylvania station all trains were
on time.
Nearly all trains arrived at the Grand
Central Station from twenty-five minutes
to an hour late last night. The Empire
State Express was an exception. coming in
on time. The shuttle trains on the elevated
line between the station and Third avenue
gave up their schedule and ran as often
as possible to accommodate the crowd.