New-York tribune., 1904-10-28
BIRTH OF SUBWAY CRUSH
Scenes Of Frenaied Pushing at
IA5tk-st. Terminal.

Indescribable scenes of crowding and con-
fusion. never before paralleled in this city
marked the throwing open of the subway to the
general public last night. The old 6 O'Clock
Brooklyn Bridge car crush paled into insig-
nifcance when contrasted with the deadly, suf-
locating. rib smashing subway rush, which be-
gan at O'Clock last night
Men fought kicked and pummelled one an
other i'm their mad desire to reach the subway
ticket Offices or 10 ride on the trains Women
were dragged out. either screaming in Mysteries
or i'm sWooning condition: gray haired men
pleaded for mercy: boys We're knocked down,
and only escaped by miracle being trampled
under foot. The presence of the police
alone averted what would undoubtedly have
been panic after panic, with wholesale loss of
life
Hardly had the passengers on the first ex-
press train reached the -hundred-and-forty
hfth-st. terminal; climbed the stairway and
crossed the road TO return by the downtown en-
trance. when one OF the worst crashes Of fhc
entire evening began Two thousand people,
composed of Washington Heights residents who
wished TO go downtown. and those who had
ridden uptown and wished to return, then surged
and swarmed madIy at the downtown entrance.
frantic to descend For time the handful Of
police was powerless to cope with the frenzieG
crowd
The fence surrounding the Hebrew sheltering
Guardian societys House of Reception went
down with crash before the resistless on
slaught one policeman's coat was ripped apart
by the crowd, (which, surging, pushing this way
ANA in several circles, literally rushed" the
ticket chopper and reached the platform with
out paying a fare.
Again and again men fought for places at the
ticket window and flung down dollar bill With
out waiting for the change. thankful enough to
escape with a 5-cent ticket and no broken
bones.
Now. a pair OF lonely women would bespeak
the aid of some decent appearing man. Button
ing his coat and ramming his hat down hard on
his head the Sir Galahad would hur himself
beadlone into the maelstrom Of humanity and
re-emerge after many minutes dusty, collarless,
and breathing hard. but with the two precious
tickets safely in his hand
So fercely did the strain tell the police
that Tribune reporter saw one bluecoat sud
denly lose all patience, and, closing his fist.
lunge from the shoulder at the chest of par
t,cularlv persistent would-be passenger. knock
ing him to the ground For a moment it looked
like fight between the policeman and the
passenger with a possible wholesale panic as the
sequel Happily. however, the passenger was
not hurt by his fail. and managed to keep his
temper.
RESERVES STOP MAD STAMPEDE
For fully half an hour with revolving and
hying wedge formations. charges and counter
charges and cane rushes. the mad stampede
continued, the crowd increasing every moment
IS fresh incoming trains disgorged their human
freight.
Police reserves were called and arrived in the
nick Of time Then the big crowd was slowly
hut surely whipped into some semblance of
order
between and 8 o'clock the Times Square
and Grand Central stations. Ninety-seventh-st,
sayentv-second-st., Fourteenth-st.. Brooklyn
Bridge and city Hall loop, ali saw Implications
Of these scenes in greater or less degree.
Although each train has seating capacity of
atout fftv-six. the reporter counted in train
Ftar rain more than nifty hanging to the straps
~. standing in the middle, tossed this way and
that. . e,,,z,7,,, ,,7i. -
~ Mo forms they were thrown to the winds
--erV platform being Jammed with al least
,aiya -parsons Merely 10 enter or leave a car
.ant 81 one Of the terminals was work for
lUIi e. 81 fared hard last night with elderly men
- ,..orneu especially those who had unwisely
,-.,,bt their children and even their ba bies
fhaTm