The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-06-12
FLOOD TIES UP THE SUBWAY.
TOOK 4 1.2 HOURS TO SHUT OFF
WATER FROM BROKEN MAIN.
Private Citizen Mc(luskey Did 1t LOns
After Tracks Were Awash. Trains Had
Stopped, Passengers Had Been Doused
or Penned in Stalled Alright Cars.

-Four hours and half after break IN
a 4s inch water main that put the subway
out OF business yesterday afternoon, Frank
McCluskev showed where the gate was
with which to shut off the flood. McCluskey
is not in the Department of Water Supply,
but works for the Degnon Contracting
Company. The resources of the. depart
| ment which the police succeeded in invoking
consisted Of a foreman of repairs and an
! assistant foreman. who couldn't find the
| gate.
For similar emergencies in the future this
| tip may he useful: Ask John f. Mckay.
| He is the principal assistant engineer
Of the Croton Water Bureau, and lives at
! 424 West l47th street, and he keeps maps
at his house, showing the gates. Nobody
but reporter told him of the break.
The big pipe broke In Park avenue in
front Of the new Hotel Belmont at $40
P. NJ. At $50 P. NJ. the water in the SUBJ
way after stopping into the open windows
of the cars and running many spring dresses
had risen so as to >wash the third rail in that
neighborhood and all the power was ordered
off south of Ninety-sixth street After
three quarters of an hour, during which
many passengers on express trains had
been imprisoned between stations a shuttle
service was put in north of Seventy-sscond
street and south of Fourteenth street.
At TAO P. NJ, when McCluskey shut off the
water, the subway tracks were flooded
from Forty street to Thrty-fourth
street and electric pump was busy throw
ing the water out. At midnight the men
who were at work repairing damages said
that it wo Id be 2 O'Clock in the morning
before through trains would be raining
PUMP DOES TIE BEST 1T CAN.
The break of 50 large water pipe flooded
at once the entire west side Of Park avenue
between Forty-frst and Forty-second street.
and closed it to traffic. The first man to do
anything about it was Police Sergeant
Sullivan of the Grand Central substation,
who at 320 P. NJ. notified Police Head
quarters which in turn notified the Water
Department. That department notified
the East Thirty-seventh street repair sta
ton and about an hour later Michael Ma
hady and Michael Bambrick, two laborers,
came in wagon to the Forty-first street
end of the food. They looked in vain for
the right gate to close. They went about
from one gate to another and shut it of.
But the little geysers in the street food
played on unconcernedly.
The cutters were torrents, fine flood
ran down Murray Hill into Forty-second
street, the trolley troughs at Forty-eecond
and Park avenue were filled, and in the
subway the electric pump threw two six
inch streams back into Park avenue at
Forty-ftst street without visible effect.
Showers Of mud and water fell through
the open windows Of the subway trains
az they passed Forty-frst street
CAR WINDOWS ORDERED SHUT.
Stationmaster Lee notified General Mana
ger Frank T. Hedley. who gave orders over
the telephone that all car windows be shut
before the trains passed. The order was
obeyed literally. even when trains were
stopped altogether. At $40 o'clock Mr..
Hedey himself came down and soon after
him Chief Engineer Dale of the subway
Mr. Hedley called up Police Headquarters
and was put on the wire of the Water De.
partment. That department, in reply to
his appeal that the main be shut off, told
him men had been sent. The men meant
were the two laborers.
POWER SHUT OFF FOR SAFETY.
At $50 P. NJ. the water had gained in the
subway to such an extent that at Forty
first street, just where the express tracks
begin to dip below the surface of the local
tracks, the third rail and the tracks were
awash.
Engineer Dale was down there when
the water short circuted the current close
by his feet with burst of fire that singed
his hair. 1t became dangerous to operate
trains and Mr.. Hedley ordered the power
shut off from City Hall to Ninety-sixtn
street
At this time he again called up the Water
Depa rtment, and was told that another
gang of men had been sent up. But no.
body saw that gang.
ON THE STALLED TRAINS.
The pump kept working away, but the
water gained. 1t poured in at two places
from the roof at Forty-first street, it oozed
in thin streams like a shower bath from
the walls and ran down hill until at Thirty
eighth street. also. a section of track about
three hundred feet long, stood under water.
Mr. Hedley ordered at about $50 P. NJ.
that trains be run between City Hall station
and Fourteenth street and from Seventy
second street north.
The lights in the stalled trains between
Fourteenth and Seventy-second streets
were turned off Most of the local trains
stalled were near stations and the rassen-
gers we're permitted to get off Three
between Tltletl street ana pTdNO
Central station were stalled between sta
tons and the passengers were kept in them
for forty minutes or more before they were
allowed to get out and walk along the track
to the nearest station.
swEATED NEARLY AN HOUR IN A srALLho
TRAIN
The passengers on a southbound Lenox
avenue express got their first news that
something was wrong when the train stut-
tered to a stop about three blocks north
Of the Columbus Circle station, about
$50, Without any explanations to the pas
sengers the guards went through each car
and closed every window. In five minutes
every passenger was wipng his brow and
wondering. Trips OF discovery to the
front car yielded no news about the trouble
One by one the men passengers pulled
of their coats while the women looked en-
viously at them. AT last spirit Of re-
belion made itself felt. Without asking
the guards, the sweltering travellers yank,d
down the windows themselves. That
brought slight relief The air in the tunnel
outside the cars was little less stuffy than