The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-03-08
NEW WLDRK'S
 Nm Nsle STRIKE TrG. Mes of the Rapid
 Transit System. PUBLIC SUFFERS GREATLY Thousands Inconvenienced by
 Situation. Men, Women and Children Fight Desperately to Gain Entrance to Cars, Packed and damned
 to Overnowing.

New York. March With one col | lision in which twenty-nine persons were wounded and none killed, New York has passed through the first day of its general strike on the New York | rapid transit system. Beyond this &C., cident and some minor ones due to the abnormal situation the sum total was annoyance and vexation to the millions of people usually dependent upon the interborough lines for transportation to and from their business.
 So far there has been little disorder. Sporadic encounters between indi- viduals, some bad language and the &C., ton of few hoodlums in throwing missiles at passing elevated trains tells this phase of the strike.
 Service on the elevated lines and sub, ways. while not tied up was crippled and badly crippled at that. Trains were run on regular schedules in the | underground beginning with the early morning, but the elevated lines did not fare so well. On the east side practi- cally no attempt was made to institute a service, while the Sixth and Ninth Avenue lines which serve the west side run in a fashion woefully inadequate. In fact the elevated system of the Interborough's lines was pretty we'll | paralyzed The companys entire | energy seemed to be directed to an effort to maintain service in the sub- | way and in this it was partially suc- l cessfuL Strikebreaker Farley and his crew of 700 or 500 men were thrown into the tunnel; officials of the | company gave this system their per- | sonal attention and an enormous num- l Der of police were detailed to the trains | and stations. The attempt to run ex press trains was abandoned early in | the day. Every available man was put on the locals and a fairly good schedule was maintained during the evening rush hours. until the accident at Twen- | ty-third Street took place, This upset things. hut after strenuohs effort they were straightened out and service was resumed on a headway of from l five to seven minutes.
 The accident at 23rd Street was in | the nature of rear end collision, due, | 1t is said, to the inexperience of the men on the trains. Two cars had their ends smashed in; there was a panic among scores of passengers and of the injured fifteen were so severely hurt that they had to be sent to the hospit- als. Traffic was delayed for over two hours from o'clock until after T. The Accident.
 A five car local trairs bound uptown was in charge of Motorman Miner of | Louisville, Ky, and a conductor named Boyer, both new men. The train was crowded when it reached 23rd street Samuel T. Bradford. a strike breaker, was the guard between the two cars The platforms were so crowded that Bradford had difficulty In operating the sliding doors
 The train had just drawn into the 23rd street station and some of the passengers were about to alight when l there came a crash as a train which had left the bridge only thirty seconds | after the first train dashed into the first train, standing at 23rd street. The steel car of the first train was forced into the rear of the car just ahead. The passengers standing on the plat | form of the last two cars of the first train were caught as in a vicc. It was here that all of those who | were hurt received their injuries. Po- licemen and firemen were summoned to chop the cars apart and rescue the inn prisoned. It was fifteen minutes before the first of the victims were released. Mayor George B. Mcclellan late this afternoon reached the conclusion that transportation conditions had assumed such a serious aspect that 1t would be necessary to bring the two factions
 
 ingly addressed a letter to the Inter- borough and the Amalgamated Asso- citation to this end. In his letter he said:
 AS Mayor of the city. solicitous for the protection and comfort of it's cit izens, I beg to offer you my services. to act as mediator, arbitrator or in any capacity in which I may be instrument al in effecting an adjustment of the ex- l igti I TOt ough Rapid Transit Company and its employees. so that It's complete opera tion of their railroad may be resumed | at once.
 The suggestion which I have made to act myself-is but prompted by a desire to show my willingness to serve. would, however, much prefer to in- vite a number of disinterested citizens to undertake the task and submit to them this delicate and patriotic work"
 Every precaution has been taken to protect the power house and men work ing there. The men are supplied with meals in the power house and cots haxe been placed there for them.
 | All the downtown hotels are crowd ed with people unable to reach their homes One-third of the police force of Brooklyn was crowded over to Man. | haitian to aid in handling the strike situation. Two strikers were arrested for interfering with non-union men. Trying to Get Home. Down town New York quit business early this afternoon and put its mind and effort to the single purpose of get ting home. The mornings spectacle of lower Broadway and its tributary streets crowded with private equip ages, cabs and automobiles was re- peated. but the procession flowed north It began by o'clock and from then until dusk the narrow thoroughfare was a vast moving mass of vehicles. There were turnouts that probably had enver been so far south; there were cabs without number and except at the race courses on notable rays sell dom has New York seen such a col l lection of power vehicles.
 One of the oldest sights was a num- Der of large wagonettes such as are used for theatre parties, holding from | ten ta twelve persons each. They were filled with business men and took their places in the curious mixture of wheeled things.
 l While nothing like the customary