The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-10-06
HERE'S kTUNNEL OF MYSTERY.
BELMONT BORING WITHOUT AU-
THORITT, SAYS THE CITY.
Meantime People In NeikhbOrhOOd o. shaTt
Are Getting Used to EArtbauake.lAke
BlaSts-VaIuable Franchise NJ stake
If rftS wins SUIT n VIII Get Tunnel.

mont tunnel on Thursday did not surprise
tho residents, hotel guests and storekeepers
e The neighborhood. From the manner
in which the blasting has been carried on
thew nave been led to expect any sort OF
an accident short 81 an earthquake, 30 that
the fatal mangling Of a workman or two
nv the premature explosion OF a dynamite
cartridge was considered as merely an
incident in the campaign that Mr.. Belmont
and his assistants are carrying on to get
the tunnel through before the courts can
PASS uron the legal rights Of the company
10 do the work at all.
The blasting has been going on in Forty
serond street for many months. For a
long time the work was conducted in secret,
and no one. not even the representatives
~ the CORPORATION Counsel's, Office, was
allowed to 60 down in the shaft that was
being sunk in private property between
Third and Lexington avenue 10 inspect the
work.
Then came an explosion in which a man
was killed and several others injured.
Again the Corporation Counsel. through
his first assistant, Theodore Connolly, de-
nanded to inspect the work In order to be
able to determine" whether the rights Of the
city we're being 'intruded upon in the matter
Of tunnelling under public highways with
out permission of the proper authorities
Again the officials Of the unnel company
and its engineers forbade entrance to all
outsiders. They asserted that the shaft
in Fort y-Aecond street had been sunk on
private property and that no one could
enter il legally without their permission.
The Corporation Counsel threatened to
make il q matter for the Health Board and
its Investigators were finally allowed to in
spact the work.
They discovered that the tunnel was being
built under Forty-second street west to the
Grand CentralStation and east TO the river.
When hs had read the report Of these in
spactors Mr.. Connolly decided that the
franchise under which the Belmont people
peopIa we're working gave them no authority
10 construct the unnela as it was laid out and
he Immediately took steps to put a stop to
the work.
Under his direction the permit for blasting
which had been issued by the bureau OF
combustibles of the Fire Department to the
DeGnon Construction Company, the con-
tractors, was provoked and all blasting
came to a stop for the time. The Belmont
company then moved to enioin the city
from interfering with the work on the
ground that it was a public necessity and
that the merits of the case could be settled
al the trial OF The action.
The motion was granted and under the
ruling of Justice Blanchard the bureau
of combustibles was obliged to renew the
blasting permit. Ever since then the work
has been going on under pressure and it
is said that most of the tunnel in this
borough has been completed. The shaft
on private property in Forty-secOnd street
has been sunk to the depth of Il2 feet and
the tunnel has been put through west to
the Grand Central Station and east to the
East River.
In Long Island City another shaft has
been put down on private property IN
jackson avenue. The work has been
directed from eight different points. and
q representative of the Belmont company
said that the first car would he run through
che t"nnel from the Grand Central Station
to Queens before January 1 next, the date
fxed by the franchise for the completion
Of the work.
In the meantime Assistant Corporation
Counsel Connolly is pushing the suit which
be no gan in the name OF the city Tor the
purpose of establishing the fact that the
company had no right of any kline to build
the tunnelu under Forty-second street: IL ne
gets a decision sustaining his contention the
tunnel will become the property OF the
city. The suit was tried recently before
Justice Fitzgerald of the Supreme Court
and on August 8 the city filed its brlef-
From the start OF the action, IL IL said the
Belmont compHny's counse pursued dlla-
tory tactics, and it was not until a rev
weeks ago that they filed their brief.
Since the trial ended they have also fled
a supplementary brief n the Court has
not vet rendered its decision. No matter
which side wins in the preliminary action
the case will be carried to the OF
Appeals for final adjudication.
The property at stake is OF vast value.
The Belmont company is operating under
the old Steinway franchise, which was
granted years ago for a tunnel under the
East River from Queens TO this city. II was
held up for a long time in the Long Island
City Board of Aldermen, but was finally
granted and the contract for the digging
was awarded to one OF the Aldermen OF hat
municipality. The work was begun quietly
and few knew il was in progress until a
blast went of prematurely, killing three
men and ~wounding nineteen. Then the
work stopped and nothing more was done
with the tunnel again until the Belmont
people got hold Of the franchise and re-
newed the digging in 1905.
According to the arguments OF Mr.. Con-
molly on the trial Of the action the Belmont
company has 10 right OF any kind to build
the TUNE under the plans now in use. which
we're drawn by William Barclay Parsons,
who was the chief engineer Of the Rapid
Transit Commission, and who Is now acting
In a similar capacity for the Belmont COM
pany.
According to the original plans Of the
Steinway company, Mr.. Connolly told the
Court, the route was to be across Thirty
fourth street to Ninth avenue, but this was
all changed by the plans Mr.. Parsons drew
and the tunnel was placed arbitrarily and
without permission OF the properly consti-
tuted authorities under Forty-second street.
Another point brought up by the As
sistant Corporation Counsel was that the
tunnel as laid out by Mr.. Parsons crosses
under 300 feet of land under water on this
side Of the river thai had been decided to
the city by the State. and that therefore
It could not be bored without permission
1T the municipal authorities. The Belmont
authorities commended that they had SUBJ
sequently obtained permission to cross
this land, but Mr.. Connolly argued that
If such permi ssion had been. granted it
was worthless. The Assistant Corporation
Counsel also oontended that the company
had Ie5eT received any consents from
the city = build the tunnel in Fo-ty-second
street and that as the route had been moved
bodily eight blocks north the consents
originally obtained were null and void.
There has always been more or less
mvgtPrv as m tha real ohiact of the Lunnal