The evening world. [volume] (New York, N.Y.) 1887-1931, 1908-12-23
,Irainload of Men and Women
Battle to Leave Train
Beneath Harlem.
MANY NARROW ESCAPES
Trouble Caused by Dropping
of Contact-Shoe and Re-
sulting Short Circuit.

While the tunnel which carries the
tho subway under the Harlem River
was filled with smoke, eight carloads of
men and women on their way downtown
battled In frenzied panic at 10 O'Clock
to-day when the second car OF the train
caught FIRE from a transporting rail
that was short circuited by contact
shoe.
While the flames shot Nd under the
car and the glare reflected redly from
the dripping walls the whole tunnel was
filled with flashes of binding intensity
from the short circuited rail Explosions
that sounded like the detonations of
rapid-flrinG gun also added to the panic.
The accident happened about three
hundred feet south of the Mott avenue
station just as the train rolled into
the section of the tunnel under the
river.
Contact Shoe Drops.
The tran-an eXpress-was running
fast when the contact shoe of the for
ward car in some manner dropped un-
der the third rail and was ripped OFF
The shoes of the other cars We're torn
or in rapid succession as the train
passed along the third rail,
The jamming OF the first shoe was
followed by a loud explosion and a
dazzling flash. Then, one after an
other. as the other shoes were torn
loose, there We're other explosions and
flashes. The train came to a stop with
a jerk that would have thrown the pas
sengers from their feet II they had not
been jammed in so tightly that such a
thing was an impossibllity
A few seconds after the first explosion,
while the bewldered train crew and ter
ritied men and women were trying to
find out what had happened. blaze
shot out from under the forward plat
form Of the second car Women screamed
as they saw the flames, and the crowd
pressed back into the car as far as It
could. The whole train was filed with
shouting. excited. panic-stricken men
and women, all trying to escape danger.
The Power Cut or.
1t was impossible to move the train
and the motorman shouted back that
some one would have to go for help
the blaze that threatened the second
car. Smoke rolled back through the
tunnel and filled the Mott avenue sta
ton, and the report spread that there
was a terrible disaster In the tunnel
The guard who ran back for assistance
notified the agent at the Mott avenue
station and the power was cut of as
soon as possible.
BY that time the scene on the stalled
train had assumed the proportions of
desperate panic. The passengers fought
to- get out OF the cars. but the guards
held them back by main force. The
cooler heads argued with the hysterical
ones and at length something like quiet
was restored.
The lights went out when the accident
happened and the only illumination was
the flashes from the suffering rails
where the shoes lay across them and
the flicker OF the blaze under the second
car.
After the power had been shut off and
the fire put out car was sent to push
the disabled train to the One Hundred
and Thirty-tifth street station. where
the passengers got out. The subway
had been tied up for almost an hour.
and the volumes of smoke that filled 1t
caused all sorts of rumors to be circu-
lated about serious disaster. The sta
ton at Ninety-sixth street overlooked
with stalled passengers, and many had
narrow escapes from being pushed OFF
the platform
a short time before the accident the
contact shoe of another southbound
train dropped and caused a small panic
in the subway tunnel.