Evening star., 1909-07-12
Guards and Bad Passengers
Fight in Midair.
|0NE MAN BADLY HURT
Fourteen Men Smash Electric Lights
With Stones.
BATTLE ENsUEs IN MOVING CAR
Thousands in Darkness Listen to
Noise of Struggle Which They
Cannot See.

NEW YORK, July 1o-Fourteen men
armed with stones gave the attendants
at Palisade Park desperate fight last
night to avoid arrest by the special Of
ficers who We're attempting TO eject them
from the mammoth Ferris wheel on the
heights at Fort George while the huge
machine was flying around in darkness.
All OF the electric lights had been ex-
tinguished by the men, who shattered
the globes with stones. Below the thou
sands who had come for a days out
ing stood in constant peril from the
flying missiles.
One of the offenders was made a priS-
oner. The others escaped.
Stephen Zilos of 305 East 4lth street
was taken to the Washington Heights
Hospital, his jaw fractured and his face
and body a mass of cuts and bruises.
John Damatti of 19oth street and Fort
George avenue and Thomas Killea. giving
ihs address as 2529 Amsterdam avenue,
both employees AT Palisade Park. We're
taken to the West 152d street police sta
tion by Sergt. McManus, charged with
assaulting the man who was captured.
Ferris Wheel Ride Suggested.
The story the police tell is that the
fourteen men visited the amusement re-
sort early yesterday afternoon, and after
the ordinary entertainments had grown
monotonous gathered at hall where
liquor is dispensed. Toward evening they
emerged and started to kick tables and
chairs about, greeting with laughter the
protests of their victims. These tactics
were ndulged in as the gang ran through
the park until one of them with shout
suggested that they ride on the Ferris
wheel
They bought their tickets. according
to the police, but before entering the cars
circulated in search of stones. Armfuls
were gathered and while the attaches
We're not observing them they jumped
into the cars, two in some and three i'll
others, and waited until the machinery
was set in motion
Half way around the trouble started.
The cars were all occupied, mainly by
young men and their Sweethearts.. These
sprang up in alarm a the sharp crack
crack. as the colored bulbs We're crashed
and the tiny bits of glass fell upon them
The lights on the wheel contribute largely
to the illumination of the park and as
these were extinguished men, women and
children from other sections of the re-
sort ran up to learn the cause.
The girls speeding swiftly around
shrieked in terror. but the fusillade of
stones and glass did not halt. The cries
seemed to inspire the men to further dis
the globes were left. Those who could
jumped from their seats to the dirt, fall
ing over each other in their fright, which
was added to by the screams of the ex-
cited crowd.
Fight in Whrling Car.
Damatti and Kfllea climbed UP the tres
tlework and jumped into the car in which
Zidos and some of his friends were sit
ting The men refused to get out. and
when the attendants placed their hands
on them it made Zidos and his compan-
ions furious.
They fought the special officers and, it
is alleged, tried to hurl them from the
car. About this moment the wheel start
ed again, and before the engineer realized
the danger the officers were SO far in the
air it would have been perilous to stop
the machinery.
The attendants were set upon by their
adversaries and thrown to the floor They
grabbed their opponents legs and tug
ging nightly, pulled the latter TO the
floor. There they fought.
Thrown in a heap, Damatti and killea
overcame the men, who were fighting like
maniacs, when a heavy storm of stones
and chunks of wood fell upon them
from the cars containing the friends OF
the losers.
The attendants, bending over, shielded
their faces and went at ii again. The in
truders, with renewed strength, rose and
grabbed the officers about their necks.
Neither side gave an inch of ground, but
they rocked to and fro as the car went
higher and higher into the air. For a
few moments they were guarded from
outside assault by the fact that the
other attackers could not aim true from
a lower level In those few moments they
gained an advantage, and when their car
reached the surface they had the men
well in hand.