New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1910-05-21
K. F. SUTHERLAND KILLED.
Gear of Coney Island" Crushed
by Train at BensonhurSt.
ACCIDENT Is A MYSTERY
His Body Found Wedged Be-
tween the Cars and Station
Platform at Bay 35th st.

Kenneth F. Sutherland. chief clerk of
the Coney Island police court. Demo-
cratic leader of the 10Th Assembly Dis
trict of Kings County and the real ruler
of Coney Island was instantly killed
last night in attempting to alight from
a West End train at the Bay Both street
station shortly before 10 o'clock
Sutherland left his home, at No. 215
Bay 31st street. Bensonhurst. early in
the evening to preside at meeting of
the 10Th Assembly District Democratic
Club, of which he was president He
started from the clubrooms. in Coney
Island, at $50 o'clock to return to his
home.
The first intimation that there had
been an accident was received when the
conductor of the train, Barnett Yullns.
of No. 81 Bay 14th street, heard a cry
and the passengers felt jolting as if
the train was running over an obstruc-
ton. Yuling Immediately pulled the
emergency brake and stopped the train,
the air brakes having already been on
Yuling and the passengers rushed out
to see what had happened and found the
body of a man wedged between the
truck OF the car and the concrete plat
form of the station. Ernest H. Finley,
a real estate operator of Borough Park,
identified the body as that of Suther-
land The police of the Bath Beach sta
was summoned from the Coney Island
Reception Hospital. but DR.. Mcdonald
who responded, said that Sutherland
had been killed instantly.
The body was taken to the station, and
the news of the death of the Gear of
Coney Island spread so rapidly that
within an hour every train was crowded
with passengers on their way to the
Bath Beach station to learn for them
selves whether it was true that Kenny
Sutherland really had been killed.
Sutherland was for years the right
hand man of John 7. McKane. He
served one year and eight months in
Sing Sing. following a year in the Kings
County penitentiary, and was not re-
SlOEtd To MS tiNiI llSII1S uiiIil tire tiOSc
of the administration of Governor
Odell His prison sentence was the re-
suit of his connection with McKane
when the latter was convicted OF cleo
ton frauds.
Sutherland was justice of the peace of
Gravesend in 1893. when Mayor Gaynor,
then a candidate for Supreme Court
Justice, suspecting that registry frauds
had been committed in McKane's baiIi-
wick, sent men down there TO copy the
lists. McKane refused to give them up,
and Sutherland had many Of the watch
ers arrested and locked up on charges
of vagrancy.
AS a result of this action on mis- part
a special grand jury was appointed by
the Governor to investigate the matter
Sutherland was indicted for oppression
and for ballot box stuffing and later
found guilty on the former charge He
forfeited his bail. but finally gave him
self up, pleaded guilty to a felony charge
and was sent to Sing Sing. on the
charge of oppression he received his SEN
tence TO the county penitentiary
Upon his release from Sing Sing he
again entered politics and soon gained
complete sway over the Coney Island
district. He succeeded also in a short
time in amassing d fairly large fortune.