New-York tribune., 1910-11-05
THOUSANDS tramp
BRIDGE IN STORM
Elevated Lines Tied Up by Train
Jumping Track Just Before
Rush Hour Begins.
DRISCOlL TAXES COMMAND
Crowds Orderly, bat Subway and
Surface Cars Prove made
quate, and for Two Hours
Service is Demoralized.


line left the straight and narrow path
defined by its track on the BROOKLYN
Bridge at the beginning of the rush
hour last night. and tied ND all elevated
lines across the old bridge. compelling
thousands TO walk across the span in
drizzling rain and chilling wind or 20
crowd to suffocation in the Brooklyn
Bridge trolleys or subway TO Borough
Hall
Nearly all the BroOklynites who make
their way home across Brooklyn Bridge
were caught by the mishap. as only q
small part of the fortunate = o'clock
crowd had been whisked out OF the sta
ton before traffic was stopped. All the
thousands that came later were slowed
beneath the bridge loop in a dense
human mass. disconnected. anxious. yell
ing questions at the guards. and vet not
willing TO accept their answers as final.
and eagerly pushing forward SO as noc
70 miss the least chance to get home IN
time for dinner.
When every inch was blocked the
crowd stood immovable for a few min
utes. as if hoping that the spell would
be broken by the announcement that the
cause of the DELAY had been removed.
and all could take their accustomed
trains
Travel on Shsnks's Mare.
But when policemen cried out at the
top of their voices that no elevated
trains would run for long time. there
was a rush for the trolley cars and 10
the subway. while an uninterrupted
stream of thousands. who saw that they
had no chance of getting on car. be-
gan to pour across the span
The active malcontents were the first
to depart. and the people who remained
proved highly good natured. The few
policemen who had to cope with the sit
uation until the reserves arrived. some
/ fifteen minutes later, had no difficulty
in diverting the human stream in the
proper directions. Hundreds of women
waited patiently along the walls of the
loop. preferring this to the crush on the
cars. and as many hundreds turned back
to Manhattan to wait until the worst
was over,
Many could be seen inspecting their
poeketbooks auxiousIy to make sure
whether the Friday night reserve OF
funds was sufficient to permit the luxury
of a meal in Manhattan restaurant in
stead of the belated feast at home IN
Brooklyn
Trouble Begins at 5:2o.
1t was ): 20 O'Clock in the afternoon
when car of an empty Brighton Beach
train left the track in the Manhattan
terminal of the Brooklyn Bridge The
train had arrived on the centre track and
| discharged it's passengers p ". Fasan.
| the motorman. had gone from his cell in
/ the first car back 10 the last car. so as
to be ready TO take the train to Brook
lyn again. Joseph Considine took Fa-
| gan's place in the first car to run the
| train across the switch to the southern
track of the pocket ON the switch con-
Meeting the two tracks the second car OF
the train jumped from the rails and ef-
| fectually blocked all further train move
ments.
The rush had already set in. and all
the platforms were crowded. but with
the aid of the police the guards sue
ceeded i'm clearing the station. after
which all gates We're closed and nobody
was permitted to enter the platforms.
A wrecking crew was summoned. but IL
was almost thirty minutes before actual
work began
II was 6:45 o'clock before the wreCkers
cut through the coupling between the
derailed car and that behind It, Then
the four cars were run back TO the CEN
tire track. and the eastern half of the
loop became available for train service
At Z o'clock trains were running across
the bridge again. though the schedule
was hampered by the blockade Of one
track
The Crush at Its Worst.
Meanwhile the huge office buildings Of
lower Manhattan had closed for the day.
and toward 6 o'clock the nightly pill
grimage of returning Brooklynites de-
veIoped it's highest force. and was aug
mented by Manhattanites who tried to
reach the Third avenue elevated and the
subway stations. Every Brooklyn troll
lev was filled before IL turned into its
loop; the subway stairways and down
town platform were dangerously
crowded. and the Williamsburg Bridge
cars going up the Bowery received hun
dreds of unexpected passengers.
Police reserves were called out from al.
the five police stations of the inspection
district, and soon after their arrival
came First Deputy Commissioner Dris-
coll who rushed down from headquar-
ters 10 take charge of the police force. A
large squad of mounted police cleared
Park Row OF the crowds which
blocked the Third avenue ears. while pa
trolmen were stationed throughout the
loop to keep the crowds moving and 10
watch over their safety
One of the first acts Of COMMISSIONS
DriscoH was to post a lieutenant and ten
policemen on the platform OF the sub
way. To guard against the danger that
somebody might be pushed under
train.
Every Brooklyn train of the SUBWAY
5 was delayed. and soon the whole serves
. fell thirty minutes behind me troHeS<
I across the Brooklyn Bridge couiu hot
+, make much headway. and for two hcurS
the service all over Brooklyn became ds
. nnoraIized. Reserves OF two Brocklyn
! police stations were called out 70 heip
the traffic squad at the BROOKLYN tV'
minal ,,,,
n No immediate cause fer the accident
2 was found or examination or the tfacA-
The engineers ascribed the mlsnap -