New-York tribune., 1912-03-13
[NDANGERS NEW SUBWAY
Bill Unpaid, Edison Co. Stops
Electric Power for Pumps.
CONTRACTOR IN A DISPUTE
After Much Telephoning Public
Service Commission Has Cur
rent Turned On Again.

-lo-a was something very much like ex-
cement in the usually quiet offices OF the
,,..Suc Service Commission late yesterday
,.S-noon when word reached there that
o.. vd,son Electric Illuminating Company
u ~ proo,Ivn had turned off the current
80 vas being used by William Bradley.
S. NC has the contract for the construction
', sections 2 and OF the Fourth avenue
subway. Brooklyn
The grave Importance OF this announce
Nj lies In the fact that the current has
s.an used to operate the pumps which
80 down the water in the excavation,
~. hottom Of which is below the water
-, NJ the East River. AS Mr.. Bradley
!. constructing that part Of the tunnel
..bicb crosses Fulton street and Atlantic
..nrue as well, any great accumulation of
,,.a,.r IN the new subway might undermine
"a ,erder unsafe both the elevated railroad
q, Tu,ton street and the lnterborough SUBJ
nov IN Flatbush avenue at the Atlantic
avenue station.
The reason for shutting off the current.
4. mas stated, was a dispute over bill.
Nv Bradley had arranged with the COM
80 "a install a system Of electric con-
duit
sa,t him bill for about $500. Mr.. Brad
lev demurred and said that about $500
wss enough. The turning off Of the cur
rent followed.
As soon as they heard the news the Of
eciaIs AT the office Of the Public Service
Commission began telephoning to the Edi-
son company and tried to impress upon
the management their responsibility IN the
,,o+tsr For some time, however, they We're
,,nohIa N get anybody on the telephone
with sufficient authority to do anything TO
relieve the situation.
James A. Lynch. counsel for Mr. Bradley
also became active and set to work pre-
naring an appeal TO the Supreme Court
for a mandamus, or possibly an inJunc-
tion. the purport Of which in either case
would be to prevent the Edison people from
deriving the contractor Of the necessary
current.
Commissioner Milo r. Maltbie. who has
handled most Of the electrical matters for
the commission, did a lot Of telephoning.
and he finally got Anthony n. Brady on
the wire. Mr. Brady said he would have
the matter attended to at once, and he did
not waste any time, for in very few min
utes It was announced that the current
was about 10 be turned on again.
About o'clock definite word reached the
office of the commission that the current
had already been turned on at one point
and would shortly be turned on at others,
II was stated that the water had not risen
TO a sufficient height at that time to be a
source of danger.
Mr. Brady is the president Of the Edison
Electric Illuminating Company of Brook
lyp. and he is also the controlling man in
the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company
which not only runs the elevated road In
Fulton street but is much interested at
present in subway matters.
The Public Service Commission yester-
day adjourned its regular semi-weekly
meeting to noon to-day, and 1t Is probable
that an order will be adopted for an In
uuiry 10 determine whether or not an order
should be issued compelling all electrical
companies to keep at their plants at all
hours an official with the necessary au-
thority 70 pass upon matters involved in
turning on the current in emergencies.
A report reached the commission that the
current had been turned off "on the ad-
vice of counsel" The rumor did not say
who the counsel was, however, and II Is
not expected that any one Will be enx-
ious to assume the glory.
II was learned at the commissions offices
later that the current was not merely
turned off, but that the cables were actual
" cut This necessitated splicing the ca
hes