Perth Amboy evening news., 1913-07-26

In the final summing up yesterday
of evidence which had been produced
at recent hearings before the Public
Utilities Commission on the petition
of the city of Perth Amboy for the
abolishment of five dangerous grade
crossings of the Central and Lehigh
Valley railroads here, City Attorney
G. G. Hommann urged the state body
to require the railroads to eliminate
the crossings, and interpreted the act
of the legislature, which he declared
clothed them with the power to grant
the request of the city. The final
arguments of the attorneys, after a
long drawn-out series of hearings
when censuses of accidents and
amount Of traffic at the crossings
were presented both by the city and
the railroads, began at 2 o'clock in
the Union Trust building, Jersey
City. Commissioner w. M. Dan
iels was the only one of the three
commissioners sitting.
After the argument of Mr.. HON.
mann for the city and Attorney
George Holmes for the Central rail-
road, briefs were filed by the law
yers, and decision in the matter was
reserved until after the commission
ers are able to weigh all the mass Of
evidence presented In the case. The
city is not over sanguine about the
result of their application to the
state board for relief from the
dreaded grade crossings, as 1T Is be-
lieved that the commissioners will
defer immediate elimination until af
ter the Glass A or most dangerous
crossings in the state, as reckoned
by the boards inspector, are abol-
ished. But the city believes that
even If the decision of the state body
is not favorable, that an initial step
will have been taken, which will In
the future give weight to other ap-
plications before the board for such
eliminations.
The placing of Perth Amboy's 8
grade crossings in Glass B by Inspec-
tor Maybury is expected to cause the
commissioners to refuse the petition
of the city for immediate elimination.
Class B, the inspector reported at
the last hearing represented those
crossings of the state which he con-
sidered second most dangerous. He
udu Iueu ulFlutu III lOul Cih6Sob az
cording to their dangerousness, as
follows: Glasses A B. 9 and D.
Mr.. Hommann began the argu-
ment for the city by giving histori-
cal sketch of Perth Amboy. He told
of the division OF the city by the
Central railroad ,and how the bulk
of the business is conducted on the
east side,- which necessitates the
crossing of the tracks by large
portion OF the inhabitants who live
on the west side, as they go to and
from their work. He stated that the
city had grown Immensely since the
location Of the Central and Lehfgh
Valley railroads here in 1875, and
had grown to an extent by 1883 that
gates were installed by the Lehigh
Valley railroad to guard traffic and
pedestrians, which was followed by
similar action on the part of the
Central in 1893. Since that date the
assessable property had grown In
value from about three million to
twenty million dollars, and the popu-
lation had increased accordingly, be-
ing now about $4,000, he said.
With this enormous growth he
contended the gates at the crossings
had ceased to be a protection against
loss of life and property. In explain
ing how the gates are inadequate he
stated they often get out commits
sion, and that the gatemen, like 9TH