The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1915-01-07
Send PulrnotorA to scene.


/ in from the air
Although II Ia estimated that 1900
persons were In the radius. affected to-
day and nearly 5000 were on the
tracks and the four trains, 1t will be
days before those who were near to
breathe the fumes will be able to tell
the story. One thousand or more who
were trapped in the danger zone may
never be able to tell 1t. for 1t was one
delirium of fear in which men
trampled over women ana little chill
dren, women fought to climb through
the broken windows, dense masses of
humanity damned and shouted. And
! ii was all in the darkness which made
it worse, If possible. The few flicker
ing incandescant storage battery
lights were unable to pierce the dense
smoke and there was only the yellow
lights of the Fifty-fifth Street ventil-
ators to show the way to safety
Fortunate 1t was. the firemen declared
later, that in the panic 30 many OF
the weaker ones fell. There lay their
one hope of safety for the fumes ris-
ing left the air at the bottom a degree
cleaner.
Couldn't Name Cause.
No one could tell tonight just what
caused it all. This they know at SOL
o'clock in the morning, just as the
subway system Is using every train its
power will propel, when thirty-three
lten-car trains bound south and an
equal number of seven car locals are
passing every station, there was a
binding fash from the splicing station
on the west of Broadway and Thirty
third Street. followed by another
binding fash from the splicing station
on the other side Of broadway. The
flames met In the center, shot along
rails lighting the tunnel with a blind
ing light and then at the first flame
died down it jumped up again and
tagain. When finally II died down in
its place was the binding smoke roll
| ing out OF the splicing boxes. shoot
| ing out as if from the forced draught
| of a warship. so thick that it might
ialmost be handled. go heavy with
fumes of rubber and guttapercha that
no human lung could inhale In its
strength and survive.
| The splicing boxes, it may be ex-
( planned, are the circuar wells at each
side of the subway. covered by man
holes in the street At these points
| the great feeder cables are joined and
| ii Is from there they are dragged out
and replaced when worn out. AT the
t foot of these weits are deers which
lead into the subway itself. The upper
part of these doors IL of asbestos, but
| the bottom Is wire grating.
Power Automatically Shut on.
| The fash, the fire operating auto
matically. sent word to power houses
4 that there was trouble and in an In
slant the power on every series affect
ed was shut off The sections there
run 10, 10 ard Ia. Thirteen was the
trouble zone. Very promptly every
/ train In the sections came to "A stand
still. 1t caught a northbound local at
/ Fiftieth Street and across from 1t a
southbound express, the one which
/ just missed the explosion. few yards
north from the station 1t caught a
southbound local and then another ex-
press up to Fifty-third Street.
Sixty feet Forth of the danger point
! IL hrosght seven car local train to
a stop just In time. the train which
had about 500 passengers and about
forty feet behind its leading car 1t
caught the big ten-car southbound ex-
press with its 1000 or more passengers
/ from the Bronx, Both trains were
/ from the Lenox Avenue branch.
/ There were the early workers in
/ both trains men and women who get
lofY around Fourteenth Street and
south of that point.
! Women and Children In Crowd.
Women clerks. stenographers bound
| for work and crowded in with them
the school children. hundred or
more on the cApFtES, II - SSNift1SeN.
bound for the downtown high schools.
The sudden stoppage OF the trains.
the darkness. followed by the binding
flashes just ahead of them, threw the
passengers of the forward cars into
panic. While the guard cried out
ITO them TO keep their heads and the
motorman remained at his post. the
men and women dashed back Tor the
second car. smashing the glass of the
lao Ia INN ri n!Atf0Fni.
This brought up the next car and the
human avaiache. pouring back, jam
med up on the third car. Then came
| the smoke, which added to the desper-
lation. followed by the smashing of
windows through which human beings
threw themselves head1ong
/ Similar scenes were repeated In the
express and as these persons jumped
| to the tracks and ran shrieking toward
the north and Fifty-ninth Street. those
in other trains took alarm and be-
came wild with fear, One woman who
kept her head as we'll az she could,
said she wondered that sane MEM
Der of her sex survived There must
have been some incidents of chivalry,
but she saw none
Men Climb Over Weak.
The strong overrode the weak. Men
climbed over the PROSTATE bodies OF
women and children. and women
/ fought with one another. 1
A ventiiator was fortunately dis
covered in the vicinity OF where the
I trains were stalled. A man tore on
the wire grating which shut out &C
cess to 1t, and climbed through. He
turned and pulled woman and soon
a steady stream of humanity was
pouring through the ventilator into
! the street above, which they reached
! by means OF a ladder.
! Most of them were in a state OF help
! less semi -suffocation.
/ They were placed in the muddy gut
ter and pulmotors were placed among
! them. In little while half the block
on FIfty-fifth Street west of Broad
way was filled with PROSTATE people.
They lay in strict alternation--hrst
/ A person. then a pulmotor. then per-
son. then another pulmotor. and SO on.
| The number OF injured grew so fast
| that the showroom of the Buick Au-
| tomobile Company. covering several
/ thousand square feet. into which they
4 were carried. was covered In fifteen
I minutes with men and women who
could not get their breath. They lay
there clutching pitifully at their chests.
Some of them were unable to move
hand Those who could breathe We're
madty hysterical The big room re-
echoed with their outcries.
| Al the high tide In the rescue there