New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-01-07

Building and tell what they saw dur
ing the hour they spent in the smoke
and fumes before they were rescued.
Most of the witnesses were physically
unable yesterday TO give an account
of what happened. =,
Mr.. Perkins is principally interested
in the delay that attended getting the
passengers out of the trains and the
suggestion that they were prevented
from leaving by locked doors. He said
last night that he had not obtained as
vet any incriminatory evidence and
that his work up TO that time had
been largely with view TO checking
up conditions in the subway immedl-
ately after the accident that might be
changed to-day in the course OF max
ing repairs.
~ am investigating to ascertain
whether there has been any crlminal
negligence in this accident and TO
learn whether proper protection Tor
the public was provided said Mr..
Perkins. IL am going to probe tnor-
oughly, and if anybody is crlminally
responsible full process OF the law VIII
be invoked to prosecute"
Destruction of Evidence Halted.
Mr.. Perkins, together with Assistant
District Attorneys Breckenridge and
Murphy, arrived at the scene Of the
accident shortly after eleven o'clock
yesterday morning and started pre-
iiminary investigation in the sales
room OF the Buick Automobile Com
pany, at 1871 Broadway. During the
examination of the witnesses detec-
tive rushed in and told the prosecutor
that subway employees were tearing
down q section of the cable when
caught on fire. Inspector Faurot, with
two detectives, hurried into the sub
way TO proven mt the destruction OF any
evidence that the Investigators might
need in fixing the blame. photographs
were taken by two official police Pho
tographers of all scenes that Will be
needed in subsequent investigation:
After the proceedings in the Buick
Offices were adjourned, Mr.. Perkins
went to his Office, where he examined
Daniel Walsh and Daniel Sullivan,
motOrman and conductor, respectively,
on the southbound local train that
was nearest the trouble. Both men
were unable TO give any connected
story of what happened, and after an
swering a few questions, were told that
they might leave for their homes and
recuperate from the effects of the
smoke and gas they had inhaled.
Dazed Trainmen Quizzed.
"They talked and acted" said Mr..
Perkins, exactly as two men might
who had just come from under the in
fluence of anesthesia. IL would have
been useless to have examined them
further"
Sullivan said that when the smoke
became so dense that everyone was
threatened with suffocation he opened
the rear door of his train and began
helping the passengers TO the tracks so
that they might walk back TO the Co.
lumbus Circle station.
81 was helping woman out of the
train and then | woke up in a drug
store about an hour afterward," was
the way that Sullivan described his ex-
perience of being overcome.
Both men were accompanied to the
District Attorneys Office by l.. Mckee
Hutchins and NJ. II. Moulton, attorneys
for the Interborough Rapid Transit
Company. After being dismissed by
Mr.. Perkins, the men were taken in au-
tomobil-s to their homes, where they
were attended by doctors.
No Effort to Seek Aid.
Mr. Perkins said that no evidence
had come to his attention to show that
any of the motormen or guards on the
stalled trains made an effort 10 COM
municate with the power house or any
of the stations of the subway by using
the telephones that are placed at inter
walls along the subway, and that he had
not determined just what the attitude
of the employees had been. He said
that there were conflicting stories re-
garding the number of trains stalled.
Electrical experts, working under the
direction of the District Attorneys Of
flee, will make a report to-day on the
cables which started the fire. II has
been reported that the insulation on
the cables in that district is eight
years old. Sections Of the cable will
be brought to the District Attorneys
Office 10 be examined and for use as
evidence II the occasion demands.
In regard to the delay in getting the
passengers out Of the trains, Mr.. Per-
kins said that he understood that the
last train, local, to be stalled passed
the Columbus Circle station at sos
O'Clock and that the fire alarm WAS