Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1915-07-13
HummelstOwn Long
Sought For Safety

The borough council of Hummels-
town last evening addressed a letter
to the Harrisburg Telegraph setting
| forth its position clearly on the matter
| OF grade crossings in that borough and
| showing that the council has en-
! deavored for a long time to better con-
| dttions there. For many years back
councilmen and borough officials have
been trying to have the Railroad Com
mission place watchmen at their cross
ings and last Fall made an unsuccess-
ful petition to the Public Service Com
| mission to have the most dangerous
crossing removed to a safer point.
Based upon misinformation. the
Telegraph put the town council in a
false light in this respect. To show
their side of the case. Burgess T. NJ.
Murray and ex-Sheriff II. Wells Buser.
accompanied by Borough Clerk c. H.
Miller and Councilmen d. c. Rhoads,
Joseph Burkholder, James Yontz, Geo
A. Zeller, Samuel B. Zerfoss, W. F.
Shoemaker and members of the coro-
ner's' jury which investigated the re-
cent accident in the borough, came to
this city this afternoon. The minute
books. which they brought with them.
show that at intervals of every few
months for many years, thirty-two
times within the memory of the pres
ent council. the borough has petitioned
the railroad company TO take some
or the people. They have asked for
watchmen. safety gates and subways.
and at times were led to the belief
that relief was near. but nothing was
done aside from putting on one daylight
watchman until the order of the pub
lie Service Commission put a watch
man at the crossing after the tragedy
of July ;. The letter follows:
Hummelstown, Pa, July IL,
To Editor of the Telegraph;
we beg leave to call your attention
TO the numerous inaccuracies in the
telegraph of July 10, 1915, under the
headlng of Grade Crossing Relief
Nearly the entire editorial is un-
fair and unjust. and reader can ar
rive at but one of two conclusions.
either the Borough Oficials of Hum
meistown have been criminally negli-
gent. or the representative of the
PUBIC Service Commission who gave
out the information on which the
editorial was based maliEned the citi-
zens of this borough, and for fear
that few readers might come to the
former conclusion. we will endeavor
to state the facts as they are.
An examination of the minutes of
the Borough Council, as we'll as the
correspondence with the Philadelphia
Keadlng Railway Company, will
snow that the Council made frequent
efforts to have the Railway Company
either place watchmen or safety ga ties
at the railroad crossings in this
borough.
Now as to the matter of a petition
for crossing before the Public Serv-
ice Commission. A narrow road
about fifteen feet in width, known as
the Round Top Road, crosses the rail-
road in a cut. This is a very DANGEROUS
crossing, and the borough authorities
requested the Public Service Commits
sion to grant them authority to aban-
don this crossing and in lieu thereof
have crossing on Water street. This
street is forty feet wide and is on a
level with Second street. This is the
opinion of the citizens of Hummels-
town would make a very much better
and safer crossing, than the one on
the Round Top Road, the Public Serv-
ice Commission thought differently.
We trust that you will give this COM
the same publicity in YOUR
paper as was given to the editorial.
Respectfully submitted by the
Borough Council of Humm elstown,
D. c. RHOADS.
JOS. BURKHOLDER,
JAMES YOJ-TZ.
GEO. A. TELLER,
SAM'L B. ZERFOsS.
VIM. F. SHOEMAKER" 3"