New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-08-26

the Consolidation Coal Company, OF ii
Wall Street, the two concerns that have
the contracts for supplying the Inter
bough with coal.
Biamcs Labor for Shortage
J. Z. Berwind, president of the Ber-
wind-White Coal Company, at his home
in Bridgehampton, l.. l., last night made
the following statement:
I'VE have been unable TO supply the
marlborough Railway with its Gus
tomary consignments of coal because
of labor conditions in our fields in
Pennsylvania and Virginia. There has
been plenty Of coal, but the scarcity of
labor has made it impossible to load
It. For that reason we could not sup
ply all our customers. The INTERIOR
ough is one of them"
Mr. Hedley said the coal reserve of
the Seventy Street power sta
ton, supplying the elevated and sur
face lines, was too low TO warrant lend
ing any fuel 10 the Fifty-ninth Street
station. There was danger he eX-
planned. if this had been done, Of
all the rapid transit lines OF New York
City being put out of commission for
the day.
In addition to blaming the contrac-
tors, Mr.. Hedley said that the Erie,
Pennsylvania and Lackawanna lately
had failed TO provide the city with an
adequate supply. He admitted that for
some time the Fifty-ninth Street sta
ton had been on emergency rstions,
being fed from day to day just enough
coal to keep it going. The INTERIOR
ough uses about 1000 tons of coal
l., - h. ,..kn ha kats
to be heated, and from 800 TO / 500 in
summer.
The first trains on the subway came
TO halt at about $50 o'clock yester-
day afternoon. Shortly before o'clock
an employee of the Fifty-ninth Street
station telephoned the Public Service
Commission the glad news that a coal
barge had been sighted up the river. l.
was the Tracy, Of the Erie Railroad,
carrying 400 tons. Trains below Forty
second Street began 20 move At 4:05
o'clock, and about half an hour later
the whole system was in operation.
Trains Stalled Under River
Two of the trains were stalled IN
der East River, one about quarter of
the way from Bowling Green to the
.
the other in the Steinway tunnel. The
passengers on the former descended to
the tracks and picked their way back
TO Bowling Green. The passengers on
the other train had 10 walk a longer
distance to the Grand Central station.
Enormous crowds collected at the
principal express stations. The police
were called out 70 divert the stream
Of people, and prevent them from
clogging surface traffic.
Fortunately. there was no panic
when the trains stopped. The supply
of transfers 10 the elevated roads soon
gave out. and those who lacked the good
fortune to get the few on hand and the
patience to wait until new stock ar
rived simply had TO walk or pay another
fare.
The kiosks were closed shortly after
the service stopped The police were
called to guard against congestion, but
they had little work to do. At Brook
Ign Bridge, Fourteenth Street and the
Grand Central Station the newsboys
yelled that the subway was closed to
traffic.
While the tie-up was admitted to be
the worst in years, the Inconvenience
il caused was comparatively light, com
pared with what it might have been If
the trains had stopped during rush
hour. Several thousand persons we're
caught at Van Cortlandt Park. where
they had gone TO visit the military en-
campment.