Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1918-11-03
PROBE CAR WRECK
THAT KILLED SO
Mayor HyIan BIames Strike
for Brooklyn Rapid Tran
sit Catastrophe.

NEW YORK, November 1.-TWO in
vestigations were started today into
the wreck which occurred last night
in the Malone street tunnel of the
Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company,
when crowded Brighton Beach
train. said to have been operated by
green" motorman, leaped a curve,
killing eighty-nine persons and in
juring nearly double that number.
One investigation was started by
Mayor Hylan and Harry E. Lewis.
district attorney of Kings county. to
fix the blame for the accident and
to present evidence to the November
grand ury, which Mr.. Lewis an
nounced he would summon Monday.
A supplementary Investigation was
begun by the public service commits
sion. which announced tonight that
it would turn over the reports of it's
experts to District Attorney Lewis.
For perhaps the first time in the his
tory of this city that its chief execu-
tive has presided as committing magis-
istrate, Mayor Hylan today opened
the John Doe" inquiry started by
District Attorney Lewis after the
mayor had asked for prosecution of
Brooklyn Rapid Transit officials,
whom he blamed for the wreck be-
cause they failed to reinstate twenty
nine men, as recommended by the war
labor board. Failure of the company to
comply with this recommendation, he
contended, led to the one-day strike.
settled early this morning, and to the
utilization of inexperienced motormen,
Visits Injured Persons.
Before the investigation was started
the mayor visited many of the in
1ured IN hospitals, questioning them
would be made ito see that the guilty
are punished" Virtually all the sur
vivors interviewed by the mayor de-
clared that the train was going every
ment that was corroborated by Viii
liam Lewis. the motorman who oper-
ated the train on its fatal trip, after
ne mad been arrested on a charge of
homicide and questioned by District
Attorney Lewis. With Lewis were ar
rested Sam Rossof and Michael Turner.
conductor and guard, respectively. of
the train.
According to Lewis. the train of five
cars, three of which were antiquated
wooden coaches. was travelling at thir-
ty miles an hour. when it entered the
tunnel. He declared that he tried to
apply the brakes to slow down the
train to six miles an hour, the speed
called for in entering the tunnel. Ac-
cording to Lewis, the brakes didn't
seem to work"
Lewis and Rossof were held without
bail. after they had pleaded not gull
ty to the charges against them. Turn
er was not arraigned because of in.
juries which confined him to a hos
pital.
Discover Battered Chisel.
Another development today which
it was said would receive attention
was the discovery of a battered cold
chisel, which might have caused the
wreck, found by inspectors of the
public service commission beside the
tracks at the point where the train
was derailed.
The work of identifying the dead
proceeded slowly today. BY tonight
seventy-eight of the eighty-nine
bodies at the Kings county morgue
had been identified
Borough President Riegelmann has
announced tentative plans for a great
public funeral for all of the victims
and opened bureau to give financial
aid to needy families of the killed and
injured. T. S. Williams, president of
the Brooklyn Rapid Transit, urged
Riegelmann to draw on the company
for any funds needed for both pur-
poses. asserting that such action
would not affect the validity of any
claims of the injured and of relatives
OF the dead against the company.