New-York tribune., 1918-08-03
III" System Subway Opens
With Wild Jam; Women
Faint in Crush
Company Admits 1t
Lacked i'm Facilities
Police Called Out to Keep
Order in Crowds That Try
to Find Right Train

After a day of confusion and over
heated distress among the bewildereo
thousands who jammed the unfamiliar
platforms of the new Interborough
Al" system, the Public Service Commits
sion stepped in last night and closed
the shuttle system between the Grand
Central and Times Square stations un-
til further notice. The order becomes
effective at midnight tonight.
The measure was adopted for the
safety of the travelling public, it was
stated by members of the commission
The action was taken after a confer
ence between Interborough officers and
representatives of the commission,
hastily called at the Harvard Club.
The inability of the lnterborough to
handle the great crosstown crowds was
admitted by the company officers, and
time was asked to provide adequate
facilities for shuttle trains.
There is no question but the closing
of the shuttle will greatly inconveni-
ence the travelling public" said a
member of the commission last night,
"but there is nothing else to be done.
Workmen must be given an oppor-
tunity to construct proper trackage at
the Times Square end of the line, and
to do this traffic will have to be shut
down temporarily. 1t may be a week
before the service is resumed.
North and south bound trains will
continue over the new systems of
through tracks. The Broadway trainZ
will run on Seventh Avenue below
Times Square, and the Bronx trains
Will have their present routing. The
main difficulty will be the accommoda-
ton Of Brooklyn passengers on the
broadway lines. Interborough officials
have arranged to issue transfers at
rector Street, and passengers may thus
continue their trip over the old line
from the Wall Street station"
Women were dragged crying and
faintlng last night from the bewildered
mass OF humanity that packed the
labyrinth of tunnels, aisles and
passaseways forming the Grand
central station of the new system
from o'clock until after 8 those
steamlng chambers were jammed so
luil Of men, women and children that
lney moved as a compact, slothful body.
and the extrication of those who sue
cumoed to heat and nerves was no
simple task. Police reserves and an
army of subway guards were barely
aole to stem the current.
me drug store in the station was
an suihed INTO an emergency hospital,
where ambulance surgeons soothed and
restored the victims of the tunnel.
AT the Times Square station the
evening rush hour also brought a
ssnrong that completely swamped the
.ac,hties for handling it. The morning
.t .oah ehere, however, was worse than
;;"at IN the evening, just as conditions
~ she evening were worse at the Grand
uehtral station than they had been in
the morning.
Company Blames Public
;, interoorough officials were inclined
sake the view that part OF the
.pyhlnslon vas the result of the
nnckie-hcaded tendencies of New
aorS crowd confronted by changed
sohoi,ions. Chuckle- headed the crowd
may nave been, morning and evening.
10y IL kept It's head and it's temper in
,,ssmarkable fashion. Neither the fact
hta.. OLD and misleading signs had
I'm I'm allowed to remain to misdirect
snnm-nor the plodding and appar-
th.y aimicss gait necesstated by
a. sif vast numbers irritated the men
fh. women IN the crowd that was on
'"s verge Of becoming mob.
puerulous demands Of Glow do 7
~ 10 The Bronx? ?" from individuals
""p could not have moved more than
: traction Of foot in any direction
saye ss the critical. brought a clamor Of
i.sNhg and almost, but not quite, ieer-
'"s adYicc from fellow sufferers.
Crowd Kept in a Panic
me tens Of thousands Of home vo;n.
tpiHefs had but one passagewav 70
orand Central Station and the
rh.mss square shuttle train last nj0bt
h.s congestion, which in the morninv
81. made chaos of the Times Souare
S.aaen SaaIen when the crowds were eo,nU
tt.nnto~r - ,n N the new subway, shifted
=, .pe O'Clock rugb hour to tho tuh.
,.1 'hs otner end Of the shuttle, when
g,d crowds who worked on the Fiat
-1' --'. downtown sought to make their
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