New-York tribune., 1918-08-08
Relief From Hottest D,,
in City's History Come,
Only at Night
Bathing Facilities
Entirely Inadequate
Only Small Part of Crowd
Of 100000 Able to Get
Into the Ocean

Coney Island, the playground Of ".
York, yesterday became a citv of ~:
cry. A'S'
AS usual, it was the refuge of NJ.
York City's multitudes as.;s.
from the congested areas of tensu'
districts which the greatest heat ;r a.
city's history had made almost r..D
habitable. ''
If Tuesday had seen 250.OoO ns,,.
at Coney Island there were at ,....
100000 there yesterday. All tho cr,,.,
records of the play city were brok.,
But 1t was not play crowd this tina
A spirit of unrest and uneasin.,.
seemed to haunt the unhappy tbrou,
surging back and forth along the w,,.,
front searching for shade and snimr,
the air almost like animals and bor;s.
to find fresh breeze. Only com
paratively few favored ones could 90.
down to the water These numbsr.s
thousands, but there were scores an.
scores of thousands who were bs,,.1
from the Municipal Bathing Payio,
because there were no accommodation,
left.
In fact, every single bathroom in II.
pavilion had been taken by 10 O'Clock
in the morning. Most OF those wbo
were fortunate to get in were there
for the day. For each of those who
came out there were hundreds clamor.
ing to get in.
Thousands Bring Bedding
Thousands of visitors brought som.
bedclothes along blankets. pillows,
tiny mattress for the baby, milk
bottle and box containing lunch. |,
was evident that they planned to star
over to sleep under the open sky on
the beach or in the parks anywhere,
just SO it was in the open.
Late last night Coney Island vas an
open camp. People were sleeping all
over the resort. The beach was COY, m
cred with people, and hundreds had
spread blankets on the sand under the
bathing pavilion The police estimated
that about 5000 had slept along the
beach Tuesday night Last night they
We're sleeping there
There was virtually no relief TO be
had in Coney yesterday from the neat
Women and children suffered acutely.
The resort restaurants were hard pui
to furnish food for the heat refugees
There was scarcity OF milk for Il.
youngsters.
3. K. +. Fails Again
The chief discomforts and compl-
cations and allaround confusion were
contributed by the Brooklyn Rapid
Transit Company. II tried to handle
the biggest crowd in the history OF
Coney Island with normal Transports
ton facilities The result was com
pound failure of dimensions that even
the B. r. I. has never been able to
achieve in its much cussed railroad
history
Every Coney train was filled Every
Coney train was late. Every Coney
train moved slowly on the hottest day
in the city's life. There was the usual
scarcity of attendants to sell and take
second fare tickets. The result was
that enormous crowds were piled up
at the West End and Culver line ter.
minals. Captain Byron r. Sacket.
called for police reserves to keep OF
der and prevent panics and riots The
police were unable TO keep thousands
from leaping over the gates without
paving the second fare
This time the Brooklyn Rapid Tran
sit pleaded sfortness of labor. The Of
iicials said that their employees were
just like ordinary human beings thai
many of them could not work in the
broiling sunshine, and mat labor was
scarce anyhow.
During the afternoon a number o.
trains became stalled at the West End
terminal. Only the presence Of mind
of the women guards and the muscles
of few policemen on their way TO
their homes in Coney Island prevented
a genuine panic. which might have re-
suited in the loss OF lives. One woman
with baby yelled and tried to break
past woman guard. She had to be
held. Otherwise she would have hurled
herself from the train and into ths
creek.