New-York tribune., 1920-01-28
Icy Tracks Tie Up
Il; Sparks On Third
Rails Start Fires
Many Pedestrians Fall OF
SIeety Sidewalks: Traffic
Jam Causes Death: De-
lay OIL River Bridges

Ice coated rails barred IL" TRANSPORT
tation yesterday morning to thousands
of New Workers after they had precari-
ously negotiated the slippery sidewalks
from home to station. The carrying
of the whole early rush hour traffic
devolved on congested subway trains
and packed trolley cars. badly demor-
alizing the underground and surface
lines schedules. Service was suspend
ed on the overhead extensions Of the
subways in the Bronx and on the
Brooklyn and Queens 81" systems
Sparks from the third rail ignited
the ice brushes attached to the trucks
Of 81" cars, and the Fire Department
was called out to eNtinguish half a
dozen blazes on stalled trains Gas,
escaping from a frozen pipe at the
Second Avenue Hanover Square station
was also ignted and set fire to the
structure.
Great Electrical Display
During the three or four hours pre-
ceding dawn the streets traversed by
the a. lines were grotesquely illumi-
mated by these electrical displays from
the third rails. Flashes of light shot
high into the air and the pavements
were showered with sparks.
Hundreds of pedestrians fell on the
icy sidewalks and many Of them re-
Quired medical attention. The only
case OF serious injury from this cause
reported, however, was that of Peter
Bearlck, of 636 East Fourteenth
Street, who was removed to bellevue
Hospital with fractured skull.
traffic jam due to the suspension
Of the Queens "L' service, at the East
New York station of the Long Island
Railroad was responsible for the death,
Of tiftcen-year- old Bernard Rafkind, Of
90 Christopher Avenue, Brooklyn. The
boy was showed under the wheels of an
approaching train in the rush of 1000
pany had to jack up the car before
the body could be extricated.
Horse drawn and motor vehicle traffic
was in a bad way for hours. This was
particularly true on the bridges over
the East River, it being chronicled that
the sleet, no respecter of persons,
caused Mayor John f. Hylan delay of
seventy minutes in crossing Williams
burg Bridge.
Elevated Traffic Menaced
II was shortly after midnight when
it started to rain. For the first hour or
two there was nothing remarkable
about the rain except it's persistence,
but, along about 2 o'clock, stratum
of cold air formed somewhere between
the clouds and the level Of the "L''
structures, and when the congealcd
product of this atmospheric phenome-
non hit the rails it stayed there.
About that time it became apparent
that passenger trains would have to be
generously sandwiched in between
"empties," whose province was to
brush the tracks clear of ice. AT 2:40
q. m, however, the first fire call came
in from an "empty' in Greenwich
Street, near Clarkson. Five minutes
later a Second Avenue train between
10lst and 1920 streets was reported
afre, and after that the alarms were
received with unusual regularity. Pas
scngers were recommended then to try
the already crippled subway and sur
face lines.
Later in the morning the SUM- con-
siderable OF stranger for the last few
days, succeeded in breaking its way
through the cloud barrier, The tenn
perature took a jump, and the thaw
that set in enabled snow removers to
discard their picks and rely solely on
their shovels.