New-York tribune., 1920-12-30
Police Reserves Hold the
Crowds i'm Check When
All Manhattan Traffic
Halts for IS Minutes
Women Faint i'm
Station Crushes
Surface Lines and B. r. r.
Subway Overwhelmed
by Homebound Throng

Every subway and elevated line in
Manhattan was crippled at the rush
hour last night by a short circuit in
the main 1nterborough power house at
Seventy fourth Street and the East
River. From Sis o. m. until 6 o'clock
trains made slow and hating progress
on trestles and in tunnels, the third
rails carrying onlv a fraction Of the
current required for proper service. It
was not until 6:20 p. NJ. that service
vas restored fully
The Brooklyn Rapid Transit subway,
which receives power from the Inter
borough, the last to regain its
quota Of current. Indirectly the sur
face lines in Manhattan and the ele-
waited and surface lines in Brooklyn
were affected by the tic-up, being over
whelmed by the sudden volume Of
emergency traffic projected upon thNn
Reserves Called Out
Subway stations in the theater dis
trlct, the financial district and at trans
Ter points we've so congested that in
many cases the reserves were called
from police stations to keep The crowds
IN order, and at some stations the sale
OF -'ckets was discontinued. Platforms
were packed solidly with humanity, the
crowd jamming the stairs and corridors
and reaching out to the sidewalk.
IralNS rar1o
pac'Sed to the last inch with passengers
VINO had squeezed aboard at earlier
stops. In some cases both trains and
station platforms were so crowded that
1t was obviously waste Of time to at
tempt tc open the car doors, as bv no
possibility could any one get out Of
the trains or off the PLATFORM
South Of Brooklyn Bridge the selling
OF tickets was suspended and the hun
dreds OF thousands came surrinc M
broadway and Nassau Street, some Of
them seeking subway station where
tickets still were to be had, some hop-
ing Tor perch on surface car and
thousands more bound for their homes
across the East River by way Of tho
Brooklyn Bridge
The entrance to the bridge soon was
packed solidly and patroinen were
called from the traffic station and +be
Oak Street station to form wa;+;no
lines at each trolley loop and elevatcS
stairway and to keep clear len.s
through which persons coming to Wan.
haitian might reach the street.
Women Faint
so far as the police could see. thcre
was no intentional roughncss. but va
constant pressure Of the arr;v;nc
thousands made the congestion acuts
Several women tainted and were car.
ried into Perry's' drug store. in the
world Building, who're a first aid
station was set up in which ambulance
surgeons worked over their patients
while the jam lasted
At the Manhattan Bridge conditions
we're almost as bad, and ten special
patrolmen were required to ba-5fe ,h,,
crowd at the Canal Street station.
which is transfer point bet.een In
terboroueh and B. R. r. subway lines.
AS 1t was matinee day of Christmas
week, the crowds in the theater district
at the time Che block occurred probably
were the greatest of the year. The
congestion at some of the subway and
elevated stations uptown was almost as
bad as at the stations in the financial
district, at which the sale Of tickets
was stopped. The West Side subway.
which serves the theatcr district, how
ever, was not so badly crippled as most
of the other lines, and the stations
gradually were cleared.
Cylinder Head Blew Out
The lntcrboroueh subway lines were
the first to recover from the blockade
and the East Side elevated lines were
reXt. Then came the Sixth and Ninth
Avenue elevated lines, and, last Of all.
the B. r. 7. subway.
The short circuit is said to have been
due to the blowing out Of cylinder
head, the escaping steam causing a
short circuit in the high tension con
ncction.