New-York tribune., 1922-07-26

Whatever impish prank of fate ruled
the catastrophe the hour was well
chosen for great mischief The daily
dash for home and supper had just
begun Workers were pouring in end
less rivers of humanity from the sky
scraper cliffsides of the downtown dis
trlct, 100000 strong, headed Brooklyn
ward. And suddenly there were no
routes open.
Trains Trapped Under River
Subway trains were trapped under
the river. Surface cars we're halted
IN the middle of the bridges Elevated
trains stuck between stations on their
toplo1ty superstructures, and while
they waited silent the subway stations.
bridge entrances and car stops choked
with people who damned the tide of
Brooklynbound workers and flooded
the surrounding streets with oceans
Of impatient, bewildered, anxious
human beings.
These milled around in futile efforts
to find Il means of getting at least part
way home. The O'Clock crowd, which
formed the advance guard Of the
charge, was broken and magnified by
the $3.50 crowd and then by the horde
OF late workers at 6.
AhooS VIM Hdu tne ieaSC distance to
cover before dinner could be sighted
starting to walk. A hardy person NAV
walk to Williamsburg or Brooklyn
HeIghts, but few cared, to attempt the
walk to Flatbush. Bensonhurst and
points still further atield. There was
some relief by way Of the Long Island
Railroad. A few essayed to reach des
tlnatlons in Flatbush and East New
YORK by way Of the lnterborough, and
as each group broke for its own alter
native route new centers of congestion
were added, until all lower Manhattan
was a mob of raging baffled thou
sands.
motor trucks eventually solved the
problem; motor trucks and policemen
and auto busses and folks who own
their own autom obiles. The patrolmen.
ordered in strength, guided the be-
wildered ones and kept the hasty.
stronger brethren in some sort of
order. The motor busses were con-
tflouted by various transportation com
panles at the request of Mayor Hylan.
the motor trucks were mostly looking
for harvest of half dollars; and
mostly they reaped it. Meanwhile. in
the suburbs, dinner was getting cold or
burning up; telephones rang incessantly
each with its message Of woeh and
anxious parents husbands and wives
stcrmed distant station platforms seek
ing information, which no one could
give of the whereabouts of their miss
ing families.
Service Resumed at
The tie-up proved fatal to Patrick
Mclaughlin. forty years old, a ma
chinist, Of "a North Oxford Street, Bay
Ridge. Mclaughlin hailed a truck
driven by James Babab, of 1419 Eighth
Avenue, Brooklyn, at Fourth Avenue and
Seventeenth Street and asked for lift.
Babab called Come on" and McLaugh-
lin, jumping for the side of the truck,
missed his footing and fell under the
rear wheels. He was dead when Dr.
Searle,. of the Samaritan Hospital,
reached the scene
Charles Rayer, nine years old, of 1901
Gates Avenue, Brooklyn, was knocked
down and killed by an automobile
driven by Albert Rosenthal, of 73 Nor
foik Street Manhattan The youngster
attempted to get across the street when
traffic was most congested, and, lodging
one car, ran in front of Rosenthals
auto, which was loaded with emergency
passengers. Rosenthal was held on a
technical charge of homicide
Fanny Nicolini, nine years old, of 1913
Tenth Avenue, and Edith Casale, six
OF lSo Sixteenth Street, were knocked
down while attempting to cross Third
Avenue at Eleventh Street. They were
Continued OH pags sIx)