The New York herald., 1922-06-13

heir search elsewhere. There were ten
corpses at the City Island police station
End ffteen in the morgue at Fordham
Hospital and a few more were else
where. but that did not begin 10 COM
rplete the list of the known dead, since
many bodies We're not recovered and
may not be for days TO come.
All day yesterday the police OF the
marine division pursued their search
efor the drowned. graphing in the now
placid waters of Pelham Bay. They
said that at least twenty persons were
Sstill missing, and that there was little
hope that more than very few or them
were alive. Estimates of the loss or life
in the great storm varied from sixty to
ninety, with the police standing mostly
on an estimate OF sixty to sixty-nve
fdead
This work was made difficult by the
Widespread damage caused throughout
Westchester TO public service wires. All
through the county electric lighting was
extinguished and telephoning was made
impossible. This made it hard for the
police 10 check up accurately on reports
from several places as TO the dead and
missing, and IL made the strain OF wait
ing immensely harder for those who
crowded the police stations and the hos
.pitals seeking definite information 1t
will be two or three days. at least be-
fore anything like an official statement
tan be had as to the exact number OF
dead. Some persons went unaccom-
spanied TO the beaches and were drowned
1 alone or in bathing suits without identl-
fying marks, as was the case with
Young man who was drowned in the
Harlem River, off 130th street. He was
a good looking man. of 25 or so. There
was nothing about the blue bathing suit
he wore to help the police.
There were numerous instances of true
heroism. For example, young william
Taylor of 206S Crotona avenue-he Is
only 19-who saved at least ten lives
When the mighty squall hit Pelham Bay
and the flatbottomed rowboats began 10
go over Taylor dragged men and women
ashore until his own strength gave out
He is in Fordham Hospital now, surfer
ing from exhaustion.
Melancholy relics of the disaster were
collected by the police and firemen yes
terday from the beaches. the bathhouses
and abandoned boats left by the storm
and floating aimlessly in the Sound
Pocket books and womens vanity bags,
lunch boxes, coats and wraps, sweaters
and a dozen other odds and ends of be-
longings were harvested into the station
houses and held there for Identification.
This work was continued last night.
Ferris wheel Inquiry.
I J Another phase OF the destruction and
death cost was that of the Ferris wheel
Collapse at the Clason Point Amusement
sSPark when seven persons were killed
I and forty injured. This deadly accident
snay result in the elimination Of such
Amusement contrivances as too unsafe
- to tolerate Statements to that effect
~were made by Patrick ]. Reville, Super
intendent of Buildings in The Bronx,
:, after he had investigated the accident
along with Assistant District Attorney
William +. Quigley They began their
inquiry by ascertaining that the Build
ing Department. had last inspected the
wheel on April 90, 1922 and that it was
on May that a letter approving a
license was sent to the owner and opera
tor, Paul Simon.
Simon was arrested yesterday on a
technical charge of homicide and was
arraigned before Magistrate John Z. Nc
Geehan in the Morrisinia court. He
was paroled in custody of his counsel
until June 81. when he will receive a
further hearing. He maintained that he
had no reason co suspect that there was
anything faulty about the construction
OF the wheel or that it was unsafe; quite
the contrary. since it had been inspected
and pronounced safe by the Building De-
partment. Assistant District Attorney
Quigley said that legislation should be
obtained prohibiting the operation of
Ferris wheels.
81 do not know as yet whether this
is a case of criminal negligence" said
Qugley. but il we find that negligence
wa shown there will be ample prosecu-
ton"
Grand Jury tO Act.
The Bronx county Grand Jury will in
vestigate the Ferris wheel accident, it
was announced at the District Attorneys
office. District Attorney Glennon said
that he had made a personal inspection
of all the amusement resorts in The
Bronx and that he was convinced that
most of the apparatus used in these
places is unsafe. All amusement park
proprietors will be forced to overhaul
such apparatus and put 1t in an abso-
lutely safe condition, although Ferris
wheels may be interdicted altogether.
Building Superintendent Reville said
that he would decline to approve the
erection or operation of such devices in
The Bronx. Quigly criticized Paul Simon.
owner and operator. saying:
There seems no valid reason why
Simon should not have stopped the ma
chinery at the approach Of the storm.
Rather than lose money he continued
to turn the Wheel
According to the witnesses questioned
by the District Attorney, the wheel was
loaded to its capacity of sixty when the
storm struck. The victims had no chance
to save themselves from death or injury.
With terrific force the gale seemed to
attack the wheel from several direc-
tions, fairly lifting II from its frame
and then dropping 1t with a crash. As
girders buckled and the whole structure
went over men, women and children
catapulted in all directions, except those
that were crushed to death under
twisted steel. Almost before the first
victim was lifted out of the debris the
storm had passed, so suddenly did the
disaster happen.
Simon. the owner. is 40 and lives at
the amusement park. He said yester-
day he believed that the wheel was
struck by lightning. but there was no
evidence to that effect. He said that the
storm seemed to come from across the
Sound in funnel shaped cloud, but that
Il came so fast there was no chance to
empty the wheel of its passengers.
Parks Never SO Hard Hit.
Probably never before was the park
system of New York so hard hit or so
much damage caused TO the trees In the
public streets and in private grounds. A
survey OF the parks yesterday by the
officials in charge revealed astonishing
In~ In tho v.o ,-tr. III. - t,-~-w