The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1928-08-25
LIMBS BROUGHT
TO SURFACE IN
BLOODY BASKETS
Relatives Besieging the
Morgues, Hospitals
of City
Disaster on West Side

Continued from Page One
apart, were thrown wildly about,
perhaps half of them onto the
tracks, against stanchions, even un-
der the wheels of the cars behind.
Through the train there went the
Shrek of hundreds of people, seized
with near panic.
But the passengers were too
closely packed in to struggle much.
Women tainted and men fought
but it was a futile fight for they
could hardly move. Someone tore
open a window in one of the rear
cars; then another and another.
People scrambled out.
Electric Fire.
Peter Mother of Manhattan saw
two women beside him. Their faces
were pale and their forms were stiff.
He thought they were dead He
lifted them both through a door,
left them on the track, and sought
safety for himself.
Men pulled other men and women
through doors and windows after
them. Everyone seemed to scream
for a moment and then to concen-
trate upon winning safety for him
self and his fellows.
A hiss went through the wrecked
cars and blue smoke curled from
the electrical wiring, short circuited
and burning But the fire was soon
out.
AS l fled from the place" Peter
Mother said, Il could see bodies
strewn along the track clear back as
far as the stanchion which the car
hit, and l could see arms and legs
and parts of bodies. 1t was fright
full vision and l can never forget it"
Shrieks of Terror.
Back on the Times Square plat
form, where hundreds were crowded
waiting for trains, the people heard
a crash, then a shrek, and shout
of terror; the laundering of the de-
rallied cars as they plunged along
the track; and the hiss of the short
lived fire; all in such brief space
of time none could tell what sound
had followed the other.
The cries were echoed from the
crowd on the subway platform. Like
sheep, the people crowded towards
the end of the station from which
the terrifying sounds had come;
then turned and fought for the
exits.
BY 7:30 p. m. $50 workmen were
engaged repairing the damage to
the subway-that New York might
ride to work in haste again Satur-
day morning, or perhaps even ride
home from the theatre tonight.
While the city and the transit
company centered efforts on rescue
at Times Square, thousands crowded
platforms at stations along the
route, and extra police had to be
sent to each platform to maintain
order. 1t was mid-evening before
the last of these home-goers had
been moved away on emergency
trains which were routed over the
Broadway and East Side subways.
Many of them were hours late.
- 1t was mid-evening before the
work of Identification of the dead
and injured was more than well I'M
derway. 1t may be dawn before it
is completed.
About 10 p. m. Frank Hedley,
president of the Interborough, came
to the Seventh Precinct Headquar-
tiers and for 10. minutes talked with
two assistant district attorneys in
an inner office. Hedley left, &C
companied by two detectives, refus-
ing to make any comment. Rumors
went around mat he was under
technical arrest but these were de-
MED by officers who said he had
been directed to produce immedi-
ately the switch inspector who was
responsible for permitting the train
to cross a switch which was not in
good repair.