Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1945-12-22
Record Crowd
Leaves D. {. for
YuIe Holiday
Transport Facilities
Swomped as U. S.
Offices Close
picture on Page A-2.)

picture on Page Az
Thousands of persons contin-
ued to pour out of Washington
today as the Christmas holidays
drained the Capital of its bulg-
Ing population.
The biggest mass evacuation in
the Districts history took place yes
terday when Government Offices
closed for the four-day holiday, but
many persons, without the heart to
face yesterdays throngs, waited un-
til today to begin their travel.
The consensus of railroad officials
was that about 100000 persons
passed through Union Station yes
terday, and that most of them were
Washingtonians trying to get on
outbound trains.
Harry A. Karr, division passenger
agent for the Pennsylvania Rail-
road, said he left the terminal
at 2 am, and at that time thou
sands of people still were waiting
for trains. Many of them, he said,
slept on benches and on the floor,
to be ready to catch trains early
today.
Worst in 43 Years.
1--WE been with the railroad for
43 years." Mr.. Kari said, land I've
never seen anything like it. 1t was
a terrible mess, but they were FORE
warned"
B. R. Tolson, manager of the
Washington Terminal Co., would not
try to estimate the number of pros
pective passengers who came down
to try to board trains, but he said
it exceeded anything the terminal
has ever seen.
Demand for travel space during
the last 10 days, he said, was about
20 per cent greater than that of
last Christmas.
1T was getting worse and worse
every day." he said, until it reached
a peak yesterday. There are still
a lot of people down here, but it's
falling of some, and we expect the
outgoing rush to be over some time
tomorrow"
Homebound travellers also damned
the bus terminals and National Air.
port. Even the snow packed roads
leading out of Washington bore
their share of the traffic.
Record Crowd at Station.
officials at Union Station agreed
that the throngs at the train gates
yesterday set an a1l-time record. The
crush began early in the day, as
many persons tried to beat the
crowd by getting on early trains.
BY nightfall the concourse in the
station was almost solid mass OF
struggling humanity.
Hundreds of trains left the ter
minal with their coaches packed, but
the crowd at the station didn't begin
to thin out until late at night. Many
prospective travellers took one bleak
look at the surging mob and wisely
went back home.
The crowd was evenly divided
between servicemen and civilians, In
contrast to previous war years when
men in uniform were far in the
majority. Despite the terrific pres
sure, the crowd remained orderly
and reasonably good natured
througout the day.
Two Hours to Make Train.
1t took about two hours for the
average able-bodied passenger to
buy his ticket and beat his way
through the milling mobs at the
gates. Those who had to wait fol-
their tickets spent from 20 to 4C
minutes standing in line. The rest
of the time was consumed in fighting
their way toward the trains.
Practically nobody boarded the
train he thought he was going to
get. Often it took hours before
even standing space was available.
Most of the trains coming through
Washington from the South already
were filled when they reached the
station and could take on only q
e few additional passengers.
Trains were running from min
utes to S hours late. Virtually every
train on the Pennsylvania and
Baltimore & Ohio lines left in two
sections-each coach crammed with
passengers.
ALI Planes Loaded.
At the Washington National Air
port not a plane left with an empty
seat. Space had been booked on
all outgoing flights for weeks in
advance, but dozens of persons were
on hand at the terminal waiting for
seats through last-minute cancella-
tons.
More than so commercial airlin-
ers, each seating from 81 to % pas
sengers, left the airport between
$3.50 pm. and midnight. More than
half these planes were loaded here
Because of lack of surplus equip
ment, airlines were unable to sched-
ule additional flights to handle all
the persons who wanted to fly home
for Christmas.
At the Air Transport Command
terminal at the airport, however, ex-
ira planes were sent out of the city
as the Army Air Forces tried to gel
every serviceman home by Christ
mas. Men in uniform filled the ATC
terminal, waiting until the loud.
speaker informed them there was
space on some plane about to leave
Both the Greyhound and Trail.
(See TRAVEL, Page A-2.l