Evening star., 1950-11-24
Gov. Dewey BIames
Human Failure for
Long Island Wreck
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kValS iSiUstU VlVSN
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Gov. Dewey is one of six that will
be made of the crash or the status
of the bankrupt railroad.
Other Inquiries Ordered
The others include an Interstate
Commerce Commission investiga-
tion starting tomorrow and in
quiries by:
The City of New York, the
district attorney of Queens
County, in which the wreck oc-
CURED, the Long Island Railroad,
and Nassau County Executive j.
Russell Sprague.
New York newspapers accented
the public indignation.
The New York World-Telegram
and the Sun headlined, Dewey.
mayor spur probe; stop the
murder! riders cry"
Reused public asks action
against LIRR," hammered the
Journal American.
Wants Judge Disqualified.
Howard Kiroack of Bellport,
N. Y. president of the Suffolk
County Commuters Association,
said he had sent a telegram to
Federal Judge Harold M. Kennedy,
in Brooklyn, declaring the latest
wreck proves the judge should
disqualify himself in the Long
Island reorganization. Judge
Kennedy approved a petition for
reorganization of the railroad in
bankruptcy on March 2, 1949.
One reason Mr.. Kiroack gave
was that Judge Kennedy had ap-
pointed a former law partner as
one of the trustees of the railroad.
Mr.. Kiroack said copies Of the
telegram were being sent to each
member of the House Judiciary
Committee.
Alfred A. Buddenhaven. district
governor of Lions International,
announced a meeting of district
cabinet members has been called
for Monday night to demand
greater safety for Long Island
railroad passengers.
Macy Calls Wreck Preventable.
Representative Macy, whose dis
trict is served by the Long Island.
said it was another frightful and
ghastly preventable wreck-the
price of inaction on the part of
the Interstate Commerce Commis-
sion, whose duty it is to see
to it that automatic safety devices
are installed"
Gov. Dewey made a point-by
point summary of the public
service commissions early flnd-
ings. He said SO far the investi-
CATION has shown that:
"1he record shows that each
Of the cars on the express had
been examined within IS days
prior to the accident and the
brakes found to be in perfect
mechanical order. /
TESTS made after the accident
show the brakes on both trains
in perfect mechanical order.
"The signal system found to be
in perfect condition before and
after the accident, and still is.
Engineer Was Killed.
"The engineer of the express,
j. Pokorney. killed in
the crash, passed through one
warming signal and through one
stop signal at full speed of 60 to
S. miles per hour.
"It appears from the commits
sion engineers report. the tracks
show that the brakes were ap-
piled $50 feet from the scene OF
the wreck, not nearly enough and
long after he (Mr. Pokorney) had
passed the warning and stop sig
nails"
While Gov. Dewey was meeting
with his commission. Mayor Vim
cent R. Impellitteri went into con-
ference with his fact-flnding
board at Oracle Mansion. The
Mayor also had cut short a vaca-
ton and flown home from Cuba.
Officials Horrified.
With Mayor Impellitteri were
Robert H. Moses. city co-ordina-
tor; Col. Sidney H. Bingham,
chairman of the Board of Trans
portation, and Maurice j. Fitz-
gerald, borough president OF
Queens.
Before their meetings both Gov,
Dewey and Mayor Impellitteri
had expressed horror and grief
over the holiday eve crash which
occurred near Kew Gardens,
Queens. One Of the city's coziest
residential communities.
One electric train plowed into
the rear of another, which was
stalled about 10 miles from Times
Square. With a deafening roar
and a binding flash from the
third rail. the front and lear cars
of the two 12-car trains 1elescoped.
Death and terror struck the
2,100 passengers, many of them
crowded in the aisles.