SUBWAY SMASH

Hokitika Guardian, 27 August 1928, Page 1

SUBWAY SMASH

OVER 120 VICTIMS. IN HEART OF NEW YORK. Lustralian Press Assn.—United Service, NEW YORK, August 24. It is unofficially reported that between twenty-five and thirty have been killed and fifty injured in a subway derailment, to-night in tile limes Square. NEW YORK, August 24. Details of the subway accident state that twenty persons were killed during the evening rush hour to-night (Friday). The derailment was that of the rear car of a subway train at the Times Square. Tlie trucks split one of the switches, thus throwing the car sideways. The car struck a stanchion, breaking it in two. The forward half of the car slewed down the track, collapsing in a crumpled heap two hundred feet distant. The number of injured have not yet been estimated. Rescuers worked frantically to extricate the sufferers. MILLION PEOPLE HELD UP. NEW 7 YORK, August 24.

Three hours after the most serious accident in the history of the New York underground railway, the exact loss of life and the number of the in j tired are still not established.

It is believed that at least twenty wore k illed and that a hundred were seriously injured.

The accident, which occurred at the peak of the home-going rush hour, paralysed the entire subway system, and it left virtually one million people unable to get home, save by long and devious ways.

The Times Square, which is tho virtual heart of the city, and probably its busiest spot at night, is to-night shut off on two sides by a cordon of police stretching around many of the Cit\ squares, and streets. This neighbourhood is crowded with lire fighting apparatus, and there is difficulty in removing injured, and in clearing the tracks for the restoration of the service, which difficulty is greatly enhanced by the fact that the accident occurred twenty feet underground, right in the Times Square area. The theatre district is in the neighbourhood of the Times Square, which is always one of the most crowded spots in the city, is to-night in a. tuimoil, tho police having great difficulty in deflecting the crowds which every evening converge upon tills small area to seek their places of amusepient.

HOW 7 IT HAPPENED. NEW 7 YORK, August 25. The cause of the subway accident was an open switch, which shunted an express train on to local tracks. The switch was then thrown hack, hurling lour over-crowded cars against the steel girders of the station, which was immediately transformed into a shambles.

All the power was shut off and through the darkened underground there reverberated the shrieks of the dying. Workmen with acetylene torches, and police and firemen rushed to the scene for rescue work. Every available hospital ambulance was brought to the spot. The dead and the injured were slowly brought to the surface, and the streets around the subway where the accident occurred resembled the rear lines of a battlefield. Such confusion still exists that details concerning the cause of the wreck are still difficult to obtain. Medical Examiner Norris stated that lie had been told officially that those at present dead numbered twelve. Mr Frank Hedley, the President of the Interborough Rapid Transit Company, which is tlie owner of this line, placed the blame on a faulty switch. He stated that an inspector noticed it early in the evening, hut decided it was not dangerous for a moment. 'I hey ran an empty train over it safely, and then ran over it with a loaded train successfully. The second loaded train met the switch at a speed of twenty miles an hour. The first seven carriages passed over, hut the switch shifted as the rear wheels of the eighth carriage crossed. The number of the injured has not vet been determined.

FURTHER PARTICULARS. (Received this day at 8 a.m.l NEW YORK, August 20. Friday’s sub-way deaths total sixteen and the injured one hundred, some critically.