Awful Catastrophe Shocks New York

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 443, 27 August 1928, Page 13

Awful Catastrophe Shocks New York

Prom Saturday's T>nte Edition.

SUBWAY DISASTER SHAMBLES IN DARKNESS (United jP.A.—By j (United Service) ' NEW YORK, Saturday. j THRIVE hours after the most: \ serious accident in the his-1 tory of the New York underground the exact loss of life and the number of injured had not been established. It is believed that at least 20 were killed and 100 seriously injured. Tlie accident, occuring at the peak of the homegoing rush hour, paralysed the entire subway system and left virtually a million people unable to get home save by long and devious ways. Times Square, the virtual heart of the city, and probably its busiest spot, to-night was shut off on two sides by a cordon of police stretching around many city squares and streets. The neighbourhood is crowded with fire«sflghting apparatus. The difficulty ’Of removing the injured and clearing the tracks for the restoration of the service has been greatly enhanced by thp tact that the accident occurred 40 feet underground, right at the Times Square area. The theatre district in the neighbourhood of Times Square, which is always one of the most crowded spots in the city, is to-night in a turmoil, and the police are having great difficulty in deflecting the crowds which every evening converge upon this small area to seek their places of amusement. The open switch which shunted the express train on to the local tracks, and was then thrown back, hurled four overcrowded carriages 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 reverberated the shrieks of the dying. Workmen with acetylene torches, police and firemen rushed to the scene for the rescue. Every available hospital ambulance was brought to the scene. As the dead and injured were slowly brought to* the surface the streets around Ahe subway station, where the accident occurred, ro sembled the rear lines of a battlefield. Such great confusion still exists that the details concerning the cause of the wreck are virtually impossible to obtain. The medical examiner, Dr. Norris, announced officially that those at present dead were 12. Mr. Prank Hedlev, president of the Inter-Borough Rapid Transit Company, the owner of this line, placed the blame on a faulty switch. It is stated that an inspector noticed it early in the evening and decided that it was not dangerous for the moment. He ran an empty train over it safely and then a loaded train passed it successfully. The second train met the switch at a speed of 20 miles an hour. The first seven carirages and the forward trucks passed over, but the switch shifted before the rear wheels of the eighth had crossed.