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Show FIRE IN NEW YORK SUBWAY SUB-WAY Al RUSH HOURS One Person Was Killed and More Than a Hundred Were Overcome by Smoke. I Manhattan's Entire Fire Fighting Force i lj on the Scene. H Now York, Jan, G. Mora than 100 persons wore ovorcomo byi smoke, H cut by flying glass, bruised and oth-m oth-m crwlse Injured in a flro aboard a train If In tbo subway at the height of tho rush hour tills morning. In the pan-n pan-n ' lc and confusion which ensued pollco H headquarters Issued a report that 12 persons had lost their lives, but this latter proved to bo unfounded and only ono known death was recorded. Tho entire Are lighting forco of Manhattan, every ambulance In tho borough and overy pullmotor that could be found were brought to tho scene. Tho fact that scores of persons per-sons wore unconscious led to tho ear' ly report that many had been killed. Later, Police Commissioner Woods and Fire ChlofKenlon announced that so far as they knew there had been no fatalities. Two hundred peoplo In all wore taken to the Polyclinic, the surgeon said, but as far ai he know with ' this one exception, none had been fa tally injured. Three Alar me Sent lit Threo alcrms wore sent In for a flro In tho subway at Broadway near Fifty-fifth streot, today, shortly after tho resumption of slow service, following fol-lowing a tie up of an hour nnd a half. Tho sorvlco was again halted. Police headquarters received word that a number of peoplo had been ov-ercomo ov-ercomo In tho subway and ambulances ambulanc-es were sent to tho scene. Tho early tleup was sudden. Trains camo slowly to a standstill, somo of I them between stations. Smoko from I burning Insulation at tho Spring I street station filled tho subway for I blocks. A mllo away tho fumes nf- I fected throngs of passengorts wno I crowded tho station platform. A Great Congestion B All along tho line tho sale of tick- H cts was stopped. Surfaco cars and A elovatcd trains were badly congested Br and all subway stations woro filled to g overflowing with struggling crowds. D Jinny 'persons, mprlsoned on trains I stalled between stations woro ovor coma by smoko and taken out uncoil-I uncoil-I sclous by tho police I Tho tloup started at 8 o'clock this I morning tho beginning of tho rush I hour. An hour and a half later a I Blow express servlco wns started, I only to bo halted by tho discovery of I tiro. Threo alarms woro turned In. Eight ambulances were sent to the sccno. Moro were called for Immediately. Imme-diately. From trains stalled between be-tween Btatlons, firemen cmorged bear Ing unconscious victims. Kvor.v avnllablo fireman that could be spared spar-ed was called on to holp. Pullmotors Ordered Flro Commissioner Adamsoi ,who assumed porsonal charge of tho situation, situ-ation, sent men scurrying throughout tho city with orders to bring overy pulmotor avallablo to tho scene, gome of tho victim died boforo tho pulmotors could bo obtained. Congestion tho llko of which the city has seldom seen, provalled at almost al-most ovory subway station. At the, llrooklyn bridge tho Manhattan en trnnco wns chokod b"y tens of, thousands. thous-ands. For BO minutes detachments of police reserves struggled with tho crowds thoro before order could bo restored. Elovatcd trains and surfaco cars wero packed to overflowing all over tho city with throngs that wero turned away from tho subway. Sixty persons were picked up in an unconscious condition from the scono of tho Are to the Fower hospital. Other hospital received many victims as well. Remevlng the Injured Ventilator gratings were taken up fr6m tho sldowalk around tho FlftJ. eth and Fifty-ninth streot stations and many of the injured wero remov-ed remov-ed In this manner. Fire Commissioner Adamson received re-ceived roports from battalion chiefs to tho ofTect that the flro was confined con-fined to two subway cars, thnt 8iv oral persons had been killed and n grent many Injured and overcome. All manholo covers wero removed ns well as tho ventilator gratings. In tho openings thus mado firemen placed their hoso. Other squads of firemen ci.iwled down through tho blinding smoko that poured rrom .ho Fiftieth and Fifty-ninth street st-i-tions, Into tho tube Itself and worked work-ed in relays. Red Flames Below Through tho smoko that rolled ip from tho mnnholcs could bo seen the red flames below. Tho firs started In a train between tho Fiftieth and Fifty-ninth streot stations. Somo of tho hundreds of passengers wedged tight in tho cars said aftorwards thnt It started with an explosion and that tho train canin almost Immediately to a Btandsttll. Aboard tho train thero was a fraut.c rush for the end doors. Through tho open doors at each end thero poured a steam of men nnd women who struggled through tho smoko apparently oblivious of tho danger of tho third rail to.vnrd tho two stations. Tho platforms at theso stations wero Jammed and In tho wild rush for the exits somo ! sons wero thrown down and trampled on. As tho work of rescue progressed Indications wero that tho number of ( fntnlltles would bo la ger thnn first cstlmatcil. They succeeded In making a holo nbovo tho stibwny nt Fifty-ninth street. From this opening bolchcd n volumo of smoko nnd flames ns if from a crator. Hoso wns directed through tho opening nnd even hand extinguishers wero used. For ten blocks tho Btreets were lined with the ambulances that enmo from nil over tho city. Lines established estab-lished around Hrondway by tho pollco Acid In chock tens of thousands ot spectators. May Tie Up Service Tho Bubway sorvlco, according to Commissioner McCall, of tho public servlco commission mny be tied for several days as a result of tho accident. acci-dent. If this proves true It will menu thnt tho moro than 1,000,000 persons a day carried by subway trains will bo diverted to tho surface and elovatcd elo-vatcd systems and cnuso a congestion conges-tion without parallel In the history of tho city. At first It wns bolloved there had been a tcrrlblo catastropho und reports re-ports reached pollco headquartcr3 that at last a scoro had been killed. Tho entlro flro department, nil am bulances In tho city, nnd tho pulmotor pulmo-tor squad, were rushed to the scene. Smoko poured out of tho subwny entrances, en-trances, manholes and ventilators nnd screams for holp could bo heard. It turned out that early roports had boen exaggerated. As It was, how-ever, how-ever, tho accident was described by tho police as tho worst subway dig aster that has occurred here. |