Page 7
Commisioner Nixon, as had been the form
of agreement offered by him and accepted in the recent Brooklyn
Rapid Transit strike. The strike leaders and public officials
concerned in the peace conference gave the Public Service
Commis- ioner undisputed credit for the adjustment of the
controversy, F. J. Connolly, acting president of the
Brotherhood of Employes, declared after the enthusiastic
meeting of the strikers last night that "Nixon was the
best man in New York." The strikers gave the Commissioner
a rising vote of thanks .
It was stated that the constitution
referred to in the agreement was that of the brotherhood which
contained an arbitration clause that had been approved by the
directors of the Interborough. The men struck in violation of
this clause, it had been contended.
* * * *
SUBWAY AND
ELEVATED TRAINS START
SOON AFTER MIDNIGHT
The old familiar grind of the ticket
chopper began to function spasmodically in the hundreds of
subway and "L" stations soon after midnight. The
sound echoed and re-echoed through vacant tunnels, however, for
the public was not out in force sufficient to give the
resumption of service the gala celebration it deserved.
Following the reaching of an agreement
by the Brotherhood and the Inter- borough orders were issued
for the resumption of service at midnight and shortly before
that hour the ticket sellers and ticket choppers throughout the
system took up their old places and most of them seemed glad to
be back on the job. The windows were opened for the selling of
tickets at midnight and at that hour or within a few moments of
it motormen and conductors began to run trains out of the
various termini about the system
Shortly after midnight trains
left the Bronx and Van Cortlandt Park terminals of the west
side subway and began their journey toward Atlantic avenue,
Brook-
lyn. At the same time service was
resumed on the Lexington avenue branch and the trains started
from 159th street terminal of the Sixth and Ninth avenue
"L" lines.
The first trains on the various
divisions started as follows: -
Broadway- Seventh avenue, left
Van Cortlandt Park at four minutes after twelve o'clock.
Lenox avenue left 145th street at
nine minutes after twelve o'clock.
Bronx Park three car
"L" trains left for South Ferry at twenty minutes
after twelve o'clock.
There was not the usual homegoing
midnight crowd to be seen, however.
This was especially noticeable at
the Times Square station of the subway, where the west side,
Grand Central shuttle and B. R. T. subway lines meet. Usually
this point is a mass of humanity around the midnight hour, but
the combination of circumstances last night gave the Times
square station an almost deserted appearance, even after the
trains had been running. The rain, the actors' strike and the
transit tieup was a combination that few cared to brave.
Different was the scene at the
149th street station of the Third avenue "L," when
about one hundred persons, waiting on the sidewalk for
emergency means of conveyance to take them to downtown points,
caught sight of an "L" train speeding into the
station. Most of the crowd had not known of the strike settle-
ment, and they greeted the train with a cheer, then made a dash
for the ticket booth.
The first train on this branch
left the Bronx Park terminal at six minutes after twelve
o'clock, under charge of Fred Meister, motorman. It carried no
passengers, being sent down the line to clear the tracks. The
first passenger train left at twenty minutes after twelve
o'clock, and carried one hundred pass- engers when it had gone
a few stations.
Interborough officials had
gathered enough men together at midnight to guar- antee normal
service by one o'clock, they stated.
State Officials Attend Conference.
The settlement was reached at a
conference called by Lewis Nixon, Public Service Commissioner,
at the offices of the commission yesterday afternoon Governor
Alfred E. Smith, John Mitchell, chairman of the State
Industrial Commission, and representatives of the Interborough
and the strikers partici- pated with Mr. Nixon. No
representative of the city administration took a part in the
negotiations.
Speaking for the Interborough company,
J. L. Quackenbush, chief coun- cel, declared last night the
twenty-five per cent increase in wages for the employes he felt
safe in saying that the company would not go into bank- ruptcy
before January 1. He said that the wage increase meant an
additional $4,800,000 a year to the charges against the
company. He said that by January 1 the company would be short
$5,686,460 of meeting fixed charges but that he hoped the
security holders would advance the sum to offset the deficit
and avert a receivership.
While the conference was in
progress Mayor Hylan summoned District Attorney Swann, Police
Commissioner Enright, Corporation Counsel Burr and other city
officials to his office at City Hall to discuss the matter of
alleged conspiracy between the brotherhood and the traction
company to secure an eight-cent fare. The Mayor announced after
the conference that positive evidence of such a conspiracy had
been obtained and that District Attorney Swann would present
the evidence to the extraordinary Grand Jury tomorrow. Fifty
subpoenas had been issued for witnesses, it was stated. The
District Attorney said that the settlement of the strike would
in no way interfere with the Grand Jury investigation.
The settlement agreement was in
substance that formulated by
©2003 The Composing Stack Inc.
©2003 Gregory J. Christiano
Updated January 20 , 2003