january61915

On January 6, 1915, an electrical short in a manhole started a fire that filled the subway line under Broadway at West 55th Street with smoke, resulting in chaos for a quarter-million commuters. The New York Times reported that one person, Ella Grady, was killed. We note that photographer George Grantham Bain, like many of us writing checks just after January 1, was a year off in dating this photo. View full size. 5x7 glass negative, George Grantham Bain Collection. From this source. www.shorpy.com/node/1805

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view from across the street (see notes):

Edward Everett McCall (1863-1924), former New York Supreme (Trial) Court Justice, unsuccessful New York Mayoral Candidate, and here in January 1915 Chairman of the New York (State) Public Service Commission, making an appearance at the disaster site. According to the Political Graveyard site, he was "chair, New York State Public Service Commission, 1913-15; removed from office in November, 1915, because he owned stock in a company under commission jurisdiction." politicalgraveyard.com/bio/mccall.html

artolog: thank you for the additional information. We will update the record.