january61915

See: query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F00E12F73F5A15738... 250,000 in Tie-up at Morning Rush Hour; Affects Whole City Short Circuit Starts Fire Three Packed Trains Stalled at 55th St. and Broadway Near Flames New York Times January 7, 1915 The worst accident in the history of the New York subways occurred yesterday morning, when one woman was killed and 210 persons weer overcome by smoke or trampled upon. Three crowded downtown trains weer stalled at 8:02 o'clock between the Columbus Circle and Fiftieth Street station by a short circuit which set fire to the insulation of electric wires and filled the tunnel with a dense acrid smoke.

Most of the buildings are now gone, with the exception of the Woodward (now Dream) Hotel, but the access grates to the subway (the only exit for the 250 trapped passengers) are still there. maps.google.com/maps?q=1261+broadway+new+york&hl=en&a...

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Note that the person who wrote on the negative has forgotten that the calendar changed from 1914 to 1915.

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.