The Photos and Maps
Cudahy
includes eight pages of photos in the center of the book, a couple of
which appeared in his earlier Under the Sidewalks of New
York.
The photo set is sufficient--there
is nothing startling or new for those who have seen Malbone Street
photos. Happily, there is no gore in any of the photos, nor have I seen
such photos, though such may exist in police
records.
Of the wreck itself, Cudahy chose the following
views in the tunnel at the wreck site: a view of car 80 (the unwrecked
side), car 100, the most heavily damaged car, after the entire body
shell had been dismantled, and the rear of the completely undamaged car
1064, sitting placidly on the tunnel track, as though nothing had
occurred.
He also has 36th Street Yard photos
of the lead car, with the remains of 80 and the rest of the train behind,
and a separate photo of car 80. Cudahy eschewed any description at all of
the physical horror of the accident, noting simply that the "overwhelming
majority of deaths [...] were caused by massive skull injuries." I have
read some physical descriptions of the human misery of the wreck and this
rather bland medical description seems oddly understated. One need only
look at the picture of car 80, and know that it was worse for car 100, to
imagine the full extent of the human toll. It helps very little to realize
that even a few in car 100 appear to have survived, a point which I did not find in the
narrative.
Other photos include two
contemporary views of Prospect Park station before the reconstruction work
began, a recent photo of Prospect Park station, a photo of the tower at
Fulton and Franklin and a recent photo looking toward the wreck
scene.
There is also a photo of a current
street sign at the corner of Malbone Street and New York Avenue. Current?
It is well known that there is a short section of Malbone Street several
blocks east of the wreck site and one short block north of Empire
Boulevard--the renamed Malbone Street. I've heard various explanations of
the reason for this odd survival, but Cudahy offers an explanation I've
never heard before: It is the vestige of an earlier Malbone
Street, one that was left high and dry before the straightening that
resulted in what is now Empire Boulevard.
There are a few
spare maps, just enough to illustrate some key points in the
story.
The
Appendices
In addition to notes accompanying each chapter,
Cudahy has provided us with several appendices containing additional
information of varying interest.
There are
tables of the worst disasters in Brooklyn history and in U.S. railway
history and in Metrpoolitan New York.
There is
a reconstruction of the schedule of the fatal trip station-by-station from
Kings Highway Yard on the Culver Line to Park Row, and then to the crash
site, with times to the minute--a timetable of
disaster.
Notable is "Appendix C," a list of
the names, ages, and addresses of each and every one of the 93 passengers
Cudahy has identified as fatally injured in the wreck. This answers rumors
that there were people who were never identified. The number "93" in
itself is worthy of comment. The number killed is usually presented as
being between 97 and 102. The former number was published by, among
others, The Brooklyn Eagle the day after the wreck. The latter
number is taken to include those who died later of their injuries. In
fact, Cudahy cites these numbers in his earlier work. Ninety-three is the
number Cudahy has come up with from study of available records, though he
allows that more might have died, but the causes of death inaccurately
recorded.
Finally, we have a chart of the
dollar amounts a selected number of interested parties (injured, relatives
of survivors) eventually received in civil suits.
Continued on page 4