XLIV.
RAPID TRANSIT IN NEW YORK.
THE UNDERGROUND RAILWAY SCHEMES.—ELEVATED RAILWAY LINES.—THE WEST SIDE RAILWAY.—TRAVELLING ON LAMP POSTS.—ADVANTAGES OF A SECOND STORY ROAD.—ADVENTURES WITH THIEVES.—PERILS OF THE MODERN STREET CAR.—ARTISTIC PACKING OF PASSENGERS.—THE PNEUMATIC RAILWAY.—VANDERBILT’S SCHEME.—AN UNCOMFORTABLE JOURNEY.—SHOT FROM A GUN.
SECTION OF THE BROADWAY UNDERGROUND RAILWAY.
For several years the people of New York city have been agitated on the subject of rapid transit from one end of Manhattan Island to the other. In one respect, New York is unlike any other city on the globe. Nearly all its business is conducted at one end of the island on which it stands, while nearly all the residences are at the other end. Consequently, a large part of the population must be transported in the morning from the upper part of Manhattan Island to the lower end, and transported back again in the afternoon and evening. All the lines of street railway and the stages are densely crowded at these times. There is not a street car or an omnibus that is not packed to its fullest capacity, in the morning, with people going down town, and packed in a similar way, about sunset, with people going up town.
Travel at these times in the direction indicated is accompanied with many annoyances. On some of the lines of street railway, the passengers are stowed away very much like sardines in a can, or like negroes in the hold of a slave ship. Comfort is not at all considered. Every man is anxious to reach his destination as speedily as possible, and if the seats are all taken, he is willing to stand. Very often passengers are wedged so closely that the movement of one affects nearly all the rest, and a person near the middle of the car finds it hard work to get out. Straps are suspended from horizontal bars running fore and aft the car; and the standing passengers suspend themselves from these straps.
AN INGENIOUS DEVICE.