Dead man rides NY Subway for 5 hours (LA Times 6/15/99)

[Henry C.K. Liu]

Its democracy at work. A similar story circulated many years ago about a
dead member who sat for two days in a plush leather arm chair in the
smoking room of a prestigious private club in New York while no one was
rude enough to disturb him.

Henry

Greg Nowell wrote:


> Tuesday, June 15, 1999
>
>               Corpse Rides Subway For Hours
>
>    ADVERTISEMENT
>
>                            EW YORK--A passenger
>                            seemingly asleep aboard a
> packed
>                            rush-hour subway train was
>                       actually dead, possibly for as
> long as five
>                       hours, authorities said.
>                            Police said the unidentified
> man, in his
>                       40s, was on the uptown No. 1
> train at least
>                       20 stops Monday before passengers
>
>                       noticed he was unresponsive and
> alerted
>                       authorities.
>                            His body was removed at the
> 96th
>                       Street station in Manhattan's
> upper west
>                       side.
>                            Subway regulars expressed
> little
>                       surprise at unwittingly sharing a
> busy train
>                       with a corpse. The man had been
> sitting
>                       upright, silent, with his eyes
> closed and
>                       head bowed.
>                            "Do you know how many people
> sleep
>                       on the train during morning
> rush?" rider
>                       Mario Licari said. "Unless the
> guy slumps
>                       into me, I just leave him alone."
>
>                            The man carried no
> identification -only
>                       20 cents, a watch and a comb,
> police said.
>                       It was unknown where he boarded
> or how
>                       long the subway, which runs from
>                       Manhattan's southern tip to the
> Bronx, had
>                       been in service Monday morning.
>                            Based on a preliminary
> examination of
>                       the body, the man may have been
> dead up
>                       to five hours before being
> noticed, police
>                       said.
>                            Police said he appeared to
> have died of
>                       natural causes. An autopsy was
> pending.
>
> --
> Gregory P. Nowell
> Associate Professor
> Department of Political Science, Milne 100
> State University of New York
> 135 Western Ave.
> Albany, New York 12222
>
> Fax 518-442-5298