Daily News from New York, New York • 3

DAILY NEWS, TUESDAY, AUGUST 26, 1969 3. I daggering Subways 0) Our 5 Second of a series By DONALD SINGLETON and OWEN FITZGERALD flllf4: ITH a few notable exceptions. New York Send In Your Gripes Got a subway gripe or suggestion? Do you know of a specific, serious condition that needs cor rection? Do you have a suggestion for making our subway system better Write don't phone to Subways Editor, The News, 220 E. 42d New York, N.Y. 10017.

We'll see that your message is passed along to the proper department for consideration or action. into your hands when you get on a subway in this town." As proof of his contention that safety levels are eroding, the official claimed that a survey of the operating records of the current year showed "a large number of derailments, delays, misunderstandings in communications, accidents, pull-aparts, switch run-throughs train withdrawals and flood conditions." Statistics supplied by the Transit Authority seem to confirm at least a slight increase In derailments; there were 45 derailments this year as of the end of July, while the number for all of last year was only 40. In recent years, the number has remained fairly constant, with most occurring in the yards. Of this year's derailments, 13 have been on the road, mostly City subway system has always provided a safe, if at times uncomfortable, means of transportation. And while the exceptions were notable in the Malbone St.

disaster in Brooklyn a half-century ago, for example, 102 persons died most of the really bad accidents are far back in the past. The rapid transit safety record has been without serious blemish for decades. But there have been changes in the subway system In recent months and years, and the changes have raised the question of a possible decrease in the operational safety level. And while the TA steadfastly maintains that things are as safe as ever, a top-level officer of the 950-member Subway Supervisors Association (SSA) made the following statement in a recent interview: "More and more, you're really taking your life Cop and passengers give gal a boost to platform after storm caused short circuit last month. (Continued on page 38) i.

i mvmMwmmmm i wujmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm No. Autopsy in Time for the-Aflary incpesS By ANTHONY BURTON Staff Correspondent of The News Wilkes-Barre, Aug. 25 The inquest Into the death of Mary Jo Kopechne, wTho perished when Sen. Edward Kennedy's car plunged off a bridge on Chappaquiddick Island last month, will be held next week without evidence from an autopsy. This became clear here today after attorneys had argued in a Luzerne County courtroom whether the girl's body should be exhumed from St.

Vincent's Cemetery at Larksville. "To have an inquest without an autopsy would be like hitting a home run and not touching first base," declared Armand Fernandez, representing the office of the district attorney for Southeast Massachusetts. Minimum of 43 Hours But Judge Bernard Brominski adjourned the hearing without announcing a decision. He told me later: "You can assume there will be a minimum of 48 hours before I make my decision. Then it will go by mail to the parties involved.

"The parties must then have at least 10 days' notice of any hearing. "If Massachusetts is planning an inquest on Wednesday of next week, I think it's clear they will have to go ahead in the absence of any finding from an autopsy. Even if I agreed to a hearing on the application for an exhumation, obviously there would not be enough time to get any results before the inquest." Declines Comment The official who will not let the Kopechne case be forgotten, District Attorney Edmund Dinis the Southern District of Massachusetts, declined comment on the development. Dinis, a thick-set man wearing a blue serge suit and rimless glasses, had flown here to fight a motion by the Kopechne family that his petition for exhumation be dismissed. Joseph Flanagan, attorney for the family, argued that Bromin-ski's court had no jurisdiction in the case because no crime was so far alleged.

He also said that Dinis no longer had any statutory authority in the exhumation ap- Kopechne family attorney DA Edmund Dinis leaves rourt- room in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. Joseph Flanagan at court. plication because he allowed the body to be moved to Pennsylvania. In Boston, Judge James A. Boyle, who will preside at the inquest, called a meeting for Wednesday with attorneys for several prospective witnesses to discuss their request to be present in court when Dinis presents his witnesses.

Mary Jo Kopechne Judge withholds decision At. mM IF ttei use me mm HWiwrs mom nenneay ins ill "agonizing reappraisal" of his decision to stay in politics, in the Senate. Why is there such widespread disbelief In Kennedy's account of what happened on the night of July 18? Kennedy himself must, on the basis that he has told exactly what happened, wonder about this. Perhaps the answer lies In the natural reaction to a case where the proper kind of investigation didn't figure in the original on-the-scene police activities. The "father" of the idra of scientific investigating processes was Francis Bacon, the mental genius of England in the 1000s.

As one historian inter- Hilt: I By TED LEWIS Washington, Aug. 25 A month has gone by since Teddy Kennedy went on nationwide television to end further speculation about the circumstances surrounding the drowning of Mary Jo Kopechne. His failure to do so is now self-evident. There has been more speculation since than before. In all probability, it will never die down.

The formal inquest, at which witnesses will be under oath, will, in all likelihood, provide only leverage for more rumors, if, as expected, those at the Chappaquiddick house-party support the Kennedy version. The Whispers Won't Go Away It thus follows that Kennedy is going to have to live the rest of his life with what the public has already decided is a mystery about which the unvarnished truth will never be known. Under such circumstances, every rumor that suggests that the Kennedy account is inaccurate takes on the semblance of fact, titillating the public appetite. Every time that Kennedy takes note of such rumor by saying he doesn't "have to live with the whispers, innuendoes and falsehoods," it becomes clearer that he really does have to. What has happened in the accidental drowning case in -the last few actually has- superim-, VLS fci -5 IS preted Bacon's effort, "What he urged was the need of making belief rest on proof, and proof rest on the conclusions drawn from evidence by reason." It is the lack of proof to date that makes belief questionable in Kennedy's version of the Chappaquiddick case.

Moreo'er, if "proof rests on the conclusions drawn from evidence by, reason," then (Continued on page 4, col. I) Sen. Kennedy as he told his story on TV. posed 1jwo mysteries on the original one. One concerns the refusal of many to believe the young senator's explanation.

The other concerns Kennedy himself, whether or not he is moving toward an.