Daily News from New York, New York • 155

LJ A LJ XwJ L-J Li Tr L. Vt Li Li Li 5 1- iliMUUf "tiffin II Hi ml til I in a two-hour spree that began late on the night of June 27. In the fourth attack last night, an unidentified vagrant was slashed in the throat in front of 300 Lafayette St near East Houston a known vagrant hangout The victim, identified as Richard Garfola, who was sleeping on the steps, was taken to Cabrini Medical Center with a nine-inch gash across his neck. Garfola, who underwent surgery early today, was listed in critical condition by a hospital spokesman. THE FIFTH slashing occurred at Seventh Ave.

and W. 34th St near Pennsylvania Station, the scene of three slashings during the earlier rampage. The victim, identified only as a vagrant, was taken to Bellevue Hospital. "He was very bloody. There was blood all over," said a cop on the scene.

Minutes later, a sixth slashing victim was found at Sixth Ave. and W. 32d St and was taken to Bellevue Hospital. He was not immediately identified. During the earlier spree, the Skid Row Slasher slit the throats of eight vagrant men in a series of sudden attacks from the Bowery to Greenwich Village to lower Madison Ave.

to Pennsylvania Station. A week later, Santos Ortiz, 33, of W. 38th St who was asleep on a bench in Stuyvesant Park at E. 15th St, was cut on the neck. Several of the earlier attacks occurred in the same neighborhood as last night's rampage.

A beefed-up force of detectives working on overtime theorized that the attacker may be a vagrant himself. He has been described by psychologists as probably as a "passive and weak person." Last night was the first time a victim has died. The others have had injuries that range from light to critical. By THOMAS HANRAHAN and PATRICK SULLIVAN The Skid Row Slasher; who police believe has slashed the throats of at least nine vagrants, went on another bloody rampage last night, killing one and attacking five others. At least one of the victims was critically wounded in the attacks, which followed the same pattern as a series of eight unprovoked attacks on vagrants during a recent two-hour spree.

Police said the slasher whom they described as black, about 30 years old, 5-f eet-7, about 150 pounds and wearing blue Jeans and an Afro haircut first struck at 10:20 p.m. at Prince and Elizabeth Sts. in lower Manhattan. His first victim, identified by cops as John LaBelle, 68, a vagrant, was slashed in the hand as he fought off the attacker. LaBelle was taken to St Vincent's Hospital.

The knifer then struck at Chrystie and Delancey Streets at 11:10 p.m., slitting the throat of Roy Miley, 25, of Brooklyn as he was standing on a corner. Miley, taken to Bellevue Hospital in serious condition, was shown a sketch of the Skid Row Slasher and said the picture resembled his attacker but Vas "more clean shaven," police said. POLICE SAID the attacker apparently stayed in the area and then entered the Sara Delano Roosevelt park at Chrystie and Delancey Sts. and attacked an unidentified vagrant, slashing his throat and killing him. "You could put your fist in there, the cut was so deep," said the first police officer at the murder scene.

The park wasthe scene of the first of eight slasher attacks that occurred JOHN ROCA OAJLV NEWS Body of vagrant outside park at Chrystie and Delancey Sts. last night SGuSip II 11 in Brooklwini fllfHfl "llIll 1 By SHEILA SULLIVAN than a mile north, but traffic soon backed up again. FULTON AND FOUR Emergency Service cops climbed 185 feet up the Brooklyn Bridge's Manhattan tower and tied off part of the cable which runs diagonally from the tower to the Manhattan entrance to the bridge to prevent it from swaying in the breeze. Fulton said the slackening of the cable, which functions as a stabilizer in mm 1 high winds, may have been caused by the weight of traffic or by the weight of the cable itself. The cable was one of two that snapped and fell last Sunday, critically! injuring a pedestrian and ripping apart a section of the bridge's pedestrian walkway.

The cables were repaired by. splicing. The pedestrian walkway will remain) closed until the first week in August; Fulton said. s' The Brooklyn Bridge was closed last night to all traffic for the second Sunday in a row when one of its stabilizing cables that snapped a week ago developed slack in its "tail" section. Engineers gingerly scaled the span to make repairs.

The 98-year-old bridge, which was reopened about 7:15 p.m. after an hour's shutdown, is expected to remain open today while steelworkers secure the cable permanently, said Henry Fulton, deputy commissioner of the Bureau of Highway Operations. Thousands of homeward-bound Fourth of July travelers were delayed last night Southbound traffic along the East River Drive leading to the bridge was snarled, and cars jammed streets in lower Manhattan and in downtown Brooklyn. Police directed motorists to, the Manhattan Bridge, less fit 0 1 II ff Mt iH Hil West Side Hwy. lanes closed 30 minutes Southbound lanes of the West Side Highway from 57th to 79th Sts.

were closed to traffic for 30 minutes yesterday when a steel plate came loose in a section of the road where construction is under way. A Department of Transportation spokesman said the plate was covering construction work in the left downtown lane of the highway at. 58th where ramps are being built Police closed the highway at 11 a.m. It was reopened when a highway i crew secured the plate. ROCA DAILY NEWS rW Police tie off kxse1cibM (arfow) With Ltope art Brookfya.