'BIG TIM' SULLIVAN KILLED BY TRAIN

Chance Remark Results in Body of Congressman Being Identified.

ESCAPES POTTERS' FIELD.

Tammany Leader, Long III, Had Wandered to Death from Home of Brother.

New York Politician, Ill and Wandering, Found to Have Been Killed by Train.

New York, Sept. 13. -- [Special.] -- Bound for the potter's field by way of the Bellevue morgue, the body of Congressman "Big Tim" Sullivan, the Tammany hall politician, was accidentally recognized today and saved from interment with the unidentified dead of the city. Police records show that Congressman Sullivan was killed by a train on the tracks of the New York, New Haven and Hartford railroad in Bronx borough, near Pelham, in the early morning of Aug. 31, a shot time after he walked out of the home of his brother, Patrick Sullivan, in East Chester road. The case of "Big Tim," the idol of the east side, brings to light what appears to be lamentable negligence in the conduct of the office of Coroner Jerome Healy. The body was taken to Fordham morgue about 6 o'clock on the morning of Sunday, Aug. 31. It remained there on the records as "unidentified" until yesterday, when it was transferred as a matter of routine to the city morgue at Bellevue hospital. There it was recognized by Policeman Peter Turfield, who examined it in the course of his duties. Body Easily Identified. Although the face was badly cut and bruised, it was easily recognizable today in the Bellevue morgue. The clothing bore the mark of Tom McGuire, the tailor who makes the clothes of nearly all the leaders of Tammany Hall. In the sweatband of the gray fedora hat was written the name "F. J. Mc-Closkey." But the Bronx coroner's office shows no record of any attempt having been made to get McGuire, the tailor, to identify the suit, or of any attempt to look up the identity of the man who by the name in his hat might have been F. J. McCloskey. Coroner Healy says he viewed the body on Aug. 31, but did not recognize it as that of his lifelong friend, "Big Tim" Sullivan. Coroner's Physician John Riegelman says he examined the body a few hours after it was taken to the Fordham morgue, but he did not recognize it as the body of "Big Tim," whom he had known for years. Richard Fielding, keeper of the Fordham morgue, says he looked at the body dozens of times, but he didn't recognize it as that of "Big Tim" Sullivan, although he knew Sullivan in life. Left Home of Brother. The known facts indicate that "Big Tim," who had been ill for months and had been restless for days, eluded his nurses in his brother's home about 4 o'clock in the morning. He had little money. He walked along Westchester road to Pelham parkway and to the bridge spanning the tracks of the Harlem division of the New York, New Haven and Hartford railroad. At 4:45 o'clock a train crew reported to Policeman Stack of the Westchester station the finding of the body of a man. Whether "Big Tim" jumped from the bridge in front of an approaching train or climbed down and was run down while walking along the tracks is a mystery. His relatives say that after he was stricken with his mental malady he showed an inclination to walk on railroad tracks. The members of the train crew say that the body was lying on the tracks when the locomotive ran over it. Long Leader for Tammany. Sullivan was one of the best beloved of the genial Tammany leaders whose power came from popularity in the swarming tenement districts that have voted many a Tammany candidate into office. His stronghold was the Bowery. There every winter he distributed shoes and clothing to thousands of human derelicts. "Big Tim" was born in a Leonard street tenement in 1863 and all his life he resided in the downtown section of New York. He was one of four young children left fatherless. When he was 11 years old he was selling papers on the streets. Sullivan was a political power in a small way before he was of age. At 23 he was elected to the state assembly. There he served continuously for eight years. After the assembly came the state senate, where he served four full two year terms and part of a fifth. Then he went to congress. "Big Tim" did not find Washington as congenial as Albany and after a few years in private life he was reelected to the state senate. Against his will, it was said, he ran gain for congress last fall.