Railroad Worker Maimed in Chehalis
A young laborer loses an arm after being forced from a moving freight train by a company employee.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Albert Ogren, while trying to steal a ride, was forcibly put off a rapidly moving freight train in the yard here last night by a train hand, who threw coal at him. He jumped to save himself, but was caught under the wheels and had an arm cut off. His legs, body and head were also fearfully bruised. He was picked up insensible by Deputy Sheriff Carpenter and taken to a hospital, where his wounds were dressed. Ogren is a Swede, 40 years old, and has been working on the Chehalis-South Bend branch.
“He jumped to save himself, but was caught under the wheels and had an arm cut off.”
This incident reflects the brutal and often lethal nature of labor relations on the railways during the Gilded Age, where transient workers were treated as expendable. Today's debates on labor rights and the treatment of unhoused individuals often echo these same power dynamics, where institutional violence is used to manage those perceived as 'trespassers.'
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