A Mother's Fight Against the Northern Pacific
After her 7-year-old daughter was struck and killed by a train, Mary Ann Evans is suing for $13,035 in damages, alleging company negligence.
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.
Mrs. Mary Ann Evans, the mother of Zelda Evans, the 7-year-old girl who was run down and beheaded by a Northern Pacific train at the Commercial and King street crossing on April 23, began a damage suit yesterday against the railroad to recover $13,035. The complaint alleges that the accident was entirely due to the negligence of the company and its employees; that the locomotive was run at a dangerous rate of speed, and that there were no guards or gates at the crossing as a proper precaution. The services of the child until she is 21 years of age are figured to be worth $2,700. As a recompense for the loss of the girl's companionship $10,000 damages is asked, while the actual damages for expenses on account of the accident are placed at $335.
“The complaint alleges that the accident was entirely due to the negligence of the company and its employees.”
Public safety at rail crossings has been a long-standing point of contention in Seattle's industrial districts. While the specific legal valuation of a child's life in 1892 feels clinical to modern eyes, it highlights the era's transition toward demanding corporate accountability for urban infrastructure deaths.
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